Lining British casks

I occasionally have arguments on the interweb with people who claim British casks were regularly lined with pitch of some other sunstance during the 19th century. I've never seen any real evidence to confirm it. And planrty of circumstantial evidence that pointss the other way.

This is another peice of such cicumstantial evidence. It's been plucked from the prospectus of a company specialising in lining wooden casks. The impliactaion of the text is clear: that most brewers weren't using lined casks. Otherwise why would you need to persuade them what a good idea l9ining was?

"THE STERAX COMPANY LIMITED.
ABBIDGED PROSPECTUS.

This Company is formed to acquire the British business of the Patent Sterilised Cask Company Limited, and the British patents and patent rights held in connection with the "Sterax" process, and also the TradeMark in the word "Sterax."

The ADVANTAGES OF THE "STERAX" PBOCESS may be summarised as follows : -

1. It ensures perfect Sterilisation, with absolute immunity from beers becoming affected by varying cask conditions, thus securing uniformity of character in beers.
2. It produces absolute Sealing of the pores of the wood and so prevents escape of Carbonic Acid Gas, thus ensuring maintenance of condition in beers.
3. It prevents acidity or fust by interposing the neutral substance "Sterax" between the wood and the contents of the cask.
4 It effects a great saving of expense by economy at: —(a) Time and Labour; (b) Fuel and water; (c) Cask repairing and storage space ; (d) Loss incurred through returned beer.

BREWERS WHO HAVE ADOPTED THE "STERAX" PROCESS.—The following brewers have taken licences from the Patent Sterilised Cask Company Limited to use the "Sterax" process, and plants have already been erected in six of the Breweries. Each firm has agreed to pay an annual royalty in addition to the cost of the plant; the royalties will belong to this Company :—

Messrs. Samuel Allsopp and Sons Ltd., Burton-on-Trent.
Messrs. S. and T. N. Blake and Co. Ltd., Gosport.
Messrs. Fox and Sons, Farnborough. Messrs.
Thomas Salt and Co, Ltd., Burton-on-Trent. Me»srs.
Thomas Usher and Son Ltd.. Edinburgh. Messrs.
Thomas Wethered and Sons Ltd., Marlow. Messrs.
Wm. Whitaker and Co. Ltd., Old Brewery, Bradford.
Messrs. Worthington and Co. Ltd., Burton-on-Trent.

The Anglo-Bavarian Brewery. Ltd., Shepton Mallet; the Lamb Brewery Ltd., Frome: Messrs. A. Gordon and Co., London; Messrs. Crowley and Co., Alton; Messrs. Barlett and Co., Ltd Warminsier; Messrs. W. Cooper and Co., Ltd., Southampton; and Messrs. John Furze and Co., London, have also adopted the Process, having acquired the right to use it from the inventor, who retains the protits therefrom.

The "Sterax" process has been in constant use for about two years at the Anglo-Bavarian Brewery Limited, and for shorter periods in many of the other Breweries mentioned ; its advantages have thus been thoroughly tested and demonstrated in practical working.

In addition, upwards of 100 firms of brewers have had casks treated lor the purposes of practical trial, and negotiations are in prepress with many of them for licenses.

THE STERAX COMPANY LIMITED.

PROFITS.- The royalties payable to this Company by the nine firms of brewers above mentioned will amount to over £2,500 a year and profits are being earned from treating the casks used by smaller brewers, and from treating new casks before they leave the coopers' yards. Owing to undertakings given to the  various brewers the separate amounts of the royalties payable by each cannot be disclosed, as each royalty is based upon confidential information as to the trade done.

According to the latest excise returns the number of brewers in the United Kingdom in 1899 was 6,888, and the beer produced in the year ending 31st December, 1899, was 37,404,383 barrels.

While it is not claimed to be probable that all brewers will adopt the process, yet it should be remembered that it ensures a saving in money to brewers who do adopt it estimated at three times the amount of the royalty charged, and if all brewers adopted the "Sterax" process, royalties calculated on the same basis as those fixed in the licenses already granted would amount to over £75,000 per annum, while if only 50 of the largest brewers actually adopt it, the annual royalties calculated on the same basis would amount to not less than £29,488 per annum, a sum sufficient to pay 20 per cent on the issued capital of this Company, and leave the ample margin of £15,966 for management expenses. reserve, and further dividend.

The "Sterax" process is also believed to be applicable the casks used in the vinegar and cider trades, and practical tests are now proceeding by members of these trades. Inquiries have also been received firms engaged in wine, milk, butter, fish, tallow, oil, fruit and other trades. The extension of the process in these directions would greatly extend the scope of the company's operations and profits.
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Tuesday 20 March 1900, page 1.
http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000206/19000320/068/0001

The list of brewers who had licences for the process is an odd mixture of the large and famous and the obscure. Fascinating that it includes three large Burton brewers: Allsopp, Salt and Worthington. I wonder if there's any connection in Allsopp's use of it and the Lager they had just started brewing. An air-tight cask is much more important when you're filling it with Lager.

This has all the hallmarks of a wildly over-optimistic launch, with the plump profits dependent on mass acceptance of the process, at least among large breweries. Something that I'm pretty sure never happened.

Burton and the Licensing Bill

If the 1890's had been great years for the brewing trade, the start of the new century saw the climate suddenly change. First, through extra taxation to pay for the Boer War. Secondly, through increasing calls from temperance groups for legislation to dramatically reduce the number of pubs.

An umbrella group of brewing and licensed trade interests called the National Trade Defence Association led opposition to the 1908 Licensing Bill. The Bill, which sought to reduce the number of licensed premises by about a third in England and Wales, was the work of Asquith's Liberal government and the temperance movement, with whom the Liberal party had strong links. It was eventually rejected by the House of Lords. One of the defeats that prompted the reform of the House of Lords in 1911, when its power to veto legislation passed by the House of Commons was effectively removed.

But it wasn't just the House of Lords that opposed the Bill. The National Trade Defence Association organised mass rallies to protest against the Bill, including one in Hyde Park on September 27th 1908 that attracted a quarter of a million people. The article below is part of a report of a similar demonstration in Burton. A town with much to lose, had the Bill become law.

"Burton and the Licensing Bill

ALTHOUGH the history ot brewing, as the trade of Burton-on-Trent, is of comparatively modern date, that of the making of ale is undoubtedly coeval with the Abbey and Saxon times, for conventual beer in the twelfth century was a common article of consumption, and the staple industry of the town subsequently suffered from the withdrawal of the monastic patronage. Readers of "Ivanhoe" may recollect the passage in praise of Burton ale before the time of Richard I. In Elizabethan times Mary Queen of Scots, it is said, was kept informed of the progress of the Babbington Plot by the Burton brewer who supplied ale to Tutbury Castle during her imprisonment there.

But for the brewing industry, Burton would have always remained the sleepy, old-fashioned town that it was in the Middle Ages, and it is only during the last 150 years that it has developed its world-wide reputation as the seat of the brewing industry. It is a popular idea to suppose that the excellence of the Trent water is responsible for the distinctive character of the Burton files ; but, as a fact, river water never enters into the composition of the beers. The actual water is obtained from a series of wells, impregnated with gypsum from the hills in the surrounding district, and to this is due the unequalled flavour of Burton ales.

The most interesting event in the history of the town in modern times was the visit of H.M. the King to Lord Burton at his seat at Rangemore on the 22nd February, 1902, when his Majesty inspected Bass and Co.'s Brewery and pulled over the levers which started a special mash of 400 barrels of extra strong ale, which for fifty years or more will be known as the "King's Ale."

It is impossible to allude to Burton without associating the name of "Bass" with it; their predominating influence in the prosperity of the town is greater probably than that of the L. and N. W. Railway in relation to Crewe. The whole trade of Burton, with its sixteen breweries, gives employment to over 12,000 men, of whom Bass and Co. employ one-third, the remainder being represented by Allsopp and Sons, Ltd. ; Worthington and Co., Ltd.; Ind, Coope and Co., Ltd.; Marston, Thompson, and Evershed, Ltd.; Salt and Co., Ltd. ; Burton Brewery Co., Ltd. ; Jas. Eadie, Ltd.; Truman, Hanbury, and Buxton, Ltd. ; Charrington and Co., Ltd.; Peter Walker and Co., Ltd.; Walker and Sons, Ltd. ; Cooper and Co., Ltd. ; Robinson and Co., Ltd.; Everard and Co., Ltd.; North Eastern Breweries, Ltd. But Lord Burton's firm (Bass and Co., Ltd.) covers so large an area (750 acres) with its network of breweries, that the town of 52,000 inhabitants is practically surrounded by it; and this only dates back to the year 1777, when Mr. William Bass, then a carrier, and, curiously enough, founder of the firm of "Pickford," opened a small brewery in Burton, which, after trading some twenty years, turned out 2,000 barrels per annum. The yearly output now reaches the colossal total of 1,500,000 barrels. To supply the malt there are thirty-three malthouses, capable of converting 230,000 quarters of barley into malt every season, and a steam cooperage turning out 1,000 new casks per week. They own seventeen miles of railways on their premises, eleven locomotives, 120 trucks for private use, and the coal consumption of the firm is some 90,000 tons per annum. These figures are hard to realise. When it is remembered that this firm of Bass alone contributes £607,669 annually to the Revenue, or nearly £2,000 for every working day ; uses 400,000 quarters of barley, and 45,000 cwts. of hops a year, pays £300,000 a year for freight, and issues to the customers who handle their bottling pale ale 1,000,000 labels a day, some idea of the enormous Interests involved in the whole brewery trade may be gathered, seeing that these figures of Bass's represent about one-third of the total figures of the town."
The Graphic, March 21st 1908, page 410.

It's very handy that they've listed all Burton's breweries. Here they are again:

Bass
Allsopp and Sons, Ltd.
Worthington and Co., Ltd.
Ind, Coope and Co., Ltd.;
Marston, Thompson, and Evershed, Ltd.
Salt and Co., Ltd.
Burton Brewery Co., Ltd.
Jas. Eadie, Ltd.
Truman, Hanbury, and Buxton, Ltd.
Charrington and Co., Ltd.
Peter Walker and Co., Ltd.
Walker and Sons, Ltd.
Cooper and Co., Ltd.
Robinson and Co., Ltd.
Everard and Co., Ltd.
North Eastern Breweries, Ltd.

Note that there are three London or South Eastern breweries in that list: Charrington, Truman and Ind Coope. Plus the Peter Walker from Lancashire and Everard of Leicester.

The 1.5 million barrels that Bass brewed made it the second largest brewery in the UK, only Guinness being larger. And still one of the largest breweries in the world. Though the real glory years lay back in the 19th century. Hang on. There's loads I can work out from those numbers for barrels produced and hops and malt used. Assuming a yield of 85 brewer's pounds per quarter, I get the average OG to be 1063º.

barrels	1,500,000
qtrs malt	400,000
lbs hops	5,040,000
lbs hops/quarter	12.6
lbs hops/barrel	3.36
average OG	1063.01

The average hopping rate is more than 3 lbs per barrel. I just happen to know that in 1905 the average hopping rate for the UK as a whole was 1.76 lbs per barrel (Source: Brewers Almanack 1928, page 111). So Bass used almost twice as many hops per barrel as the average. Though it's worth remembering that as they specialised in Pale Ales, they would naturally use more hops than a typical brewery, where Mild Ales were the biggest sellers.

With 12,000 of the town's 52,000 population directly employed in breweries, virtually every family must have had someone directly employed by brewing. No wonder everyone - really everyone - in town was so concerned about the Licensing Bill. As we'll soon find out.

James Eadie, Cross Street Brewery (part three)

It's a sad day. We've arrived at the last part of the description of Eadie's brewery in Burton. Leaving the best until last, we'll learn about the union room today.

"HAVING refreshed ourselves, we proceeded to the fermenting department, and first entered a lofty place called the fermenting rounds room, similarly constructed to the cooling chamber, with iron principals, etc.; the walls being lined with white glazed bricks. This room, which is over the hop loft, possesses a concreted sub-floor, like the one under the mashing stage, only that it is two feet higher. Here are to be seen the fermenting rounds, constructed of pine wood, and connected with the refrigerators by a copper main, running down the centre of the room.

Walking through this apartment, we came to a much larger one, of very handsome appearance, called the union room, of the same construction as the fermenting-round room, just described. In designing the fermenting department, in this brewery, the object seems to have been, that, wherever fermentation is to be carried on, there should be no floors above, so as to insure light and free ventilation.

This lofty chamber, which measures 134 feet in length, by a width of 60 feet, is the most magnificent of the suite. The asphalte floor is entirely covered with iron frames for holding 216 union casks, and over them are the usual yeast troughs, containing fixed attemperators. Along the centre of the roof there is an elevated framed window, louvred, and placed above the iron principals, which is controlled from the floor by a lever which acts in a very simple and ingenious manner. Before leaving this department. we walked through the union room in the old brewhouse, which is still utilized for its original purpose, and contains seventy union casks, on wooden frames.

Descending a long flight of steps, we reached the room first entered, where the racking operations are carried on. The floor is paved with blue bricks, set on end, which rest on concrete arches, rendering it like all the others - water-tight and fire-proof. At one end, and extending under a portion of the old brewery, there is another racking room, of much smaller dimensions, that did duty in the olden times. In the centre of the racking hall, next visited are several lofty racking vessels, each holding 120 barrels, attached to which are the usual stop-cocks and hose, for filling the beer into the casks. The ceiling of this room, which is necessarily of great solidity, is supported by twenty-seven massive iron columns, and the place is lighted by numerous windows opening into the yard. At the western end, there is a powerful steam lift, for lowering or raising the filled casks, to or from the spacious cellars below, which is worked by a small engine, placed in the basement This engine also works the steam hoist, for lifting the hops to the hop loft.

Following our unwearied guide, we descended to the basement ot this, and the adjoining building, to inspect the stores. These lofty and extensive cellars, which, like the floor above, are paved with blue brick, contained at the time of our visit, about 2,500 casks of ale. Besides these cellars, there are the other great stores, situated beneath the maltings, before described. Great attention has been paid to the ventilation of both places; but these, unlike the others, are lighted throughout with gas, and contain a storekeeper's office and tasting room. Retracing our steps to the racking room, we passed out of one of the noble doorways leading on to the ale-loading bank, always a very busy place. Here numbers of men were seen rolling the barrels of beer into the trucks, the floors of which are on a level with the platform.
There is a double line of railway, in this part of the yard, fronting the racking room, and therefore as many as twenty trucks can be loaded-up with ale at one time."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2", Alfred Barnard, 1889, page 232 - 235.

Iron principals. I suspect Barnard doesn't mean firmly held beliefs, but pillars. The brewery sounds quite flash, with all its glazed tiles and open, airy spaces. In the late 19th century especially, breweries were often more than purely functional. The owners wanted them to look nice, too. Breweries, especially large modern ones, had been attracting visitors since the 18th century, when many came to marvel at the majesty of Barclay Perkins, Truman or Whitbread. That could explain the apparent extravagance of some designs.

For once Barnard doesn't come up with much details on the size of the fermemnters. As we've already learned, the fermenting vessels were often unusually small in Burton, in comparison to the quantity of beer being brewed. The picture doesn't help much, as there are no figures to help scale it. They look a fair size. Definitely bigger than the 15 barrels that Allsopp's fermenter contained. Or the 40 barrel fermenters at Salt or even the 45 barrels ones at Bass. I reckon we can only see the top half of these babies. That's a stage rather than the floor.

The fermenters were wooden, made from pine. Does anyone still use wooden fermenters? I can't they're very easy to keep sterile. Or maybe that wasn't the idea. Gale's were the last brewery I know to have used unlined wooden fermenters. And they seem to have been a real headache, unless you were brewing Old Ale. In which case they were perfect.

The copper main must be the large pipe running down the centre of the room between the fermenters.

On to the unions. The union room is much more modest than those we've seen at Salt, Bass and Allsopp. The arrangement of the troughs, casks and swan necks, however, is pretty much the same. Nice little detail about the attemperators in the yeast troughs. Was that standard? Hard to tell, as Barnard made no mention of themn at other breweries. It would make sense to have them. You wouldn't want the beer in the troughs getting too warm.

2,500 barrels is a fair stock of beer. Remember that Burton Pale Ale was a Stock Beer, that required several months of storage and maturation before sale. Eadie's output was around 70,000 barrels a year, so that's a little less than two week's production. Seems quite modest, really. I'd have expected more like a couple of month's work. But it could just be that most was held by agents or in bottling stores elsewhere.

I've left in the detail description of the loading bay to emphasise how vital the railways were for the development of Burton's brewing industry. The town was criss-crossed with private railways that brought in raw materials and connected breweries to their maltings. And, of course, fed trucks laden with barrels of beer into the railway network and into every corner of the kingdom.

And that's it for Eadie. I've still a few Burton brewers to go. Including one that's still brewing.

Messrs. Salt and Co. (part four)

If you think I'd forgotten about the last part of my series about Messrs. Salt and Co. you'd be right. It completely slipped my mind. I've been getting too excited about Bolton.

There was more to the Pale Ale business than just brewing. The stuff had to be shipped all over the world. This required stores and places to bottle. Some of this was under the control of the brewers, others in the hands of third parties. There were independent bottlers and exporters, who bought Pale Ale in barrels, matured it, bottled and sold it. But that's not what we're looking tat here. This is Salt's own beer store and bottling plant.

"On arriving at St. Pancras from Burton, we had only to pass down a flight of stone steps, and walk a few yards to reach Messrs. Salt & Co.'s stores, which are situated immediately under the station, and face Pancras Road and King's Cross. The extensive frontage of these great stores is divided off into three large apartments, one for the manager's private room, and for the use of the partners when in town, an intermediate one for the collectors, and a larger one for the general office and counting-house, with a safe room, sample room and lavatories at the back.



As will be seen from our illustration, these stores occupy a great number of arhes under the terminus of the Midland Railway, and have been internally lined and fitted for the purpose. They have also been carefully ventilated, and are lighted throughout with gas.

In the absence of Mr. Leversage, the manager, we were most courteously shown over the place by Mr. Moody, who first took us to the manager's room, which is a very light and handsome apartment, the walls and ceiling being lined with polished pine. The furniture is of solid oak, and the cupboards and wall fittings correspond. Next in order comes the collectors' room similarly fitted, and after that, the counting-house, which is most conveniently furnished with rows of mahogany desks and brass rails over for ledgers; the walls  of the building being coloured pale blue. Passing from thence through a doorway we came to one of two sample rooms, the walls of which are lined throughout with white glazed tiles, and on one side is fixed a marble counter This room forms a lobby entrance to the stores for customers, and to the right of it there is an office and entering-room for the superintendent.

Leaving this department, we found ourselves in the largest of the stores stretching out right and left from the doorway as far as the eye could reach At the extreme corner is the stock sample room, where a cask of every gyle is kept for examination, and where the temperature is always maintained at 52° Fahr. Here customers come to sample the beer before they purchase it, and are thus able to ascertain its condition, strength and quality. These extensive stores, covering nearly half an acre, are divided by a double line of railway, in the centre of which is a turn-table for two waggons. This railway is in direct communication with the high level service, and a train laden with beer arrives from Burton daily.

The first division, which is called the No. 1 store, and will hold 20,000 barrels, is entered from the street by two spacious and lofty arches, which are used for loading out the beer. It measures 350 feet by 100 feet, the height is 16 feet, and the arches above are supported by no less than 126 massive iron columns. The premises, which are well ventilated, are paved with brick and drained by a thorough system of double trap drains. Walking to the north end of the No. 1 store we came to a large vaulted apartment, used as a bottling store by Messrs. Moody & Co., who bottle Messrs. Salt's ales in London, for the home and export trade. It is well arranged for the purpose, being fitted up with all the usual bottling appliances and machines. Extending in front of it there is a large space covered with casks of ale reserved for Messrs. Moody's use.

Leaving the bottling stores behind us, we crossed the railway track, and entered the second division referred to. At the entrance, numbers of workmen were busy unloading the trucks and rolling the casks of ale into the stores, whilst others were taking the numbers and re-marking the casks. This store is scarcely as large as the other, and has an exit on the opposite side into the Midland Road, so it will be seen that the two places take up the whole width of St Pancras Station. A short distance higher up the road, under some more arches of the railway, are the stables and dray sheds of the firm, where fifteen horses are stabled and seven vehicles housed. As most of the carting is done by contract, especially in distant parts of London, these horses are used principally for delivering ale in the immediate locality. Returning the office we refreshed ourselves with a glass of Messrs. Salt's best pale ale, and once more set out on our travels."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 2", Alfred Barnard, 1889, pages 131 - 133.

As soon as I saw the illustration, I recognised where it was. And realised that the building still stands, built along one side of St. Pancras station. If you know little of Britain's railways, I'll explain why the stores were at St. Pancras: it was the London terminus of the Midland Railway, the company serving Burton.

20,000 barrels? That's a huge amount of beer. Presumably, in addition to beer intended for bottling, this also contained draught beer for sale in the London area. It's still an awful lot of beer. Shame Barnard doesn't supply any more details as to how long it rested there.

One last remark. Do you see what it says above the stores? "Salt and Company East India Pale and Burton Ale Stores" They're making a clear distinction again between Pale Ale and Burton Ale. Just thought I'd point that out.