The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-06-24
New Malt House Will Handle $780,
600 Bushels Annually.
Is the Most Modern Plant in the World,
Without Exception.
The New Pneumatic Motion Process
Is Put Into Use.
termination Done in Immense Drums,
Instead of Floor Process.
From Tuesdays Daily.

From Tuesdays Daily.
Few people in Manksto realize, prob
ably, that this city contains the most
modern malt mandatory in the world
If this was to be said of plant locat-
ed in New York or Chicago it would
cause no surprise, but to say it of a
plant located in Mankato will cause some
people to say that this expression is sim
ply the outburst of local pride intended
to please our readers. This is not the
case, in this instance, however, for the
statement is no more than the absolute
fact. The plant is not the largest, but
it is the best.
In the last two or three years new
methods have been adopted in the manu-
facture of malt, that both improve the
quality and cheaper the cost of produc-
ton. But few of the big malt houses
have yet adopted the new machinery,
having expensive old plants on their
hands, and the few that have adopted
the new process have done so without
putting in a full new plant. Not so
with the Mankato Mailing company. 1t
has practically built an entirely new
plant, buildings and all, discarding the
old methods entirely, and putting in the
most complete plant that money could
buy.
1t was the pleasant privilege of Free
Press reporter to be shown through the
big plant yesterday afternoon, and to
have the uses of the new machinery
explained in detail. The plant will be
thrown open to the public next Satur-
day, and for one week thereafter, and
everybody is cordially invited to call and
inspect it. Some of the officials will be
present to show visitors around, and it
will pay anyone to go through the big
buildings and see what is going on there.
One principal change in the method of
manufacture is in the terminating pro-
cess. As is we'll known, the barley is
dampened until it has sprouted certain
amount. Just at the time when change
comes in the grain, when there is the
biggest amount of starch and sugar in
it, the sprouted barley is dried out and
all process of growth stopped. The old
way is to take the barley and terminate
it in large rooms, spreading it on the
floor to a thickness of a couple of feet
and having men with shoyels go through
it and stir it and turn it over, so as to
get as much evenness in the terminating
process as possible. This is the process
still almost universally followed, but the
latest improved machinery terminates
the grain in much better way and gives
is absolute uniformity, doing with ma
chinery what the old process requires
hand labor to do. -.
When the barley is received at the malt
house it is taken from: the car, by a
hopper and belt conveyer up into the
building about one hundred feet above
the ground, into bins above the steep
room, and it is, then lowered into i'm
mense steel tanks in the steep room,
each holding 800 bushels. There are six
of these tanks, and the grain remains in
them for from 4S to ~ hours, according
to the condition of the barley when it
is received. Ifit was harvested in very
dry condition it has to be stepped longer
than if it was, a little damp when
threshed. Artesian well water is forced
into the bottom Of these tanks under
pressure, and fills the tanks full. There
is a constant current of fresh water go
ing up through the grain and running
out at the top. .sFer the first few hours
the water thatsgruns away is almost
black, but befers'the sleeping process is
completed it issas clear as when it
comes out of the we'll The grain has
been cleaned. ~ .fss'
From the sleeping tanks, the cleaned
grain is let down through iron pipes in
to the terminating room below, stream
of water helping to force it along into
the twelve big drums, each helding 75(
bushels when full. These drums are
made of boiler steel and are 2lA feet
long and Il1a feet in diameter. They are
slowly turned around and around by
hydraulic motors, the speed being regu-
lated by the person in charge from one
revolution in forty minutes to one in
twenty four hours. Not another malt
house in the United States uses by.
draulic power for this purpose. The
beauty of the hydraulic system is its
simplicity. An eight horse power en-
CINE furnishes the pressure. Oil is used
in the pistons instead of water, as the
the city water might gather sediment
that would take from the pressure.
Air is drawn through perforated pipes
running through the drums, by means OF
fans, and this air is impregnated with
moisture. Each drum has eight of the
fresh air tubes that close automatically
The dampness is absorbed by the grain