IMPROVEMENTS IN PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING EXTRACT FROM HOPS, TO BE USED FOR BREWING
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edmund Edwards at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th August 1883. Communicated to
him from abroad by Gustav Heller; ef-Prague, in the Empire of Austria.
EDMUND EDWARDS, of the firmn of Edwards and Co:-Patent Agents and
Engineers, of 40, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
-Middlesex "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING
EXTRACT FROM HOPS, TO BE USED FOR BREWING [communicated to him from
abroad by Gustav Heller, of Prague, in the Empire of Austria]
"
This invention has for its object the utilization of the hops in a more perfect
manner than has heretofore been the case, for the purpose of brewing beer, the loss
of valuable oil of hops being avoided.
The novel apparatus consists of a boiler of suitable size and material heated in
any convenient way. This boiler is fitted with a manhole provided with a
moveable cover, and also with a perforated false bottom, and with a stoam gauge,
water gauge, and safety valve. It also has at its upper part a valve chamber
containing a spherical valve fitting in a seat and having its weight so proportioned
to the surface exposed to the steam that it it is just lifted when the steam reaches
the temperature of 248° Fahrenheit.
The valve chamber above the sphere communicates by means of a pipe with a
refrigerator of any suitable kind where the steam is condensed a perforated annular
guard being arranged above the valve to limit its rise.
Between the boiler and the refrigerator is arranged an inclined closed cylinder
having perforated false ends or diaphragms, and a manhole and moveable door and
the upper end of this inclined cylinder communicates by a pipe provided with a
regulating cock or valve with the steam space in the boiler, whilst its lower end
communicates by a pipe with the pipe leading to the refrigerator.
A small pipe fitted with a regulating cock also communicates between the upper
part of the boiler and the pipe above the spherical valve.
The improved process for obtaining extract of hops by means of this apparatus
is as follows:-Four fifths of the entire quantity of hops required for the wort are
put through the manhole into the boiler which has been previously filled with

page_text: sufficient water heated to at least 176° Fahrenheit, and the pipes to the inclined
cylinder and to the space above the spherical valve respectively are closed. The
remaining fifth part of the hops is placed in the inclined cylinder between the
perforated diaphragms. The heating of the boiler is then continued until a
temperature of 240° has been reached, after which the spherical valve rises and
the steam passes to the refrigerator where it is condensed. After the boiling of
the hops has been continued in this way for about one hour and three quarters, all
the evaporated parts and especially the volatile oil, being condensed in the
refrigerator, the pipe leading to the inclined cylinder is opened and the steam
rushes through the dry hops enclosed between the perforated diaphragms extracting
only the finest flower perfume and carrying it to the refrigerator where it also is
condensed. The connecting pipe to the inclined cylinder being then closed, the
cock in the pipe between the boiler and the space above the ball valve is opened,
and all the steam remaining in the boiler passes into the refrigerator. A discharge
pipe at the bottom of the boiler is then opened through which the liquid remaining
in the boiler passes to a pump by which it is raised into the boiling copper in
which it is.boiled. for about half an hour or to the clearing of the wort.
About five minutes before letting off_the_wort the condensed products in the
refrigerator are placed in the copper, thereby communicating an excellent hop-
flavour to the beer. The spent hops in the boiler are then removed, whilst those
in the inclined cylinder having only lost the most volatile parts of their constituents,
are boiled with the fresh hops in the boiler at the next operation.