From Gervase Markham's The English House-wife comes this chapter on the office of the Brew-house, as the proper English Housewide should be knowledgeable in the provision of Good Drinke!
When our English Housewife knows how to preserve health by wholsome Physick, to nourish by good meat, and to cloth the body with warm Garments, she must not then by any means be ignorant in the provision of Bread and Drink; she must know both the proportions and compositions of the same. And for as much as Drink is in every house more generally spent than Bread, being indeed (but how well I know not) made the very substance of all Entertainment; I will first begin with it, and therefore you shall know that generally our Kingdom hath but two kinds of Drinks, that is to say, Beer and Ale, but particularly four, as Beer, Ale, Perry and Cider; and to these we may added two more, Mede, and Metheglin, two compound Drinks of Honey and Herbs, which in the places where they are made, as in Wales, and the Marches, are reckoned far exceeding wholsom and Cordial.
To speak then of Beer, although there be divers kinds of tasts and strength thereof, according to the allowance of Malt, Hops, and Age given unto the same, yet indeed there can be truly said to be but two kinds thereof, namely Ordinary Beer, and March Beer, all other Beers being derived from them.
Touching ordinary Beer, which is that, wherewith either Nobleman, Gentleman, Yeoman, or Husbandman, shall maintain his family the whole year, it is meet first that our English House-wife respect the proportion or allowance of Malt due to the same, which amongst the best Husbands is thought more convenient that can be allowed, and having Age and good Cask to lye in, it will be strong enough for any good mans drinking.
Now for the brewing of Ordinary Beer, your Malt being well ground, and put in your Mash-fat, and your Liquor of your Lead ready to boyl, you shall then by little and little with Scoops or Pails put the boyling Liquor to the Malt, and then stir it even to the bottom exceeding well together, which is called the Mashing of the Malt, then the Liquor swimming in the Top, cover all over with more Malt, and so let it stand an hour and more in the Mas fat during which space you may if you please heat more Liquor in your Lead for your second or small Drink; this done, pluck up your mashing Stroam, and let the first Liquor run gently from the Malt, either in a clean Trough, or other vessels, prepared for the purpose, and then stopping the Mash-fat again, put the second Liquor to the Malt, and stir it well together, then your Lead being emptied, put your third Liquor or Wort therein, and then to every quarter of Malt put a pound and a half of the best Hops you can get, and boyl them an hour together, till taking up a Dish-ful thereof, you see the Hops shrink into the bottom of the Dish, this done, put the Wort through a straight Sieve, which may drain the Hops from it into your Cooler, which standing over the Guile-fat, you shall in the bottom thereof set a great Bowl with your Barm, and some of the first Word (before the Hops come into it mixt together) that it may rise therein, and then let your Wort drop or run gently into the Dish with the Barm with stands in the Guile-fat, and this you shall do the first day of your brewing, letting your Cooler drop all the night following, and some part of the next morning, and as it drops if you find that a black skum or mother riseth upon the Barm, you shall with your hand take it off, and cast it away, then nothing being left in the Cooler, and the Beer well risen, with your hand stir it about, and so let it stand an hour after, and then beating it and the Barme exceeding well together, run it up into the Hogsheads, being clean wash'd and scalded, and so let it purge, and herein you shall observe not to tun your vessels too full, for fear thereby it purge too much of the Barme away.
When it hath purged a day and a night, you shall close up the Bung-holes with Clay, and only for a day or two after, keep a Vent-hole in it, and after close it up as fast as may be. Now for your second or small drink which are left upon the Grains you shall suffer it there to stay but an hour, or a little better, and then drain it all off also, which done, put it into the Lead with the former Hops, and boyl the other also, then clear it up from the Hops and cover it very close, till your first Beer be Tunned, and then, as before,put it also to Barm, and so Tun it up also in Smaller vessels, and of this second Beer you shall not draw above one Hogshead to three of the better. Now there be diverse other wayes and observations for the brewing of ordinary Beer, but none so good, so easie,so ready and quickly performed, as this before is shewed, neither will any Beer left longer, or ripen sooner, for it may be drunk at a fortnights-age, and will last as long and lively.
Now for the brewing of the best March-Beer, you shall allow to a Hogshead thereof, a quarter of the best Malt well ground, then you shall take a peck of Pease, half a peck of Wheat, and half a peck of Oats, and grind them all very well together, and then mix them with your Malt, which done, you shall in all points brew this Beer, as you did the former ordinary Beer, only you shall allow a pound and a half of Hops to this Hogshead: and whereas before you drew but two sorts of Beer, so now you shall draw three, that is a Hogshead of the best, and a Hogshead of the second, and half a Hogshead of small Beer, without any augmentation of Hops or Malt.
This March-beer would be brewed in the months of March or April, and should (if it have right) have a whole year to ripen in : it will last two, three, or four years, if it lye cool, and endure the drawing to the last drop, though with never so much leisure.
Now for the Brewing of strong Ale, because it is Drink of no such long lasting as Beer is, therefore you shall brew lesse quantity at a time thereof, as two Bushels of Northern measure, (which is four bushels, or half a quarter in the South) at a Brewing, and not above, which will make fourteen Gallons of the best Ale. Now for the mashing and the ordering in the Mash-fat, it will not differ any thing from that of Beer: as for Hops, although some use not to put in any, yet the best Brewers thereof will allow to fourteen Gallons of Ale a good Espen full of Hops, and no more, yet before you put in your Hops, as soon as you take it from the Grains, you shall put it into a vessel, and change it, or blink it, in this manner: Put into the Wort a Handful of Oak-boughs, and a Pewter-dish, and let them lye therein till the Wort look a little paler than it did at first, and then presently take out the Dish and the Leaves, and then boyl it a full Hour with the Hops, as aforesaid, and then cleanse it, and set it in vessels to cool; when it is milk-warm, having set your Barm to rise with some sweet Wort, then put all into the Guile-fat, and as soon as it riseth, with a Dish and Bowl beat it in, and so keep it with continual beating a day and a night at least, and after tun it. From this Ale you may also draw half so much very good middle Ale, and a third part very good small Ale.
Touching the brewing of Bottle-Ale, it differeth nothing at all from brewing of strong Ale, onely it must be drawn in a larger proportion, as at least twenty Gallons of half a quarter, and when it comes to be changed, you shall blink it (as was before shewed) more by much than was the strong Ale, for it must be pretty and sharp, which giveth the life and quickness to the Ale: and when you tun it, you shall put it into round Bottles with narrow mouths, and then stopping them close with Cork, set them in a cold Cellar up to the waiste in Sand, and be sure that the Corks be fast tied in with strong packthread, for fear or rising out, or taking vent, which is the utter spoyl of the Ale.
Now for the small drink arising from this Bottle-Ale, or any other Beer or Ale whatsoever, if you keep it after it is blink'd and boyled in a close vessel, and then put it to Barm every morning as you have occasion to use it, the Drink will drink a great deal fresher, and be much more lively in tast.
Gervase Markham, the English Hus-wife, 1615
https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/objects/lse:heh898zor/read/single#page/1/mode/2up
