Now is the time to realize the importance of the perfect cleaning and grinding of the malt, for the result of mashing depends in part upon these two preliminary processes. If the malt be insufficiently crushed, much of the extract will be lost, or rather, to be more precise, much of the starch will resist infusion and thus remain bound up in the grain, which latter then passes out of the tun with a considerable portion of its starch adhering to it. If, on the other hand, the malt be crushed too fine, or if it be insufficiently cleaned, retaining large proportions of dust, a part of the wort will become pasty and absorb much of the “goodness,” thus impairing the quality of the beer. Before the invention of the modern appliances before referred to, the very best raw material frequently failed to yield the results which the brewer was justified in expecting from it, and such failures, the true causes of which were rarely understood, gave rise to trade-superstitions which the modern brewer laughs at, conscious of his superior knowledge. While the process of mashing is going on, the brew-master must be constantly on the alert; he must watch the temperature of the water, with which he mixes his malt; gauge the effect of the heat upon the quantity and quality of his mash; and determine, at a glance, almost, when to open the valves of the mash-tun, in order to draw off the wort into the copper or boiling kettle below. As in everything connected with brewing, science furnishes him a reliable guide in the shape of a saccharometer, which indicates the proportion of sugar in the wort, and other instruments with which to test temperature, etc. When the opportune moment has arrived for drawing off the sugar-laden liquid, the brewer opens valves or doors in the bottom of the mash-tuns, through which the wort runs into pipes, and through a filtering apparatus into the boilers on the floor below. While this is going on, and before half of the wort is run off, we witness another operation called sparging, by which the useful substance still remaining in the malt is washed out. By the sparging machine a continuous shower of hot water is evenly thrown on every part of the grain; it issues from hollow arms, perforated on their reverse sides, and horizontally fixed to an upright pin. As soon as the water begins to force its way out of the holes, in opposite directions, these arms revolve automatically; the raking appliances, meanwhile, continue to whirl around, constantly stirring up the mash, thus enhancing the effect of the water and accelerating the operation. Insufficient or ineffective sparging means a considerable loss to the brewer.