The London and Country Brewer | Page 8

to bite some of its Corns asunder, and is often so crusted or burnt, that the farinous part loses a great deal of its essential Salts and vital Property, which frequently deceives its ignorant Brewer, that hopes to draw as much Drink from a quarter of this, as he does from pale or amber sorts: This Malt by some is thought to occasion the Gravel and Stone, besides what is commonly called the Heart-burn; and is by its steely nature less nourishing than the pale or amber Malts, being very much impregnated with the fiery fumiferous Particles of the Kiln, and therefore its Drink sooner becomes sharp and acid than that made from the pale or amber sorts, if they are all fairly brewed: For this reason the London Brewers mostly use the Thames or New River waters to brew this Malt with, for the sake of its soft nature, whereby it agrees with the harsh qualities of it better than any of the well or other hard Sorts, and makes a luscious Ale for a little while, and a But-beer that will keep very well five or six Months, but after that time it generally grows stale, notwithstanding there be ten or twelve Bushels allowed to the Hogshead, and it be hopp'd accordingly.
Pale and amber Malts dryed with Coak or Culm, obtains a more clean bright pale Colour than if dryed with any other Fuel, because there is not smoak to darken and sully their Skins or Husks, and give them an ill relish, that those Malts little or more have, which are dryed with Straw, Wood, or Fern, &c. The Coak or Welch Coal also makes more true and compleat Malt, as I have before hinted, than any other Fuel, because its fire gives both a gentle and certain Heat, whereby the Corns are in all their Parts gradually dryed, and therefore of late these Malts have gained such a Reputation that great quantities have been consumed in most Parts of the Nation for their wholsome Natures and sweet fine Taste: These make such fine Ales and But-beers, as has tempted several of our Malsters in my Neighbour-hood to burn Coak or Culm at a great expence of Carriage thirty Miles from London.
Next to the Coak-dryed Malt, the Straw-dryed is the sweetest and best tasted: This I must own is sometimes well Malted where the Barley, Wheat, Straw, Conveniencies and the Maker's Skill are good; but as the fire of the Straw is not so regular as the Coak, the Malt is attended with more uncertainty in its making, because it is difficult to keep it to a moderate and equal Heat, and also exposes the Malt in some degree to the taste of the smoak.
Brown Malts are dryed with Straw, Wood and Fern, &c. the Straw-dryed is not the best, but the Wood sort has a most unnatural Taste, that few can bear with, but the necessitous, and those that are accustomed to its strong smoaky tang; yet is it much used in some of the Western Parts of England, and many thousand Quarters of this Malt has been formerly used in London for brewing the Butt-keeping-beers with, and that because it sold for two Shillings per Quarter cheaper than the Straw-dryed Malt, nor was this Quality of the Wood-dryed Malt much regarded by some of its Brewers, for that its ill Taste is lost in nine or twelve Months, by the Age of the Beer, and the strength of the great Quantity of Hops that were used in its Preservation.
The Fern-dryed Malt is also attended with a rank disagreeable Taste from the smoak of this Vegetable, with which many Quarters of Malt are dryed, as appears by the great Quantities annually cut by Malsters on our Commons, for the two prevalent Reasons of cheapness and plenty.
At Bridport in Dorsetshire, I knew an Inn-keeper use half Pale and half Brown Malt for Brewing his Butt-beers, that, proved to my Palate the best I ever drank on the Road, which I think may be accounted for, in that the Pale being the slackest, and the Brown the hardest dryed, must produce a mellow good Drink by the help of a requisite Age, that will reduce those extreams to a proper Quality.

CHAP. V.
Of the Nature of several Waters and their use in Brewing. And first of Well-waters.
Water next to Malt is what by course comes here under Consideration as a Matter of great Importance in Brewing of wholsome fine Malt-liquors, and is of such Consequence that it concerns every one to know the nature of the water he Brews with, because it is the Vehicle by which the nutritious and pleasant Particles of the Malt and Hop are conveyed into our Bodies, and there becomes a diluter of our