MALTING BARLEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1001, 4 February 1871, Page 8

MALTING BARLEY.

A description of the malting works attached to the brewery of Messrs Marshall and Copeland, and which were opened a short time ago, together with a few particulars concerning colonial grown barley, may not be uninteresting to our readers. The walls are of bluestone, undressed,' except the stones round the openings, and 18 inches in thickness. On the c round floor is the malt house, which is 85 feet in length by 30 feet in width, and 7 feet in height. It is floored with cement, by which it is also skirted, so as to prevent any water or damp from the outside coming into contact with the grain. Each of the posts whioh support the main beam, which extends the whole length of the building, and on which lie the cross beams of the upper floor, rests on a block of ashlar which rises to the height of fourteen inches above the floor. The grain is thus kept quite clear of the wood, which is preserved from rotting, and the grain from being tainted. In each of the windows is a series of wooden louvres, by which the admission of the air is regulated, and the sunlight excluded.

On the upper floor is the granary, 85ft in length by 30ft in width, and the walls of which are Bft 6in in height. Eight large oross- beams supporting smaller ones, firmly braced and bolted together with iron, uphold a slated roof. The roof being high, these beams are intended to Bupport another floor when required. Besides the sacks of grain stored there, the granary contains a steep 20ft in length, 6ft in width, 3ft 6in in depth, and formed of three- inch Oregon planks. 160 bushels are generally steeped in it at a time, but it can hold 200. From this steep there are two pipes to carry off the water in which the grain is soaked, and two valves which, when lifted, allow the grain to descend on the malting floor below, and over which it is spread to malt. Having lain there for the prescribed time, it is lifted on to the upper Jloor through a trap door which opeua near the entrance to the kiln, to which it is next transferred. The drying floor of thejeiln is 30ft. in length, by 20ft. in width, and is formed of patent tiles, each 12 inches square. Theße tiles are perforated with small holes, of which each tile contains 960 — so small that the grain does not fall through or lodge in them, but which allow the current of heated air from below to pass through the grain. The tiles rest upon a kind of network of small iron bars, that cross each other about a foot apart. These bars rest on iron beams, which are supported by iron pillars. On the ground floor is the kiln, whose three furnaces are fed with coke, the heat from, which rises to the drying floor, a distance of 16 feet above. Here it may be mentioned that when the malt haa been properly dried in the kiln, it is transferred to the malt bins, which also are on the upper floor, and near the door leading to the kiln. These bins are capable of holding about 3600 bushels, and the malt in the one first filled is being nsed whilst the malt last put in is allowed to become mellow. After the malt has been passed through a cleaning machine, which separates the incipient sproutings called the "combings" from it, the process of malting is complete. The chief fault of the provincial-grown barley is, we are informed, that the farmers do not ripen it sufficiently, and that as all unripe grain produces, when malted, acetic acid instead of sugar, it is worse than useless to the maltster. More attention should also be paid to the quality of the seed. Each kind of seed barley should be sown separately from any other kind, since, as one kind comes to perfection before another, that portion which is unripe is unfit for malting. English maltsters and brewers are so particular in making certain that the grain ■which they purchase is properly matured that they send their agents to Bee that all which is cut is properly ripe, as it often happens that part of the crop in the same field is ripe, while owing to situation or soil it has not yet ripened in another part. The agents mark with poles any part of the field in which the grain is not perfectly ripe, and do not allow it to be cut until it is so. Farmers here, as a rule, not having the proper experience, cut the grain whether it is ripe or unripe, whereas for malting purposes it should be fully ripened and stacked for from two to three months before being thrashed. Laßt year farmers in this province cut their barley crops before they were ripened. Others again neglected to hood their stooks properly, in order to effectually preserve the grain from rain. A considerable portion of the crop was in this way deatroyed. Others again thrashed out their grain at once, bagsred it, and sent it to market without stacking it. Some parcels of this barley filled soon after storage with vermin, and of course became \m3aleable, or was sold at a low figure, payable to neither

seller nor buyer. Even -when stored on the driest and best aired floor, it would, in this state, soon fill with vermin. These would not have come into the grain had it been brought to maturity and stacked for the proper time, as a fermentation would have set in, which would have destroyed the germs of the insects., preventing insects from appearing in it. We are also told that machines for freeing the barley from smut and refuse are much needed here now. The Canterbury barley is of a very light description, and rather deficient in strength, compared to what the Otago barley would bo if properly saved, but produces a wort sounder than the generality of the last year's Oago samples did. The Canterbury farmers have had more experience in the growing of barley, but the soil and climate of their province are for that purpose, in the raising of heavy crops, not equal to Otago. If the Otago barley were properly grown, cleaned, and saved, it would far surpass the Canterbury barley, this province in general being highly adapted for growing this crop, the excellence of which is a matter that rests entirely with the farmers. There are many light soils which will grow nothing else but barley, and that of the best quality, though, possibly, as heavy a crop could not be raised as on other soils. In 1870, according to the General Government statistics, 28,540 acres were under barley in all New Zealand, whereas the number of acres taken up in growing barley for Bass and Company's establishment at Burton- on-Trent was 42,200 ; so that, assuming Rew Zealand barley to be equal in quality to home barley, which it has not yet arrived at, and the land in each country to bear as heavy a crop, all the barley grown in New Zealand would supply that establishment for about seven months only, brewing operations in England being suspended for about two months during the heat of summer. If freight and other expenses wpre equal, and good barley locally grown, Otago brewers could compete >ith English brewers in the Indian markets. Barley could also form a large export to Australia, where the heat prevents it from arriving at the same degree of perfection for malting purposes as ifc does here, and also prevents a first article from being brewed. In consequence of this, Victorian beer is principally made fit for ready sale, and not for keeping, and consequently cannot be exported in quality equal to the New Zealand beer. If the New Zealand brew were allowed to enter the Australian ports duty free, and Australian native wines allowed to enter here upon the same terms, it would be to the mutual benefit of both countries, and would be an encouragement to industries which as yet axe merely in embryo.