For _brewing_ twelve gallons of _table ale_ at a time, the copper should hold eighteen gallons, as about six gallons of water will be absorbed by the malt. The usual proportion of malt and hops required for this quantity is, one bushel of malt and three quarters of a pound of hops. Pale malt is the best, and it should be plump and crisp, breaking readily, and full of flour; it should also taste sweet. The hops should have no bad smell, and they should be in condition, that is, they should abound in the yellow powder called by chemists lupuline, which makes them feel sticky when rubbed between the fingers. The malt must be crushed or ground before it is used. River water is preferred for brewing, and it should be heated in the copper to about 175°, or rather more. [Illustration: Fig. 2. _Spigot and faucet_.] A large deep tub is then provided, called a mash-tub, in one side of which, at the distance of an inch or two from the bottom, is fixed a cock, or what is called a spigot and faucet (fig. 2.), with the end which projects within the tub covered with basket-work to prevent the escape of the grains when the wort is drawn off. About six gallons of hot water are then poured into the mash-tub, and some of the malt is shaken in, a little at a time, and mixed with the water by the help of a wooden instrument called a mash-stirrer (fig. 3.); more water is then added, and then more malt, till nearly all the water has been poured in, and only a peck of malt is left dry. The dry malt is then strewed over the mass of malt which has been mixed with the water, and the mash-tub, having some sticks laid across it, is covered with an old blanket, a piece of sacking, or a coarse cloth, and the malt is left for an hour and a half or two hours to steep. This is called mashing the malt; and the goodness of the ale depends upon the care with which this operation is performed. The water should never be suffered to become cooler during the operation than 160°, or it will not dissolve the starchy matter contained in the malt; and, if it is hotter than 180°, the malt will be set, as the maltsters call it, that is, it will become changed into a glutinous paste, from which no strength can be extracted. When the malt has been sufficiently mashed, the wort is drawn off by the spigot, and it will be found that the eighteen gallons of water have only yielded about thirteen gallons of wort, and sometimes not so much. [Illustration: Fig. 3. _Mash-stirrer_.]