Brewing equipment 1815 - 1850

I've told you plenty about ingredienst and brewing techniques. Now it's time to take a look at the equipment they used. New developments such as mashing machines and refrigerators were starting to give larger breweries a distinct advantage over their smaller competitors and domestic brewers. They enabled big brewers to brew more quickly, more efficiently, in any weather and to have a much greater degree of control over the fermentation process.


Brewing equipment
That they weren't keen on a wood taste getting into the beer is clear. This is how wood used in the construction of vessels was treated: "English or Hamburgh oak, and Dantzic deal, ought to be seasoned twelve months at least previous to manufacture; subesequently undergo a thorough seasoning of salt, quick lime, and boiling liquor; and, finally, of malt dust, spent hops, and boiling liquor, that it may imbibe as little of the taste of the new timber as possible." (Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, page 9.)

The following equipment could be found in a modern brewery of the period.

Liquor-back. Made of cast-iron and situated in the roof of the brewery. A capacity of at least 10 barrels per quarter of malt used in a brew was recommended. An exposed position was not a disadvantage: "let the liquor come from whatever source it may, it will certainly be much improved by being exposed to the sun and air"(Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, page 7.)

Copper. There were two basic types: open and domed. Thet were made from thick copper and were twice as wide as they were deep. Often breweries had two coppers: the liquor copper, used to heat the water for mashing and the boiling-off which was used for boiling wort. The liquor copper needed a capacity of 3 barrels for every quarter of malt mashed, the boiling-off copper two barrels per quarter. (Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, page 8.)

Mash tun. It was constructed, like a barrel, from wooden staves bound by iron hoops. The staves were two inches thick and made of oak, the bottom of two inch Dantzic deal. Oak was not suitable for the bottom of the tun as it would be warped by the hot water used for mashing. There was false bottom made of cast-iron and four or five taps with a two-inch bore above the underback. (Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, page 9.)

Sparger. This was in common use in Scottish breweries and had already spread to England. It consisted of a horizontal tube with holes along its whole length. It was suspended above the mash tun and rotated about a central axis. A tube, connected to the water supply, was fastened to it. The holes were positioned so that the water came out of them horizontally and propelled the tube around its axis. In this way it automatically distributed the water equally over the whole surface of the grains. (Source: "The Theory and Practice of Brewing" by W.L. Tizard, London, 1846, pages 184-185.)

Underback. This was also made of oak with a Dantzic deal bottom. (Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, page 9.)

Hop-back. Square and constructed of Dantzic deal with a cast-iron bottom. (Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, page 10.)

Coolers. Made from Dantzic deal, with 6-inch deep sides and placed at a slight angle to help drain off the wort. The wood was given a smooth finish to minimise places for dirt to accumulate. (Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, page 10.)

Refrigerator. If used, only half the number of coolers were needed. (Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, page 10.)

Gyle tuns. Made from 3-inch English oak. One type was square. Another was round, airtight and fitted with a safety valve to allow excess CO2 to escape. (Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, page 10.)

Attemperators. Pipes fitted inside gyle tuns through which cold water was passed to control the temperature of the wort. It was attemperotor and refrigerators that allowed large breweries to brew all year.

Cleansing casks. Rather than putting retail casks on stillions for cleansing, special cleansing casks, holding around six barrels were sometimes used. (Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, page 11.)

Stillions. "Stillions are to be built three inch Dantzic deal, a whole plank in depth, bottom one inch and half, and about two inches wider at the top than at bottom, which ought to be for barrels 18 inches wide, 21 inches for hogsheads, 24 inches for puncheons, and so on in proportion for larger or smaller casks: the widths here recommended ar favourable to filling up witth clean beer, and to contain the yeast; a side plug-hole is necessary to draw off the beer, bored with a taper bit; the hole inside to be within about three quarters of an inch of the sole edge or bottom, to keep back the yeast; another hole of 3 inches in the bottom, to get the yeast out; and the stillion laid to a current of one inch to ten feet." (Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, page 11.)

Settling back. A shallow vessel, six inches deep, in which beer from the stillions was left to clear before being used to top up the cleansing casks. (Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, page 11.)

Vats. Made from 1.5 to 2 inch English oak. Vats of various sizes were needed for a variety of purposes: ageing strong Ale and Stout, blending worts from different brews, or mixing worts of different quality. They varied in size between the volume of one and three brews. Vats could be filled several times without cleaning out the lees, especially with Porter or Stout. (Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, pages 11-12.)

Casks were cleaned by filling with boiling water and being left to stand for 15 minutes, rolling occasionally. At the end of the process they were rinsed with cold water and left, without bungs, to dry. (Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, pages 12-13.)

Rake mashing machine
The first type of mashing machine, invented 1807, was the rake masher. It replaced men working with oars to mix the malt and water. Not only did it save on labours costs, it also mixed more quickly and more thoroughly, helping increase the efficiency of the mash. (Source: "The Art of Brewing and Fermenting" by John Levesque, 1836, pages 39.)