The evening times., 1899-03-11
A SCHOOL OF BREWING.
Proposal to EndOw a Chair In Bir-
mingham. England.

ming = ham. England.
CFrom the Distillers and Brewers Magazine)
The movement for the establishment and
endowment of a chair of brewing and
mailing at Mason College, Birmingham for
which already e22. 900 has been subscrib-
ed, is no doubt an outcome of that gen.
eral desire of modern days for technical
education and specialized instruction. but
it is especially interesting to us as being
one which, if 1t does not mark an epoch
at least opens a new and higher chapter in
the history of brewing. Though beer has
been the national beverage for upward OF
1000 years, yet our proficiency in its man
ufacture has been the result of acquired
skill rather than systematic instruction.
This is quite in keeping with the English
character, which loves experiment rather
than speculation, and which postpones gen
eralization till the results have been OBJ
tanned. The Continental peoples. who
learned their best modes of brewing from
ourselves, or of a different turn OF mind
and so they have anticipated US in this, as
in other departments of industrial instruc-
tions.
At MUNICH there has been for consid-
cradle time a school of brewing and SINH
lar schools are to be met with at Vienna
and Prague. while that of Copenhagen has
obtained a renown from the researches Of
It's professor on the yeasts British inves-
tigators have hitherto done little or moth
ing in the way OF the science OF brewing;
but with the foundation of a chair specially
devoted TO the furtherance of the subject
II is TO be hoped that this reproach will
be speedily wiped out. II is intended be-
sides, that a laboratory should be fitted
up equipped with the best and most recent
appliances, and the technical training here
given must be not only advantageous 10
the students themselves. but also -poten-
TALLY fruitful in the development Of the
business. A few considerations may rend-
er the necessity for both provisions more
obvious. The barley from which beer is
mainly extracted, is native plant usually
grown on light or rye lands, from which
wheat cannot be so beneficially raised.
Mailing. the first step in the manufacture,
is e simple process; 1t consists in wetting
the barley till ii begins to sprout, and then
checking the vegetation movement by
heat whereby saccharine substance, the
essence of malt is produced.
The choice of the grain is the first Tequi-
site in the production of a good beer, and
experience has hitherto been relied upon
TO guide the buyer In his selection. The
''miller's thumb" long ago commemorated
by Chaucer as "a thumb OF gold, Will in
dicate whether the cereal has been cut be-
fore being ripe and what virtues or draw
backs il may possess, and the trained eye
Will show him whether il has been led or
NOV burnt while lying in the field in
which case the grain is apt TO sprout and
to become useless 10 the malster. The sub
sequent processes OF sleeping. flooring.
COUGHING, and kiln-drying are more or less
empiric arts. to which modern brewing
plant and engineering appliances are val
liable accessories. In their general feat
ures these operations do not differ much
from those practiced by our ancestors cen
turies ago, and in these the English brew
er, even on the confession OF his CONT
mental rivals, has long held the foremost
place.
Sedlimayer. of Munich. to whom Bavaria
is indebted for its position in the brewing
world, visited this country in 1892 in quest
of information regarding the art and af-
terward thus wrote: In England we first
learned the true principles Of brewing
Nowhere else had We found them. although
We had shortly before travelled through
Germany, Austria and the Netherlands
We found everything new in England. and
quite different from what prevailed at
home" In this, then. the technical part of
the brewers education and training. We
might be satisfied to rely upon the ma
tive adaptability and practical sense of our
fellow-countrymen. Even for the more
delicate work of adjusting the quality
kind, and condition of the malt. its thick
ness and thinness, to the variety and
character of the beer to be brewed and
such like operations. his acquired sagacity
has hitherto proved sufficient. There is no
art which is not susceptible to improve
ment, but certainly the English brewers
hand has not lost its cunning. The gigan-
tic strides made by chemistry. the intro
duction of engineering plant, the colossal
magnitude of modern breweries and the
employment of substitutes for barley and
hops have, however. now rendered a
scientific knowledge of his business essen
tial to the accomplished brewer, and to the
retention of his place in his special in
dustry.