The theory and practice of brewing illustrated ... / by W.L. Tizard.
- Tizard, William Littell
- Date:
- 1857
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The theory and practice of brewing illustrated ... / by W.L. Tizard. Source: Wellcome Collection.
567/584 page 19
![article, and drying the malt from the palest possible shade to an}' colour, and economizing labour and room at least 500 per cent., the whole ot the processes, iiicliiding steeping, tuining, 8])rinkliiig, drying, and sweating the grain, are conducted and completed in one close vessel, wliieh may be locked up by the officers ot Inland Revenue* immediately after the intiodnctioii of the bailey, and not opened again until the operation is complete! when sclt-acting maebinery empties the cylinders, sweeps them out, screens the malt, if desired, and conveys it away to tbo stores. . The mechanical operations of turning, sprinkling, conveying, and sweeping can be aiiplied to the floors of ordinary malt-houses: economizing labour, and doing that perfectly, which lias liitherto been a desideratum only, viz. turning without bruising the corn, and so applying the sprinkling water, that each individual grain shall get neither more nor less than its share. The Patent Malting Apparatus is thus described by Dr. Sheridan Muspratt, p. 241, 242, in his new work on Chemistry, as relating to the Arts and Manufactures, thus:—• “ In concluding the account of Malting, the Editor cannot refrain from making a comjiari- son between the present system and the ingenious and excellent one lately patented by Mr. W. L. Tizard, the eminent mechanical and consulting engineer of London. “ It is well known that an ordinary malting establishment consists of an extensive range of buildings, containing a cistern, a couch, extensive floors, and the kiln. Mr. Tizard’s newly- invented malting apparatus consists of a vertical cylinder, containing a series ot wire trays, provided with sprinkling and turning apparatus and steam pipes, vacuum and plunge pumps, vacuum and pressure gauges, thermometer, et cetera, and worked throughout the whole year with 75 per cent, less labour and 50 per cent, less fuel than the old one. Experienced men admit, that of late the harvests have been so unpropitious, that the farmer is unable to secure his barley crop sufficiently dry for the purpose of the maltster, and the latter asserts that it is necessary to dry or sweat the grain artificially on a kiln, previous to its saturation with water in the cistern. The process of sweating is, however, neglected, on account of the great trouble it gives, or from there not being an extra kiln provided for the purpose. Hence the malting is commenced in a slovenly and imperfect manner. The temperature of the steeping liquor, and the number of hours allowed for the saturation of the grain, are also disregarded as matters of loutine, notwithstanding that they are points of very great importance as affecting its manufac- ture into malt. With the new apparatus, the process is commenced and finished in one ves- sel, which is a cylinder, occupying but one-twentieth the area of a malt-house. The barley gravitates from the stores above into each tray; after which the door is screwed up, and the cylinder made air-tight. The conversion of the grain into malt commences thus A current of steam is passed through a series of tubes lying under the bottom of each tray, which imparts its caloric to the grain, by which all supeiffiuous moisture and atmospheric air escape from each corn in the form of vapour. When the contents of the cylinder are heated to the temperature of about 100° Fahr., the vacuum pumps are put in motion, by which such vapour is extracted, and a partial vacuum created. The atmospheric pressure being thus removed, and the dilatation of the grain effected, a vacuity necessarily exists in the pores and interstices of each corn. In this favourable condition it imbibes steeping liquor at a temperature of 53°. Thus the steeping is accelerated, and a perfect saturation produced. Tlie grain is now allowed to germinate; but throughout this interesting process, the laws of nature are subject to the controlling hand of science, which has here brought to its aid all the mechanical means necessary to .achieve the great object of the maltster, namely, that of thoroughly exposing and making available the whole flrriua of the corn, without which the .article would be imperfect. This is eflected and kept within the range of proper temperatures by a steady sprinkling and evaporation of cold water, accompanied by the constantly evolving carbonic acid, which are together removed by the vacuum pumps. On the other hand, its temperature might be increased, and the process accelerated, by occ.asion.ally applying the plunge pumps, which subjects the manufacture ro atmospheric pressure. The great revenue arising from the malt duly will, to a moral certainty, render this invention as acceptable to Her Majesty’s Commissioners of E.xcise, .and the Chan- cellor of the E.xchequer, as to the honest maltster; inasmuch as it admits of being locked up, like a rectifier’s still, as soon as the barley is introduced, .and need not be opened till the manu- facture is complete, and the malt ready to be removed to the stores; so that the whole process is proof .ag.aiust fnaiul, and the d.aily supervision of the officers of Excise could be dispensed with. “ Space will not admit of a disquisition on the comparative merits of the old and i\ew processes of couching, flooring, sprinkling, germinating, turning, heaping, and withering, but a brief description of the curing or finishing process, termed dri/incf, cannot be dispensed with. This can be accomplished without the painful experience of having destroyed the vitality of the grain by the barbarous shovel, or tlie soles of the feet; by c.xeessive light; cold or hot currents, or other incidental causes. Presuming, then, that the new apparatus has supplied tlie necessary moisture and atmospheric air, and abstr.acted all superfluous caloric, and the carbonic acid g.as generated by the germination of the grain, which it cannot fail to do to per- fection, the drying is performed as follows :—^Ste.am is p.assed through the pipes, speedily * It is presumed th.at the practice of government officials at present existing in distilleries will not be objected to by the maltster, inasmuch .as facilities are aflrorded for withdrawal and ex.amination of samples during any part of the process, which can be accelerated, retarded, and controlled at the will of the operator through the various means provided. 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