Welsh Ale (with salt and flour)

[anchorandoak]

So I'm sitting reading my copy of "A Cyclopaedia of Six Thousand Practical Receipts, and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, and Trades, Including Medicine, Pharmacy, and Domestic Economy. (Designed as a Compendious Book of Reference for the Manufacturer, Tradesman, Amateur, and Heads of Families" by Arnold James Cooley, Practical Chemist (published around 1850), when I come across a section pertaining to brewing. It has a break down of the brewing process and then multiple sections about how to brew various types of beer (Nottingham Ale, Bavarian Ale, London Ale,..etc). Listed there was the following recipe for a Welsh Ale:


ALE, WELSH. Take 3 quarters of the best pale malt and 25 lbs. of hops; turn on the first liquor at 178*. Mash for an hour and a half, and stand two hours. Turn on second liquor at 190*, and stand two hours. Boil an hour and a half; pitch the tun at 62*, and cleanse at 80*, using salt and flour. After the second mash, turn on for table beer at 150*. Mash three quarters of an hour, and stand two hours.

Can anyone explain what the salt and flour are being used for? Also, what is a "quarter" and what type of hops do you think they would've been using?

 

[BigEd]

Salt and flour? Maybe a paste of the two used to clean the copper?

Hops? In 1850 UK I'm guessing Goldings.

Quarter? LMGTFY quarter: unit of weight equal to 28 pounds http://phrontistery.info/unit.html

 

[anchorandoak]

i was thinking something like that, but none of the other recipes called for such a thing.

sorry about the quarter thing, I googled it but wasn't sure if it was the same unit of measurement I was finding. sorry!