Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1865-01-12
The Brewing interests OF the city.
Day UnderRroundIl

The Brewing interests of the OIty.-
ADay Underground
The brewing business of this city has for
many years been conducted by those who
have made few. pretentions, but were con.
tent to continue in profitable employ
ment without claiming for it a prominent
place among our manufacturing interests,
and the public have therefore known little
of its importance or progress. OF late,
however, enterprise and capital have sought
the brewing business, and the importance
it has assumed seems to demand some at
tention at our hands. We have long had
in contemplation visit to our brewing
establishments that we might initiate the
public into the mysteries of the manufac-
ture of the popular beverage which the
poet Burns has rendered famous in song
"the inspiring, bold John Barlycorn," that
made Tam O'Shanter scorn the dangers eff
Kirk-AlIoway,
''WherO ghaists and owlets nightly cry"
Having at length made the visit and con-
versed' with those familiar with all the
details otths business, we propose to devote
what space we have to spare to-day to it's
consideration.
Everybody knows that ale is manufac-
tured from barley malt and hops, but the
chief ingredient is barley malt which is
purchased by the maltster or brewer and
converted into malt. The mailing process
may be described as folloWs: The grain
is G.st -PasVvG W 'ne 1uBEVsrUTSl InEu 3 long
tub or tank partially filed @beh water,
where it is allowed to remain twsnty-four
hours, when it is taken out aud "couched"
that is piled in large heaps upon floor
of cement. 1t remains in the .'couch'
about twenty-four hours until it begins to
sprout, when it is spread out upon the floor
SO that it may be controlled. When the
plant is developed to proper extent the
grain is placed in a drying kiln, when the
drying aud heating process causes the
| sprout to drop from the grain, and you have
what is called malt, ready for the'hands of
the brewer. The sacharine matter upon
which the plant lives and By which it is
engendered, is what the ale is made Of, and
the object of "couchtng" the grain is to
develope this matter to certain extent,
and then the plant is blighted in the kiln
so that it may absorb no more ofrthe mat.
ter than the brewer or -maltster may deem
consistent with hisintereBss in the premises.
The grain, then, in the hands of the bre ":
er, passes through certain crushing, mash
ing, boiling and fomenting processes which
We have not the space to describe; and
with the assistance of the hops and other
minor ingredients is converted into ale.l
The barley isgrOwn principally in Iowa,
Wisconsin and Canada, bat some good
Eerops have been raised in Washington
county, Pa, and in this county, andsin this
State. Before the war barley commanded
only sixty cents per bushel, but now it sells
at from one dollar and seventy. five cents
to two dollars.
The hops are. grown in the state of New
York, lin Oneida and Otsego counties
where there are extensive hop yards, J
Michigan, and Northwestern Ohio. Five
years ago contracts were made for hops
at fifteen cents per pound. Now they can
not be bought for less than sixty. Up to
1868 such thing as blight in hops had
never been known In America. 1t first
| appeared during the year 1864, and is sup
lposed to have been imported in hops
brought from England during the year
previous. 1t created great alarm at the
time and will doubtless continue to appear
more or less to the damage of the hop
crops.
There are in the city thresais 6reweries,
Geo. W. Smith Co., Eu5tou & Story and
John Reed & Co.. and seven establish
ments employed in the brewing of beer
alone. All the materials employed in ma
king malt liquors have increased one hun
dred per cent since the commencement of
of the war, and the price of, and the de-
i. mand7 for the article, have increased at the
same rate. The increase in the demand is
Attributable to the Government tax on
whisky, increase of population, and pos
sibly general Decentralization.
It's estimated that there is capital OF
about S25o, 900 invested in'the ale brewing
business in the city. Lastysar only about
9 $4,000 barrels of ale were manufactured
: aud sold in the city, but it is thought by
) those familiar with the matter that with
. the new facilities and new establishments
.