The proper time for the boiling of a wort hitherto has been determined, without any regard to these circumstances; hence the variety of opinions on this subject; greater, perhaps, than on any other part of the process. While some brewers would confine boiling to so short a space as five minutes, there are others who believe two hours absolutely requisite. The first allege, that the strength of the wort is lost by long boiling; but this argument will not hold good against the experiment of boiling a wort in a still, and examining the collected steam, which appears little else than mere water. Those who continue boiling the first wort a long time, do it in order to be satisfied that the fire has had its due effect, and that the hops have yielded the whole of their virtue. They judge of this by the wort curdling, and depositing flakes like snow. If a quantity of this sediment is collected, it will be found to the taste both sweet and bitter, and if boiled again in water, the decoction, when cold, will ferment, and yield a vinous liquor. These flakes, therefore, contain part of the strength of the wort; they consist of the first and choicest principles of the malt and hops, and, by their subsiding, become of little or no use. It appears, from these circumstances, that boiling a first wort too short or too long a time, is equally detrimental, that different worts require different times, and these times can only be fixed by observation. The first wort having received, by the assistance of the fire, a sufficient proportion of bitter from the hops, is separated therefrom. The hops, being deprived of part of their virtues, are, on the other hand, enriched with some of the glutinous particles of the malt. They are afterwards, a second, and sometimes a third time, boiled with the following extractions, and thereby divested not only of what they had thus obtained, but also of the remaining part of their preservative qualities. The thinness and fluidity of these last worts render them extremely proper for this purpose. Their heat is never so intense as that of the first, when boiling; for, as they consist of fewer oils, they are incapable of receiving so great a degree of heat. This deficiency can only be made up by doubling or tripling the space of time the first wort boiled, so that what is wanted in the intenseness of heat, may be supplied from its continuance. The following table is constructed from observations made according to the foregoing rules. A TABLE _shewing the time each wort requires to boil for the several sorts of beer, in every season_. Vertical heading-- D: Degrees of heat in the air.