IMPROVEMENTS IN BREWING
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Young, of East Smithfield, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREWING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Young at the
Office of the Commissioners; of Patents, with his: Petition, on the 20th
March 1854.
I, JAMES YOUNG, of East Smithfield, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
do hereby declare, the nature of the said Invention for "" IMPROVEMENTS IN
BREWING to be as follows,:-
The Invention consists in boiling ale and porter worts; for, brewing under a
vacuum or partial vacuum, and for this purpose I apply the well-known vacuum
pangused in sugar, refining, with such modification and fadaptations; however, as
to suit it to the materials to be operated upon. The boiling apparatus, should
have a volume,gauge, ai barometer gauge, and a thermometer, and a rouser to
give continuous motion to the hops; and, in some cases a hop back or strainer
is inserted, on which, after the proper; time of boiling the: worts; on running off
the contents, the spent hops are collected and reserved for further operations.
After charging the apparatus with worts and the hops it is exhausted of the air,
and the progress of the vacuum thus, inade is indicated by the rapid fall of-the
barometer: gauge, to 4 or 5 inches; then the steami fór heating is turned on into
the steam, chamber of the apparatus, the, température rapidly rises, and the

page_text: boiling takes place at a lower temperature than under the common pressure of
the air. When desired, as it may be occasionally, air is admitted by opening a
cock, when the vacuum being for the time destroyed, the temperature will rise to
the ordinary boiling point of atmospheric pressure. The apparatus is exhausted
of air by the pump attached to the condenser, and the condensed water and steam
are afterwards pumped out as fast as they collect in the receiver or condenser.
The pumping is continued until the completion of the process of boiling, during
which a tolerably perfect vacuum and rapid evaporation are maintained. In
draining off the wort from the hops in the apparatus advantage may be use-
fully made of a partial exhaustion on the under side, and the whole atmospheric
pressure applied to the upper, when the worts will be drawn off with increased
celerity. This principle may be also applied to the quicker draining off of the
worts from mash tuns, in which case a partial vacuum is produced below the
mash, and the full atmospheric pressure applied at the top either with or with-
out a cover to the tun. By this means the mash may be more quickly drained
than under the ordinary methods. Occasionally it will be found useful to
empty the boiling apparatus into another vessel, wort and hops together, and
then to strain off the clear worts.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Young in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th
September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
YOUNG, of East Smithfield, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Twentieth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Young, Her special licence that I, the said James Young,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Young, 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
BREWING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James

page_text: Young, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Young, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to
say:
.
My Invention consists in boiling porter and ale worts for brewing under a
vacuum or partial vacuum. For this purpose I employ, without reference to
form or construction, any closed boiling apparatus wherein or in connection
wherewith a vacuum or partial vacuum can be produced, either by means of
an air pump or otherwise; and I heat such an apparatus either by steam
applied internally (as by a coil, or worm, or set of pipes running through the
apparatus), or externally (as by a steam jacket or casing), or by hot vapour or.
other heated medium, or by the agency of the direct heat of a furnace or fire-
place. As one construction of the boiling apparatus, I apply the well-known
vacuum pan used in sugar refining, with such modifications and adaptations,
however, as to suit it to the materials to be operated upon; but I repeat that I
do not confine myself to the use of this or any other particular construction of
boiling apparatus, so long as the same is suitable for enabling my Invention of
boiling the worts for brewing under a vacuum or partial vacuum to be per-
formed therein. The boiling apparatus, however constructed, should have a
gauge, a barometer, or vacuum gauge, and a thermometer, and in large vessels
it will be found that a coil of pipes for the application of steam internally, in
addition to the steam jacket applied externally, will be advisable, to promote
boiling with greater rapidity. In such cases it will be serviceable to employ a
protector of perforated copper to prevent the hops adhering to the coil, and in
some cases a rouser to give continuous motion to the hops; and a hop back or
strainer may be introduced, on which, after boiling the worts and running them
off, the spent hops may be collected. This mode of operation may be also
employed for the quicker draining off the worts from mash tuns, in which case
a partial vacuum is produced below the mash, and the full atmospheric pres-
sure allowed to act on the upper surface thereof; and when applying the vacuum
principle to the quicker draining off of mash tuns it is advisable to cover over
or insert a piece of sponge into the taps (and likewise a strainer to prevent the
sponge by force of the vacuum being drawn down the tap, and plugging it up

page_text: or passing entirely through), in order to allow only the clear wort to 'flow. By
this means the mash may be drained off more quickly than under the ordinary
methods. Where more than one boiling apparatus or copper is used they may
be connected by pipes, and the thin rarefied vapour or the steam rising from the
first may be conveyed through the coil or heating medium to the second, and
so on 'to the third, fourth; &c., before pumping away the rarefied air to the con-
denser or blowing off the steam. "In certain circumstances practical men may
adopt this plan where great concentration of wort is required, or where! a
strong hop extract is wanted, without much expense in fuel 'and-with great!
saving in time.
TI
Figure 1 of the Drawings annexed is a side elevation of a vacuum'pan for
boiling porter and ale worts according to my Invention'; Figure 2 is a section
of the same; Figure 3 is a plan; Figure 4 is an end elevation; and Figure 5
a view of the test tube; Figure 6 shews the method of mounting the apparatus
on a brewer's stage. A is the upper copper hemisphere, and B the lower
copper-hemisphere, which together compose the pan; C is an iron casing or
jacket, which encloses the lower hemisphere B.; D is the space between the
jacket and the lower hemisphere, in which the steam circulates and boils the
worts; E is the flanged junction of the hemispheres, which are bolted togetheri
so as to make a perfectly air-tight joint; F is a pipe through which the air is
pumped out of the apparatus; G'is' the wort main; H is the sample tap, fitted
air-tight stuffing box; M is the volume gauge; N, the steam-supply pipe;
O, the waste and condensed steam pipe; and P, the air vent from-steam space;
Qis a tap for destroying the vacuum when required; R is a rouser, which may!
be used, if found 'necessary, for large quantities; S is the valve and connection
for discharging contents; T is the main through which worts alone will be
pamped; U is a safety tube; and V, a vessel in which any steam'pumped off
along with air will be condensed."
in an
T
T
:
The mode of operating with the apparatus is as follows: After charging the
apparatus with the wort or wort and hops, the mode of boiling will vary accord-
ing to the nature and quality of the product required. The exhaustion of-air
having commenced, the steam for heating is turned on into the steam chamber
or coil of the heating apparatus, the temperature rapidly rises and boiling takes
place at a much lower temperature than under common atmospheric pressure?
The apparatus is exhausted of air while the boiling process continues by the air
pump or other exhauster, and the condensed water and steam are by the same
process pumped out as fast as they collect in the condenser or receiver; 'during
the boiling-process the rapidity of evaporation is'in proportion' to the perfection
of the vacuum! For common weak beers it is recommended to boil at first a

page_text: short time under the ordinary atmospheric pressure until the "clearing of the
worts;" when this effect is produced, then exhaustion of the air by working the
pump or exhauster attached to the condenser may be begun, and the progress"
of the vacuum thus made is indicated by the rapid fall of the mercury in the
barometer or vacuum gauge. As the celerity of evaporation bears a close
relation to the perfection of the vacuum, the attention of practical men will
naturally be directed to the drawing of samples, in order to ascertain their
specific gravity or density by the saccharometer, and they will be guided
accordingly in the length of time for continuing the boiling. The worts are
then drained off, either with or without the hops, according as the apparatus is
or is not provided with a hop back or strainer; when required, as it may be
occasionally, air is admitted to the pan by opening the valve or cock Q, when
the vacuum being for a time destroyed, the temperature will rise to the ordinary
boiling point of atmospheric pressure. The boiling may be continued thus to
its completion, or the vacuum may be again produced and continued until the
boiling process is completed. The foregoing descriptions of the modes of
operating will apply equally to other constructions of apparatus than that shewn
in the Drawings. The mode of drawing off liquor infusions or worts from
mash tuns by the aid of a partial vacuum will be readily understood without
the assistance of a drawing, all that is necessary being to connect a pipe from
the air pump or other exhauster to the under back or other receiver of the
worts or infusions while draining from the tun.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention is,
First, the boiling of porter and ale worts for brewing under a vacuum or
partial vacuum.
Second, the mode of drawing or draining off the liquor infusions or worts
from mash tuns by the aid of a partial vacuum.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Young, have hereunto set my. hand
and seal, this Twentieth day of September, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-four
JAMES YOUNG. (L.S.)