IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING MATERIALS TO BE EMPLOYED IN MAKING BEER AND OTHER BEVERAGES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Herman Dirs Mertens, of Margate, in the
County of Kent, Solicitor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PREPARING MATERIALS TO BE EMPLOYED IN MAKING BEER AND OTHER
BEVERAGES."A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Herman Dirs
Mertens at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 14th May 1853.
I, HERMAN DIRS MERTENS, of Margate, in the County of Kent,
Solicitor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING MATERIALS TO BE EMPLOYED IN MAKING
BEER AND OTHER BEVERAGES". to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of treating the liquor commonly called
"worts," which is the extract prepared from grain by brewers and
distillers, by the well known process called mashing, in the manner
following, care being taken in preparing the worts to arrest the fer-
mentation before it has assumed a vinous character.

page_text: The worts or saccharine liquor should be separated from the grain
by decantation or pressure, or otherwise, and the liquor afterwards eva-
porated in any steam or other apparatus heated by fire until it becomes
thick or viscid and will solidify on cooling. The viscid mass may be
formed into cakes or blocks of any convenient size, and shaped by
pouring it into moulds or barrels previous to cooling. The substance
thus prepared becomes but little viscid by the action of the atmosphere,
climate.
and can be easily kept for any length of time in any
The aroma and bitter principle of hops may be added to the liquor
by infusion or mixture in the worts. The evaporation of the worts
may be accelerated by agitation, and care will be necessary to avoid
Jurning unless a vacuum pan heated by steam be used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Herman Dirs Mertens in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 14th November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
HERMAN DIRS MERTENS, of Margate, in the County of Kent, Solicitor,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Herman Dirs Mertens, Her special licence
that I, the said Herman Dirs Mertens, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Herman Dirs Mertens, iny
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PREPARING MATERIALS TO BE EMPLOYED IN MAKING BEER AND OTHER BEVER-
AGES," communicated to me from abroad, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Herman Dirs Mertens, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and

page_text: ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performned, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Herman Dirs Mertens, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
Zeilithoid or grainstone is the solid vegetable substance which
remains after evaporating a decoction or infusion in hot water of
bruised or ground grain, either wholly malted or partly malted and
partly unmalted, or of any other vegetable matter or refuse of vegetable
matter containing starch or saccharine matter which has undergone
saccharine transformation (zuckerbildung).
This substance thus produced is perfectly hard, and presents a resi-
nous structure and appearance.
It is prepared by taking the above-mentioned infusion, or, in other
words, any kind of worts in a good condition, as made or produced by
brewers, distillers, and others, and ovaporating the water from it by
any convenient process applicable to the purpose (though the use of a
vacuum pan heated by steam is recommended), till the residuum is
reduced to a thick syrup. This thick syrup is then poured into heated
pans for accelerating and completing the evaporation, which should be
further assisted by agitation by mechanical means in the usual manner;
and as the continued evaporation renders the liquid still thicker or
more viscid, it is kneaded by hand or by machinery, constantly drawing
out portions of it into the air, till the slighter or tape-like portions or
stripes of it become brittle, & will break like glass. This operation
is continued till the mass is so far solidified that it does not adhere to
the skin on touching it. When the process is completed, and the
substance is moulded or packed in any required form in strong casks
or other receptacles most convenient for stowage or transmission, so as
to protect it in the best possible manner from humidity or the action
of the atmosphere, and thus preserved, it will keep good and uninjured
for a great many years in any climate.
Zeilithoid or grainstone thus prepared may be used in the production

page_text: བཅབས་ས་。6O aRB9 ---
various other purposes; but I propose to employ it mainly as the basis
of all descriptions of beer and other fermented beverages, in which
cases it is desirable to boil the worts for a short time, say from two to
three hours, before commencing the evaporating process.
To produce beer from the grainstone it has only to be dissolved in
hot or cold water to reproduce a wort similar to that from which it
was reduced by evaporation, the quantity of water to be added being
from four to ten times the weight of the grainstone, according as
strong or light beer is required; and if the self-fermenting zeilithoid be
not used, then yeast must be added to produce fermentation, which
must be managed as in ordinary brewing, and the result will be the
production of beer which, if made from zeilithoid or grainstone
produced from malt & flavor with hops, will not differ from beer
made in the usual manner, according as the malt and hops used were
in quality and proportion adapted to the production of one or other of
such beverages.
Since, therefore, the flavor & character of the beer will depend
upon the quality and flavor of the grainstone, which in turn depends
for these properties upon the materials of which it is made, it follows
that the flavor & quality of the beer can be varied to suit different
tastes by varying the materials of which the worts are made, precisely
as in the manufacture of beer in the ordinary way. The aroma and
bitter principle of hops, or any other aromatic or bitter principle suited
to the purpose, is added, either by incorporation with the grainstone
during its manufacture, or added in the shape of an infusion on its
being re-converted into worts, as above described.
When incorporated during the manufacture, it is added either by
placing the required quantity of hops (either loose or, what is better,
confined in baskets or coarse bags,) in the worts during the boiling
and evaporating processes, and allowing the same to remain in the
worts till they commence thickening, or by incorporating the hops or
other bitter principle with the viscid mass when the evaporation is
completed, and previously to the moulding and cooling, by which mode
the virtue & aroma of the hops are effectually preserved, the grain-
stone completely keeping them from deterioration so long as it

page_text: preserves its own virtue. The grainstone may thus, when desirable,
be made the medium of preserving hops, not only for grainstone
brewing, but for the use of brewers and others in their ordinary
brewings, to which they may thus invariably impart the virtue and
aroma of new hops.
Yeast may also be preserved in the grainstone, as may also diastase
or any other matter capable of producing fermentation, by mixing it
with the grainstone after the evaporation is completed, and the mass. is
cooling and ready to mould or pack, by which means the production of
beer is ensured even in localities or under circumstances where yeast
cannot be procured.
Stout or porter grainstone is obtained by using the usual quantity of
roasted malt or other starchy matter in the same proportion as used by
brewers generally for making the worts.
:
Ale zeilithoid or grainstone is obtained in the manner first herein-
before detailed, adding a greater or less quantity of hops to the.grain-
stone (either during its manufacture or afterwards, as above set forth;)
according to the description of ale required.
Small or light beers are obtained by using more water to the ale
zeilithoid than in making ale, according to the strength required.
The zeilithoid, particularly the ale zeilithoid, may also be used with
very great advantage in the production of yeast for bread, or for any
other purpose, in warm climates, on shipboard, or elsewhere where yeast
cannot be preserved or is not readily obtainable. For this purpose
it is only necessary to make a strong solution of the ale zeilithoid
or grainstone in the proportion of one part of the grainstone to 3
parts of water, standing the. vessel in a temperature of about seventy-
five degrees Farenheit, though the temperature may be higher or
lower, when it will spontaneously ferment, and produce yeast of an
excellent quality.
In regard to the quantity of beer to be brewed at one time from the
grainstone, it gives the facility of brewing any quantity, from one
gallon and upwards, though the larger the quantity the better the beer.
In regard to the water to be used in. brewing with this material, it
gives the peculiar advantage, in cases of necessity, of using spring
or hard water, once distilled sea water, or even stagnant water, or any

page_text: other water not otherwise absolutely injurious, with little or no per-
ceptible difference from the best soft water; thus, under certain cir-
cumstances, producing a wholesome beverage from water otherwise
undrinkable.
The most prominent advantages of this Invention may shortly he
enumerated as follows:-
1. The facility afforded by it of brewing good beer in all climates
and under every temperature, & from one gallon upwards.
9. The property of spontaneous fermentation, & of producing
yeast in high temperatures.
3rd. The indistructible nature of the substance, which retains its
qualities unimpaired either by time or climate.
4th. The extreme simplicity of the process by which it is converted
into beer or other beverages, requiring no fire or brewing utensils, thus
enabling the very poorest classes to brew a cheap and good beer.
5th. The facility of using cold water with equal advantages where
warm water cannot easily be procured, or where the saving of firing is
an object.
6th. The rendering sea water drinkable after being once distilled,
& rendering other kinds of water servicible for brewing which
hitherto could not be used with advantage.
7. Its condensed form (producing from four to ten times its
weight of beer), and the consequent saving of freight and stowage.
8thly. Its great importance as the medium of preserving hops in all
their virtue, strength, and freshness in seasons when they are good and
abundant; and,
9th. As the medium of preparing beer in a concentrated and
indistructable form when barley or other grain is plentiful, and thus
providing against seasons of scarcity.
1
HERMAN D. MERTENS. (L.B.)