Improvements in the Treatment of Matured Stock Beers.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Mar., 1899-Accepted, 6th May, 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Treatment of Matured Stock Beers.
We, FRANK FAULKNER, of The Laboratory, Bath Row, Edgbaston, Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Consulting Brewer, JAMES EDWARD JOHNSON JOHNSON,
FI.C., F.C.S., of Crown Works, Marsh Gate Lane, Stratford, in the County of
Essex, Manufacturing Chemist, and THE NON-DEPOSIT BEER COMPANY, LIMITED,
of the N.1.B. Works, 69, Bath Row, Edgbaston, Birmingham, aforesaid, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This invention has for its object the re-conditioning of matured stock beers
(pale or black) by the aid of carbonic acid gas generated within the same.
For this purpose to the selected stock beer, whilst in cask. are added suitable
quantities of saccharine matter, for example sugar candy, and a ferment, for
example pure beer yeast of special culture type, the re-pitching corresponding,
when using sugar candy and pure beer yeast, to the use of about one and one-half
pounds of the former and one ounce of the latter to each barrel, or thirty six gallons
of beer. The sugar candy, when fully attenuated or split up, yields sufficient car-
bonic acid gas to completely re-saturate with such gas the volume of beer specified.
To assist the re-conditioning of the beer thus treated, the casks containing the
same, and which should be made specially strong, are stored at a suitable and
practically uniform temperature, say about 55° F., and are rolled from time to
time, say about three times a day, for a few minutes at a time, so as to urge on
the re-conditioning of the beer until the latter again attains the standing gravity
of the matured article before treatment, that is to say, until the added saccharine
matter is completely attenuated or split up so that no alteration can be detected
in the flavour of the treated beer. The beer is then stored for a suitable time,
for example one, two or three weeks, at a low temperature, say about 30° F., in
order that the beer may become super-saturated with the newly formed carbonic
acid gas generated within it. During this storage the beer may remain at rest
or be rolled from time to time. The treated beer is finally filtered under pressure,
and preferably against a counter-pressure, into casks, jars or other suitable recep-
tacles, the direct pressure and counter-pressure being produced by filtered air or
other gas, for example carbonic acid gas, or a mixture of the two,
The filtering and filling operations may advantageously be effectel in the
manner and by the means which will now be explained by aid of the accompanying
drawings wherein
Figs. 1 and 2 show respectively in end elevation and cross section, a filter and
Fig. 3 shows in front elevation, a bottle filling machine suitable respectively for
filtering and bottling beer treated according to this invention.
The filtering material consists of compressed blocks or plates 1 of pulped

page_text: cellulose, or a mixture of pulped cellulose and asbestos, held in place in an ordinary
manner between plates 2 and 3 that are respectively formed with small and large
perforations, the combined blocks or plates 1 of filtering material and the support-
ing plates 2 and 3 therefor, being fixed in place within a suitable casing 4 that
is provided with an inlet pipe 5 for the beer to be filtered, and with an outlet pipe G
for the filtered bear. When a mixture of cellulose and asbestos is used, suitable
proportions are 90 parts by weight of cellulose to 10 parts by weight of asbestos.
but the proportions can be varied. In the example shown, the inlet pipe 5 is
formed by a hollow trunnion that is connected to the central space 4" between
the plates, and to a pipe 6 that is provided with a valve and a glass vessel 8
having a pressure gauge 8 and is connected to a supply pipe 9 for connection
to a cask or other vessel from which the beer to be filtered and bottled is forced
by gaseous or other pressure. 10 are vent cocks. The outlet pipe 6 is connected
by the branched passage 11 with the end compartments 12, 12" of the filter case +
and by a flexible pipe 1 to the lower end of a filling cylinder 14 that is in connec-
tion through a cross pipe 15 and common longitudinal pipe 16 with a number of
filling nozzles 17 of a bottle filling machine, the said nozzles being each formed
with a circumferential opening or openings controlled by a tap or other valve
and through which beer can escape and descend along the inner surface of the
bottle to be filled, (when the bottling tap is opened) and with a central outlet
pipe 18 through which air can escape from the bottle whilst the rume is being
filled with beer, as in bottling machines of known construction. The several
outlet pipes 18 extend to the upper part of the cylinder 14 which is connected to
a second cylinder 19 provided at 20 with an outlet normally closed by a valve 21
that is pressed against its seat by a suitably weighted lever 22, both cylinders,
which may be of glass, or of metal with gauge glasses, being provided with
pressure gauges 23. The movable bottle supports 24 and the means for carrying
and operating thu same, are of known construction.
With the arrangement described it will be seen that if the supply and delivery
pipes 9 and 6 of the filter be connected respectively with a cask containing beer
under gaseous pressure and the bottle filling machine, and the valve 7 be opened,
then as the air cannot readily escape from the cylinders 14 and 15 of the bottle
filling machine, such air will set up a counter-pressure to the direct pressure of
of the beer
the beer passing through the filter, and also to that
entering a bottle that is being filled, whereby the filtering and filling
operations are enabled to be carried out in a more advantageous manner than
heretofore, the extent of such counter-pressure being capable of ready regulation,
to suit requirement, by merely adjusting the position of the weight on the lever 22.
It is to be understood that the above described improved means of filtering and
bottling beer is not herein separately claimed as forming part of the present
invention as we intend to obtain separate Letters Patent in respect thereof and is
only herein referred to in order to explain the best way known to us of filtering
and bottling beer treated according to this invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. Generating carbonic acid gas in matured stock beer by adding saccharine
matter and a ferment to the beer whilst in the cask and storing the beer under
conditions to facilitate the attenuation or splitting up of the saccharine matter
as set forth for the purpose specified.
2. The herein described method of treating or re-conditioning matured stock
beer by adding thereto whilst in the cask, saccharine mutter and a ferment, and
storing the beer thus treated first at a comparatively warm temperature and
agitating it from time to time until the saccharine matter is attenuated or split

page_text: up, and afterwards at a low temperature, and finally filtering it under pressure,
substantially as described.
Dated this 24th day of March 1899.
For the Applicants.
W LLOYD WISE,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Chartered Patent Agent.