A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF YEAST
Year: 1812

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FELTON
"MATHEW, of Goswell Street, in the County of Middlesex, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifth day of March, in the fifty-second year of His reign,
give and grant unto me, the said Felton Mathew, His special licence that I,
the said Felton Mathew, during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, "A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF YEAST;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging
me, the said Felton Mathew, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my discovery, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within two calendar months after the date of the
said Letters Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Felton Mathew, do hereby declare that my said improved discovery in the
manufacturing of yeast, by separating beer from yeast and preserving the yeast
for a great length of time and in any climate, is described in manner following
(that is to say)—

page_text: The yeast is received in a perfectly new and fresh state from the porter
brewers; it is then started into a back appropriated for that purpose, from
whence it is pumped into bags made of stout worsted, serge, or any other fit
material, which are hung up in a tray fixed upon a stage in the front of the
pump. When the bags are nearly full they are tyed fast with cord, then
placed upon a hand-barrow, and carried by two men on two lever presses-of
the following description:-The presses are made of stout yellow deal (or may
be made of cast iron), or any other fit material, with grooves to let the beer
run off, each press separated with stout partitions (also with grooves). The
presses are raised upon strong feet, of which there are considerable number,
and sufficiently high to admit a stillion or trough under the front of the presses
to receive the beer as it comes from the yeast. At the back of each press is a
stout piece of timber, fixed upright and placed upon another piece of timber
laid on the ground in the same direction as the lever, and which are fastened
together and secured with strong iron cramps and bolts. Another piece of
timber is fixed across the whole of the bottom timbers to prevent them from
shifting. About the middle of the upright timber a mortice is cut, a little
above the back of the presses, into which one end of the lever is fixed, and
hung upon a strong iron pin, which goes through the mortice and fastened with
keys or nuts, with strong iron plates on each side of the mortice to prevent it
from injury or giving way; at the other end of the lever, which is about twenty
feet long, are iron hooks, upon which half hundredweights are hung; in these
presses the bags of yeast are placed, then a board, the size of the press, and
about an inch and a half thick, is placed upon each bag, upon which blocks
are put to give room for the lever to act, which is then let down by means of
ropes and blocks with double sheaves, which are fastened by other ropes to a
piece of timber that runs through the building. After the bags have remained
in this state a short time half hundredweights are hung upon the levers, one
at a time gradually, as the beer separates, until five or more weights are hung
upon each lever. When the bags have remained some hours in this state, the
levers again drawn up, and two of those bags are placed in one press, with a
board full of holes and groves placed between the two bags to carry off the
beer from the upper bag, and the levers let down again upon the boards and
blocks, as before. The beer that comes from the yeast in these presses runs
into the trough in the front, and from hence into a large receiving back at the
end of the presses. After the bags of yeast have been pressed, as before stated,
until no more beer will run out in the lever presses, they are then taken out
and put into cast-iron cisterns, placed in screw presses made of cast iron, with
wrought-iron screws and brass boxes, which cisterns contains about six or eight

page_text: bags each, upon which a wood follower, about six inches thick, is placed, and
a smaller follower upon that, to prevent the screw working down too low.
A cast-iron bed is hung upon the screw, which is worked down upon the
followers, first with wood pins, then with stout iron pins, having a ring at the
end for the purpose of applying a strong rope with a hook, which rope is
drawn by a pulling.engine, worked by two or more men. A trough is placed
under the front of the cisterns, to receive the remaining beer which comes from
the yeast in those presses, and is thereby 'conveyed into a vat at the end of the
presses, from whence, by means of a small lifting pump and pipes, it is con-
veyed into the large receiving back at the end of the lever presses; the beer
thus collected is, by means of a lifting pump and pipes, carried from the
receiving back into an upper shallow settling back, where it remains one or
two days to settle, and clear the beer from remaining sediment of yeast. It is
then run off into a second back of a similar description, and for the like
purpose, and then run off into a third settling back in like manner. After the
beer being thus cleared, it is run off into a large racking back, from whence it
is, by means of a large cock and leather pipes, racked into the brewer's buts
and returned to them.
Secondly. The yeast, having been pressed, as before stated, is taken out of
the screw presses and carried to the drying house, in front of which a bench is
fixed, called a breaking board, where the bags of yeast are emptied, which,
being then about the consistency of flour, is broke fine with iron shovels; it is
then put into trays and carried into the drying house, which contains a large
number of deal frames, covered with canvas or any other fit material of an
open texture, so as to admit the heat freely through, and placed upon rails
over each other, about twelve inches apart. Under the frames, on the ground,
is a cast-iron cockle, covered with a brick arch, to which is annexed cast-iron
pipes or flews, which are continued by brick flues, covered with cast-iron
plates, through the whole of the building. The yeast flour is spread as thin as
possible upon the canvass frames, where it remains until all the moisture it
contains has, by means of a moderate heat, evaporated; when, being in a
state of dry powder, it is swept down and taken to a room or loft, which con-
tains a sifting bench, where it is sifted, and the course parts ground with a
hand mill, and again sifted; it is then put into casks ready for sale. This
powder when wanted for use requires nothing more than to be dissolved in
any kind of weak wort lukewarm, and is then fit for and used for the fer-
mentation of spirits, beer, wine, vinegar, or any other liquid which requires
fermentation, and for every other purpose for which yeast is required. It has

page_text: the peculiar property of possessing its fermentative qualities in a perfect state
for any length of time in any part of the world, and at all times of the year.
In witness whereof, I, the said Felton Mathew, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Second day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twelve.