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IOO

THE MIXICOLOGIST.

BREWING

Is the art of preparing an exhilarating or intoxi–

cating beverage by means of a process of fermenta–

tion. In the modern acceptation of the word,

brewing is the operation of preparing beer and ales

from any farinaceous grain, chiefly from barley,

which is at first malted and ground, and its ferment–

able substance extracted by warm water. This

infusion is evaporated by boiling, hops hav ing been

added to preserve it. The liquor is then fermented.

The art was known and practiced by the Egyp–

tians many hundred years before the Christian era,

and afterward by the Greeks, Romans, and ancient

Gauls, from whom it has been handed down to us.

All countries, whether civilized or ::avage, have, in

every age, prepared an intoxicating drink of some

kind. Great care must be taken when buying for

malting, for sometimes the grain is doctored by

kiln-bleaching, or dried at too great a heat. Sev–

eral samples, too, may b e mixed , in which case they

will not grow regularly, as heavier barley generally

requires to be longer in steep; and the grains, broken

by the drum of the threshing-machine being set too

close, spoil a sample. Those cut into sections will

not germinate, but in warm weather putrefy, as is

evident from their blue-gray and moldy appearance