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Prestonpans and Vicinity

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against their walls, in magnificent style, as they did during the time of our visit.
" Some of the malthouses are even more ancient than the old brewery, having been erected in the seventeenth century. Beneath the ground floor of one of them, now used for storing ales, are subterraneous caverns, called the "Catacombs, " which are curiously constructed and of great extent. Another of the makings formed part of an extensive distillery, which, in the days of James II., was famous for its whisky.
" On entering the offices of Mr R. H. White, the managing partner, we were entertained by that gentleman with a brief history of the brewery. Afterwards we were introduced to the head brewer, Mr Armstrong, who directed us through the brewery, and finally took us to the mailings. We commenced our observations at the malthouse, a two-storyed building to the left of the entrance, and adjoining the brewhouse. It is used for receiving and storing malt from the various malthouses, and contains, on the ground floor, the mill chamber. The room is paved with stone, and contains one of Milne's malt mills, enclosing a pair of pressed rollers, capable of crushing thirty-five quarters of malt per hour. Before reaching the rolls, the malt is most effectually screened in the following manner. The malt hopper is situated about 18 feet from the rolls, and the malt is conveyed thither by a propeller 11 feet long, inside a cylinder. This propeller is fashioned to act as conveyor and polisher, and delivers into the malt screen. We do not remember having seen anything like it before. It was designed by Messrs Milne & Son to meet the special requirements here, and has been found to work admirably. When the malt has been crushed between the rolls, it is carried by an elevator to the top of the building, and thence, by an Archimedean screw, to the gristcase depending over the tuns. The remainder of this floor is used for storing cumins in sacks, and for a fitters' shop.
" Pursuing our way upstairs to the top floor, we passed an enormous flywheel, connected with the shafting of the main engine, which is for driving the mill machinery and working the pumps.
" The whole extent of the large room above is used for storing malt, and, fixed in the floor, is a hopper, into which the sacks are tipped, when the malt disappears as fast as it is put in.
" Before following the crushed malt to its destination, we have something to say about the water used, which plays such
an important part in a brewery. The brewing liquor is drawn from a well, 80 feet deep, situated in the old brewhouse, which has supplied the brewery for two centuries, and is of the finest quality. It is particularly free from objectionable matter, which, along with the first-class material always used, accounts for the excellent keeping qualities of even the lightest ale
made.
"Through an opening in the wall we passed into the brewhouse, a square structure with an open roof and a paved floor. On the north side, reached by a staircase in the centre, is a broad gallery, on which the coppers are erected; and over them, at a slight elevation, a special copper tank for heating brewing water, which holds 100 barrels. On the floor of the house, which measures 50 feet square, are three cast-iron mash-tuns, having a total capacity of forty quarters—viz., eight, twelve, and twenty quarters. The difference in the capacity of these vessels indicates the successive and proportionate increase of the trade during the last half century. These tuns, all of which are fitted with covers, telescopic spargers, and slotted iron draining plates, are commanded by an extra size portable Steel's mashing machine, which possesses a 5-feet gun-metal cylinder, and runs on wheels.
" In the basement of the building is a very capacious under-back, for receiving the contents of all the mash-tuns, and from whence the wort is pumped direct to the coppers.
"Following our guide, we ascended to the copper-stage, to take a peep at the insides of the three coppers, which hold respectively thirty-five, seventy, and eighty barrels. They are all supplied with boiling fountains, and are heated by fire. As we approached them, the copper-man, as he is called, was emptying the hops from the bags into the boiling wort, and their fragrance soon filled the air with appetising odour. The hop-store, afterwards visited, occupies the upper floor of the beer-bottling house, and is capable of holding 300 pockets.
" Leaving the coppers behind us, we descended to the mashing floor, to inspect the hopback, built into a recess on that level. It is a square vessel, holding ninety barrels, and beneath it, sunk into the floor, is a receiver, 10 feet deep, into which the strained wort runs, and from whence it is pumped to the coolers by a powerful three-throw pump. We next bent our steps to the top of the adjoining building, where the cooling department is situated. On our way thither, a capacious tank was pointed out to us, holding 200 barrels, which receives the waste water from the refrigerator. It commands a large oval heating tank,
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