The materials required for brewing pure beer are Malt, Hops, Yeast, and water and isinglass for fining - (this is dissolved in sour beer).

Malt is made from barley, wheat, oats, or rye; but barley is the best, and is used for English beer.

Malting, or making malt, is performed by putting the barley in a cistern, steeping it in water till the grains become swollen and soft, and then piling it in a heap, to develop heat by the absorption of oxygen from the air. After this the grain is spread about on the floor, more or less, according to the temperature of the air. It soon begins to sprout, and throws out a rootlet and germ, when the peculiar chemical substance called diastase is developed, which has the singular power of converting starch first into dextrin, and afterwards into grape-sugar. In fourteen days the barley will have sprouted sufficiently; its starch being to a great extent converted into sugar. It is then dried in a kiln, and is in a fit state to use for brewing.

There are four sorts of malt; made by varying the amount of heat employed in drying it. These kinds are called pale, amber, brown, and blown.

The pale malt contains the largest amount of saccharine matter, and consequently makes the best and strongest beer.

Amber malt is only slightly scorched, and has therefore nearly as much sugar in it as the pale; in brown malt the scorching has greatly diminished the amount of sugar; in the black or blown, the sugar has been by heat converted into caramel, which has a bitter taste.

In choosing malt it is best to buy that which has the grains full, round and plump, with a thin skin, and with a mellow sweet taste. In testing it draw a broken grain across a board; if it leaves a rich chalk mark it is good - or put some in water; good malt always swims; if there is raw barley mixed with it, it will sink. Maltsters sometimes adulterate their malt with raw barley, but it will never float as good malt does. Malt should weigh from 40 to 45 lbs. per bushel. If it is light it is not so good, or pure.

It is best to grind the malt at home, as it measures more when ground than it does in the grain. It should not be ground too fine, and it should be crushed or ground nearly a week (or if high dried or dark malt, ten days or a fortnight) before using - that it may mellow.

The pale malt is the most wholesome. Beer made of brown malt turns sour sooner than the pale does.

Hops

The hop or Humulus Lupulus, is a plant now extensively cultivated in England. Our hop gardens form a portion of the national wealth, and far excel in picturesque beauty the vineyards of France and Spain. Hops are cultivated chiefly in Kent, Sussex, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire; also in Belgium and the United States. They require a rich and loamy soil, and great quantities of manure. They need the greatest care, and are always an uncertain crop. In unfavourable seasons they are imported.

The hops from South and Mid-Kent are the strongest and most highly flavoured. Herefordshire and Worcestershire hops, of a more delicate flavour, are used chiefly for pale ale. Belgium hops are used for porter. "Spent hops" - i.e., those which have been boiled in the wort, are used for manure.

Hops are gathered by hand in September and the first week of October, and are rapidly kiln-dried. After which they are put into pockets, or bags, where they become a solid greenish-yellow mass. The active principle of the hop resides in a bitter resinous matter called tuputin, and also in an essential oil, both of which prevent beer from decomposing.

Hops retain their strength up to three or four years old, after which they are worthless; but the fresher they are the better.

In selecting hops we must think of the kind of ale for which they are to be used. If for pale ale or table beer new hops of a pale yellow colour and mild flavour should be chosen. They should have a clammy feel when rubbed, and plenty of yellow farina on them. If they are required for brewing strong ales, porter, or stout, the strongest hops of Kent or Sussex are best, and always as new as it is possible to obtain.

Hops remain very good, however, for two years, then they begin to decay and lose their flavour, unless great quantities are kept together, in which case they preserve it much longer.

They should be kept in a dry place.

Hops which have grown stale, and lost their natural bitterness, can be renovated by unbagging them, and sprinkling them with aloes and water.

Water

The quality of the water used in brewing is of the greatest importance.

Experience has proved that the best water for brewing is soft and pure river water, or that of a stream running over a chalky or gravelly bottom. Rivers exposed to the beneficial influences of sunshine and air, and not polluted by drainage, make the best ale; the reason perhaps why some particular localities, such as Stoke-upon-Trent, Burton, etc, have become famous for it.

Hard water astringes the power of the malt, and consequently requires a much larger quantity to be used than soft water does.

Chalky water also produces good ale, for which Dorchester used last century to be famed.

If, however, nothing but hard water can be obtained, it may be in a degree softened by exposure to the air and sun, and putting some pieces of chalk to intuse into it; or, when the water is set to boil, a quantity of bran should be put into the copper with it, which will take off part of its hardness, and make it better extract the virtues of the malt.

Brown malt will bear a coarse river water, it is said, like that of the Thames about London, but it will not keep more than six months good.

Yeast should be good, fresh, and white; bad yeast will spoil good beer.

The brewer should be careful to have every article required for brewing ready before he begins, as, if the wort waits for anything that should be immediately at hand, it will be injured.