Page:A Practical Treatise on Brewing (4th ed.).djvu/151

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CHANGE OF LOCALITY.
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brewing utensils; and we have little doubt that a great proportion of the inferior beer which we now see, is produced by the electro-chemical action, proceeding from the above-mentioned mixture of metals. As brewing, therefore, is a strictly chemical process, the laws of chemistry, by which it can alone be safely directed, should be much better understood than they have hitherto been by all connected with the trade. There can be little doubt but that the art of brewing, like other arts, will hereafter be conducted on such scientific principles as may render it as independent of chance, accident, or locality, to which much importance is erroneously attached, as other arts in which the proper means have been adopted to acquire successful uniformity.

We often hear locality quoted as the only reason which can be assigned, that better beer is brewed in one district of the country than in others. Locality, so far as malt is concerned, may no doubt have an influence; some districts produce much finer qualities of barley than others, and of course, much finer and better-flavoured malt. The flavour of beer must of course depend on the quality of the materials which may be used in manufacturing it, and also on the mode of manufacturing it. No further importance, however, can be attached to locality; as we can always in any place find water sufficiently fit for brewing, and by a proper con-