MANUFACTURES.

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tnre r [ h e drying, and produces in some measure the evils of, watering on the floor spoken of above.

Another inconvenience of the common cowl is that itprevents a proper regulation of the fire, except by vary-ing the supply of fuel, so that in making high-driedmalt it is by no means uncommon for the grain on thekiln to take fire, to the imminent danger of the premises.This consideration has led to the invention of a cap fora malt-kiln by Mr. Perkin, for which he received areward from the Society of Arts . See vol. xlv. of their

pj Transactions.

This is represented in plate lxxxvi., fig. 1, 2, where,d ‘ a a is the turn-cap, and b b the neck, in section ; cc isa square iron bar or spindle sliding through a squarehole in the middle of the iron plate or bar d , and throughanother in the middle of the beam e. The cap a aturns upon the upper cylindrical portion of the bar, andthe bar itself is supported and hangs entirely on the chain./ attached to the pulley g, which is mounted on a car-riage on the beam e. On the same axis is a largerpulley h, with a chain attached to it at i, from whichhangs a weighty’, sufficient to balance the weight of thesliding bar e and turn-cap a a. By raising the weightj the cap is lowered and finally shut, and on loweringthe cap is raised quite up, or held at any intermediateheight: de, fig. 2, is a section of the neck betweenthe bars, and fig. 3 a top view of the bar d , showing thehole through which the spindle passes; k, fig. 1, beinga similar iron bar across the cap a a. The chain fshould be attached quite close to the bar cc to lessen its

Effect ou te *idency to lean on one side.

^“flavour. (1120.) Flavour of malt. —A great deal is said bythe party for watering on the subject of their beingenabled to make their malt of a superior flavour bysprinkling; but the question of flavour, when applied toPale or common malt, resolves itself into this simplefeet, that malt which is worked in the most pure,elean, and natural manner will be the most free from alladventitious and improper flavour. While pale malt isworked on the floors, all that can be done is not to give,hut to guard it from any peculiar flavour. On the kilnIhe case is widely different; there, just in proportion asIhe fire is urged slowly or rapidly, less' or more offlavour and colour will be given to the malt; it is in thisway only that all malt expressly intended for the brew-!“ff uf porter has its peculiar flavour and colour given to11 i but the flavour of ale, generally speaking, is derivedh'om a different source. This latter arises from the union

a peculiar oil of a greenish colour, naturally abounding■n hops, with a portion of the unfermented wort, and thejnucilage and alcohol of the fermented parts ; these,judiciously blended together in a due proportion, give toule its agreeable taste ; but the palate being an arbitraryor gan, and differing widely in different places, no es-ablished rule ean be laid down for adjusting the flavour-In g' of ale. In some places the sweet taste of malt issquired to be pretty full in the mouth, by leaving aa J"ger proportion of" the unfermented wort; while in° ers it is required to be almost entirely dissipated by a•unre complete fermentation; and between these avariety of flavours may easily be imagined. What hasr een aa >d will be sufficient to explain the case so far asegards that flavour which it is desirable to obtain; butsid^ 6 an °fl 1er point of view in which it is to be con-a re ’ ® n d that is, those bad flavours which maltand "vc i!' 1 ' ts progress through a manufacturing state,which greatly depreciate its value. The principal

of these, and indeed the only one with which the present Mechanicalinquiry is immediately connected, is that of mouldy Processes,malt, arising from the vegetation ceasing after havingmade some progress. Most of the grains which arebruised by being trodden under the feet of workmen orothers while in a state of malting pass into a mouldyor putrid state ; but the principal source of mouldy maltis in wet grain being buried under other corn, and toolong excluded from the influence of the atmosphere.

A simple experiment will sufficiently illustrate this: if asample of half-malted barley be placed under a bellglass, air-tight at the bottom, the corn will vegetatefreely until the enclosed oxygen is all consumed, whenthe vegetation will cease, and the grain will pass into astate of decay similar to mouldy malt, and the moremoist the grain was when enclosed under the glass, thesooner it will become mouldy.

In watering on the floors it is invariably the practiceto turn over the grain immediately after it has beensprinkled ; hence the wet corn is placed at the bottom ;and it will necessarily happen that some of this will againbe thrown undermost in the subsequent turnings, andthis cannot fail to destroy the vegetation, and to rendersuch grain mouldy ; and not only the grains individu-ally dead, but all others with which they happen tocome in contact, will acquire a disgusting taint, whichwill afterwards materially affect the flavour of the liquordrawn from the malt.

(1121.) Weight of malt. —Several erroneous opinions Weight ofare delivered in the evidence given before the Com- malt -mittee respecting the goodness of malt being determinedby its weight. Abstractedly considered, weight indeeddoes not afford any certain data for estimating the worthof malt, because bad malt may be either heavier orlighter than that which is good. If the vegetation ofthe grain has been imperfect,-or not carried sufficientlyfar, the product will be part malt and part barley, andof course heavier than good malt. But if, on the otherhand, the vegetation has been carried too far, too muchof the substance, and of course weight, of the grain willhave been driven out, and the malt will be light in pro-portion as the injuring cause has been allowed to operate.

In this way malt may be rendered light and unpro-ductive to any extent at the discretion of the maltster.

But, notwithstanding all this, in every instance wherethe grain has been perfectly malted, weight is the onlycertain standard now known for determining the valueof malt; and this is now so well understood in themarkets that it is not unusual for the buyer of malt tobe provided with a pair of scales and a small measure,and to govern his opinion of the price by the weightwhich his measure of the sample yields. In all malt,therefore, which has been perfectly malted, there can beno question of the heaviest being the best; and in thisrespect the Hertfordshire malt preserves a distinguishedsuperiority over all watered malt.

(1122.) Varieties of malt. — Strictly speaking there Varieties,are only three, viz. brown, amber, and pale malt. Thefirst two are peculiar to porter, and have special refer-ence to its flavour and colour; the third is the generalbasis as well of all porter as of every species of maltliquor, and it is the only one which merits any 1 con-sideration in the general question of malting. Brownmalt receives all its peculiar qualities in the "kiln, by anoperation called blowing. It is spread there very thin,and a very quick and active heat is passed through itfrom flam'ng faggots. The sudden application of the