Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

BEER-MAKING. r pHE vastness and importance of the 1 brewing interest in the British Isles is shown by the fact that the revenue derived from beer in a recent year was more than £>\3,000,000. The duty is fixed at seven shillings and ninepence on a barrel of 36 four barrels of mild ale, but only two of strong ale, and the quantity used in pale ales and stout varies between these. The duty is collected by Excise officers, who supervise every brewery. Beer being an article of daily consumption, THE MALT ROOM, MESSRS. WHITBREAD’S BREWERY. THE FIGURES 7, 8, 9, 10, II AND 12 ARE NUMBERS OF HOPPERS THROUGH WHICH MALT FALLS INTO MILL ; THE SMALL SQUARES UNDER FIGURES ARE OF GLASS, SO THAT IT CAN BE SEEN WHEN THEY ARE EMPTY. gallons of a certain strength, which is termed the standard specific gravity. This standard of strength on which the duty on a barrel amounts to seven shillings and ninepence may be taken as being the ordinary strength of mild ale. The duty, therefore, on pale ale, stout, and strong ale is proportionately more on each barrel. An idea of the relative strength of beers may be easily gained by a comparison of the different quantities oi malt used in their manufacture. One quarter (which equals eight bushels) of malt will make of a bulk out of all comparison to the in- gredients required, it follows that the place of manufacture, or the brewery, is as a matter of economy always in the centre of the densest population. The principal exception is Burton- on-Trent, and in a lesser degree Dublin and London. The fame of the brewing qualities of the Burton water dates from the thirteenth century, when the discovery was made by the monks of Wetmore. The peculiarity of the Burton water is an almost entire absence of carbonate of soda and sulphate of soda, so