1868 The complete Practical Distiller

PROCESS OF MALTING.

71

ficiently steeped when, on being strongly rubbed between the hands, it is completely crushed, without leaving any solid or irreducible particle. All the other means resorted to to recognise the period of its termination are analogous to the latter; such is, for instance, that of cutting it by the nail or crushing it between the teeth. By these means and a little practice, you may always convince yourself that not the least particle ^f corn has escaped the penetrating and softening action of the water — for this is the only object of steeping. To guide the operator, he is informed that the grain is sufficiently softened and penetrated after having remained from thirty to forty hours in the water, according to the season and the mate- rials made use of. It is necessary to remark that it is sometimes essential in the heat of the summer to renew the water once or twice, because, without that precaution, a fermentation might take place, which would always prove injurious to future results. When the corn has been sufficiently soft- ened, and is placed under one of the conditions necessary for germination, it is extremely swollen, and increases conspicuously in bulk ; this is the reason why it has been recommended not to fill the back entirely. Then the water is let out of the back through an open- ing made in the lower part of it, and continues to be drained for ten or twelve hours previously to the suc- ceeding operation, the object of which is to cause the grain to germinate. The corn, having been suitably steeped in the way above described, is placed on the malting-Jloor, near to which the steeping-back should be placed, to save labour