ub, is suffered
to remain there till the steam is nearly all evaporated. The malt
previously ground, is then thrown into the water, and thoroughly stirred
and mixed with it. This agitation of the malt and water, commonly called
mashing, is kept up for a quarter of an hour, by which the malt is more
effectually brought into contact with the water, and a greater
proportion of its soluble matter extracted. After this the mash tub is
covered over in order to retain as much heat as possible, and the whole
is suffered to remain undisturbed for an hour and a half or two hours.
At the end of that time, the water thus impregnated with the malt, in
which state it is commonly called sweet wort, is slowly drawn off into
another vessel. The quantity of water used in the first mashing is about
twenty-five gallons; of which, not above fifteen are afterwards
obtained, the rest being absorbed by the malt, with the exception of a
small quantity carried off by evaporation. This first wort being drawn
off from the malt, a fresh portion of hot water is thrown into the mash
tub, and the process of mashing is repeated for ten minutes. The tub
being again covered, the whole is suffered to remain for about an hour,
when a second wort is drawn off. The quantity of water used in this
second mashing is about fifteen gallons; and the malt having already
retained as much water as is sufficient to saturate it, the whole
amount of the fifteen gallons is afterwards recovered from the mash tub.
About twelve gallons of hot water is now added to the malt, and the
mixture being mashed for a few minutes, is suffered to remain another
hour, in order to form a third wort. In the meantime a part of the two
first worts is poured into the copper, with a pound and a half or two
pounds of hops, and boiled for an hour, or an hour and a half; after
which it is strained through a sieve into another vessel. The third wort
is now drawn off from the mash tub, and being mixed with the remaining
part of the first and second wort, it is boiled for an hour or more,
with the hops used in the former instance. The three worts are then
distributed into shallow vessels or coolers, and suffered to remain
there till the liquor is reduced to a lukewarm state. It is then
collected into the tun tub, and fermented with about a quart of yeast,
which converts it into beer. But as table beer is sometimes brewed in
considerable quantities for the use of large families, and in a still
more