The Practical Distiller by Samuel McHarry (best book recommendations TXT) 📕

the vessel whilst the water is hissing, with the lime; and afterwards take all this lime and water away, and put fresh water into the vessel, and throw some bay or common salt into each, and let it stand a day or two; and when you come to brew, scald your vessels, throw into them a little malt-dust or bran; and this will not only finish their sweetening, but stop them from leaking.

But since there is so much trouble in getting vessels sweet after they have been neglected, you ought to make all thorough clean after brewing, and once a month to fill your vessels with fair water, and let it off again in two or three days.

Of mashing or raking your Liquors.

Suppose you take six bushels of malt, and two pounds of hops, and would make of it one barrel of strong, and two barrels of small beer.

Heat your first copper of liquor for mashing, and strew over it a double handful of bran or malt; by which you will see when it begins to boil; for it will break and curl, and then it is fit to be let off into the mash tub, where it must remain till the steam is quite spent, and you can see your face in it, before you put in your malt; and then you begin to mash, stirring it all the while you are putting in the malt: but keep out about half a bushel dry, which you are to strew over the rest, when you have done stirring it, which will be as soon as you have well mixed it with the liquor, and prevented it from clodding.

After the dry malt is laid on, cover your mash tub with cloths, to prevent losing any spirit of the malt, and let it so remain for two hours. Meanwhile have another copper of liquor hot; and at two hours end begin to let off your first wort into the under-back. Receive a pailful of the first running, and throw it again upon the malt.—You will find that the malt has sucked up half of your first copper of liquor; and therefore to make up your quantity of wort for your strong beer, you must gradually lade out of the second copper, and strew bowl after bowl over the malt, giving it time to soak thro', and keeping it running by an easy stream, till you perceive you have about forty gallons, which in boiling and working will be reduced to thirty-six.

If you throw into the under-back (whilst you are letting off) about half a pound of hops, it will preserve it from foxing, or growing sour or ropy.

Your first wort being all run off, you must soften the tap of the mash tub; and take a copper of hot liquor for your second mashing, stirring up the malt as you did at first, and then cover it close for two hours more. Meanwhile you fill your copper with the first wort, and boil it with the remainder of the two pounds of hops, for an hour and an half, and then lade it off into the coolers.

Contrive to receive the hops in a sieve, basket, or thin woolen bag that is sweet and clean; then immediately fill your copper with cold liquor, renew your fire under it, and begin to let off your second wort, throw a handful of hops into the under-back, for the same reason as before: you will want to lade a few bowls full of liquor over the malt to make up the copper full of second wort; and when you have enough, fasten the tap and mash a third time after the same manner, and cover it close for another two hours; and then charge your copper with the second wort, boiling it for an hour with the same hops.

By this time you may shift your first wort out of the coolers into a working tub, to make room for the second wort to come into the coolers; and then your copper being empty, you may heat as much liquor as will serve you to lade over the malt, or, by this time, rather grains, to make up your third and last copper of wort, which must be bottled with the same hops over again; and then your coolers are discharged of your second wort, to make room for the third; and when they are both of a proper coolness, they may be put together before you set them a working.

During the time of shifting your liquors out of the copper, it is of consequence to take care to preserve it from receiving damage by burning: you should always contrive to have the fire low, or else to damp it at the time of emptying, and be very expeditious to put in fresh liquor.

Of working the Liquor.

In this, regard must be had to the water: liquor naturally grows warm in working; therefore, in mild weather, it should be cold before it be set on, but a little warm in cold weather. The manner of doing it, is to put some good sweet yeast into a hand-bowl or piggin, with a little warm wort; then put the hand-bowl to swim upon the wort in the working tub, and in a little while it will work out, and leisurely mix with the wort, and when you find the yeast is gotten hold of the wort, you must look after it frequently; and if you perceive it begins to heat and ferment too fast, lade some of it out into another tub; and when grown cold, it may be put back again; or if you reserve some of the raw wort, you may check it leisurely, by stirring it in with a hand-bowl. The cooler you work your liquor, the better, provided it does but work well.

If you happen to check it too much, you may forward its working, by filling a gallon stone bottle with boiling water, cork it close and put the bottle into the working tub.—An ounce or two of powdered ginger will have the same effect.

There are a variety of methods in managing liquors whilst they are working.—Some people beat the yeast of strong beer and ale, once in two or three hours, for two or three days together.

This they reckon makes the drink more heady, but withal hardens it so as to be drinkable in two or three days; the last day of beating it in, (stirring the yeast and beer together) the yeast, as it rises, will thicken; and then they take off part of the yeast, and beat in the rest, which they repeat as often as it rises thick; and when it has done working, they tun it up, so as it may just work out of the barrel.

Others again do not beat it in at all, but let their strong drink work about two days, or till they see the ferment is over; and then they take off the top yeast, and either by a tap near the bottom, let it off sine, or else lade it out gently, to leave the sediment and yeast at the bottom.

This way is proper for liquor that is to be drank soon: but if it be to keep, it will want the sediment to feed upon, and may probably grow stale, unless you make artificial lees: This you may make of a quart of brandy, and as much flour of wheat as will make it into dough; put them in lumps into the bung hole as soon as it has done working. Or else take a pound of the powder of oyster shells and mix it with a pound of treacle or honey, and put it in soon after it has done working.

It would add to the goodness, as well as sining of your malt liquor, if you took two quarts of wheat, and make them very dry and crisp in an oven, or before the fire, and boil them in your first copper of wort.—They would strain off with your hops, and might be put with them into the second copper.

Of the fining of Malt Liquors.

It is most desirable to have beer fine of itself, which it seldom fails to do in due time, if rightly brewed and worked; but as disappointments some times happen, it will be necessary to know what to do in such cases.

Ivory shavings boiled in your wort, or hartshorn shavings put into your cask just before you bung it down, will do much towards fining and keeping your liquor from growing stale.

Isinglass is the most common thing made use of in fining all sorts of liquors; they first beat it well with a hammer or mallet, and lay it in a pail, and then draw off about two gallons of the liquor to be fined upon it, and let it soak two or three days; and when it is soft enough to mix with the liquor, they take a whisk, and stir it about till it is all of a ferment, and white froth; and they frequently add the whites and shells of about a dozen of eggs, which they beat in with it, and put altogether into the cask; then with a clean mop-stick, or some such thing, stir the whole together; and then lay a cloth, or piece of paper over the bung-hole, till the ferment is over; and then bung it up close, in a few days it will fall fine.

But if you want to fine only a small quantity, take half an ounce of unflacked lime, and put it into a pint of water, and stir it well together, and let it stand for two or three hours, or till the lime settle to the bottom; then pour the water off clear, and throw away the sediment; then take half an ounce of isinglass cut small, and boil it in the lime water till it dissolves; then let it cool, and pour it into the vessel, &c.

Of the season for Brewing.

The season for brewing keeping-beer is certainly best before Christmas, for then your malt is in perfection, not having time to contract either a musty smell, dust or weavels, (an insect that eats out the heart of the malt) and the waters are then seldom mixed with snow; and then four pounds of hops will go as far as five in the spring of the year: For you must increase in the quantity of hops as you draw towards summer. But, in short, chuse moderate weather as much as you can for brewing, and if you have a kindly cellar besides to keep your liquor in, that will not be much affected by extremity of heat or cold, you may reasonably expect great satisfaction in your brewery.

Avoid as much as possible brewing in hot weather; but if you are necessitated to brew, make no more than present drinking, for it will not keep.

To make Elderberry-Beer or Ebulum.

Take a hogshead of the first and strong wort, and boil in the same one bushel of picked Elderberries, full ripe; strain off, and when cold, work the liquor in the hogshead, and not in an open tun or tub; and after it has lain in the cask about a year, bottle it; and it will be a good rich drink, which they call ebulum; and has often been preferred to portwine, for its pleasant taste, and healthful quality.

N. B. There is no occasion for the use of sugar in this operation; because the wort has strength and sweetness enough in itself to answer that end; but there should be an infusion of hops added