Occupations > British wine-maker, and domestic brewer

BREWING.
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of it into a tumbler of water. The greater part
of it will fall to the bottom, in the same manner
as barley itself would do before it undergoes the
process of malting; whereas, if it had been well
malted, it would have floated on the surface. In
the very best malt some grains will be found in
the middle of the water, and a few at the bottom;
but these will be very few indeed, compared to
those which will be found on the surface.
With respect to the value in gravity of a bushel
of good malt, it will be found, by referring to the
table of specific gravities, that it is equal to about
twenty-four pounds of sugar;* and that one pound
* Mr Accum, in that part of his Treatise on the Art of Brew¬
ing, addressed to domestic brewers, or, in his own language,
to those “brewing in a small way,” states authoritatively, that
“12 lbs. of molasses, or 10 lbs. of muscovado sugar, are equiva¬
lent, or yield as much fermentable matter as is produced from
one bushel of malt, of the usual quality, that is, such as is ca¬
pable of yielding 65 lbs. solid fermentable matter per quarter
of malt.”* On this ground, Mr Accum says, “ when economy
is an object, a quantity of molasses, or muscovado sugar, may be
substituted for a portion of malt.” Now, it appears that the
question, whether malt or sugar is most valuable, was considered
in 1807 by a committee of the House of Commons, when it was
shown, by evidence, that it would require 197 lbs. of sugar to
give the same quantity of saccharine matter as is contained in a
quarter of good malt of eight bushels. It was thus demonstrat¬
ed that a bushel of malt, the quarter of which is capable of pro¬
ducing 80 lbs. of saccharine matter, is equal to 24f lbs. of mus¬
covado sugar, or upwards of 28 lbs. of molasses. But although
Mr Accum’s malt (which must have been very inferior) was
* Mr Aecum states that malt of the usual quality only yields 65 lbs.
of solid fermentable matter the quarter; whereas, by the table given
in his own book, page 84, the fermentable matter in a quarter of malt
ranges from sixty-flve lbs. and a quarter to eighty-six lbs.; and the
average of twenty-six different kinds of malt in this table is seventy-
seven lbs. per quarter, which is equivalent to about twenty-three lbs.
and three-quarters of sugar the bushel.