IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF BREWING
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Blake, of No. 17, Russell Place, Fitzroy
Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PROCESS OF BREWING."
Sealed the 23rd November 1861, and dated the 30th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Blake at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th May
1861.
I, ALFRED BLAKE, of No. 17, Russell Place, Fitzroy Square, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iμ-
PROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF BREWING," to be as follows:-
The usual mode of fermenting beer or worts from either malt or sugar, or
a mixture of both, has been to mix the worts with yeast or beer in fermenta-
tion as soon as they can be cooled after boiling, and mix worts of different
gravities together in one or more fermenting tuns, the fermentation being
completed by processes known in the trade as cleansing or skimming, and
other methods according to the beer, ale, or porter required.
This Invention consists in keeping a portion of the first wort after boiling
with hops, in quantity varying from five to twenty-five per cent. of the whole
quantity of beer to be made in a separate vessel without yeast or ferment,
or with a very small quantity at a relatively lower heat than the main body of
the beer in ordinary temperatures. The fermentation of the larger quantity is

page_text: allowed to go on as usual, or rather more rapidly than ordinary, and when
from one-fourth to three-fourths of the saccharine matter it originally contained
has been decomposed, the before-mentioned smaller quantity of strong wort is
mixed with it previous to the completion of the process and removal of the
yeast by any of the usual methods. By this Invention, whether the stronger
and undecomposed wort or solution of malt or sugar mixed were the product
of the same or subsequent brewings a great improvement in the flavour and
keeping quality of the beer will result.. The essential feature of this Inven-
tion is in every brewing to mix worts or beer in different stages of fermentation
previous to completing the process by any of the usual methods.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Blake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
BLAKE, of No. 17, Russell Place, Fitzroy Square, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most. Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth-day-of May, in the year of our Lord. One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alfred Blake, ler special licence that I, the said Alfred Blake, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Blake,
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 lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF BREWING,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said. Alfred Blake, my exe-
cutors 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 per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE; that I, the said Alfred Blake, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,

page_text: to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
that is to say-
The usual mode of fermenting beer or worts from either malt or sugar, or a
mixture of both, has been to mix the worts with yeast or beer in fermentation
as soon as they can be cooled after boiling, and mix worts of different gra-
vities together in one or more fermenting tuns; the fermentation being
completed by processes known in the trade as cleansing or skimming, and
other methods according to the beer, ale, or porter required.
This Invention consists in keeping a portion of the first wort after boiling
with hops, in quantity varying from five to twenty-five per cent. of the whole
quantity of beer to be made, in a separate vessel without yeast or ferment, or
with a very small quantity at a relatively lower heat than the main body of the
beer in ordinary temperatures. The fermentation of the larger quantity is
allowed to go on as usual, or rather moro rapidly than ordinary, and when
from one-fourth to three-fourths of the saccharine matter it originally con-
tained has been decomposed, the before-mentioned smaller quantity of strong
wort is mixed with it previous to the completion of the process and removal
of the yeast by any of the usual methods. By this Invention, whether the
stronger and undecomposed wort or solution of malt or sugar mixed were the
product of the same or subsequent brewings a great improvement in the
flavor and keeping quality of the beer will result. The essential feature of
this Invention is, in every brewing to mix worts or beer in different stages
of fermentation previous to completing the process by any of the usual
methods.
And in order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same
into practical effect, as follows, that is to say:-
Where two worts only are made, 1 ferment the second wort with a small
portion of the first or strongest wort, say, from 2 to 5 per cent. thereof, and
where three worts are made I ferment part of the second wort, and the whole
of the third wort at a relatively higher temperature at the commencement of
the fermentation, say, from 66° to 70° Fahrenheit, with from two to four
pounds of yeast to every barrel, and the remaining strong wort or worts I
retain in a separate tun or vessel without yeast or ferment, or only a very small
quantity at a lower temperature than the other wort, say, from 56° to 62°
Fahrenheit. I would here observe that after the decomposition of the weaker
worts has been indicated by the saccharometer to have progressed from one-
fourth to one-half of their original density, the strong worts previously
retained should then be gradually mixed in with the weaker worts aforesaid.

page_text: I have found it desirable, as a general rule, to perform this mixing within
twenty-four hours from the time of commencing to "put them together," the
fermentation being allowed to progress according to the judgment of the
brewer; the process being completed by skimming, cleansing, or other methods
commonly used and well known to practical brewers; only observing, that in
some cases it may be found desirable to keep back a small quantity of the
strong wort retained, as aforesaid, and to mix from one to two gallons thereof
to each barrel of the beer during the cleansing of the beer in the cleansing
casks as it runs from the fermenting tun. Or the same proportionate quantity
might be mixed with the whole body of the beer immediately previous to the
cleansing process; the mixing of the strong unfermented wort will be best
accomplished if a portion of the upper part of the fermenting tun, be formed
as a separate chamber to contain the aforesaid stronger worts, which may be
run into said-chamber-from the. cooler..or refrigerator, said chamber being
fitted with a regulating screw valve, by which the strong wort may pass, and
thus be gradually mixed with the weaker wort contained in the other part of the
fermenting tun, aforesaid, below it. Or, instead of making a separate chamber
in the fermenting tun, as above stated, the strong wort aforesaid can be run
from any vessel or reservoir placed above the fermenting tun aforesaid, and
furnished with a screw valve, as before stated, or the strong wort may be
pumped into the tun.
The above improved process of fermentation nearly reverses the ordinary
methods of fermentation hitherto employed for mixing worts (or parts of the
brewing) with the yeast or ferment in nearly the same order as they are drawn
from the malt and boiled with the hops, and further, by employing the above
improved process, I have found a greater quantity of the saccharine and
mucilage can, if it be desired, be decomposed without unduly forcing the
fermentation.
I would here remark, that although I have proposed in my Provisional Spe-
cification, above recited, to keep in a separate vessel from five to twenty-five per
cent. of the first or strongest wort, I do not intend to limit or confine myself
to this precise amount of per-centage, as I have since found in practice that
advantage may be derived by increasing the quantity of the first or strongest
wort to be retained to from ten to fifty per cent. thereof; and I would further
remark, that whereas from the nature of the process of fermentation it is
impossible, as all practical brewers are aware of, to give definite tabular state-
ments of the heats decomposition requires for mixing the worts together, and
quantities of yeast arising from various causes, over which the brewer has no
control, such as changes of atmospheric temperature, electrical state of the

page_text: atmosphere, and quality of the malt and hops of different years, and at different
seasons of the year, and the locality of the brewery, all of which exercise such
an influence on the process of fermentation that the practical brewer must, as
heretofore, be guided by these extraneous circumstances, and exercise his
judgment accordingly, whether he conducts the process on my improved plan,
or according to the usual methods.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention of "Improvements in the Process of Brewing," together with the
best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect, I
would remark, in conclusion, that whereas the ordinary system of fermentation
has been to mix the worts or parts of the brewing with the yeast, or set them
to ferment in the order in which they are drawn from the malt and boiled with
the hops, and either slowly or rapidly to ferment them together from the first,
in lieu of the above ordinary method, I conduct the whole of the fermentation
in the manner above particularly described, namely, by dividing the brewing,
and afterwards mixing it, and conducting the fermentation as before stated;
and I claim this peculiar mode of conducting the process of fermentation as
constituting my Invention of improvements in the process of brewing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Blake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
ALFRED BLAKE. (L.S.)