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More Information...
Publisher: James Cornish, London, c1840.
Hard Cover, 244 pages, 4x6.
Item #1476
The full title of this circa 1840 treasure is "The Art of Brewing on Scientific Principles. Adapted to the Use of Brewers and Private Families; With the Value and Importance of the Saccharometer. Being the Theory and Practice of Brewing Ale, Table Beer, Porter, and India Pale Ale. To Which are Added Directions for Family Brewing; For Making Cider, Perry, and Home-Made Wines. A New Edition, Enlarged and Improved." Though not dated on its title page, the few copies of this rare gem that have survived are generally agreed to have been published about 1840. We do know that one of the earliest editions (if not the first edition) of this book was published in 1824. One of the significant additions to this c1840 version is a recipe for India Pale Ale, which the author says, "is now so universally called for, that I believe every Brewer ought to be in a position to supply it; for though Burton has the honour of the discovery, yet, I do not see that it has a prescriptive right to brew it entirely, or, that it cannot be produced as well elsewhere." The author of this book is anonymous, as is the case with many brewing books of this period. Interestingly, although the title page and spine state the book's title as "Art of Brewing," the book's front cover is gilt-stamped with the phrase "Every Man His Own Brewer," which, coincidentally or not, is the title of several earlier brewing manuals (most written by Samuel Child) from the late 1700s and early 1800s. The "chief topics" covered in this book, as itemized in the preface, are:
• The theory of ale brewing in general
• Plan for keeping a brewing journal
• Malt and hops
• Quantity and quality of water adapate for various sorts of ale
• Mashing and boiling -- Disadvantages of the latter
• Principles and phenomena of the fermentative process
• Cool and slow fermentation
• Heat and the thermometer
• The saccharometer, and its vast utility
• Density and attenuation
• Gravity and spirituosity
• Ale of particular flavour and quality, India Pale Ale
• Construction of Brewery
• Table beer -- an improved sort recommended
• Porter -- general remarks
• Different method of making the brown malt
• Quality of the hops
• Composition of the grist
• Peculiar method of conducting the fermentative process -- nature and proportion of the different ingredients used by ale and porter brewers.
CONDITION: Very Good. Cover shows general wear. Inside, very minor age-toning to pages. Front hinge shows the very early beginnings of a crack, but is very strong and holding tight. A very good copy.
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