When you have plenty of yeast, take a quantity of it, stir and work it well with a whisk until it becomes liquid and thin. Then get a clean deal board, and with a soft brush lay a thin layer of yeast on it. Turn it downwards over a tub or pan to keep it from dust and let it dry.

When that coat is dry lay on another, and let it also dry; adding layer after layer, as they dry, till you have as much as you wish, This dried yeast will keep for several months.

When you want to use it, cut off a piece and lay it in warm water, then stir it well and it will be fit for use.

If it is for brewing, take a handful of birch tied together, dip it in the yeast, and let it hang up to dry. You can make as many whisks as you please, but they must be kept carefully from dust.

When the beer is set to work, throw in one of these, and it will act as well in promoting fermentation as fresh yeast.

"In brewing, one barrel, or thirty-six gallons, is lost by evaporation; half a barrel, or eighteen gallons, by fermentation and racking; and half a barrel is absorbed by the grains." - South Kensington Museum Food Catalogue.

Many things besides malt are used for inferior beers, such as potatoes, beans, turnips, and other starchy foods. In Russia a beer is made from rye called Quass.

The Tartars and Turks make a beer from mare's milk, called Koumis.

In South America a beer called Chica is made from maize.

In Africa beer is made from an infusion and fermentation of millet-seeds.

Beer is adulterated with salt, capsicums, etc, but not very generally. Publicans are said to put in salt to make their customers thirsty. Grains of paradise are also added sometimes.

The householder will do wisely to avoid buying beer at public-houses, but have it in barrels in the house, from the best breweries - Ind and Coope's, Allsopp's, Bass's, etc. - if he does not brew at home.

Ind and Coope sell nine-gallon casks, which are more convenient for small families; they allow a good discount for ready money.

The brewer's men are obliged, if required, to test the quantity in each cask delivered, to show that it is full; and on any complaints from the servants, or unaccountable ending of a cask of beer, it is well to exact this proof from them.

Beer should be kept in a dry place, but not too hot.

The adulteration of beer with caramel (burnt sugar) may be detected by adding a little tannic acid, which, if the beer is pure, will bleach it directly. On the burnt sugar-coloured beer it has no effect.