Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-01-30
TEMPERANCE MATTERS.
FACTS ABOUT THE MAKING OF
A FILTHY DRINK.
Brewing Beer-The Entire Process OF
Making the stuff Is Exceedingly Filthy.

x.-.utnx Beer-The Entire Process Of
Making the stuff Is Exceedingly Filthy.
Suppose we take look into . brewery.
What we wish to learu is what brewers
do and why they do it. II We were go
ing to make beer we should need to do
cverything--in Short to enter Us APP
prcntices. l hope none OF my pupils
will ever do that. We do not propose to
make beer, but to expose it's badness.
We can learn much by looking:
You would not expect to find brew
cry very clean place. There is too
much dirty work done there. too much
straining and fermcnting and waste. A
vast amount OF good grain is spoiled
there At the Centennial Exposition of
1876, in Philadelphia, we were told that
we could see the entire process OF beer
making at the Brewers Hall; so q party
of temperance. people went around there
one day. A nice large room contained
great variety OF new utensils and ma
chincry, all duly labeled. but none of it
in operation When We asked to SEQ the
promised process OF bcer-mxking. the
workmcn simply ran some discolorcd
water through the mash-tub. Why did
they not keep their promise: Because
there is too much dirty work about beer
making. and they wishcc to make us
think 1t was all very clean and sweet.
We soon found. however. that the
beer cellar was expected to be the great
attraction. Even the workmcn watched
for the opening of the door into that. so
that they might dodge in and get Il
drink We declined the privilege. but
when they assured us We would not be
urged TO drink, we walked in and looked
around the cold. dark. damp room. aud
saw people with glasses in their hands
going around to get drinks from great
gloomy looking hogshcads. Much
pains we're taken to keep this clean also.
but there was nothing CHEEKY nor at
tractive about it. Aud there was very
little to learn. excepting the strength
OF the appetite created by beer drinking,
In the real brewery we will also refuse
the drink, and we will be careful to
avoid the moldy utensils, and to keep
our footing on the Shiny floors. Let us
look first at the mash-tub, where the
crushed grain is washed ont in hot water.
Men keep stirring it up by machinery or
with long poles, SO that the liquid can
pass through the perforated bottom
This liquid is called the "swcct wort, {"
because it is not yet fermcnted When
it is drawn off from the masll-tnb it is
run into the boilers. Where arc they?
All built up in ranges with patchwork.
Beneath them are the places to build the
fires. Over each boiler is the machinery
that turns the handle of rake. which
reaches into the boiler and stirs up the
sediment at the bottom. Hops arc now
put into the liquid to make the beer Bit
ter and more SIMPLIFYING. and to hide the
nauseous taste of the decaycd grain.
The boiling goes on for some hours.
partly to get all the strength out of the
hops and partly to curdle some nutri-
tious parts of the grain that still remain
in the wort. These are all strained out
after the boiling is finished, and the brew
is poured out on the floor of a large
room to cool.
This word brew at first meant TO boil.
and it was applied to bcer-making on ac-
count of this boiling, but now it is ap-
piled to the whole process of beer
making. No alcohol is developed yct, but
careful preparations have been made by
removing from the wort nearly all PARTS
of the grain but the sugar
When the wort has cooled it, is run into
large watts that hold a hogshcad OF two,
and the yeast is put in. about one gallon
to one hundred gallons of the wort.
Within few hours the sugar begins to
decay. and the alcohol is forming. That
is the way in which all alcohol is formed.
by the decay OF the sugar in sweet
liquid: and here we have seen how it is
done in beer-making. This is the great
object, TO produce this alcohol. Without
this the beer would not sell. No one
would drink il.
The entire process is filthy. Very
filthy water is often used to make the
wort. The fermenting watts look filthy.
with the dirty foam piled up so high that
the workmcn call it "rocks." The odor
Of decay is in the air. You can smell
that and the hops throughout ali the
neighborhood. The worknen look filthy.
too They are usually lovers of beer.
and they get all they want TO drink
William Lii, brewer OF Chicago.
whose buildings were burned down in the
famous fire, said he should not rebuild.
because he could not keep his worsmeu
sober. He said the curse began in the
brewery itself, where every workman was
q beer barrel in the morning and a bar
rel of beer at night The stuff that
comes from the brewery is no better for
other people than it is for the workmrn.
We wish all the brewers were as sensible
rs MIR. ILL. but SO long as people will
have beer somebody will be- found
filthy enough To make it.-1cmpcrt,,,re
issrpsN