Improvements in the Treatment or Preparation of Malt for Brewing.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Nov., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 21st Sept., 1896-Accepted, 14th Nov., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Treatment or Preparation of Malt for
Brewing.
1 EDGAR WILLIAM WALKER of Pottery Fields in the City of Leeds Maltster
and Brewer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
The process for which provisional protection is sought comprises, A, a method
of eliminating dead and unsatisfactory corns from malt which is conducted either
by (A) a single or (A2) a double operation; and B, the utilization of such
separated malt, either by (B¹) drying and storing, or by (B) using it, without
drying, for immediate brewing.
The first named operation consists of the well known (but until this suggestion
not used on a manufacturing scale) maltsters "water-test."
There are various
reasons, why this has not been utilized as a trade process, the chief one being that
much partially malted corn when malt is added to water sinks along with the
flints or unmalted corn which it is an object of this process to extract and
separate.
A. This naturally divides itself into two parts.
A' is utilized when the line of demarkation between the malted and unmalted
grain in any given sample is clearly defined, i.e. when the proportion of the latter
is separated from the good portion by reason of the absence or comparative absence
of semi- or partly malted grain. In this case one operation suffices, and it consists
in sprinkling the finished malt, dry and free from dust and culms or rootlets, upon
water in a suitable cistern or vessel. The malted portion swims and is skimmed
off, the flints or unmalted corns are found at the bottom of the vessel; but if any
considerable proportion of partially malted grain or nonfloating malt exists, in the
sample, one process is not sufficient for separation; therefore,
A comes into operation. This consists in at once taking the sunken remnant
of A and again treating it, preferably in a very much smaller and subsidiary vessel.
As a larger or smaller quantity comes from the process A¹ the depth of the liquor
used to float and to separate it is apportioned. Whereas the portion of partly
malted corns which it is the object of process A³ to separate sinks in water, here
the process is trebly novel-1st, by using a second operation 2ndly by using as
the separating medium a liquor denser than water (but no so dense as to float the
flints or dead corns and 3rdly by gaining such density of fluid as is required by the
use of anti-septic or preservative solutions of such character as shall either be
harmless or be of absolute benefit or by the use of solutions of various sugars or
starch paste of lower density than (as mentioned) would float barley. The fluid
gravity may be raised by the use of sulphates, sulphites, bi-sulphites, hydrates, or
the like of alkaline earths, as lime or magnesia; also in various ways, sodic chloride,
or borate, soluble starch or sugars may be employed for the same end.
The floating and sinking portions are again separated as in A'. The residual
fluid in the vessel may be or not utilized further in subsequent operations or even
in brewing.
B. If it be desired to store the treated and separated corn, the portions are after
draining removed to a kiln and dried and stored as malt is, until required.
If storage is intended a washing with pure water or otherwise (of any malt
which under certain conditions has been under the double process) may be
performed before kiln-drying. However, it may be convenient to at once use the

page_text: treated malt for brewing and in this case redrying may be wholly or partly
dispensed with in which case the process B2 presents itself. The malt not being
wet but only damp on the surface is crushed either directly into liquor, into a
mash-tun, converter, or both or into any convenient receptacle or vessels, and the
brewing process proceeded with under the ordinary infusion, the cold mash, the
Anglo-lautermaisch, the conversion or the combined modes of treatment. With
any especial or general process of brewing no alteration or interference is here
proposed.
The novelty consisting of the use of damp but not interiorly wetted separated
malt.
The processes A' and A' offer convenient methods for the separation of any
mixture of barley or other grain from malt or vice versa; and the process may be
utilized also for the treatment or recovery of doubtful or injured malt.
Dated this 19th day of November 1895.
EDGAR WILLIAM WALKER.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Treatment or Preparation of Malt for
Brewing.
I EDGAR WILLIAM WALKER, of Pottery Fields, Leeds, in the County of
York, Maltster, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in, and by, the following statement :-
The object of my invention is to provide means whereby dead corns, flints, or
unmalted corns, and partially malted, or otherwise unsatisfactory, corns, which
require to be subjected again to malting, or other treatment, to enable them to be
satisfactorily employed in brewing, are separated from the malt, or from the better,
but still imperfectly, malted corns, which may, with, or without, further treatment,
be more, or less, satisfactorily employed in brewing.
According to my invention I avail myself, as hereinafter described, of the
difference in specific gravity of the above mentioned substances to effect their
separation. The specific gravity of malted grain varies according to the degree
of malting of the grain; the more perfect the malting, the less the specific gravity,
the dead corns and flints having the greatest specific gravity. Grain when
satisfactorily malted will float, whilst insufficiently malted grain will sink, more or
less rapidly, in water.
If the amount of imperfectly malted grain in the material to be treated be
comparatively small, so that practically it is only a question of separating the dead
corns and flints from the malt, the following single operation suffices: The material
in a dry condition and perfectly free from dust, culms, or rootlets, is sprinkled upon
water, contained in any suitable vessel, or cistern, and is gently mixed with the
water so as to ensure wetting practically the whole external surface of the grain.
The properly, or completely, malted grain, though surface-wet, floats on the surface
of the water; and after five, or on no account more than ten minutes rest, is
skimmed off, whilst the flints and dead, or insufficiently malted, corns sink to the
bottom of the vessel, or cistern.
Should any considerable proportion of the material consist of partially malted
grain, this sinks also, but more slowly; and to separated it from the other
precipitated matter, a second operation is required, which can be carried out
in a smaller vessel, or cistern, than that employed for the first operation. For
this purpose the material which has precipitated in the first vessel, or cistern,
is removed as quickly as possible, and is sprinkled over the water, or other
liquid, in the second vessel, or cistern, and whilst the flints and dead corns

page_text: precipitate (which occupies about three minutes) the partially malted grain is
skimmed, scooped, or drawn off, not having had time to sink any appreciable
distance through the water or liquid.
In some cases it may be found more convenient, or otherwise desirable, to dry
the precipitated material taken from the first vessel, and to subject it to the
aforesaid second operation at a later period, when a sufficient quantity has
been accumulated to enable it to be more rapidly treated in a larger vessel, or
cistern.
It will be evident, that as one operation results in giving two grades of material,
and two operations in giving three grades of material, three, or more, operations
will result in four, or more, grades of material, but in the great majority of cases
three grades will suffice.
For the second operation, (that is for the separation of the partially malted
grain from the dead corns and flints), I prefer however to employ a separating
liquid which is denser, or of greater specific gravity, than water and of less
specific gravity than that of the dead corns and flints, preferably of a specific
gravity which is a mean between that of the partially malted grains and that
of the dead corns and flints. The specific gravity of such separating liquid may
rauge from 1020° to 1.220°, but for ordinary use one of 1·030° to 1040° will
suffice. As examples of suitable media I may mention various solutions of salts,
and substances of innocuous, or preservative, nature such as sulphates, sulphites,
or bisulphites, of soda, lime, or magnesia, or of bisulphites along with the hydrates
of these bases, or of chlorides of sodium, or potassium, or of solutions of sugar, or
soluble starch, or gum, or of any convenient mixtures of these, or similar
substances; provided that no substance so used shall be objectionable to the
character of the product, or improper as regards Excise regulations. Such denser
separating liquid may, if desired, be employed not only in the second but in any
one, or more, of the operations.
The separated properly, or completely, malted grain, from the first operation,
may be drained, kiln dried, and stored; or it may be used at once for brewing; and
in either case washed, or not, with pure water, or other cleansing fluid. In the
case of the partially malted grain separated by the second operation, if this is to
be stored, it may, or may not, be washed with pure water, or other cleansing fluid,
before kiln drying.
The draining and washing should not occupy more than ten minutes.
The skimming utensil, or skimmer, employed may be either a hand skimmer, or
a floating, lifting, mechanical, or travelling one. The best form of the larger
cistern is that of an ordinary malthouse cistern, i.e. rectangular and much louger
than broad. The other vessel used should only be at most one quarter of the
capacity of the larger one, and it may be of any convenient shape.
If it be desired to at once use the treated grain, or malt, for brewing, the
re-drying may be wholly, or partially, dispensed with, since the malt, not being
damp in its interior, but only wet on the surface, may, or may not, be directly
crushed in, or into, liquor, either in, or into, a mash tun, or convertor, or in, or
into, both, or in any convenient receptacle, or vessel, and the brewing process be
proceeded with under the ordinary infusion, the cold mash, the Anglo-lautermaisch,
or the conversion treatment, or by combinations of these.
The non-floating grains, or residuals, are, after the removal of the floating corn,
also at once removed from the cistern, or vessel, and, like the last named portion,
dried and stored, or, without drying, utilised. The removal is conveniently
effected by first drawing and draining off the liquid through a perforated false
bottom.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
:-
1. The treatment of malt, for separating therefrom dead corns and flints and

page_text: imperfectly malted grain, by sprinkling it over the surface of water, or other
suitable liquid, and skimming, or drawing off, and drying, the malt which floats on
the surface of the water, or medium; substantially as, and for the purpose, herein
set forth.
2. The treatment of malt, for separating imperfectly malted grain, by subjecting
the material which has sunk to the bottom in the process the subject matter of
preceding claiming clause, to a similar operation in water, or in a suitable
medium denser than water, the lighter portion, which floats, or sinks slowly, being
skimmed, or removed, before it falls to the bottom, and dried, substantially as, and
for the purpose, herein set forth.
3. The treatment of malt, by first subjecting it to the process of the preceding
first claiming clause, or to the combined processes of the first and second claiming
clauses, but without drying, and then, and whilst the malt is wet only on the
surface, crushing it and employing it directly in brewing, substantially as herein
set forth.
Dated this 19th day of September 1896.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.