run as before, and let the liquor stand an hour and a half; then run it off; but never let the malt stand dry: keep lading fresh liquor over it till the quantity of wort to be obtained is extracted, always allowing for waste in the boiling. The next consideration is boiling the wort. The first copper full must be boiled an hour, and whilst boiling add the several ingredients, except the ginger and cocculus berries. The hops are now to be boiled in the wort, but are to be carefully strained from the first wort, in order to be boiled again in the second. Eight pounds is the common proportion to a quarter of malt; but in summer, the weather being hotter, the quantity must be varied from 8 to 12 pounds, according to the state of the air. After the wort has boiled an hour, lade it out of the copper and cool it. In summer, it should be quite cold before it is set to work; in winter, it should be kept until a slight degree of warmth is perceptible by the finger. When properly cooled, set it to work, by adding yeast in proportion to the quantity. If considerable, and if wanted to work quick, add from one gallon to two. Porter should be brought forward quicker than any other liquor, except twopenny; let it work until it comes to a good deep head; then cleanse it by adding the ginger. The liquor is now fit for barreling. Fill the barrels full, and let the yeast work out, adding fresh liquor to fill them, till they are quite full, and have done working. Bung the casks, and keep a watchful eye upon them for some time, lest the beer should suddenly ferment again, and burst them, which is no uncommon accident where due care has not been observed; the heat of summer, or a sudden change of weather, will occasion the same casualty, if the barrels are not watched, and eased when they require it, by drawing the peg. The only part which remains to complete the brewing, is fining the beer. To understand this, it is necessary to remark, that porter is composed by brewers of three different sorts of malt-pale, brown, and amber; the reason for using these three sorts, is to attain a peculiar flavour and colour. Amber is the most wholesome, and it is recommended to use none else. In consequence of the subtleness of the essentia, which keeps continually swimming in the beer, porter requires a considerable body of finings; but, should any person choose to brew without essentia, with amber malt, and with colour only, the porter will refine of itself very soon. Some, however, will perhaps follow the exact recipe, and therefore it is necessary to mention, that finings are composed of isinglass dissolved in stale beer, till the whole becomes of a thin, gluey consistency, like size. pint is the usual proportion to a barrel; but sometimes two, and even three are found necessary. Particular care must be taken that the beer in which the isinglass is dissolved, be perfectly clear and thoroughly stale. One By attending to these directions, any person may brew as good, if not better porter than they can be supplied with from the public houses. It has been artfully insinuated, that porter requires to be brewed in large quantities, and to be long stored, to render it sound and strong; but experience falsifies those insinuations, which have had their origin in ignorance, and their existence in interest. One brewing under another will afford ample time for porter to refine for use, and every person can best judge of the extent of his own consumption. Porter is not the better for being brewed in large quantities, except that the same trouble which brews a peck, will brew a bushel. The mode we have here laid down will be found simple and easy in its operation, essentially useful as to health and convenience, and extremely moderate in point of trouble and expense. To Brew Excellent Ale. The following is the proportion of ingredients requisite for brewing a barrel of excellent ale. The prices are annexed to demonstrate the saving which may be made in this beverage. Prices fluctuate, but then Clear gain .......... 3 4 6 Ale is generally brewed from pale malt, but that is optional, some preferring brown, others amber ales. The capsicum and coriander seeds are to be boiled in the wort, observing the method of boiling and mashing, as in porter; but let ale stand to work two or three days, and beat it up-well once or twice a-day. When the head begins to fall, cleanse it by adding a handful of salt, and a little flour, mixed up with the cocculus Indicus; then proceed to barrel it. To make Ten Barrels of Table-Beer. Table-beer may be serviceable to a large family, and therefore the estimate is given upon a larger proportion: 8. d. 22 0. 0 12 0 000080 04 0 0 8 3 4 3 2 0 800 320 4 18 O Liquorice and other flavouring substances may be added; those we have inserted are only the most general, and, as some suppose, the indispensable requisites. (To be continued.) BEER AGAINST TEA. (From Cobbett's Cottage Economy.) As to the cost of tea, compared with that of beer, I shall make my comparison applicable to a year, or three hundred and sixty-five days. I shall suppose the tea to be only five shillings the pound, the sugar only seven pence, and the milk only 2d. a quart. The prices are at the very lowest. I shall suppose a tea-pot to cost a shilling, six cups and saucers two shillings and sixpence, and six pewter spoons eighteen pence. How to estimate the firing I hardly know; but certainly there must in the course of the year be two hundred fires made that would not be made, were it not for tea-drinking. Then comes the great article of all, the time employed in this tea-making affair. It is impossible to make a fire, boil water, make the (tea, drink it, wash up the things, sweep up the fireplace, and put all to rights again in a less space of time, upon an average, than two hours: however, let us allow one hour; and here we have a woman occupied no less than 365 hours in the year, or thirty whole days, at twelve hours in the day; that is to say, one month out of the twelve in the year, besides the waste of the man's time in hanging about waiting for the tea! Now, then, let us take the bare cost of the tea. I suppose a pound of tea to last twenty days, which is not nearly half an ounce every morning and evening. I allow for each mess half a pint of milk. And I allow three pounds of the red dirty sugar to each pound of tea. account of expenditure would then stand very high; but to these must be added the amount of the teatackle, one set of which will, upon an average, be demolished every year. To these outgoings must be added the cost of beer at the public I have here estimated every thing at its very lowest. The entertainment which I have provided is as poor, as mean, as miserable as any thing short of starvation can set forth; and yet the wretched thing amounts to a good third part of a good and able labourer's wages. For this money he and his family may drink good and wholesome beer, and in a short time, out of the mere savings from this waste, may drink it out of silver cups and tankards. In a labourer's family, wholesome beer, that has a little life in it, is all that is wanted in general. Little children, that do not work, should not have beer. Broth, porridge, or something in that way, is the thing for them. However, I shall suppose, in order to make my comparison as little complicated as possible, that he brews nothing but beer as strong as the generality of beer to be had at the public-house, and divested of the poisonous drugs which that beer but too often contains. And I shall further suppose, that he uses in his family two quarts of this beer every day, from the first of October to the last day of March inclusive; three quarts a-day during the months of April and May; four quarts a-day during the months of June and September; and five quarts a-day during the months of July and August; and if this be not enough, it must be a family of drunkards. Here are 1,097 quarts, or 274 gallons. Now, a bushel of malt will make 18 gallons of better beer than that which is sold at the public-houses. And this is precisely a gallon for the price of a quart. Well, then, to brew this ample supply of good beer for a labourer's family, these 274 gallons require 15 bushels of malt, and (for let us do the thing well) 15 pounds of hops. The malt is now at 8s.* a bushel, and very good hops may be bought for less than a shilling a pound. The grains and yeast will amply pay for the labour and fuel employed in brewing, seeing that there will be pigs to eat the grains, and bread to be baked with the yeast. The account will then stand thus: Here, then, is the sum of 41. 2s. 2d. saved every year. The utensils for brewing are, a brass kettle, a mashing tub, coolers (for which washingtubs may serve), a half hogshead, with one head taken out for a tun tub, about four nine-gallon casks, and a couple of eighteen gallon casks. This is an ample supply of utensils, each of which will last with proper care a good long life-time or two, and the whole of which, even if purchased new from the shop, will only exceed by a few shillings, if they exceed at all, the amount of the saving arising the very first year, from quitting the troublesome and pernicious practice of drinking tea. The saving of each succeeding year would, if you chose it, purchase a silver mug to hold half a pint at least. However, the saving would naturally be applied to purposes more conducive to the wellbeing and happiness of a family. It is not, however, the mere saving to which I look. This is, indeed, a matter of great importance, whether we look to the amount itself, or at the ultimate consequences of a judi * This calculation of Mr. Cobbett's was nude a few years ago: the present price of malt and hops may be substituted by those who wish to make a closer estimate, cious application of it; for, four pounds make a great hole in a man's wages for the year; and when we consider all the advantages that would arise to a family of children from having these four pounds, now so miserably wasted, laid out upon their backs, in the shape of decent dress, it is impossible to look at this waste without feelings of sorrow, not wholly unmixed with those of a harsher description. But, I look upon the thing in a still more serious light. I view the tea-drinking as a destroyer of health, an enfeebler of the frame, an engenderer of effeminacy and laziness, a debaucher of youth, and a maker of misery for old age. In the 15 bushels of malt there are 570 pounds weight of sweet; that is to say, of nutricious matter, unmixed with any thing injurious to health. In the 730 tea messes of the year there are 54 pounds of sweet in the sugar, and about thirty pounds of matter equal to sugar in the milk. Here are 84 pounds, instead of 570, and even the good effect of these 84 pounds is more than overbalanced by the corrosive, gnawing, poisonous powers of the tea. PROVISIONS IN SEASON FOR JUNE, SOUPS. Turtle, mock-turtle, veal, and gravy. FISH.-Salmon, soles, mackarel, turbot, smelts, carp, tench, lobsters, eels, pike, crayfish, prawns, and shrimps. FLESH.-Buck venison, mutton, beef, yeal, and lamb. POULTRY.-Green geese, fowls, pullets, chickens, turkey pouts, plovers, ducklings, wheatears, and young rabbits. GAME.-Young leverets only. VEGETABLES.--Cauliflowers, young carrots, peas, beans, young turnips, asparagus, spinage, lettuces, cucumbers, radishes, mustard, cress, purslane, and other small salad; parsley, thyme, mint, and most other potherbs. FRUITS, Strawberries of several gorts; currants and gooseberries; Kentish-duke, Flander's-heart, whiteheart, and black-heart cherries; apricots, peaches, nectarines, pineapples, and grapes from the forcing frame. The following apples and pears of the last year, if they have been carefully preserved, will still be found juicy and good; the black pear of Worcester, lord Cheyne's green warden, and bezy du Chau montelle. Apples: deux amis, or John apple, oaken pippin, golden russet, Pile's russet, and the stone pippin; oranges, nuts, and French preserves. GARDENING. Particular attention is now required in weeding, hoeing, thinning, and watering the principal crops, and pricking out, and transplanting for autumn and winter, Sow savoys, brockoli, borecole, cabbages, turnips, carrots, spinage, coleworts, kidney beans, lettuce, endive, celery, cucumbers, radishes, peas, beans, and small salad. Plant cabbages, savoys, brockoli, leaks, celery, cucumbers, and radishes. Melon plants must be shaded in the heat of the day, and receive a large portion of fresh air. Transplant endive for blanching, and pick out young brockoli plants which were sown in April or May, USEFUL RECEIPTS. TO PURIFY TAINTED BUTTER. Melt and skim the butter as if for clarifying; then put into it a piece of bread well toasted: in a moment or two the butter will lose its offensive taste and smell, but the bread will become perfectly fetid. ECONOMICAL METHOD OF PREPARING FRUIT FOR CHILDREN. ries, raspberries, or any kind of fruit, Put apples, pears, plums, gooseber into a stone jar, and add Lisbon or common moist sugar; place the jar in a cool oven, or in a saucepan of boiling water, and let it remain till the fruit is done, It may be eaten with bread or boiled rice, or be made into puddings. TO DETECT ALUM IN RED WINE. Add to the wine a sufficient quantity of a strong solution of chlorine in water (oxygenated muriatic acid), until it is changed to a yellow colour; let the precipitate (composed of the chlorine and the vegeto-animal matter contained in the wine), which immediately forms, become settled; then. filter the liquor, and evaporate it to one-fourth of its volume; it will then, in consequence of the presence of the alum, have an astringent, sweetish taste, and will furnish a white precipitate, on the addition of nitrate of barytes, which is insoluble in water and in nitric acid. It will give a yellowish-white precipitate with pure potass, that is soluble on the addition of an excess of the potass; and a precipitate, of the same colour, with the sub-carbonate of soda, which is decomposed, by the action of heat, into carbonic acid gas and alum, substances easily to be recognized by their characteristics. TO BOTTLE GOOSEBERRIES. grown; Gather smooth-skinned gooseber ries before they are quite full pick them, and put them into gooseberry-bottles; set them in a copper of cold water up to their necks; cork the bottles before they are put in, but do not knock the corks in tight, and put hay or straw round them to prevent their breaking; make a fire under them, and let the heat increase gradually; let them simmer ten minutes, but not quite boil; then take out the fire, and let them remain in the copper till cold; then take them out, dry the bottles, knock the corks in close, rosin them, and set them in a dry place, or put them into sand, ashes, bran, or saw-dust that is dry, with the mouths downwards. The gooseberries eat very nice if the bottles are filled up with cold pump water before they are put into the copper. When the fruit turns quite yellow, they are done: they must not boil. TO MAKE YEAST. Thicken two quarts of water with three spoons-full of fine flour, boil it half an hour, and sweeten it with about half a pound of brown sugar; when nearly cold, put it, with four spoonsfull of fresh yeast, into a jug, shake it well together, and let it stand one day to ferment, near the fire, without being covered; there will be a thin liquor on the top, which must be poured off; shake what remains, and cork it up for use; always take four spoons-full of the old to ferment the next quantity. A quarter of a pint of yeast is sufficient for a peck loaf. TO MAKE YEAST WITH PEASK. Take a tea-cup full of split or bruised peas, pour on them a pint of boiling water, and set it by in a vessel four and twenty hours in a warm place; it will then be fit for use. COOKERY. TO ROAST A GREEN GOOSE. Put a piece of butter, about the size of a pullet's egg, into the goose, spit it, and lay it down to the fire; singe it, drudge it with flour, and baste it well with butter. If the goose be large, it will take nearly an hour; when done enough, drudge it with flour: baste it till a fine froth rises, and the goose is of a nice brown. Melt some butter, and put into it a spoonful of sorreljuice, a little sugar, and a few scalded gooseberries; pour it into sauce tureens, and send it up to table hot, with the goose. You may also add gravy and apple-sauce, and garnish the dish with crusts of bread, grated very fine. TO ROAST DUCKS. Truss them, and prepare them for the spit, with a seasoning of onions and sage-leaves, chopped fine; a spoonful of bread-crumbs, and a bit of butter, the size of a walnut, with some pepper and salt; singe them, dust them with flour, and baste them. A good fire will roast them in half an hour; before you take them up, dust them with flour, and baste them till they froth and look brown, Wild ducks may be dressed in the same |