AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRE- SERVING THE AROMATIC PRINCIPLE OF HOPS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Armand Gilbec, of the General Patent
Office, 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRE-
SERVING THE AROMATIC PRINCIPLE OF HOPS." -A communication from
abroad by Edwin Dwight Brainard, of Albany, County of Albany,
United States of America.
Sealed the 1st January 1870, and dated the 22nd July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Armand Gilbee
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd July 1869.
I, WILLIAM ARMAND GILBEE, of the General Patent Office, 4,
South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD

page_text: OF PRESERVING THE AROMATIC PRINCIPLE OF HOPs," to be as follows, that is
to say:
This Invention relates to an improved method of storing hops by
which their aromatic principle is preserved.
Attempts have been made to preserve the peculiar aromatic flavor
and odor of hops by enclosing them in metallic cases or wrappers
hermetically sealed, but this method has proved unsuccessful.
The improved method of preserving the aromatic principle in hops
consists in storing them within a close chamber in a dry atmosphere
at a low and uniform degree of temperature of about 40 degrees
Fahrenheit without exposure to circulation, by which the resinous
substance "lupuline" remains unchanged, and the hops retain their
aromatic flavor and odor for a considerable length of time.
To carry out the Invention I take hops packed in bales in the usual
manner and stow them away in a close store room connected with an
ice house, within which store room the atmosphere has been rendered
both dry and cold by means of apparatus serving to refrigerate the
enclosed air, and removing all moisture or humidity therefrom, for
which I have also applied for Letters Patent on the Twenty-fourth day
of May One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, Number 1595.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Armand Gilbee in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ARMAND GILBEE, of the General Patent Office, 4, South Street, Finsbury,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Armand Gilbee, Her
special licence that I, the said William Armand Gilbee, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William

page_text: Armand Gilbee, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
3. of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRESERVING THE AROMATIC
PRINCIPLE OF HOPs," (a communication to me from abroad by Edwin
Dwight Brainard, of Albany, County of Albany, United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
0 Armand Gilbee, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
6 months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Armand Gilbce, do hereby
declare the nature of the said 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 relates to an improved method of storing hops. by
which their aromatic principle is preserved.
The peculiar aromatic flavor and odor of fresh hops are the properties
which are essential for the manufacture of beer and on which depends
their commercial value. Hops which have been left over one season
are generally worthless on account of the loss of their flavor and odor.
These aromatic properties are extremely volatile under ordinary tem-
peratures. They reside in a resinous waxy substance called "lupuline,"
which is found in the form of fine yellow grains or dust covering the
base of the scales of the catkin, and which constitutes about one-sixth
of the weight of the hops when fresh. This substance is changed in
its nature by continued exposure of the hops to the air and to ordinary
temperatures and loses its aromatic qualities by evaporation. For this
reason hops kept from one season to another in the ordinary manner
become valueless. Hops are packed very closely in bags, and attempts
have been made to preserve them by sealing them hermetically in metal
casing, but continued exposure to an ordinary temperature vitiates.

page_text: the aromatic resinous substance and destroys its valuable properties
under any mode of packing.
Hops absorb moisture readily, and for this reason they cannot be kept
in cellars or damp situations long without spoiling even at a low tem-
perature, and they are usually stored in dry and airy lofts as the best
mode of preservation.
.
Now I have discovered and ascertained by experiment that the con-
ditions necessary for preserving the nature of the "lupuline" or resinous
substance in hops unchanged and retaining its valuable aromatic
qualities are dryness of the air surrounding them and low temperature
combined. Both these conditions are essential for the preservation of
the aromatic principle of hops. Previous to my discovery this principle
or method of preservation of the aromatic properties of hops has not
been known or applied, and the consequence has been great loss and
inconvenience to the public. The hop crop is very precarious and only
one good crop is generally made in several successive seasons causing
scarcity in one year and a glut in another and extreme fluctuations
in the market price.
By my discovery or Invention of a new mode of preserving the
aromatic principle of hops the loss attending the old mode of storing
hops will be obviated, and they can be kept sound and merchantable
for several years.
In order to carry out my Invention I take the hops packed in bags
in the usual way or in any other suitable manner, and put them into
a chamber or other receptacle made tight and close to prevent ventilation
or communication of the hops with the atmosphere, and so placed in
or connected with an ice house or refrigerating chamber as to have the
air surrounding the hops reduced to a low temperature or nearly to
freezing point, say, between forty and fifty degrees Fahrenheit. The
hops having been thus stored and kept cold and dry the resinous
substance "lupuline" undergoes no material change in its nature and
the flavor and odor of the hops are not dissipated or lost by evaporation.
By this management of hops their aromatic principle can be preserved
fully from one season to another, and they may be kept for several years
without detriment to their odor and flavor.

page_text: Having now described the nature of the Invention communicated to
me, and the manner of performing the same, what I claim is, the
improved method of preserving the aromatic principle of hops by
keeping them stored in a dry atmosphere, at a low temperature as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Armand Gilbee, have
hereto set my hand and scal, this Twentieth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.