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 brew-master
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 horse-power; 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.
[Sidenote: 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 describe 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 self-same 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 oil-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 this 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° 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.[5]
[5] Multiplied by four, these figures give _present_ output.
[Sidenote: 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 horse-power, 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 horse-power,
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.
[Sidenote: 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 require.
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-horse power, 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 brewers’ 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 here 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 the 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.
[Sidenote: 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 items 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 per cent. 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 the 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.