The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-07-28
Lager Beer.

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question which, short time ago, exercised
the minds of judicial functionaries, and
- caused many an anxious alderman to scratch
his head and experience the novel sensation
fusing his brain; but as they have left the
question distinctly unsettled; one party cry
ing "aye!" and the other as loudly vocifer-
ating "no!" we shall not attempt to dis
cuss it, but only write of that which is GER
tain and fxcd-in short, stick to facts.
Fact No. then is, that in these United
States of America, fluid of delicious dark
amber-color is imbibed in immense quanti-
ties during the summer months.
Fact No. 2, is that the said fluid has pc
culiar and pleasant flavor and much refresh
eth the inner man of the imbiber.
Fact No. is, that it is known by the
name of "lager" or laid beer.
And for fact No. 4, it may be stated that
scarcely more than one in thousand Of
those who daily enjoy this Tuetonic beverage
(Which some say is too-tOnic) have any idea
of the method of its manufacture or the man.
= ner in which it is produced, and on this point
we intend to enlighten the nine hundred and
nincty-nine. ..
There are only three articles required to
make lager malt, hops and water. The
}. first is made from barley, which should be
of the best quality, and to make it into malt
is to convert its starch into grape sugar,
which is about five times less sweet than
common cane sugar To do this the barley
is stepped in water for from forty-eight to
seventy-four hours, and then placed in heaps
upon tagged floor and allowed to germin-
ate for about ten days. 1t is then slowly
dried, first by currents of air, and then by a
suitable stove; and this part of the process
requires much care; as, if it is dried too
highly or too slowly the malt will be injured,
After the barley is cleaned and has remained
sometime, it is ground in mill and becomes
pure malt.
The next process is termed "mashing 4"
the malt is mixed with hot water of Ger.
tain temperature, which differs in various
brcweries, each one having their "secret," /"
as they call it, for producing the particular
flavor which especially recommends that Of
certain manufactures to the palates of one or
the other class of fconnoisseurs; and after all
the saccharine matter is extracted, it is
drained off by fine sieve and the liquid is
called "wort" The wort is then heated
several times, the heat being increased each
time and mixed with the hop-wort in the
hop-kettle. The manufacture of this hop
wort must be very carefully conducted or all
? the batter win not be extracted, and the liq-
und is, when boiled sufficiently, drawn of
into large shallow pans called coolers, where
care must again be taken that it does not
absorb too much oxygen or it will afterwards
turn sour; therefore, pure dry air and rapid
cooling are important From the coolers it is
drawn off into the fermenting rooms, where
it is put into immense vessels and yeast ad.
ded. In one brewery in this city, they can
ferment 1000 barrels or 10000 gallons al
one time. The beer remains here ten OF
fourteen days when it is removed to the Gel.
lars to "npen," where, in the fermenting
room, the air should be constantly changed
by mechanical means or perfect system Of
ventilation adopted; the impure warm ail
being constantly withdrawn, and pure, cool
air supplied. Lager beer can only be made
from about the first of October till the mid.
die Of April, and summer beer is kept for
six menths and winter beer two months af
, ter it is manufactured, before being intro
! duced to the market.
A quarter keg of seven and halfgallons
costs about dollar and half, and it should
be drank as quickly after tapping as possible
as 1t soon begins to be fat and stale indeed
in Munich, Bavaria, which is the greatest
beer-drinking city in the world, when bar.
rel is about half empt~ the regular Gloon