IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE SACCHARIFICATION OF RICE, MAIZE, OR OTHER GRAIN OR STARCH MATERIAL INTENDED FOR THE DISTILLATION OF ALCOHOLIC SPIRITS OR BREWING, OR FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GLUCOSE OR BREWERS' SACCHA- RINE, PART OF WHICH INVENTION IS APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES."
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Frederick Henley, of Saint Georges Square,
Belgiavia, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVED PROCESS
AND APPARATUS FOR THE SACCHARIFICATION OF RICE, MAIZE, OR OTHER GRAIN
OR STARCH MATERIAL INTENDED FOR THE DISTILLATION OF ALCOHOLIC SPIRITS
OR BREWING, OR FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GLUCOSE OR BREWERS' SACCHA-
RINE, PART OF WHICH INVENTION IS APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Frederick Henley at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th February 1877
THOMAS FREDERICK HENLEY, of Saint Georges Square, Belgravia, in the County
of Middlesex "IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE SACCHARIFICATION OF
RICE, MAIZE, OR OTHER GRAIN OR STARCH MATERIAL INTENDED FOR THE DISTIL
LATION OF ALCOHOLIC SPIRITS OR BREWING, OR FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GLUCOSE
OR BREWERS' SACCHARINE, PART OF WHICH INVENTION IS APPLICABLE ALSO TO
OTHER PURPOSES "
This Invention comprises improvements having reference to,-
First The attemperating or cooling mashes or worts by causing a blast or cur-
rents of cold air to pass through the same with direct contact.
Secondly A method of performing all the various operations of mixing, mashing,
heating, cooling, saccharifying, and fermenting without change of vessel
Thirdly A process of economically obtaining an increased yield of alcohol from
rice or other giam by mashing, sacchaiifying with malt, fermenting, and distilling
to obtain a first extract, and then boiling the residue or spent wash from the still
with sulphuric acid in closed vessels so as to obtain an additional extract in
alcohol
Fourthly The treatment of grain or starch material for the manufacture of sac-
chaline for brewers' use by mixing, mashing, heating, cooling, and saccharifying in
a suitable vessel, and subsequently concentrating in an evaporator, such as is herein-
after described, and which evaporator is applicable to other purposes, such as the
evaporation of cane juice or chemical liquors

page_text: The leading feature of my improvements in the process of saccharifying rice,
maize, or other grain or source of starch intended for distillation or for brewing
or for the preparation of glucose or brewers' saccharine, depends on the command
attained of the cooling or attemperating of the mash or biew at any requisite
moment by the employment of a blast of cold air forced into or injected mechanically
into the worts oi mash, or drawn through the same by an pumps, or induced by a
steam jet in such manner as to effect a rapid reduction of the temperature thereof to
any requisite degree and at any required time
On the proper management of temperatures mainly depends the success or the
reverse of a brewing or saccharine fermentation where malt, not acid, is employed:
as the saccharifying agent The heating up of a body of worts is under easy com-
mand, either by means of the direct injection of steam or by steam-heated surfaces,
but a rapid and economical means of cooling in situ, large masses of liquor without
My method of attaining this
change of vessels has heretofore been a desideratum
object enables me to simplify the ordinary processes of brewing by dispensing with
the use of the ordinary mash tuns and then various subsidiaries, such as inter-
mediate receiveis, pumps, coolers, or refrigerators requiring large quantities of water
with first, second, and third mashings, inasmuch as by means of the improved
process herein referred to, all the operations of mixing, mashing, heating, cooling,
saccharification, and alcoholic fermentation may be carried on and completed in one
vessel or tun, from whence the woits are finally diawn off either for distillation or
The brewing operation
for evaporation into glucose, as their destination may be
thus becomes almost automatic, economising capital, superintendence, time, and
labour
The tuns or vessels may be of the ordinary covered description of fermenting
tuns, and of any dimensions, according to the extent of the manufacture proposed,
so as to distibute the power and appliances as equally as possible over the number
of working hours
Two, thice, or four tuns may be changed in the day's work Each tun is complete
in itself, being fitted with rousing apparatus suitably actuated, also with water and
steam supplies and means for causing the requisite blast or insufflation of cold air,
as aforesaid
The gust may be fed in from a band or belt, or by an archimedian sciew cominon
to oi running over a series of such tuns
The air blast apparatus as applied to a series of tuns may be so arranged that the
blast may be turned on when iequned into any special tun through a finely per-
forated rose pipe or orifice
As respects the cold blast, in principle the more the air is compressed the better,
and the greater the volume of an injected in a given time, and the lower its initial
temperature, and the diei its condition, the more rapid will be the cooling
The materials employed for saccharification according to this system should
be fice from their husks, such as ice (which is dealt with commercially so pre-
pared) or maize, which is in great measure in the same state, and being ground into
grist as usual will become in greater part digested or dissolved into a fluid state
during the process of saccharification, and may be passed through the stills in the
state of worts without previous filtration
I now proceed to describe the mode of operation I prefer employing in working
according to this process, selecting rice as the exponent, that grain being the 11chest
in staich, but being other wise, from its flintiness, the most difhcult to treat in order
to obtain a full and satisfactory saccharification
Almost every practical biewer has his own special ideas as to the best temperature
and duration thereof at which to lead his brew, depending on acquired special
knowledge of the description of grain he may be employing In any case, having
at hand the power of heating or cooling at pleasure, as herein-before described, he
may duect operations in accordance with his own judgment and practical experience
As a general rule the brew would begin by letting down the grist into the tun,
previously charged with hot liquor at a suitable temperature In this case, wherein

page_text: there are not any separate mashes, the woits being at home from the commence
ment, I let in at once about three-fourths of the total quantity of water of which
the mash is intended to consist, gaining thereby the advantage ausing from the
employment of a large volume of water for conversion or saccharification The
whole being 1oused together, the temperatures may be raised gradually, preferably
by means of the direct injection of steam The process is continued till, according
to the judgment of the brewer and the appearances of the brew, the saccharification
18 more or less complete, when it may be allowed to repose for a time
I now arrive at the next important stage of the operations, the fermentation or
conversion of the saccharine elements and dextime to alcohol
For this purpose
it becomes necessary to reduce the worts to a temperature at which the proportion
of yeast may be added most advantageously In order to arrive thei eat, the blast
of an is to be turned on and continued until the temperature of the worts shall be
blown down, or reduced to such a degice that on the addition of the volume of
water required to compensate for that evaporated by the blast, together with a
further addition of cold water, as provided for from the commencement, the tempera-
ture of the worts shall be that at which it has been decided to start the alcoholic
fermentation, after which the dose of yeast being added, and the alcoholic fermenta-
tion established, followed by a more or less complete attenuation, they are diawn
off to the stills for the separation of the alcohol according to the usual methods Thus
the whole processes, fioin the biewing and saccharification to the alcoholization of the
giain, will have been called through in one vessel efhciently and with economy The
spent wash from the stills, as above, after the separation of the spuit, is tuined into
receivers preparatory to being treated for a further cxtraction of alcohol thei efiom,
or a secondary process according to my Invention
The quantity of extinctive matters, estimated as dry, remaining in spent wash
may be taken as amounting to from 30 to 40 per cent of the weight of gust
employed, depending on the previous excellence, on the reverse, of the brewing
But having deducted for the non-convertible elements, such as cellulose, nitrogenous
matter and salts, there still remains a considerable margin susceptible of being con-
verted by an acid into alcoholizable material The process for such conversion I
prefer to conduct as follows -I cause the said spent wash (which should have been
kept as hot as possible) to be evaporated to about one half its volume, employing in
preference the rapid evaporator apparatus, of which a description is given further on,
after which it is to be boiled in close tun (wherein steam pressure may be em-
ployed) along with about 5 per cent of the estimated weight of diy solid matter in
such wash of the strongest commercial sulphuric acid, or its equivalent in weaker
acid, and the ebullition inaintained until the indications of the iodine test shen that
the starchy and other elements have been converted into a state of dextrinous
natter susceptible of undergoing the alcoholic fermentation after cooling on the
introduction of yeast The neid may be employed from the commencement of the
preliminary concentration of such wash, or may be added in the pressure tun, and
further, any damaged grain or inferior materials may be mixed in during the treat-
ment, so as to profit by the plant, time, fuel, and labour, and increase the extract
From spent wash, treated as described, I obtain about 20 to 30 gallons of proof
spuit per ton of ice orginally employed, and, as in this case, the raw material, as a
waste product, has only the value of spent wash, the distiller will be relieved from
the fluctuations and expenses attendant on dealing with the grains and waste
liquors
When it is intended that the conversion of the grain or starchy element should
terminate at the completion of the saccharine stage, for the purpose of inanufacturing
saccharinc for biewers' usc, the woits, instead of being tieated for the alcoholic
fermentation, should be taken at the completion of the saccharine stage, and con-
centrated in an evaporating vessel to a suitable density
For the purpose of this evaporating process, I prefer employing a rapid evapora-
ting apparatus in the form of a vertical multitubular vessel having an arrangement
for controlling the ebullition consisting of a wire gauze or perforated plate surround-

page_text: ing the upper tube plate and its tubes, by the aid and intervention of which any
available amount of steam may be employed in the evaporation without the risk
of boiling over, as would otherwise be the case without this improvement, hence
its name of a controller By its means the bubbles of vapoui are tapped and
broken up in traversing it, and the liquor operated on descends though ex-
ternal return pipes to a lower chamber of the evaporator having a valvular bottom,
thence to rise again in constant rapid circulation and evaporation, until the desired
density of the syrup has been attained, when it may be drawn off into a receiver,
thence to be passed through filter bags or presses, so as to separate the fine liquor
from the feculencies. The syrup thus obtained may be passed through filter bags
or charcoal filter beds, if very fine goods are required, and thereafter into any form
of evaporating vessel, either in vacuo or open, according to ordinary practice in such
cases, for being concentrated to the degree or requirements of trade
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas Frederick Henley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th August 1877
26
THOMAS FREDERICK HENLEY, of Saint Georges Square, Belgravia, in the County
of Middlesex IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE SACCHARIFICATION OF
RICE, MAIZE, OR OTHER GRAIN OR STARCH MATERIAL INTENDED FOR THE DISTIL-
LATION OF ALCOHOLIC SPIRITS OR BREWING, OR FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GLUCOSE
OR BREWERS' SACCHARINE, PART OF WHICH INVENTION IS APPLICABLE ALSO TO
OTHER PURPOSES"
This Invention comprises improvements having reference to,-
First The attempeiating or cooling mashos or worts by causing a blast oi cui-
ients of cold au to pass through the same with direct contact
Secondly A method of performing all the various operations of mixing, mashing,
heating, cooling, saccharifying, and fermenting without change of vessel
Thudly A process of economically obtaining an inci cased yield of alcohol fiom
1ice by mashing, saccharifying with malt, fermenting, and distilling to obtain a first
extract, and boiling the residue or spent wash from the still with sulphuric acid in
closed vessels to obtain an additional extract in alcohol
Fourthly The treatment of grain or starch material for the manufacture of sac-
charine for brewers' uso by mixing, masling, heating, cooling, and sacchalifying in
a suitable vessel, and subsequently concentrating in an evaporator, as is heicin-after
described
The leading feature of my improvements in the process of sacchanfying rice,
maize, or other grain, or source of starch intended for distillation or for brewing, or
for the preparation of glucose or brewers' saccharine, depends on the command
attained of the cooling on attemperating of the mash or biew at any requisite
mount by the employment of a blast of cold an forced into or injected mechani-
cally into the woits on mash, or drawn through the same by an pumps, or induced
by a steam jet in such manner as to effect a rapid reduction of the temperature
thereof to any requisite degice and at any required time
On the proper management of temperatures mainly depends the success or the
reverse of a brewing or saccharine fermentation, where malt, not acid, is
employed as the saccharifying agent The heating up of a body of woits
is under easy command, either by means of the direct injection of steam or by
steam-heated surfaces, but a rapid and economical means of cooling in situ
large masses of liquor without change of vessels has heretofore been a desideratum
My method of attaining this object enables me to simplify the ordinary processes of
biewing by dispensing with the use of separate mash tuns and their vaiious manı-
pulations, such as first, second, and thiid mashings with intermediate receiveis,

page_text: pumps, coolers, or refrigerators requiring large quantities of water, inasmuch as by
means of the improved process herein referred to all the operations of mixing,
mashing,heating, cooling, saccharification, and alcoholic fermentation may be carried
on and completed in one vessel oi tun, from whence the worts are finally drawn
off either for distillation or foi evaporation into glucose, as their destination may
be The brewing operation thus becomes almost automatic, economising capital,
superintendence, time, and labour
The tuns or vessels employed according to my Invention may be of the ordinary
covered description, and of any dimensions, according to the extent of the manu-
facture proposed, so as to distribute the power and appliances as equally as possible
over the number of working hours
Two, three, or four tuns may be charged in the day's work Each tun is com-
plete in itself, being fitted with 1ousing apparatus suitably actuated, water and
steam supplies, and means for causing the requisite blast or insufflation of cold
The gist may be fed in from a band or belt, or by an archimedian sciew common
to oi running over a series of such tuns
The air blast apparatus as supplied to a series of tuns may be so arranged that
the cold blast may be turned on when required into any tun through a finely per-
forated rose pipe oi oifico The steam, as also the hot and cold liquor mains, may
also be common to a series of tuns
As respects the cold blast, in principle the more the air is compressed the betteı,
and the greater the volume of an injected in a given time, and the lower its initial
temperature, the more rapid will be the cooling This system of attemperating
worts is based on and is a practical application of well-known laws of the capacity
of an for holding vapour according to its temperature, such vapour absorbing heat in
the latent state, the laws relating to which have been fully studied, and may be
found tabulated in books treating on physics It is in fact "blowing cold" familiai
to everyone, and is a cheap and efficient agent for the purpose in view
order to formulate the object under consideration, and as an approximate general
rule, a stream of about 4,000 cubic feet of air per minute at a pressure equal to
about 8 to 10 inches of mercury, and at the temperature of about 55 degrees
Fahrenheit, will suffico for working tuns of ten thousand gallons capacity, and
three to four such tuns may foun a day's work
In
The materials employed for saccharification according to this system should
(preferably) be free from then husks, such as 11ce (which is dealt with commercially
so prepared), oi inaize, which is in great measure in the same state They become
in greater part digested or dissolved into a fluid state during the process of sac-
charification, and may be passed through the stills in the state of worts without
filtration
On Sheet 1 of the accompanying Diawings I have illustrated the arrangement of
apparatus I prefer to employ for performing all the various operations of mixing,
mashing, heating, cooling, sacchanifying, and formenting without change of
vessel.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the tun with its rousing apparatus and other
parts
Fig 2 is a side olevation of the mash tun and its appurtenances.
Fig 3 is a plan shewing the cast-iron frame for the mash tun foundation.
Fig 4 is a general plan, partly in section, of the mash tun and its appurtenances.
The several views are diawn to the scale of a quarter of an inch to the foot
The tun as a closed vessel constructed of iron, and provided with a cential
shaft b, shewn as driven by a donkey ongine, and working in a step c, and passing
through a stuffing box d, which shaft carries the rousers e, f is the au main sup-
plied with air under pressure by any suitable mechanical means This main 19
supposed to be connected with a series of tuns, only one of which is shewn in the
Drawings By a branch provided with a valve f* the main ƒ is connected
with a pipe f³, which at ƒ³, f', communicates with the tun a. The orifices f³, ƒ³, are
3
"

page_text: provided with guide plates or deflectors f³, whereby the air entering the tun 15
caused to assume a downward course, g is the air discharge conduit, his the cold
liquo supply pipe, is the hot liquor supply pipe, is the valve whereby the
supply of cold liquor to the tun is regulated, is the valve whereby the supply of
hot liquor to the tun is regulated, m is the steam supply pipe, n is its valve, o
(Fig 2), shews a truck supplying yeast to the tun, p, Fig 4, is a screw feeder for
supplying the grist, w is the discharge
I now proceed to describe the mode of operation I prefer employing in working
according to this process selecting rice as the exponent, that grain being the 11chest
in starch, but being, otherwise, from its flintiness, the most difficult to treat, in order
to obtain a full and satisfactory extract or saccharification Almost every practical
brewer has his own special ideas as to the best temperature and duration thereof at
which to lead his brew, depending on acquired special knowledge or the description
of grain he may be employing, in any case having at hand the power of heating or
cooling at pleasure by simple arrangements, as herein-before described, he may
duect operations according to his own judgment and practical experience
-y
The manner in which I prefer to conduct a biew may be described as follows
The liquor or water for the brew should amount to about three-fourths of the total
quantity of which it is intended the final mash should consist Into this liquor,
say at a temperature of 100 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, should be let down about
four per cent of twelve per cent of malt (which is assumed as the total quota of
malt for the brew) The temperature of the mash is then (by duect injection of steam)
1aised gradually during about one hour to about 185 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, at
which high temperature the mash should stand for about half an hour, so as to
thoroughly break up and disintegrate the starchy cells At the expiration of this
teim, the temperature being far too high for the useful action of the malt, it becoines
imperative to reduce it, which is to be accomplished in situ by the introduction of
the blast, the cooling agency of which will iapidly bring the mash down to the
temperature of about 160 degrees Fahrenheit, at which point the remaining quota
of malt is to be added, the same having been previously wetted with about thec
tunes its weight of cold water The temperature of the mash, which will have
been lowered by the additions made, may now be gradually raised to the temperature
of 160 to 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and maintained the eat for a period of from four
to six hours, being the saccharifying stage, or as long as the general manch of the
operations will admit of, the longer the better, within reasonable limits.
I now anive at the next important stage of the operations, that is to say, the
setting of the woits or fermentation thereof, and conversion of the sacchaine
matteis produced therein into alcohol by the aid of yeast For this purpose it is
necessary to reduce the worts to a temperature at which the proportion of yeast
may be inost advantageously added for fermentation and distillation purposes The
woits have therefore to be cooled and the temperature reduced from about
160 degrees to about 70 degrees oi 80 degrees In order to arrive thereat the cold
blast is again to be turned on, and continued until such time as the temperature of
the worts shall be reduced to such a degree that, on the addition of the volume of
water required to compensate for that evaporated by the blast, together with a
further addition of cold water, as provided for from the commencement, the tem-
perature of the worts shall be that at which it has been decided to start the
alcoholic fermentation, after which, the dose of yeast being added and the alcoholic
fermentation established, followed by a more or less satisfactory attenuation, they
are drawn off to the stills for the separation of the alcohol, according to the usual
methods Thus all the processes, from the brewing and saccharification to the
alcoholization of the grain, will have been carried through in one vessel with
economy and with superior results The spent wash from the stills as above, after
the separation of the spuit, is returned into receivers preparatory to being ticated
for a further extraction of alcohol therefiom, or a secondary process, according to
my Invention By this secondary process I obtain an important further increment

page_text: of alcohol from the spent wash remaining after the distillation of grain saccharified
by malt, the latter agent leaving a large proportion of unconverted matters, which
are, however, more or less amenable to the more energetic action of acids
The quantity of residual matters, soluble and insoluble, in spent wash may be
estimated as amounting to about thirty per cent of the weight of gust onginally
employed, the proportion depending on various circumstances
The method I picfer for treating these residual products is by what is called the
acid process, as follows -I cause the spent wash, as soon as possible after it has
passed through the stills, to be passed though pressure filters, so as to separate the
diaff on insoluble portions for being sold for feeding purposes The fluid portion I
cause to be evaporated down to about one fourth its volume, employing, by
preference, the rapid evaporator apparatus shewn on Sheet 2 of my Drawings, and
herein-after described (which apparatus may be used for other analogous purposes),
after which the filtrate is to be saccharified by means of sulphuric acid, which may
be employed in the proportion of two to three per cent of the dry weight of solid
elements in the said liquor The liquor or wort being placed in a close mash tun
capable of supporting a steam pressure of about 60 pounds per square inch is heated
therein to the corresponding temperature, and the reaction is continued until such
time as the usual tests indicate that the starchy and other elements have been
converted to a state susceptible of undergoing the alcoholic fermentation
amount of acid employed in the saccharification is now to be neutralized by the
addition of its equivalent in chalk, and the syrupy liquor produced is to be let off
into receivers, in order to deposit the sulphate of lime, after which it may be
pumped into the fermenting vats, along with a volume of cold water sufficient to
bring it to the gravity and temperature desued for the fermentation, when the dose
of yeast may be roused in, followed by fermentation and distillation after the
ordinary and well-known methods During the progress of this secondary process
or treatment of residues an addition of any damaged grain, or of any cheap and
inferior material, may be roused in, so as to strengthen the biew and incitase
the alcoholic yield, and thus profit by the existence of the plant, fuel, time, and
labour
The
When it is intended that the conversion of the grain or starch element, whatever
it may be, should terminate according to this process at the completion of the
sacchaine stage for the purpose of manufacturing glucose or saccharine for brewers'
use, the worts in lieu of being treated for alcholic fermentation should be drawn off
at the completion of the saccharine stage, and concentrated by boiling in an
evaporating vessel
On Sheet 2 of the Diawings I have illustrated to the scale of one-and-a-half inch
to the foot the rapid evaporating apparatus I prefer employing for the evaporating
process above referred to, Fig 5 being a vertical section in the line A, B, of Fig 6,
and Fig 6 a horizontal section in two planes in the line C, D, of Fig 1
9 18 a
vessel provided with a funnel-like top q¹, and with the upper tube plate q³, and the
lower tube plate 9³ This vessel is fitted with a number of tubes open at both
ends The upper tube plate q² is surrounded by an ebullition controller 8 of wire
gauze or perforated metal The lower extension q' of the vessel q is provided with
a valvular bottom q³, t, t, t, are external return pipes establishing communication
between the funnel-like top q¹ and the lower chamber formed by the extension o
and valve or cover q³, u is a steam valve, v is a valve for regulating the supply of
liquor to be evaporated The liquor to be evaporated is admitted through the valve
v, and passes down to the lower chamber, thence up through the pipes r, which are
surrounded by steam admitted through the valve u The water of condensation
passes off at n¹ (Fig 6) By the use of the controller 8 any available amount of
steam may be employed in the evaporation without risk of boiling over, as would
other wise be the case without this improvement, hence its name of controller By
it the vessicles of vapour are tapped and broken up in traversing it and the liquor
operated on flows through the external retuin pipes, as shewn, to the lower chamber
of the evaporator, thence to rise again in constant rapid circulation and evaporation

page_text: until the desired density of the syrup has been attained, when it may be drawn off
into a receiver (through the discharge pipe q), thence to be passed through filter bags
or presses to separate the fine liquor from the feculencies The syrup thus obtained
may be concentrated in any form of evaporating vessel, according to ordinary practice
in such cases, for being reduced to the density or requirements of trade
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and explained the manner of
carrying the same into practical effect, I desue to have it understood that I no not
intend to claim any parts of the apparatus herein-before shewn and described, when
taken separately and apart from the combination or application thereof, in manner
and for the purposes herein described, but what I consider to be novel and
original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent 18,-
1st. The method of attemperating or cooling mashes or woits by causing a blast
or cuments of cold air to pass through the same with direct contact, as above
described
2nd The method above described of performing all the various operations of
mixing, mashing, heating, cooling, saccharifying, and fermenting without change of
vessel
3rd The process of economically obtaining an increased yield of alcohol from rice
by mashing, saccharifying with malt, fermenting, and distilling to obtain a first
extract, and boiling the residuo or spent wash from the still with sulphuric acid in
closed vessels to obtain an additional extract in alcohol, as herein-before described.
4th The combination of parts constituting the improved evaporating apparatus,
constructed, arranged, and operating as herein-before described with reference to
Sheet 2 of the Drawings
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Frederick Henley, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundied and seventy-seven