IMPROVED MEANS OF TREATING BARLEY, CORN, AND OTHER CEREALS FOR BREWING AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Tessier at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th September
1861..
I, JOSEPH TESSIER, Proprietor, of No. 48, Rue St. Nicolas d'Antin, in the
City of Paris, Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS OF TREATING BARLEY, CORN, AND OTHER CEREALS
FOR BREWING AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
I propose to saccharify or give sweetness to barley, corn, and other cereals,
also all fecula, and even inuline and cellulose. I mix with the matter to be
saccharified, an animal matter, a little malted barley, or any other body capable
of decomposing or attacking the gluten, and that at the commencement of the
operation or decomposition. These substances remain in contact, and dry for
a longer or shorter time according to circumstances. I then steep them
several times in water at different degrees of temperature, so as to bring them
nearly to, but not actually forming a starch, mixing and stirring them for
from five to six hours, more or less, and when the fecula, the starch, and the
other saccharifiable bodies are discernable in the water, I raise the tempera-
ture to ebullition, retaining it thus until all the gluten is precipitated, and the
liquid becomes limpid and sweet, I then filter on to the grains, and with hops
make beer, or I make syrups as may be desired. Large brewings have
proved to me that I have discovered and applied the principle of brewing beer
with raw or unmalted barley. The gluten which envelops the kernel of the
barley closely adhering to the husk of the grain, putrid fermentation must be

page_text: excited against this husk, then against the gluten, and the corrupted gluten
transforms itself into a glucosic ferment. Nevertheless, this putrid fermen-
tation, although giving finally very advantageous results, is somewhat baffling
to the brewer. Acting on the same data, that is to say, the corruption of the
gluten near the busk, I obtain identical results by directly exciting glucosic
fermentation without passing through the intermediary putrid fermentation.
To obtain this result, I dissolve in water a certain quantity of some salt of
potash, such as carbonate, chlorhydrate, or even nitrate. This potassic salt
attacks the gluten, which readily transforms itself into a glucosic ferment. Too
much salt must not be used, as an excess would arrest the fermentation, and
it is only necessary that it should attack the pellicle and the surface of the
kernel, to produce fermentation. The mode of proceeding is as follows:-
To say, about 20 gallons of grain, I dissolve in about 20 quarts of water, from
9 to 13 pennyweights or thereabouts of the deliquescent salt of potash above
indicated, and with this water I sprinkle the grain, turning it over four or five
times with a shovel to spread the humidity; I then raise the grain into a cone
and cover it as hermetically as I may with sacks or tarpauling, with planks
supporting, and leave for three or five days according to the atmosphere, and
the quantity of grain under treatment. The fermentation soon commences,
the mass heats, and the steam even escapes through the interstices of the tar-
pauling or sacks. If ordinary beer is to be brewed, I arrest the fermentation
when it begins to steam; but if a soft and mellow beer, such as "Bavarian" is
to be brewed, I allow the fermentation to continue until it attacks the enve-
lope of the ordeine, which becomes evident from the peculiar odour arising
from this superior starch. Then in this case as in the preceding, I uncover
the mass, spread the barley in a ventilating granary, where it will readily dry,
or in winter place it on the drying kiln, but with a very gentle fire, as too
great a heat would be prejudicial; I then brew in the ordinary manner.