|
More Information...
Publisher: Whittaker & Co. (Reprint 2003 by Raudins Publishing), 1847.
Hard Cover, 253 pages, 5.75 x 8.75.
Item #1322
Here is another classic brewing title (from 1847) reprinted in a beautiful hard cover format by Raudins Publishing. In the early 1800's there was quite a difference between how English and Scottish brewers practiced their art.Roberts recognized that brewing texts of the time described the English system of brewing in detail, but theydid not address the Scottish system. To this end, he wrote The Scottish Ale Brewer. Originally, published in 1837, as The Scottish Ale-Brewer, it was revised for a second edition in 1846 and its title was extended to The Scottish Ale-Brewer and Practical Maltster,. Finally, in 1847, a 3rd edition was released. The 3rd edition is in Roberts' own words: the 2nd edition with the addition of an article on the value of sugar in brewing. Scottish PerspectiveEvery aspect of brewing, mashing, and malting is described from the Scottish perspective in The Scottish Ale-Brewer. Different techniques, opinions on hops, how to proceed with malting, developing beers for theIndia market, and analysis of current commercial beers provides for an indepth view of brewing the Scottish waywhen every other book of the time was written from the English perspective.Analysis of Period BeersPeriod information about actual commercial beers is difficult to find, but The Scottish Ale Brewer includes a good amount of this type of information. Roberts sketches a brilliant picture of beers of the day, by performing analysis on over 110 commercial beers. The beers were from "various Scottish Brewers" and "Eminent Brewers of London,Burton, Edinburgh, etc." The analysis includes original gravity, apparent attenuation, price, and more. He notes that he has chosen to leave out the brewers' names so that he wouldn't upset anyone by publishing the information. Analysis is provided for 74 Scotch Ales and 40 India Ales. This information alone makes this volume an important read for thesavy brewer.New Brewing Techniques: SpargingMost every brewer today practices the art of sparging, trickling water over the mash to recover the remaining sugars. Most do not know however that it is an art that the Scottish brewers were performing before the English brewersadopted it. At this time, the English brewers were still using double and triple mashing to recover all of thepotential sugars in the mash. In an effort to help educate brewers, Roberts includes a chapter on Sparging andincludes a couple plates showing the Scottish Sparging machine.India BeersA surprising addition to the book is an entire chapter devoted to developing beers for the India export market.These beers were already being called "India Pale Ale" at this point. Roberts included sections discussing the merits of the business, mashing heats, sparging, boiling, and fermentation of India Beers. He also importantly includes analysis of 40 India Ales of the time from various brewers. MaltingWith the 2nd edition, Roberts rightfully added Practical Maltster to the title of this book. Headded almost 50 pages devoted to malting, how the quality of the malt impacts the brewer, and analysis resultingfrom experiments in malting.Sugar in BrewingWith the 3rd edition, Roberts added a discussion on using sugar in brewing. Apparently, bad barley crops had caused the price of malt to rise significantly and the Government was forced to permit sugar in brewing. Thetopic was getting quite a bit of consideration and Roberts wanted to provide some quality information on whatwas to be gained or not by the use of sugar in the brewing process.
|
