PROCESS FOR EXTRACTING AND SACCHARIFYING INGREDIENTS OF AMYLACEOUS SUBSTANCES BY TREATMENT WITH MALT
Year: 1884

page_text: I, JOHN IMRAY of No 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane in the county
of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, do 'heroby declare the
nature of my said invention for "PROCESS FOR EXTRACTING AND SACCHARIFYING
INGREDIENTS OF AMYLACEOUS SUBSTANCES BY TREATMENT WITH MALT," 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 a process for extracting and saccharifying, by means of
malt, those portions of amylaccous substances that are applicable for brewing or
distilling or for the manufacture of liqueurs, chocolate and confectionery. In what
follows, the term "malt" is understood to mean germinated amylaceous grain, such
as barley, rye, maize, Indian millet, rice, wheat, oats and cereals generally, which,
during germination, develop an active principle capable of liquefying, converting
into dextrin and saccharifying large quantities of starch. This active principle
which has been called "maltine," has two distinct actions.
1, It liquefies and dextrinates, that is to say, converts starch into dextrin,
2, It saccharifies dextrin.
The liquefying action increases at temperatures from 50° to 75° C. The sacchari-
fying action, on the other hand, as well as the dextrinating action, decreases from
50° to 75° C. Malt becomes quite inactive when its temperature and that of the
must containing it is raised to 80° C. At low temperatures, it retains its active
power.
The active principle of malt is extracted by bruising and infusion with water.
The residue, when washed, has no effect on starch, but may be classed with ordinary
amylaceous substances. The infusion has all the properties of the malt; it is
subject to acid changes and should be kept cool. The development of acid
completely destroys the power of the infusion. Alkalies also most seriously affect
the power of malt. In order to prevent change or spoiling of the infusion, the
malt, before being bruised, should be washed with lime water which destroys the
fermenting matter that may have formed on the grain' during germination.

page_text: About 40 hours' soaking of the grain in lime water is found to be efficacious. The
grain then germinates more vigorously, and is much better protected against
spoiling than grain washed in the usual way with pure water.
The malt infusion treated with alcohol, or with a minute proportion of tannin,
gives a precipitate which carries down the principal part of the maltine The
compound of alcohol with maltine, collected and dried retains for years the active
properties of the malt and can be used principally for saccharifaction.
Preparation and Infusion of the Malt. Green malt is preferably used, as
desiccation greatly reduces its power. It is bruised by smooth rollers revolving
with different speeds, and the bruised product is triturated with water, preferably
by millstones, to a very liquid pulp. This pulp is diluted with water, so that each
gallon contains about a pound of the green malt, and is sifted by a very fine
rotating sieve, which keeps back the fragments of straw or rootlets, allowing the
milky liquor to run into a vessel in which it is left to subside, whereupon the
clear infusion is decanted, each gallon representing the product of a pound of green
malt.
Raw materials employed in the process. Amylaceous substances generally,
grain, roots, meal, fecula and the like are mixtures, more or less impure, of true
starch with soluble or insoluble foreign matters. The insoluble ingredients formed
in this process chiefly consist of cellulose, pectic and nitrogenous matters. The
cellulose is of advantage as it serves à filtering purpose. The soluble ingredients
exclusive of the starch and certain nitrogenous substances, which are only soluble
when beated under the action of malt, comprise salts and minute proportions of
dextrin and glucose. The soluble ingredients of roots have a disagreeable flavor.
In preparing the raw materials for the process, they should be macerated in water
at a temperature not exceeding 50° C, this maceration bringing the starch to
proper condition for treatment, and also eliminating many of the objectionable
soluble ingredients. When roots are treated, they should first be sliced. The
maceration is effected in vats in which water circulates slowly upwards, the liquor,
according to its composition or flavor, being available for succeeding operations, or
for manuring purposes. Maceration during two or three days puts the material in
condition for subsequent treatment. Should the raw materials be somewhat spoiled,
they should be washed for several hours with lime water before maceration, this
treatment preventing further deterioration. The bruising of the macerated
materials should be effected by smooth rollers, like those used for bruising malt.
Roller-mills of any known construction are applicable for this purpose. Triturating
with water completely disintegrating the material, produces a thick pulp suitable
for the process. During the trituration there is added the proportion of crushed
malt or of its infusion necessary to effect liquefaction this proportion varying from
21 to 5 per cent.
The starch by the action of the malt is thus almost entirely rendered soluble at
temperatures of 70° to 75° C. The portion of it which is not dissolved is not
soluble except in water heated in a closed vessel to 150° C, and the starch thus
dissolved becomes again precipitated when the temperature of the liquor falls
below 70° C, but a small addition of malt infusion as it approaches 70° prevents
this precipitation. The term "liquefaction" is here used to express the trans-
formation of the starch into dextrin effected by the action of malt at 70° to 75° C
The term "saccharifaction" applies to the maceration of the dextrinated must with
malt infusion at a temperature below 70°, the maximum saccharifying effect being
'at 40° to 50°. In order to stop saccharifaction, the must may be heated to 100°
Saccharifaction produces, according to its duration, a variable mixture of dextri
The maltose is a
and maltose, the dextrin not being capable of fermentation.
species of glucose of sugary flavor having the formula C¹ Hª 0"; it is fermentable
and is the sugar of beer wort.
As the saccharifaction can be stopped at any moment, the must may be mad
to contain various proportions of dextrin and maltose, and consequently it ca

page_text: hand, for producing pure sirup of maltose or dextrin, it is better to employ starch
and pure fecula or raw material very rich in starch, such as rice.
The water employed should be as pure as possible; should it contain alkaline
bicarbonates, as is often the case, it should be treated with any mineral acid.
Process for dextrination and saccharifaction. The treatment presents two
phases:
1, Liquefaction by malt and dextrination, and
2, Saccharifaction of dextrinated must.
1, Liquefaction by malt and dextrination.
1° Liquefaction. The raw material is macerated, bruised and triturated as
described above, before being subjected to the action of malt. The triturated
material is diluted with water till the desired density of must is attained. For
manufacturing sirups, the must should have a density of 15° to 25° Beaumé, so as
to economise evaporation. For worts for brewing or distilling, the must should be
more dilute, being after dextrination about 4° to 15° Beaumé. The triturated
pulp containing the malt should therefore be diluted to the desired consistence with
cold or warm water or with liquors previously used. For producing lump sirup,
only the malt infusion should be used.
The liquor thus prepared is heated under agitation, preferably in a jacketted
vessel furnished with a tubular agitator, through which, as well as the jacket,
vapor or hot water circulates. In no case should the temperature exceed 75°.C,
this limitation of the heating being novel and essential.
Consequently the hot water or vapor employed should not be above 75° C. It is
of advantage to provide the liquefying apparatus with a bruising triturator which
acts continuously during the operation, separating the last traces of starch from
the pellicules to which they may have been left adhering during the previous
trituration.
Thus only is it possible to liquefy must so dense as from 15° to 25° Beaumé.
The starch, in presence of water and malt, becomes liquefied close to the heated
surfaces, but as the temperature is moderate, the liquefying action of the malt is
not affected, so that the malt can continue to act on fresh portions of the material.
The duration of the liquefaction varies with the character of the material and the
density of the must. When it exceeds half an hour, it is better to add the malt
by fractional instalments at equal intervals, so as to compensate for the loss of
activity resulting from prolonged heating to 70° or 75°.
When the liquefaction is completed, a sample of the must mixed with an iodine
solution gives a red tint indicating the presence of dextrin. For brewing or
distilling purposes, the must, immediately after liquefaction, may be cooled to 50°
by circulation of cold water through the jacket and agitator, and then it may be
saccharified by addition of malt infusion. The saccharifaction at 50° should last
not more than two hours; then the material is to be cooled to 25° and treated with
yeast, the saccharifaction continuing during fermentation.
2° Separation of the residues. The separation of the residues is effected by
passing the must several times through rotary sieves of successive degrees of
fineness. Should the material be very thick, it may be passed through a centrifugal
sifter or filter press. The addition of about two per cent. of raw paper pulp, after
sifting or even immediately after liquefaction, when very thick must is under
treatment, is of advantage in the filtering of the residues, which may be effected by
continuous or by mechanical, hydraulic or other presses. The residues are collected
after sifting and pressing or simply pressing.
3º Clarification. The must squeezed from the residues contains dissolved
substances which coagulate by heating, effecting clarification, which is promoted by
the air that is dissolved in the must by the sifting or pressing. Some musts do

page_text: •
not clarify sufficiently of themselves: it is of advantage to add to them a little
fibrin or albumen before heating. Clarification is effected in vessels furnished with
'float apparatus for withdrawal of the clear must. The grounds and scum are
collected, mixed with residues and pressed along with them.
4° Treatment of the residues of liquefaction by boiling at 150° in close vessels.
The residues diluted with water are heated to 150°, for half an hour at most, in a
closed macerating vessel, provided with an agitator and heated by steam. The
quantity of water added to the residues is such that the juice resulting from the
boiling indicates at most 4° Beaumé. After boiling, the material in the vessel is
cooled by circulation of cold water down to 70° and from one to two percent of
infusion is added to promote the dextrination of the starch liquefied by the boiling.
This dextrination is almost instantaneous. The material is then sifted and the
residues of the sifting are pressed by a hydraulic press. These residues, neutral,
very rich in oil and nitrogen, but quite clear of starch, are well suited for food of
animals. By pressing them in moulds they can be turned out as cakes which,
after drying in the air or in a stove, will keep for any time, and may be carried
over great distances. When the material operated on is not sufficiently binding to
form cakes it can, after drying in a kiln be packed for transport in sacks or barrels.
The juice squeezed out from the boiled residues is used to dilute the material
triturated before its liquefaction by malt. The boiling under pressure dissolves
a large quantity of nitrogenous matters which are especially favorable for the
manufacture of worts and sirups for brewing.
5° Treatment of the clarified must. If the must is intended to be directly trans-
formed or to be concentrated as sirup for brewing, before definitely dextrinating
it at 70°, it is heated in a close vessel for some minutes to 140°. The boiling under
pressure is stopped, and the must is cooled, when it assumes the bright yellow tint
of light beer, and the rest of the treatment is continued as hereafter described.
Clarified must, not intended for brewing, is decanted boiling and immediately
cooled to 70° to be dextrinated by addition of 1 or 2 per cent. of malt infusion
which causes disappearance of every trace of starch dissolved by the heating for
clarification. The must is then left two or three hours in the dextrinating vat in
which there is a slight precipitation. The clear liquor is decanted and may be at
once concentrated to sirup or may be more completely saccharified if required.
At this point the first phase of the process terminates, the dextrinated must
containing about 40 per cent. of dextrin and 60 per cent of maltose. This trans-
formation requires only from 5 to 10 per cent. of green malt depending on its condition
and quality. This must concontrated either in an open vessel or in vacuo, produces
excellent sirup suited for brewing, confectionery or manufacture of liqueurs,
chocolate &c. When bleached by granulated charcoal before concentration and
filtered mechanically by pulp, sand or other filters, the must produces clear crystal
sirup of the highest purity. By merely treating with hops, the dextrinated must
of a strength 4° to 10° Beaumé becomes real brewery wort suited for fermentation.
In some special cases, the dextrinated must, by boiling with dilute acid may be
transformed into lump glucose, which can be treated generally as glucose otherwise
produced.
2, Saccharifaction of dextrinated must. When it is desired to produce alcohol
or maltose sirup very saccharine or in lump, the dextrinated must of any degree
Beaumé is brought to the temperature of 50° C, which temperature is maintained
in the saccharifying vats by circulation of water at that temperature through coils
in the vats or by maintaining that degree of heat in the operating apartment.
For saccharifying, either malt infusion alone is added, or with 10 to 20 per cent. of
water according to the degree of saccharifaction required. Complete saccharifaction
is effected in 10 hours at most, its progress being ascertained by sampling with a
saccharometer or with cupric liquor. When the desired point of saccharifaction is
attained, the must is mechanically filtered and heated to 100°, being bleached if
desired by fitoring through charcoal. If crystal sirup in lump is desired, the

page_text: liquor is concentrated to 38° Beaumé in a triple acting apparatus and run into
casks or moulds. The lump should be primed with a little maltose. When it is
intended.to ferment the must, it should, after at most 4 hours of saccharifying, be
cooled to 25° and treated with yeast, whereupon fermentation begins at once, while
the saccharification becomes slowly completed under the action of the infusion.
The fermentation produces a white very active yeast which can be very easily
pressed and sold for baking, pastry, brewing and distilling purposes.
saccharified must can be applied with advantage to the sweetening of grape and
raisin wines. The process completely saccharifies must indicating 10° to 25°
Beaumé, producing even lamps at these high densities. As dense musts are less
liable than weak musts to acid spoiling, this saccharifaction by malt is of great
advantage.
The
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1, The herein described process for extracting and saccharifying ingredients of
amylaceous substances by means of malt.
2, The preparation of active infusion of green malt by bruising, trituration, sifting
and decantation as herein described.
3, The preparation of raw materials for the treatment by macerating, roller
crushing and trituration before liquefaction by malt, as herein described.
4, The liquefaction and dextrination of amylaceous substances by partial
treatment with malt at 70° to 75° and their saccharifaction by treatment at 50°
as herein described.
Dated this 22nd day of October 1884