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Publisher: R. and J. Dodsley, 1758.
Hard Cover, 216 pages, 5.00 x 7.75.
Item #1454
See more pictures below. Talk about rare. Have a look at this first edition copy of Michael Combrune's first book on beermaking, An Essay on Brewing, published in London in 1758 -- nearly 250 years ago! Four years later, Combrune published his more famous work, The Theory and Practice of Brewing. Both books are considered to be among the very earliest works to promote a scientific approach to beermaking, especially regarding the use of the thermometer inside the brewery. Combrune, a successful brewer himself, is considered to be the first to have demonstrated the groundbreaking value of the thermometer in brewing. In Chapter 5 of An Essay in Brewing, entitled "Of The Thermometer," Combrune itemizes the various ways in which the thermometer offers valuable new insight to the brewer, stressing that without accurate temperature control, "Beers, though brewed in their due season, cannot be regularly fermented, and whenever they prove good, it is by accident." He concludes his case in favor of the thermometer by writing, "I know very well, that good Beer was made before the Thermometer was known, and still is, by many, who are as entirely ignorant of it, as if it had never been invented: but this is always by chance; and they cannot but confess they frequently fail; whereas, did they but properly apply this instrument, they certainly never would." Chapter List: • Of Fire
• Of Air
• Of Water
• Of Earth
• Of the Thermometer
• Of the Vine, its Fruit and Juices
• Of Fermentation
• Some Further Thoughts on Fermentation
• Of the Nature of Barley
• Some Farther Considerations on Malting
• Of the Different Properties of Malt
• Observations on Defective Malts
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