IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO THE PROCESSES OF BREWING AND DISTILLING GENERALLY, AND TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Augustus Collingridge and Rene
François Lecerf at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th
February 1880.
AUGUSTUS COLLINGRIDGE, of Paris, in the Republic of France, Distiller, and RENE
FRANÇOIS LECERF, of Rouen, in the Republic of France, and 85, Gracechurch Street,
in the City of London. "IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO THE PROCESSES OF BREWING
AND DISTILLING GENERALLY, AND TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH."
Whereas hitherto during the process of brewing in the boiling of the wort after
the addition thereto of the requisite proportion in weight of hops it has been the
usual practice in the trade to employ for that purpose coppers or open vessels,
which even if partially covered are then generally so constructed as in effect
equally to expose their contents to the normal pressure of the surrounding atmo-
sphere, whereby it is impracticable to succeed in obtaining a higher temperaturo
than that of boiling water, or at furthest reaching a few degrees in excess of
212° Fahrenheit in proportion to any relative excess of specific gravity of the wort,
the temperature in either case being quite insufficient for the due extraction from
the hop of by far the most important constituents of the flavoring matters con-
tained in the essential oil and in the volatile essential oil, the operation of boiling
down the hops as at present usually conducted, even if (as is frequently done)
repeated thrice over, being chemically speaking defective in results, and commercially
speaking conducive to an extensive waste of costly ingredients as well as of fuel.
Now our Invention, as relates first to browing, has for its object to facilitate the
more thorough extraction of the bitter and aromatic principles of the hop than is
at present possible under the system of open or only partially open boiling as
above described, and thereby to effect a notable reduction in the relative weight of
hops expended.
For brewing purposes therefore we substitute for an open or only partially
closed copper or other vessel a hermetically closed boiler or series of boilers, con-
structed preferentially on the following principles:- In form each boiler should be
so planned that the sides, ends, crown, and the sole-plates thereof should admit of
each being dished inwards to the extent of at least 3 inches depth in the centres, up to
6 or 7 inches or more according to superficial area, the outer edges of each side, end,
crown, and sole plates butting into angular frames, preferably of T shaped metal, to
which the edges of the plates are to be securely rivetted in the usual fashion of

page_text: boiler making, being also internally sufficiently well stayed in regard to the plates,
and the frames being braced together externally by means of the rods, so disposed
as to serve as chords to the various sections of the arcs formed by the inward
curves of the frames and plates as to safely withstand an internal working pressure
equivalent to the contents attaining a maximum heat of 360° Fahrenheit during
the process of extracting the essential oils from the hops. The necessary heat may
be communicated preferentially by a steam coil supplied from the main generator, or
in any other convenient mode, and from 35 to 50 minutes maintenance of the
temperaturo of the wort of 360° Fahrenheit (which it is unnecessary to exceed) will
be found amply sufficient to extract all that can be desirable from the hops however
old they may be. After such period the heating medium may be shut off or drawn,
and the wort may be allowed to cool down for further treatment according to the
practice of brewing.
If an agitator is deemed necessary or expedient, then the driving shaft of such
would require to work through a carefully stuffed packing box or tube and gland.
Each boiler requires to be fitted with a safety valve, and a due complement of
supply pipes and delivery cocks with manholes for clearing purposes, as likewise
for the introduction of the hops into the wort either at boiling point or any other
temperature selected by the brewer..
Wherever it is deemed undesirable to raise the entire bulk of the wort to s0
high a temperature as above stated, we use one closed boiler which may be of
comparatively reduced proportions, as above, putting into the wort the total
necessary weight of hops for the entire brewing, and proceed as abovo described.
When cooled down from 360° to about 212° Fahrenheit the concentrated extract
thus obtained may be added to the entire bulk of the wort is in closed boilors, then
the mass should bo kept heated at a temperature from 212° to 222° Fahrenheit
during a space from 30 to 50 minutes, which period will be found quite sufficient
for the purpose of thoroughly amalgamating the concentrated extract with the rest
of the wort.
Or the hops may be placed by themselves in a closed boiler of the construction
before described, and being covered with water, so that the entire mass may not
exceed in all two thirds of the interior cubical capacity of the vessel, the requisito
amount of heat to produce a temperature of about 360°, as before stated, may be
applied, and the product so obtained, after cooling down to not less than 212°
Fahrenheit, added to the bulk of the wort in the desired proportions in the
discretion of the brewer.
In cases where the regulations of H. M. Excise precluding the existence of any
apparatus adapted for distillation upon the premises of a brewer do not apply, the
auxiliary pneumatic apparatus below described may be connected with the closed
boiler by means of a double clbow steam pipe, furnished about midway with a
shut off cock, taking off from the crown of the boiler, and set on to a refrigerating
apparatus of sufficient cooling capacity to effectually condense vapour at a
temperature of 360° Fahrenheit or thereabouts, whereby, in addition to the better
extraction of the essential oils from the hops, a saving in fuel may be effected
equivalent to a reduction of 120° Fahrenheit in the boiling process.
To this end, and generally where the product to be obtained is susceptible of
reduction from a state of vapour into liquid by the process of ordinary condensation
for the better effecting the disintegration and volatilization of so much of the charge
as it may be desirable to run off, as also to facilitate the operation being carried on in
vacuum by securing the automatic continuance of such vacuum, thereby ccono-
mising, as before stated, say about 120° Fahrenheit in the amount of temperaturo
necessary to volatilize the charge according to the specific nature of the latter.
Whatever may be the construction of the boiler or of the still itself, or the
principle on which it is worked, it is necessary in order to maintain a perfect or at
least an effective working vacuum, that the nose of the worm, or the outlet of any
other refrigerating appliance in connection with such boiler or still employed for
condensing the
vapour, should be elevated at least from 33 to 35 feet above the

page_text: surface of the ground at sea level. Connected with the nose of such worm or other
discharge orifice, in the same level as to elevation, is adjusted a closed receiver in
the form of an ordinary spirit safe, but sufficiently strong in point of construction
to safely resist a minimum pressure of 15 lbs. to the square inch. To this
closed safe or receiver is appended a vertical hanging tube descending nearly to
the ground, and of just sufficient calibre to carry off the flow of condensed vapour
issuing in a liquid state from the worm or other refrigerating apparatus. At or
near the lower extremity of this tube there should be a stop cock in order to
regulate the volume of outfall. The column of liquid in the tube, so long as it is
maintained full by proper attention being paid to the stop cock at the lower
extremity, serves to counterbalance the pressure of the atmosphere, and thereby
maintain a constant working vaccum immediately such vacuum shall have been
started in the first instance by the expulsion of the air in the closed safe and
hanging tube, either by a blast of steam or allowing the elevated receiver to fill,
and the atmospheric air to escape either downwards by the hanging tube or
upwards through a short upright blow off pipe and valve fitted to the crown of the
receiver, or by any other easy method calculated to produce the desired effect, such
as an air pump, sufficiently well known in the practice of pneumatic as not to
require more particular description.