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Barley. Malt. Cluten soluble in Alcohol 28 0-34 Albuminous substances coagulablo 0-28 0-45 Albuminous substances not coagulable by heat Insoluble Albumen 1-55 7 59 2-08 6-23 970 910
There are three kinds of kiln-dried malt pale, amber, and brown, and one of roasted, called black or patent malt. We have already seen how pale East India malt is made ; also that the ordinary pale malt is dried off at a higher temperature by 30 or 40.
Amber malt, when ground, is of a rich amber colour, hence its name. This is dried off at a heat of 180. The fuel used during drying is different. For pale malt, coke or anthracite coal is used, but the colour and flavour of amber malt are produced by burning oak or other hard-wood faggots, the flavour being caused by the pyroligneous acid thrown off during burning. High-coloured malts have advantages over pale ; more dextrin is produced and more albuminous matter is rendered insoluble ; it is, therefore, easier to brew good beer from them.
Brown or porter malt, is dried in yet another way. The floors of malt-kilns used for drying it must be made of thin sheet-iron or stout wire, as the heat must be raised in a few minutes from 100 to a heat nearly approaching combustion, and lowered as rapidly. The process requires great attention, or the malt would take fire. The grain is spread thin, not exceeding 1 inches in depth.; and the whole process is completed in less than two hours. The fuel used consists of faggots of beech, elm, or oak ; at first the fire is kept down by being sprinkled with water, but the last half-hour it is allowed to increase, and an intense heat is obtained. This kind of malt weighs about 32 ft> per bushel. It is sometimes called " blown malt," from its distended appearance. By this process the gum, sugar, and starch are converted into a kind of caramel, which gives the flavour so much prized in porter. It makes the malt, however, deficient in extractive matter, to the extent of from 20 to 30 per cent.
Patent malt, which is the legal colouring-matter in porter, is made and charged with duty in the same way as other malt, and then removed to the roasting premises, where it is treated like coffee, being roasted over a fire in cylinders of perforated iron. The law requires that 95 per cent, of this malt shall have the " spire " extend to one-half the length of the grain in order to prevent the introduction of raw grain. It is generally made from injured or in ferior malt, as the high temperature in drying quite restores the appearance. There is, of course, no saccharine extract from it, that having been converted into caramel or burnt- sugar ; it is only wanted to supply colour and flavour. Good malt of this kind should have each grain distinct, of its own original size and shape, not adhering to each other ; and when it is bitten the inside should be of a rich chocolate colour.
Pale malt differs in appearance from barley ; the grains are plump and generally free from wrinkles, and paler than barley. Instead of the tightly-closed end, the opening through which the rootlets have passed is visible at the base of each grain ; when broken the starch should be loose, friable, and cretaceous, and should leave a white mark as of chalk when drawn along a black surface. It should be crisp to the teeth, and have a sweet and empyreumatic flavour, free from the least mould or mustiness of smell or tbste. Malt should weigh from 39 ft) to 43 ft per bushel. There should be no vitrified appearance when broken ; that would be due to an excess of heat at the beginning of the drying process, or to the barley having been grown in too rich a soil, or to mixed seed being used which did not work regularly. A good test is to take 100 seeds and throw them into water, stirring them well up ; good malt, being specifically lighter than water, should float on the surface ; if more than 5 per cent, sink it is bad malt. Another test is to take 100 grains of malt and carefully examine the regularity of their acrospire, which should extend f-ths of the length of the grain for large and ?ths for small brewers. If more than 5 per cent, have projected it shows a waste of material, whereas if more than 5 per cent, have the acrospire less than half way up, it is a sign of insufficient germination.
Dr lire s analysis goes to show the amount of solid extract obtainable by the brewer. He takes 100 grains of malt by weight, which are powdered and dried half-an-hour by the heat from boiling water ; they are then weighed, and the loss shows the quantity of moisture in the malt. This powder is then mixed with cold water, and the vessel containing it is heated in the steam-bath half an hour, the contents being occasionally stirred. The husk and insoluble matters are then drained off, washed with boiled water, and then dried and weighed, their weight giving the insoluble matter in the malt, and the residue the soluble extract available to the brewer. Dr Ure found in several experiments the average in 100 parts by weight, to be—
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Moisture 6 5 Insoluble matter 267 Soluble extract. ... . . 66 8 100-0
According to this, if we assume that a quarter of malt weighs 324 ft), the total soluble extract will be 216 4 ft) avoirdupois ; but as the gum and sugar in assuming the fluid form combine with the elements of water, if the extract were dried it would weigh 23 ft) ; and being reduced to the basis of the barrel of 36 gallons would become, in the language of brewers, 87 ft) extract per barrel, which means that, if the wort from a quarter of malt were evaporated down to the bulk of a barrel of 36 gallons, it would weigh 87 ft) more than a barrel of pure water. Practice shows these experiments to be correct, the extract per quarter varying, according to the sample of malt, from 80 ft) to 90 lb.
Malt is made duty-free for distillery purposes and exportation ; in both cases the maltster has to enter into a bond with two sureties for 1000 that the malt goes to its declared destination. It may also be made free of duty for cattle feeding, an Act giving great facilities being passed in 1864; it was, however, found to be useless, except in small quantities, as a condiment, and the practice of giving it is entirely discontinued. In 1870 there was not a single bushel made, as there was no demand for it. In the case of rnalt damaged by fire or water, an allowance equal to the whole of the duty, jf totally destroyed, or part if the damaged malt be sold on salvage, is granted by 7 and 8 Geo. IV. c. 52, 76. The duty on malt is payable at the end of every six weeks, but upon entering into a bond with sureties for payment, a maltster is allowed six weeks credit. Also by 26 Viet. c. 6, 1, he may defer payment of half the duty on malt made between 1st January and 1st April, and the whole of the duty on malt made between the latter date and 16th May, for three months, on giving notice of his intention to the proper collector before 1st April, paying interest at the rate of 3^ per cent, per annum for the accommodation, and giving bond for security.
any workman, maliciously or otherwise, commits an act by which his employers are liable to a penalty, he shall be imprisoned with hard labour for not less than three or
more than twelve months. The master is liable for these