Improvements in Compositions or Mixtures to be used for the Preservation of Malt Liquors, such as Ale, Beer, Stout, Porter, and other like Saccharine Liquids, and in the Methods of Using and Applying such Compositions or Mixtures."
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Jan., 1897
66
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Compositions or Mixtures to be used for the
Preservation of Malt Liquors, such as Ale, Beer, Stout, Porter,
and other like Saccharine Liquids, and in the Methods of Using
and Applying such Compositions or Mixtures."
We, ERNEST EDWARD MUNRO PAYNE, of Aylesbury, in the County of Bucking-
ham, Analytical Chemist, THOMAS OLIVER KENT, of 33, Stockwell Road, Brixton,
in the County of Surrey, Analytical Chemist, and EDWARD ENGLAND PULLMAN,
of Godalming, in the County of Surrey, Leather Dresser, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
It is generally known that the primary cause of the deterioration in character,
quality and flavour (.e. the keeping properties) of beer, ale, stout, porter, and
other malt liquors, which have been brewed and subjected to alcoholic fermenta-
tion in the ordinary manner and stored in casks, barrels, or other receptacles, is
the absorption of variable quantities of oxygen in the presence of fermented
matter from atmospheric air with which they are, or may have been in contact,
or from the decomposition of some component ingredient or ingredients contained
in the liquor which in such case readily parts with some portion or the whole of
the oxygen contained in their constitution, giving rise to the processes of change
of decomposition known as secondary, acetous, lactic, mucous, and other fermenta-
tions.
Our invention consists essentially in the application of a compound or mixture,
hereinafter specifically described, which keeps the action of the various ferments
to a large extent in check, although it neither prevents their action entirely,
nor destroys them, the effect of it being such as to modify the slight changes
produced by their action, so that the original quality and character of the liquor
are and remain practically intact.
A liquor treated by this process is preserved, even when subjected to extra-
ordinary conditions; such as free access of air to a receptacle partially filled with
the liquors; or long exposure to temperatures such as are general in tropical
climates and which are very favourable to undesirable changes in the liquors,
often rendering them useless.
In carrying out our invention we make use of the following compound or
mixture, in about the undermentioned proportions and quantities, but as these
naturally vary with the nature and component parts of the liquors to be preserved,
we wish it to be distinctly understood that we do not confine ourselves to the
exact proportions specified, viz:-
Hydrate of Calcium,
Sulphate of Calcium
2 ozs. Avoirdupois,
A 075
for which either the hydrate or the carbonate may in some cases be omitted).
[Price 8d.]

page_text: These quantities are sufficient for 18 gallons of ordinary draught ale.
The above ingredients having been selected commercially pure and having been
reduced to a state of fine powder, are then mixed in the above proportions.
They are then moistened with a small amount of water and compressed into
concrete or compact masses or blocks of suitable size, shape, and weight; these
masses or blocks may consist of the mixture alone, but some are formed of the
above mixture encasing or surrounding a piece or pieces of cork, light wood, or
other suitable material, or the masses or blocks in various shapes may be attached
to pieces of cork, light wood, or other suitable material, in order that the masses
or blocks may be enabled to float upon the various liquids for which they are
employed.
The above described mixture may be also employed to coat, either partially or
completely, the inside of casks, barrels, or other receptacles which are used for
the storage or carriage of the liquors above mentioned.
As examples of the method which we adopt for the purpose of procuring a
liquor of the kind described, the following will suffice-1. Take, say 18 gallons,
of ordinary brewed draught ale, free from added preservatives. This may be
placed in a cask or other receptacle suitably coated with the above-mentioned
compound or mixture.
2. A similar quantity of the ale may be placed in a cask and a suitable quantity
of the mixture or compound suspended in a muslin bag or by other convenient
means from the bunghole or other convenient part of the cask, so that the com-
pound or mixture just hangs or reaches below the surface of the liquid; a suitable
quantity of the compound or mixture being at the same time allowed to sink to
the bottom of the liquid in the cask.
3. A similar quantity of the ale may be placed in a cask containing a suitable
quantity of the mixture or compound which has been encased or attached to a
piece or pieces of cork, light wood or other suitable material, which enables it to
Hoat near the surface of, or be partially immersed in, the liquor, a suitable
quantity of the compound or mixture being at the same time allowed to sink to
the bottom of the liquid in question.
We are aware that Carbonate, Hydrate, and Sulphate, of Calcium have been
employed during the manufacture of beer, ale, and the like, but our invention
consists more particularly in using the compound or mixture not in solution
but in a state of compression, being in the form of a solid mass of very slow
solubility, and the quantity which is present being very much larger than it is
possible to dissolve in the ordinary manner in water or malt liquors.
Moreover, the compound, being in the solid state, is not present as an active
agent until required by the increase of fixed acidity in the liquor to which it
has been applied.
The action is as follows;-The suspended masses or blocks or floaters being
near the surface of the liquid (already saturated or nearly so with calcium salts
present in the water used (sulphate and carbonate) and containing other soluble
matter), and being compressed and solid remain practically insoluble, the
absorption of a small portion of carbon dioxide by them being the principal
reaction which occurs.
Should fermentation occur, (say acetous) that portion of liquor near the surface
is the first to be acctified, and upon the generation of the acetic acid it immediately
reacts with the carbonate of calcium, giving back to the liquid that small amount
of carbon dioxide that was originally absorbed, at the same time the acidity of
the acetic acid being completely neutralized. Should further action result from
fermentation (which is very unlikely, owing to the want of free oxygen, unless
the receptacle has been opened or air allowed access to its contents), the acetic
acid so produced would react with the compound or mixture and be neutralized.
Similar reactions would occur and the same beneficial result be attained in
the event of lactic, butyric, mucous, and other forms of fermentation, the changes
generally being confined to the superficial or upper strata of the liquors in question,

page_text: It has been found in practice that our system will preserve perfectly under
very trying and even abnormal conditions, various liquors, portions from the
same bulks of liquors without the additions of the compound or mixture, when
subjected to the same trials and conditions becoming totally unfit for human
consumption in the same length of time. The addition of the compound or
mixture to the liquors, or the presence of any salts produced, is in no way
deleterious, in fact in the small quantities present they are considered beneficial
and advantageous.
The novel compound or mixture may be used either alone, or in conjunction
with other known preservatives such as borates or boracic acid, salicylic acid and
salicylates, benzoic acid and benzoates, sulphites and the like.
00.1
1
1000
EDWARDS AND Co.,
65 and 66, Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicants.
"Improvements in Compositions or Mixtures to be used for he
Preservation of Malt Liquors, such as Ale, Beer, Stout, Porter,
and other like Saccharine Liquids, and in the Methods of Using
and Applying such Compositions and Mixtures."
We, ERNEST EDWARD MUNRO PAYNE, of Aylesbury, in the County of Bucking-
ham, Analytical Chemist, THOMAS OLIVER KENT, of 33, Stockwell Road, Brixton,
in the County of Surrey, Analytical Chemist, and EDWARD ENGLAND PULLMAN,
of Godalming, in the County of Surrey, Leather Dresser, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement, that
is to say:-
It is generally known that the primary cause of the deterioration in character,
quality and flavour (that is to say, the failure in the keeping properties) of beer,
ale, stout, porter, and other malt liquors, which have been brewed and subjected
to alcoholic fermentation in the ordinary manner, and stored in casks, barrels,
or other receptacles, is the absorption of variable quantities of oxygen in the
presence of fermentive matter from atmospheric air with which they are, or may
have been in contact, or from the decomposition of some component ingredient
or ingredients contained in the liquor, which in such case readily parts with some
portion or the whole of the oxygen contained in their constitution, giving rise to
the processes of change or decomposition known as secondary, acetous, lactic,
mucous, and other fermentations.
Our invention has for its object a novel method of preventing such deterioration
in liquors of the kind named, and it consists essentially in the application of a
compound or mixture, hereinafter specifically described, which keeps the action
of the various ferments to a large extent in check, although, it neither prevents,
their action entirely, nor destroys them, its effect being such as to modify the
slight changes produced by their action, so that the original quality and character
of the liquor are and remain-practically intact.
A liquor treated by this process is preserved, even when subject to extraordinary

page_text: conditions; such as free access of air to a receptacle partially filled with the
liquor; or long exposure to temperatures such as are general in tropical climates
and which are very favourable to undesirable changes in the liquors, often
rendering them useless.
In carrying out our invention we make use of the following compound or
mixture, in about the undermentioned proportions and quantities, but as these
naturally vary with the nature and component parts of the liquors to be preserved,
we wish it to be distinctly understood that we do not confine ourselves to the
exact proportions specified, viz:—
Hydrate of Calcium, 2 ozs. Avoirdupois,
Sulphate of Calcium,
4 ozs.
Carbonate of Calcium, 2 ozs.
وو
33
(of which either the hydrate or the carbonate may in some cases be omitted).
These quantities are sufficient for 18 gallons of ordinary draught ale.
The above ingredients having been selected commercially pure and having been
reduced to a state of fine powder, are then mixed in about the above proportions.
They are then moistened with a small amount of water, and compressed into
concrete or compact masses or blocks of suitable size, shape, and weight; these
masses or blocks may consist of the mixture alone, but some of them are formed of the
above mixture encasing or surrounding a piece or pieces of cork, light wood, or
other suitable material, or the masses or blocks in various shapes may be attached
to pieces of cork, light wood, or other suitable material, in order that the masses
or blocks may be allowed to float upon the various liquids for which they are
employed.
In order to increase such buoyancy, the wood, or other material, may be made
hollow. For instance, a bar or cylinder of wood of suitable size and shape may
be bored partly or completely through, the end or ends being then plugged with
cork or other suitable material. The wood is then coated or cased in the way
described with, the compound. In this the advantage is obtained that the wood
is of smaller bulk. Or hollow floats containing the compound may be used, the
floats being perforated so that constant contact is possible between the liquor
to be preserved and the compound employed for its presevcation.
The mixture described may be also employed to coat, either partially or
completely, the inside of casks, barrels, or other receptacles which are used for
the storage or carriage of the liquors which are to be preserved.
As examples of the method which we adopt for the purpose of preserving a
liquor of the kind described, the following will suffice:-1. Take, say 18 gallons,
of ordinary brewed draught ale, free from added preservatives. This may be
placed in a cask or other receptacle suitably coated with the above-mentioned
compound or mixture.
2. A similar quantity of the ale may be placed in a cask and a suitable quantity
of the mixture or compound suspended in a muslin bag or by other convenient
means from the bunghole or other convenient part of the cask, so that the com-
pound or mixture just hangs or reaches below the surface of the liquid; a suitable
quantity of the compound or mixture being at the same time allowed to sink to
the bottom of the liquid in the cask.
3. A similar quantity of the ale may be placed in a cask containing a suitable
quantity of the mixture or compound which has been encased in, or attached to, a
piece or pieces of cork, light wood, or other suitable material, so that it is enabled
to float near the surface of, or, be partially immersed in, the liquor, a suitable
quantity of the compound or mixture being at the same time allowed to sink to
the bottom of the liquid in question.
We are aware that Carbonate, Hydrate, and Sulphate, of Calcium have been
employed during the manufacture of beer, ale, and the like; but our invention
consists more particularly in using the compound or mixture not in solution

page_text: but in a state of compression, being in the form of a solid mass of very slow.
solubility, and the quantity which is present being very much larger that it is
possible to dissolve in the ordinary manner in water or malt liquors.
Moreover, the compound, being in the solid state, is not present as an active
agent until required by the increase of fixed acidity in the liquor to which it
has been applied.
The action is as follows;-The suspended masses, or blocks, or floaters, being
near the surface of the liquid, (already saturated or nearly so with calcium salts
present in the water used (sulphate and carbonate) and containing other soluble
matter), and being compressed and solid, remain practically insoluble, the
absorption by them of a small portion of carbon dioxide being the principal
reaction which occurs.
Should fermentation occur (say acetous) that portion of liquor near the surface
is the first to be acetified, and upon the generation of the acetic acid it immediately
reacts with the carbonate of calcium, giving back to the liquid that small amount
of carbon dioxide that was originally absorbed, the acidity of the acetic acid
being at the same time completely neutralized. Should further action result from
fermentation (which is very unlikely, owing to the want of free oxygen, unless
the receptacle has been opened or air allowed access to its contents), the acetic
acid so produced would react with the compound or mixture and be neutralized.
Similar reactions would occur and the same beneficial result be attained in
the event of lactic, butyric, mucous, or other forms of fermentation, taking place,
the changes generally being confined to the superficial or upper strata of the
liquors in question.
It has been found in practice that our system will preserve perfectly, under
very trying and even abnormal conditions, various liquors, portions from the
same bulks of liquors without the additions of the compound or mixture, when
subjected to the same trials and conditions becoming totally unfit for human
consumption in the same length of time. The addition of the compound or
mixture to the liquors, or the presence of any salts produced, is in no way
deleterious, in fact in the small quantities present they are considered beneficial
and advantageous.
The novel compound or mixture may be used either alone, or in conjunction
with other known preservatives such as borates or boracic acid, salicylic acid and
salicylates, benzoic acid and benzoates, sulphites and the like.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:-
For the purpose of preserving malt and other fermented liquors,
(1.) The use of a mixture of hydrate of calcium, sulphate of calcium, and
carbonate of calcium, in a solid or a compressed form, substantially in the manner
described.
(2.) Instead of the mixture described and claimed in claim 1, the use of a
mixture of sulphate of calcium and carbonate of calcium, substantially in the
manner described.
(3.) Instead of the mixture described and claimed in claim 1, the use of a
mixture of hydrate of calcium and sulphate of calcium, substantially in the
manner described.
(4.) The method of using the mixture claimed in claims 1, 2, and 3, by coating
with it the inside of casks or other vessels which are to contain the liquor to be
preserved, substantially as described.
(5.) The method of using the mixture claimed in claims 1, 2, and 3, by suspend-
ing it in the liquor which is to be preserved, substantially as described.“

page_text: or coating with it hollow or solid floats of suitable size and material, substantially
as described.
Dated this 28th day of October, 1897.
EDWARDS AND. Co.
65 and 66, Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicants.