IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING OR PRE- PARING INDIAN CORN AND OTHER GRAIN, AND AMYLACEOUS VEGETABLE SUB- STANCES, FOR FERMENTATION AND DISTILLATION
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Watt, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim,
in Ireland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING OR PRE-
PARING INDIAN CORN AND OTHER GRAIN, AND AMYLACEOUS VEGETABLE SUB-
STANCES, FOR FERMENTATION AND DISTILLATION."
Sealed the 30th June 1857, and dated the 10th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Watt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
January 1857.
J, WILLIAM WATT, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, in Ireland, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING
OR PREPARING INDIAN CORN AND OTHER GRAIN, AND AMYLACEOUS VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES, FOR FERMENTATION AND DISTILLATION," to be as follows:-
I take Indian corn or other grain, or amylaceous vegetable substance, adapted
for distilling or brewing purposes, and I steep it in water, hot water being in
most instances preferred; or the grain is partially or altogether malted, so as
to convert a portion of it into diastase. When malted grain is used the usual
process of drying the malt is unnecessary. I then grind or crush or levigate
the grain or substance in its wet or softened state with hot or cold water, for

page_text: which purpose much less power is required than for grinding dry grain or
malt, and at the same time the husks are more completely separated, and the
starchy matter being reduced to a. finer state of division or pulp is presented
in a much better state for the operations of the mash tun. When the
vegetable substance has not been previously malted, it is mixed with a portion
of malt in the mash tun or other vessel, or in the grinding process, so that
there may be a portion of diastase present to convert the starch into sugar, as
is well understood. The mash or sweet wort is then fermented, or boiled with
hops and then fermented, or otherwise treated by the ordinary processes, for
distillatory or brewing purposes.
The Invention is applicable to the treatment or preparation of Indian corn,
wheat, rice, beans, and other grains, and amylaceous vegetable substances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Watt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th
July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WATT, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, in Ireland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Watt, Her special licence that I, the said William Watt, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Watt, my executors, 'administrators, and assigns, should at any time agreo
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. Cliannel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS, IN TREATING
OR PREPARING INDIAN CORN AND OTHER GRAIN, AND AMYLACEOUS. VEGETABLE. SUB-
STANCES, FOR FERMENTATION AND DISTILLATION:;" upon the condition. (amongst
others) that I, the said William Watt; 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 months next. and
immediately. after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Watt, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
I take Indian corn or other grain, or amylaceous vegetable substance,
adapted for distilling or brewing purposes, and I steep it in water, hot water
being in most instances preferred; or the grain is partially or altogether malted,
so as to convert a portion of it into diastase. When malted grain is used
the usual process of drying is unnecessary. I then grind or levigate the grain
or substanco in its wot or softened state with hot or cold water, for which
purpose much less power is required than for grinding dry grain or malt, and
at the same time the husks are more completely separated, and the starchy
matter being reduced to a finer state of division or pulp, is presented in a
much better state for the operations of the mash tun. When the vegetable
substance has not been previously malted, it is mixed with a portion of malt
in the mash tun or other vessel, or in the grinding process, so that there may
be a portion of diastase present to convert the starch into sugar, as is well
understood. The mash or sweet wort is then fermented, or boiled with hops
and then fermented, or otherwise treated by the ordinary processes, for distil-
latory or brewing purposes.
The Invention is applicable to the treatment or preparation of Indian corn,
wheat, rice, beans, and other grains, and amylaceous vegetable substances.
Thus, in operating upon unmalted Indian corn or maize, I prefer to place a
quantity of the whole corn in a vessel and to cover it with hot water and
allow it to steep for a few hours. The heat may be kept up if necessary by a
steam pipe, or by any ordinary means. I then mix the steeped corn with a
quantity of malted barley, equal to about one-fifth of the Indian corn employed,
and I grind them together in ordinary millstones, and I cause a current of
water at a temperature of about one hundred and sixty or one hundred and
seventy degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer to flow through the stones. A
liquid mixture or mash is thus obtained, which is allowed to run into a mash
tun or other suitable vessel. The starch in the grain is soon converted into
sugar, and the sweet wort thus produced is fermented, and distilled or boiled
with hops, and fermented or otherwise heated, by the ordinary distillatory or
brewing processes.
It is not necessary that the malt should have been kiln-dried in the ordinary
manner, and I prefer to use it in its damp and fresh state, thus saving the
expense and loss of time incurred in drying it. When, however, dried malt is

page_text: may
employed, it may be ground up with the unmalted corn, as herein-before described;
or it
be ground up separately with water; or it may be crushed in the
ordinary manner, and added to the mash produced by grinding the un-
malted corn separately with water. The temperature of the water employed
in the steeping and grinding may be varied according to circumstances. Thus,
if the water is employed at a temperature below one hundred and forty
degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, the starch may be separated without
being dissolved, and the husks may be removed by passing the mash or liquid
through a sieve or sieves, and if the mash should become too cold it may be
warmed, so that the temperature of the mixture may be suitable for the
action of the diastase in the malt upon the starch, which temperature is from
about one hundred and forty to one hundred and seventy degrees of Fahren-
heit's thermometer. When the malt is mixed with the corn in the grinding
process the temperature of the water employed must not exceed one hundred
and seventy degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, otherwise the diastase in
the malt might be injured. In like manner, if malted or partially malted corn
is used, the temperature of the water employed in steeping and grinding it
must not exceed about one hundred and seventy degrees; wheat and barley
and other grains may be treated in a similar manner. In applying the
Invention to potatoes, and similar amylaceous vegetable substances, a portion
of malt is to be added, as herein-before described. I have mentioned certain
temperatures and proportions which are adapted for producing a successful
result, but I do not confine myself to the use of such temperatures and pro-
portions, as the same may be varied provided that the malt be not overheated,
and other malted grain may be employed in lieu of malted barley. The
mode or modes of treating or preparing the grain or other amylaceous vege-
table substances by the series of successive operations herein-before described,
prepares them for the purposes of fermentation and distillation, by exposing
the particles of starch contained in the substances more completely to the
action of the diastase, and thus causing the production of a larger quantity of
sugar than is the case when the substance is merely crushed or ground in a
dry state, as in the ordinary process of crushing or grinding malt or corn for
brewing and distilling purposes. Moreover, the power required for grinding
the steeped grain in its swollen and softened state with water is considerably
less than is required for grinding dry grain, and the operation of drying the
malt is rendered unnecessary.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I claim is,

page_text: the mode or modes herein-before described of treating or preparing Indian
corn and other grain, and amylaceous vegetable substances, for fermentation
and distillation, by the process of malting or partially malting, or adding malt
to them, in combination with the processes of steeping and grinding with
water, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Watt, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
WILLIAM WATT. (L.S.)