BEER AND ALES.—­These are made from grains and hops, which contain no sugar, it is true, but are composed of starch, which may be changed into sugar.  When a seed of grain is put into the ground and begins to grow, the starch in it becomes sugar, which feeds the young plant.  When a brewer wishes to make beer, he takes some grain, puts it in a dark place, wets it, and leaves it to sprout, or begin to grow.  Then he puts it into an oven to dry it, and make it stop growing.  This makes what is called malt.  The malt is mashed and soaked in warm water to get the sugar out of it; this forms a liquid called sweet wort.  The wort is separated from the mashed grain and boiled; yeast is mixed with it to help it to ferment more quickly; it soon becomes changed; a dirty yellow scum filled with bubbles comes to the top, which we know is the poisonous carbonic acid gas; the other poison, alcohol, stays in the liquid and makes the beer taste good to those who like it.

Liquors made from grain are called malt liquors.  Lager beer, and all kinds of ales and porters, are malt liquors.  They make people dull, sluggish, and stupid who drink much of them.  They do much mischief in the body, though it takes a larger quantity of any one of them to make a person drunk than it does of whiskey or brandy.

AN ATOM OF
GRAPE SUGAR.             CARBONIC ACID GAS.       ALCOHOL. 
Carbon, 6 atoms.         Carbon, 1 atom.          Carbon, 2 atoms. 
Oxygen, 6 atoms.         Oxygen, 2 atoms.         Oxygen, 1 atom. 
Hydrogen, 12 atoms.                              Hydrogen, 6 atoms.

SUB-FERMENTED GRAPE SUGAR MAKES 2 atoms of carbonic acid gas and 2 atoms of alcohol.

ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS
MADE FROM
FRUITS.                                 GRAINS.
Cider.             Wines.                   Beer, Ales, etc.
Apples.    Grapes,          Gooseberries,    Barley,       Oats,
Perry.  Currants,        Elderberries,    Wheat,        Peas, etc. 
Pears.     Blackberries,    Cherries, etc.    Corn,         (with hops).

* * * * *

DISTILLATION.

How does the sugar in grapes and other fruits become alcohol?—­“By fermenting.”  Yes, and liquors made by fermenting are called fermented liquors.  What other alcoholic drinks have you heard about beside cider, wines, beer, and ales?—­“Gin, whiskey, brandy, rum.”  These are stronger than the fermented liquors, that is, they contain more alcohol; they are made by what is called distillation.

If you boil water, and let the steam from it fall upon a cold plate, the steam will change back into liquid and become distilled water.  Making a liquid boil, catching the vapor or steam and cooling it, is what we mean by distillation.

If two or more liquids are mixed together, the one that boils with the least heat will be drawn off first.  The alcohol of beer, cider, and wines is mixed with water; it boils at a lower heat than water, so can be drawn off from it very easily.  This does not make more alcohol, it only makes the alcohol stronger by separating it from the water.