ention, and made
greater progress in the improvement of the process than any other class
of men interested in the success, though far from having arrived at
their _ne plus ultra_.

The introduction of raw or unmalted corn; the close compactness of
their working tun, or fermenting backs; the order and progressive
succession with which they conduct the process; and the pains they
necessarily take to arrive at a perfect attenuation, by a long
protracted fermentation, with the early conviction of a reward
proportioned to their diligence, and the success attending their best
endeavours, when not frustrated by intervening causes, must be stronger
inducements with them to delight in this instructive process of
nature's formation, than with the brewer, who has not these immediate
tests to encourage his labours, which the others daily derive from
distillation, and which so quickly and uniformly terminates their
hazards and success. The principal object in their view being a high
and deliberate attenuation, with a full vinosity, without any further
regard to the quality or flavour of their mash, as the combination of
these qualities alone produces the required strength, in the cleanest
manner.

The brewer's cares are many, and of longer duration: he is the vintager
of our northern climates: his porter or ale should be an agreeable malt
wine, suited to the palate of the district or neighbourhood he lives
in, or, ultimately, to the taste of his customers. The time he has
allotted himself for attenuation was first founded in error, derived
from ignorance of the subject, and slavishly continued by that
invincible tyrant, custom. Hurry marks the progress of his fermentation,
which can only be corrected by his speedy mode of _cleansing_, and the
consequent but necessary perishing of a part. He must begin with more
accuracy at the mash tun than the malt distiller, as it is there he
must not only regulate the strength, but, partially, the flavour and
transparency of his malt wine. His object does not end with the malt
distiller's, nor, like his, concentre in one focal point, the solution
of the whole of the farina of the plant or grain employed, regardless
of milkiness or transparency; he must carefully take the heats of his
liquor, so as to solve and combine the qualities he has in view; which,
if he misses in the first mash, is partly irremediable in the succeeding
ones. His cares do not end here; independent of the minutiae of
ferm