Chapter IX. Water, Ice, Steam, and Light
Having witnessed the process of brewing, from the grinding of
the malt to the racking of the beer, we now turn our attention
to the extensive and complicated plant which furnishes this
brewery with water, ice, steam, and light. The first inquiry
addressed to the brewmaster concerning the water brings on a
highly interesting lecture on the importance of this element in
brewing, and the difficulty of obtaining it in the state best
suited for our purpose. True, the water which gushes from the
gneiss rocks of Manhattan Island, as well as that which is
conveyed to us from afar through the aqueduct, is very good and
wholesome; but it will not bear a comparison with the water that
the Munich brewer receives from the river Isar, nor that which,
ever since the 13th century, has rendered famous the ales of
Burton-on-Trent. The reputation of the Munich beer is quite as
old as that of this English ale, and in both instances popular
superstition attributed the excellent qualities of these beers
to secret recipes, possessed only by the monks who operated the
breweries. The real and only secret, however, was the
exceptionally favorable quality of the water. Our water is not
the worst by any means; quite the contrary, it is, as we have
said, good and suitable enough for brewing; but not a single
experienced brewer in our land would dare to deny that if we had
Isar water, our beers would be better than those of Munich; in
fact, even with this difference in the water operating against
us, much American beer is pronounced by connoisseurs to be
superior to the average Munich beer.
In an establishment of the size of the brewery we are
describing, water plays an important part, not only as a
component of beer, but also as an essential agent of
cleanliness, motive-power and temperature. For all these
purposes the ordinary supply of water does not suffice. To cover
the deficiency, this brewery has two sources from which copious
supplies are drawn. The one is an artesian well, which yields,
daily, 50,000 gallons of water; the other, a pumping station on
the East River which, during the summer months, or whenever
needed, supplies daily 900,000 gallons of salt water, used for
the condensers of the refrigerating machine. The artesian well
is seven hundred feet deep, drilled through solid rock, and
constructed in the best manner; it is worked by a powerful
duplex pump. The enormous quantities of water flowing into the
brewery, and used for purposes other than brewing proper, supply
eight steam boilers, furnishing steam for fourteen engines of
twelve hundred horsepower; a refrigerating plant, consisting of
three machines, of an aggregate ice melting capacity of 330
tons; the different stables, and the wash houses, where barrels,
chips, wagons, etc., are cleaned.
In describing the different floors on which the processes of
mashing, boiling, and cooling are carried on, we noticed the
presence of many large wooden vats full of water. The water in
these vats, used principally for mashing and boiling, receives a
preliminary heating by means of exhaust steam, which proceeds
from the brewery engines and would be wasted, unless utilized in
the manner indicated. An apparatus, specially designed for this
purpose, conducts the exhaust steam into coils fixed in the
vats; in this manner the temperature of the water is raised and
less heat is required to bring it to the boiling point.
Ordinarily, these vats are entirely covered with thickly padded
canvas, to the end that the heat may be more effectually
retained. When we consider that the annual consumption of fuel
in this brewery amounts to six thousand tons of coal, we can
readily understand that a waste of heat, in whatever form, must,
in the long run, result in a very considerable pecuniary loss.
In its downward course, from floor to floor, the water used for
the purposes before mentioned, flows through pipes which empty
into the tubs and boilers, and are supplied, at suitable points,
with instruments for gauging quantities and determining
temperature. By means of powerful steam pumps, the water is
pumped from the Croton main into the vats, where it is heated as
described. The vats on the floor next to the ground floor
furnish warm water for cleaning the kegs. Thus, the water, too,
passes through a series of connected pipes, vats, tubes and
tuns, up and down the entire height of the building, serving a
different purpose at every stage and forming another circle
within a circle.
Refrigeration
The refrigerating plant rests upon a massive foundation; it has
three floors, including the ground floor, and covers twelve
thousand five hundred square feet of the brewery premises. The
system of cooling rests upon the principles first applied to
this purpose, in 1849, by Gorrie, but has been improved upon
during the successive stages of its development to an extent far
exceeding the progress of any other scientific discovery. As
applied in this brewery, the system performs its functions by
means of the direct expansion of ammonia in iron pipes, placed
under the ceilings and on the walls of the cellars; a far more
effective and economical method than the system by which the
brine, after being cooled in large tanks, is forced through the
cooling pipes by means of steam pumps. The plant consists of
four De La Vergne machines, each of an ice melting capacity of
310 tons; these cool about forty cellars, or an aggregate space
of 1,750,000 cubic feet, and furnish, in addition to this, all
the ice cold water required for the attemperators in the
fermenting tuns, and for the coolers over which the wort passes
when it leaves the cooling tank, as explained. To described the
intricate process of cooling is a difficult task, save on the
assumption that the reader fully understands the principles upon
which the system is based. We must take it for granted that the
reader knows that the rapid expansion of a compressed gas, as
well as the volatilization of some liquids, is invariably
followed by a lowering of the temperature, and that by a proper
utilization of this change of temperature intense cold, to
almost any degree below the freezing point, may be produced at
will. The machines invented for this purpose vary considerably,
both in effectiveness and cost, and in almost every country a
different system is in vogue. The best American machines appear
to be compounds of all the virtues and advantages of the most
approved systems now in use; and it is claimed that the De La
Vergne refrigerator yields to none in any respect. The principal
parts of this apparatus are the boilers, expansion cocks,
refrigerating coils, compressors, separating tank, and ammonia
condensers. The boilers are placed on the ground floor, the
machines on the next, and the condensers on the top floor. Like
every other material or agent we have thus far described, the
ammonia, too, passes through a number of variously connected
circuits, down into tiers upon tiers of cellars, and up again
through the three floors above ground, only to recommence the
same journey and repeat it again and again for the selfsame
purpose. The ammonia first goes in a liquid state into the
cellar, where it is distributed by means of expansion cocks into
the refrigerating coils; thence the three machines draw it up in
a gaseous state and compress it. From the compressors, it passes
into a separating tank, and here the oil is eliminated and sent
to the coil cooler, while the ammonia still in a gaseous state,
ascends to the ammonia condensers on the top floor of the
building. By the use of salt water on the outside of these
condensers, the ammonia is reliquified, and in the liquid state
again descends to the cellars, as before described. Still
another circle within a greater circle! A recapitulation of the
functions of this refrigerating plant may not be out of place.
It cools 1,750,000 cubic feet of space in cellars; supplies ice
cold water for the attemperators in fermenting tuns and reduces
the temperature of the wort, as it passes over the cooling
pipes, to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. During the summer months the
beer to be cooled, in the latter manner, amounts on an average
to two thousand barrels, daily---the maximum daily brew being
twenty-seven hundred barrels.* [* Multiplied by four, these
figures give present output.]
The Steam Plant
The steam required in this brewery for all the operations
already described, and others still to be spoken of, is
generated by eight colossal boilers, each five and a half feet
in diameter, and containing fifty-six four-inch tubes. They are
of the horizontal return tubular type, fitted with patent
furnaces and water arches, and rated at 130 horsepower, each.
This boiler plant is really of double the capacity needed, and
hence, only one-half of the number of boilers is alternately in
use, the other half being provided as a reserve in case of
emergencies. The steam generated in these boilers drives
fourteen engines. Of these, one is used in the machine shop;
three serve the purposes of the refrigerating plant; two are
used for the electric light plant; three, varying from 100 to
165 horsepower, set in motion the mashing apparatus, the malt
mill, malt elevators, keg washing machines, rotary pumps in
cellar, two Otis belt elevators and four keg elevators. Two of
the latter are used for lowering empty kegs into the cellar, and
the other two for raising filled kegs. In addition to these,
there are four more engines, one each for driving a feed grinder
and fodder cutter in the stables, a set of revolving and
suspended fans in the office, the cask rollers in the pitch yard
and the machine for washing chips.
All these steam motors, as well as the refrigerating machines,
are connected with that system of steam condensation to which we
referred in describing the partial heating of brew water by
means of exhaust steam. Previous to condensation the exhaust
steam passes from the engine through an apparatus, called grease
extractor, which eliminates the oil; it is then conveyed to a
Gannon surface condenser and thence returned to the boilers. In
this process of condensation a vacuum of from twenty-five to
twenty-six inches is produced by means of an air pump. The
immense quantity of salt water used daily for the condensers of
ammonia is so profitably utilized in this manner, that
condensation is effected without an extra supply of water.
Cooperage
Cooperage is no longer a handicraft in America; the inventive
genius of our people, to which we owe the greater part of the
progress that has placed us at the head of civilized nations in
point of machine building, has virtually wiped out the cooper's
handicraft, and given us, in its stead, a half dozen enormous
manufacturing establishments, in which nearly all the barrels
required by brewers and distillers are made by machine. There
was a time when nearly every brewer had at least a smattering of
the cooper's art, and when the cellar men, employed in
breweries, had to produce satisfactory evidence of having passed
through the regular course of training prescribed for
apprentices and journeymen by the ancient and honorable guild of
coopers. Although this is now all changed, yet in so large an
establishment as the one we are describing, the employment of a
considerable force of coopers is indispensable. The large casks
and vats, ranging in capacity from 50 to 800 barrels, which fill
the cellars of the brewery, number about 1,500 and there are
about 100,000 packages---i.e., barrels of thirty-one gallons,
and half, quarter, and sixth barrels---in constant use; and a
considerable reserve stored away for emergencies. The coopers
keep an accurate account of these packages and vessels, examine
them from time to time, and make such repairs as their condition
may required.
The pitching of barrels, which serves the two-fold purpose of
facilitating the process of cleaning and preventing the beer
from acquiring a smell of the wood, is performed periodically,
with such methodical regularity that not a single package can
escape this fiery ordeal. The pitching yard, enclosed by a wall,
is the scene of this part of the cooper's task; here too,
manual labor forms only an adjunct to steam power. Four large
cask rollers, and many smaller ones, all driven by a steam
engine of ten horsepower, a pitch oven and a pitch cauldron take
the place of the single implements with which, in former days,
the cooper used to perform this work. After the liquid pitch has
been poured into the casks, the latter are placed upon the
moving rollers and continually rotated, by which process the
pitch is evenly spread over the inner surface of the barrels and
kegs.
The manufacture of brewer's pitch yields a considerable income
to an important industry, and is of no small benefit to the
producers of the raw material. A number of substitutes for pitch
have been offered in the market, and some of them, especially
one made of the residuary substances obtained in the process of
refining petroleum, possess many qualities lacking in pitch; but
there the conservative spirit of the brewers prevails against
innovation, for none of the substances have that peculiar,
although exceedingly faint, flavor for which the ordinary pitch
is so highly prized by both the brewer and the drinker.
All kegs are washed as soon as they return from the retailer,
and the importance which the brewer attaches to this part of his
business may be inferred from the fact that no less than one
hundred barrel washing machines have been invented---a sure sign
of pressing demand. The machines used for this purpose are of
the very latest pattern, and perform the work of washing and
scrubbing with a thoroughness that leaves nothing to be desired.
The kegs are washed several times, and always with hot water,
supplied, as we have already stated, from one of the vats on the
floor above. They are washed both inside and outside. The
operation is entirely automatic. Although the cleaning of the
outside of the barrels is not essential, great care is,
nevertheless, bestowed upon this work, which is performed by
scrubbing machines. The latter seem to give much satisfaction,
and are, therefore, in general use in all large breweries.
It is one of the characteristics of the American brewers to
disregard expense, when the quality of their product is at
stake, and can be enhanced by the use of modern appliances; in
that case they give no thought to anything else, but when no
such considerations prevail, they show a remarkably conservative
spirit, and prefer to adhere to old methods, particularly when
the use of modern inventions would necessitate a reduction of
the number of workmen. Cleanliness being a principal condition
of the keeping quality of beer, the brewer devotes to it all
the modern appliances he can secure. The wash room, situated on
the ground floor of the main building, has a cemented floor and
is bordered with open gutters, which empty into the sewers. The
men employed in it wear heavy boots, impervious to water, but
are otherwise clad in the usual dress of the "Brauburschen." In
the matter of dress, by the way, the spirit of our age has
wrought many innovations; excepting the blue blouse, every
article of dress that used to distinguish the brewer's guild
from other handicrafts has disappeared.
Although but indirectly connected with the cooperage, the
treatment of chips or shavings may as well be disposed of under
this heading. As we have seen, beech shavings are used for the
clarification of the beer while in storage casks, where a second
fermentation takes place. Before being so used, the chips
undergo a thorough process of boiling and washing, which is
accomplished by steam-driven machines of very modern origin.
Under favorable circumstances the chips serve this purpose more
than once; but, when this is the case, they must again be
subjected to boiling and cleaning. In this brewery, beech chips
are used exclusively. The stock on hand at the time of our visit
was in keeping with the enormous quantities of raw material
which filled the store rooms.
A Great Industry
In concluding this sketch of a modern brewery, a few words must
be said concerning the position which the brewing industry
occupies as one of the great wealth-producing factors of our
nation, and the extent to which it contributes to the
maintenance of other industries. It is impossible, of course, to
search out all those branches of business which directly or
indirectly depend upon brewing, but even an incomplete statement
will serve to dispel many errors which have been fostered by the
enemies of our product. We cannot even approximately estimate
the amount of money paid annually by the brewers of this country
to the masons, machine builders, pump manufacturers, coopers,
lumber dealers, and the manufacturers of the many instruments
and utensils used in brewing; nor can we fully determine the
advantages which agriculture derives from our industry. Much
less can we state, with any degree of accuracy, the help which
other industries receive from the trade generally. But there are
a few times which we can estimate roughly, at least. Thus, from
statistical exhibits, officially published, it appears, that the
brewers of this country pay, annually, for agricultural products
about $180,000,000. The capital invested in breweries, of which
80 percent represents cost of buildings and machineries, is
estimated at $800,000,000. These figures alone suffice to
demonstrate the economic short-sightedness of those persons who
advocate annihilation of the brewing industry.
The extent to which brewers contributed towards the payment of
the national debt, caused by the war of the rebellion, is
eloquently expressed by the annual reports of the Internal
Revenue Department. Since 1863 and up to 1908, no less than one
thousand one hundred and seventy-eight million dollars have been
paid into the United States Treasury by the brewers of this
country.
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