IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF BEER
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Burbidge, of 16, Coleman Street, in the City
of London, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PRESERVATION OF BEER."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Burbidge at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st September 1877.
FREDERICK BURBIDGE, of 16, Coleman Street, in the City of London, Manufac-
turing Chemist. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF BEER."
This Invention consists in the use of salycylie acid as a preservative or antiseptic
in brewing in the form of its innocuous salts and other combinations soluble in
water, and in which the salycylie acid is set free by the action of the acids contained
in beer, or in the materials from which it is produced.
Salycylie acid has been proved to be a most efficatious antiseptic, and specially
adapted for the prevention of acid and other deterioration in beer, and for the
destruction of those minute organisms, such as the lactic, acetic, and fox ferments,
the vibrios and others, frequently called bacteria. It has been used both in the
beer itself in its various stages of manufacture, and dissolved in water as a wash
for the vessels used in brewing.
Salicylic acid has been used for the above purposes either in its solid form or in
solution in water, or in alcohol.
The objections to each of these forms are as follows, namely:-In its solid form
salicylic acid is very inconvenient in use, requiring great care in order to measure
or weigh it out in small quantities when it is required to be added to each cask of
beer, as unless added in exact and due proportion it is liable to spoil the beer. It
is also difficult to make an aqueous solution of it, owing to its slight solubility in
water, and consequently its application as a wash to the brewing vessels and
utensils in the form of such solution is troublesome and uncertain.
The alcoholic solution is expensive, and the acid precipitates from such solution
on the addition of water.

page_text: The above difficulties have greatly tended to limit the use of salicylic acid in
brewing, but they are all overcome by my Invention, namely:-The use of the
soluble salts of salicylie acid, as these salts dissolve easily in water, and solutions of
a desirable strength can be made of them without difficulty.
It has been generally stated by all who have experimented on salicylie acid, and
studied its powers scientifically, that its salts have very little, or, according to some,
no antiseptic power, and this I find to be true as regards most substances; but
I have discovered that for the preservation of beer the antiseptic power of
the salicylic acid contained in its soluble salts is not in any way injured or
diminished.
This is probably explained by the fact that there is always a large excess of
acid contained in beer in every stage of its manufacture over what is required to
set free the salicylie acid.
The salts of salicylie acid, the use of which I more particularly claim in brewing,
are the salts of soda, potash, and ammonia, and the soluble salts of lime, magnesia,
and strontia.
I prefer to make the former by adding salicylic acid to the aqueous solution of
the alkaline base or its carbonate until the point when a distinctly acid re-action to
litmus paper is just established.
The salts of lime, magnesia, and strontia, are most easily made by adding those
bases or their carbonates to a hot solution of salicylic acid in water until such a
point that the salicylie acid no longer precipitates on cooling from the solution
when concentrated to the degree required.
The salts of salicylic acid made direct from the corresponding carbolates, or in
any other manner, are equally applicable for use in my Invention, provided they
are sufficiently pure not to injure the beer.
I am aware that solutions of salicylie acid in solutions of the borates and certain
phosphates and citrates of the alkalies have been used as antiseptics, although not
in brewing. These solutions have been believed to have only an antiseptic value
equal to that of the uncombined salicylie acid contained in them; but I have ascer-
tained that when added to beer the whole of the salicylie acid contained in them,
whether free or in combination, exerts its full antiseptic action.
Solutions of salicylie acid in glycerine and certain salts, especially the borates of
the alkalies, have also been proposed as antiseptics, but I find that they are
expensive, and that no special advantages are derived from their use.
In order to preserve beer by my Invention I add the soluble salts or the aqueous
solutions of these salts, or of the other above-mentioned combinations of salicylie acid
to the water, to the grist, to the mash, to the wort, before or after boiling to the
beer in any stage of its fermentation, or to the finished beer at any period.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Frederick Burbidge in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
February 1878.
FREDERICK BURBIDGE, of 16, Coleman Street, in the City of London, Manufac-
turing Chemist. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF BEER."
This Invention consists in the use of salicylic acid as a preservative or antiseptic
in brewing in the form of its innocuous salts and other combinations soluble in
water, and in which the salicylic is set free by the action of the acids contained in
beer, or in the materials from which it is produced.
Salicylic acid has been proved to be a most efficatious antiseptic, and specially
adapted for the prevention of acid and other deterioration in beer, and for the
destruction of those minute organisms, such as the lactic, acetic, and fox ferments,
the vibrios, and others frequently called bacteria. It has been used both in the
beer itself in its various stages of manufacture, and dissolved in water as a wash
for the vessels used in brewing.
Salicylic has been used for the above purposes either in its solid form, or in
or in solution in water or in alcoliol.
The objections to each of these forms are as follows, namely:-In its solid form
salicylic acid is very inconvenient in use, requiring great care in order to measure or
weight it out in small quantities when it is required to be added to each cask of
beer, as unless added in exact and due proportion it is liable to spoil the beer. It
is also difficult to make an aqueous solution of it, owing to its slight solubility in
water; and consequently its application as a wash to the brewing vessels and
utensils in the form of such solution is troublesome and uncertain.
The alcoholic solution is expensive, and the acid precipitates from such solution
on the addition of water.
The above difficulties have greatly tended to limit the use of salicylic acid in
brewing, but they are all overcome by my Invention, namely:-The use of the
soluble salts of salicylic acid, as these salts dissolve easily in water, and solutions of
a desirable strength can be made of them without difficulty.
It has been generally stated by all who have experimented on salicylic acid, and
studied its powers scientifically, that its salts have very little, or according to some,
no antiseptic power, and this I find to be true as regards most substances; but I
have discovered that for the preservation of beer the antiseptic power of
the salicylic acid contained in its soluble salts is not in any way injured or
diminished.
This is probably explained by the fact that there is always a large excess of acid
contained in beer in every stage of its manufacture over what is required to set
free the salicylic acid.
The salts of salicylic acid, the use of which I more particularly claim in brewing,
are the salts of soda, potash, and ammonia, and the soluble salts of lime, magnesia,
and strontia.
I prefer to make the former by adding salicylic acid to the aqueous solution of
the alkaline base or its carbonate until the point when a distinctly acid re-action to
litmus paper is just established.
The salts of lime, magnesia, and strontia are most easily made by adding those
bases or their carbonates to a hot solution of salicylic acid in water until such a
point that the salicylic acid no longer precipitates on cooling from the solution
when concentrated to the degree required.
The salts of salicylic acid made direct from the corresponding carbolates, or in
any other manner, are equally applicable for use in ny Invention, provided they
are sufficiently pure not to injnre the beer.
I am aware that solutions of salicylic acid in solutions of the borates and
certain phosphates and citrates of the alkalies have been used as antiseptics, although
not in brewing. These solutions have been believed to have only an antiseptic

page_text: value equal to that of the uncombined salicylic acid contained in them, but I have
ascertained that when added to beer the whole of the salicylic acid contained in
them, whether free or in combination, exerts its full antiseptic action.
Solutions of salicylic acid in glycerine and certain salts, especially the borates of
the alkalies, have also been proposed as antiseptics; but I find that they are
expensive, and that no special advantages are derived from their use.
In order to preserve beer by my Invention I add the soluble salts or the aqueous
solutions of these salts or of the other above-mentioned combinations of salicylic
acid to the water, to the grist, to the mash, to the wort, before or after boiling to
the beer in any stage of its fermentation, or to the finished beer at any period.
In determining the quantity it is most advisable to add to the beer, I reckon
the amount of the above salts and solutions to be used from the amount of the
salicylic acid which they contain, and I find that the best result is produced by
adding them in such proportions that from one quarter of an ounce up to one ounce
of salicylic acid is added to every 36 gallons that there is or will be of beer when
it is in a finished state.
In certain cases in which I wish to check the increase of acidity in beers, which
have already become more or less acid, I add a quantity of the above salts and
solutions that contains from one ounce to two ounces of salicylic acid to every 36
gallons of the acid beer.
I do not limit myself to the above proportions, but only give them as those
which usually produce the best results; but in all cases the quantity of the
innocuous salts and other combinations of salicylic acid soluble in water and their
solutions in water, which I use, is governed by the amount of salicylic acid which
they contain, and this salicylic acid I reckon to be of the same antiseptic value as
if it was used in its uncombined state.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Burbidge, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
Witness to the signature of
Frederick Burbidge,
CHARLES S. WEBB,
16, Coleman St.,
London.
FREDERICK BURBIDGE. (LS)