T & J Bernard's New Edinburgh Brewery (part two)

This time we get to look at the actual brewing equipment at Bernard's Slateford Road brewery. Exciting or what?

We'll start with two of the more prosaic pieces of brewery kit: the grist hopper and hot liquor tanks. Not very glamorous, but certainly essential.

"Reluctantly leaving this beautiful prospect, we resumed our studies, and passed across a foot bridge to take a look at the grist hopper then being filled from the elevator. It is a large square iron receiver, tapering towards the bottom, capable of holding eighty quarters of malt, and is placed over the tuns below. To view these vessels we had to descend to a lower stage or gallery On our way we came to two hot-water tanks, each holding 120 barrels, protruding a few feet from the wall, the larger and hidden portion being carried over the roof of the next house, while another boiling tank is situated in the opposite corner of the building. They are both heated by steam coils from the exhaust pipe of the engine, and in front of them are two steam automatic traps for cutting off the condensed water."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, pages 118 - 119.

That's very green, isn't it? Using the exhaust of the steam engine to heat the water tanks. I can't help trying to fit the numbers together any time I read a passage of Barnard that includes any. To mash and underlet - the initial phase of the mashing process - about 3 barrels of water are needed per quarter. So 80 quarters would require 240 barrels. Or the exact capacity of the two hot water tanks. That's reassuring.

"The mash-tun stage, which is a splendid floor lighted by thirteen windows, contains three mash-tuns, two holding forty-six quarters each, and the other twenty-six quarters. They are copper vessels, encased with pine, and each contains the usual sparging apparatus and gun-metal draining plates. The grist hopper, before referred to, which is suspended over them, is connected with a large size Steel's mashing machine, which mashes three quarters of malt a minute, and serves the three vessels. The water used for mashing is obtained from the well, situated three-quarters of a mile from the brewery, by means of two 4.5-inch hydraulic lifting pumps, each having a stroke of 2 feet. These pumps are worked by a power pump at the brewery, which forces water at a pressure of 1,200 lbs. along two tubes, causing it to work like a solid piston-rod of great length, and acting on the plungers of the lifting pumps; these tubes, 1 7/8-inch, 5 w. g. and 1 3/8-inch internal diameter, have been tested at a pressure of 1,800 lbs. per square inch, and are galvanised inside. Between the well and the brewery is a 4-inch wrought-iron delivery pipe, also galvanised inside. The pumps are capable of delivering 1,200 barrels per day of twelve hours. The power pump is driven by the main engine, and requires about seven horse-power to work it."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, page 119.

The hopper and Steel's masher are clearly visible at the top left of the illustration. The vessels to the right are, I believe, two of the coppers.

You must be getting used to my brewhouse maths. I wouldn't like to disappoint you. Multiply the mash-tun capacity in quarters by four and you get the approximate capacity in terms of finished beer. That's two of 184 barrels and one of 104 barrels. For a total of 472 barrels per day. Assuming 300 brew days a year gives an annual capacity of just over 140,000 barrels. They weren't actually making anything like that amount. Between 1890 and 1895, the largest amount brewed in a single year was 67,000 barrels. It looks to me like they built the Slateford Road brewery with an eye to the future, with plenty of spare capacity. The optimism of late Victorian brewers is admirable. Just as well they didn't know what was around the corner.

You know as well as I do that it would be unusual if they didn't have a Steel's masher. But here's another excuse for some mathematics. At 3 quarters a minute, it could fill the larger tuns in just over 15 minutes. Much nicer than half an hour of manual stirring with paddles.

Now on to the coppers.

"From the mashing stage we looked over the balustrade and observed, on a lower gallery opposite, three handsome copper vessels, one of them closed with a domed cover, the other two open. They are used for boiling the wort with the hops; two of them boil eighty barrels, and the other 140 barrels at one time. The design of these coppers is a little different from those we have seen before, the curvature being dissimilar, and the crown somewhat higher. The furnaces which heat these vessels are on the paved floor of the brewhouse ; the fuel with which they are fired being raised in barrows by the steam hoist, by means of hinged blocks which lift up as they pass through the trap doors, so that the loaded barrows cannot fall."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, page 119.

Once again, there are both open and closed coppers. Why did they have both types? Were the open ones for Pale Ale, as we've seen in other breweries? I can only wildly speculate. Maybe you can help me about their design. It sounds to me as if each copper has its own furnace, placed underneath it. Are these direct-fired coppers? I think they probably are. The alternative would be to use a steam coil, which is how they were heating water in the hot liquor tanks. This is one of the first breweries I've come across in Scotland that does appear to use direct-fired coppers.

The smaller coppers seem a bit small relative to the mash tuns. A 46-quarter mash tun, assuming two roughly equally-sized worts, would require a copper of 90 to 100 barrel capacity. Another indication that they weren't brewing at full tilt. I don't believe that the coppers could handle the wort that all three mash tuns could supply, if running in parallel.

We'll finish with another of the more mundane pieces of equipment, the hop back.

"On a level with this stage there is a hop room for a few days' supply of hops, quite contiguous to the tops of the coppers. The hop-back, another copper vessel, holding 120 barrels, to which the wort now runs, is placed over the coolers in the next building, and contains gun-metal draining plates.

Under the mash-house floor we were shown a movable platform, on wheels of great height, which runs across the floor to enable the brewers men to get at the bottoms of the elevated vessels when required. The mash-tuns all discharge their draff by means of a wooden shoot, which is attached to an iron one leading into the draff-house, a small detached building in the yard."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, pages 119 - 120.

Very practical, that, having the hop store next to the top of the coppers. Now there's something I have personal experience of, throwing hops into the copper. That and filling kegs with AK are the only real functions I've ever performed in a brewery. I don't count mouse clicks. The system of removing spent grains (draff) was also neat. At least no poor bugger had to climb into the mashtun and shovel it all out.

Next it's the turn of cooling and fermenting.

The Shore Brewery, Alloa (part three)

Yet more on Calder. When we finally get a glimpse of the shiny things.

I've no time for a long introduction. I'll let Barnard do the talking.

"Our steps were first directed to the ground floor of the malting which adjoins the brewhouse, where is situated the mill for crushing the malt, and from whence it is conveyed to the grist-house. Next, we ascended some stone steps, which lead into the brewhouse, a square structure built with stone, and having an open louvred roof. Making our way to the top gallery, we were shown a domed heating copper, holding fifty barrels, constructed of copper, and fitted with a manhole. It is commanded by the cold-liquor tank, and is for heating the brewing water, which runs thence through a copper main direct into one of Steel's mashing machines.

Returning to the floor, we took a peep at the mash-tun standing in the centre of the house, which is constructed of oak and fitted with gun-metal draining plates. It is a seventeen-quarter tun, and is generally used twice a day, to meet the increased demand for Calder's ale. Beneath the tun there is an underback, from whence the wort is pumped up to the copper, whither we followed it. Ascending another stair, to a gallery placed at a great elevation, we found ourselves on a level with the copper, a fine vessel 10 feet in diameter, which is constructed of copper, is heated by fire, and holds eighty barrels. In a recess on this stage, or gallery, is the brewer's sampling sink, and close to it, the grist hopper, etc. ."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 4", Alfred Barnard, 1890, page 390.

Scottish breweries were sturdily built. Often, like the Shore Brewery, of stone. It may not have been as grand as Willaim Younger's breweries in Edinburgh (they looked like castles), but it was still built like a brick shithouse.

Steel's masher. If it seems like everyone had one, that's because they did. It's an incredibly useful piece of equipment, allowing a brewer to fine-tune the consistency of his mash. It's no wonder that they're still common.

Now it's time for my favourite bit: mashtun mathematics. Calder had a single 17-quarter mashtun, used twice a day. Reckoning about 4 barrels to the quarter, that's a daily capacity of around 136 barrels. Or around 40,000 barrels a year. Which is very similar to the 50,000 barrel capacity quoted in their 1905 prospectus. Not a huge brewery by any means.

Let's move on to the cooling and fermenting and cooling departments.

"Passing into the next building, we ascended a flight of steps, leading up from the cleansing room to the cooling department. It occupies the topmost storey of the fermenting-house, which measures 60 feet square, and looks out on to the quay and river. The walls are louvred on all sides from floor to roof, hence the breezes from the Forth play pretty freely throughout the building, and the wort is rapidly cooled. On the west side of this chamber stands the hop-back, constructed of pine, and fitted with gun-metal draining plates. It is divided off at one end, where there is a surface aerator, through which the wort is conducted to two large coolers ; these occupy a considerable portion of the floor; and they are connected with two of Morton's horizontal refrigerators, which have a capacity of forty barrels per hour, and are cooled by well water. From these machines, the worts descend to the tun-rooms below, the larger of which contains four square fermenting vats, with a capacity of 300 barrels, where also are the tanks for holding the store yeast. In the smaller room, are five fermenting rounds, with a capacity of 180 barrels, and both rooms are fitted throughout with hot and cold water pipes.

Following our guide down a narrow stair, we reached the settling-square room, a chamber measuring 50 feet in length, and having numerous small windows looking out on the yard and road. It contains, besides other vessels, six settling-squares, constructed of pinewood, and fitted with attemperators. Descending still lower, we came to the basement of the building, where the cleansing operations are completed, and the beer finished for delivery to customers. Through a wide doorway, we passed into the cellars, where certain classes of ale are matured and stored for the local trade. The most important, however, is the cellar, situated in the building on the quay. This fine structure, which was erected some years ago by Mr. Calder, the senior partner, is of great height and capacity. The walls are 2.5 feet thick, and space has been left within the building for putting up another storey. This immense cellar is used principally for pale ales, and 6,000 barrels can be stored therein. Adjoining this cellar, is an export bottling store of similar dimensions, containing two storeys. At the back of the ground floor, the bottle-washing is conducted, the front portion being used for the filling operations. The upper floor is used for labelling, capsuling, and packing the bottled beers, for shipping to Australia and the West Indies. Included within this block, is the brewer's private house, several other stores, some houses for the workmen, a stable yard and a dray shed."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 4", Alfred Barnard, 1890, pages 390 - 391.

You can imagine how drafty that cooling loft must have been. The brewery had an pretty exposed position, virtually on the shore of the Forth. The same comment as I made about Steel's mashers applies to Morton's refrigerators. Everyone used them. Though unlike the mashers, refrigerators of this type have been superseded by my modern devices. There's another reason why wells were important: as a supply of cold water. Deep wells are totally immune to the vagaries of the surface temperature.

Time for another bit of brewhouse calculus. Four squares of 300 barrels. Is that each or combined? I suspect combined. The brew-length was only 70-odd barrels. It would take two days of brews (brewing twice a day) to fill a 300-barrel square. Whereas 75-barrel fermenters would contain a single brew each. 480 barrels fermentation capacity doesn't seem like much. Or enough to keep pace with the mash tun. Depending on how long fermentation took. But look, they're using settling squares. The wort probably didn't stay in the fermenters more than two or three days before being dropped into the settling square. Using each of the fermenters twice a week would give enough capacity to match the mash tun virtually exactly. 960 divided by 12 (two brews each day, six days a week) is 80. Or a little more than the brew-length of seventy-something barrels.

This is where I get confused. The cleansing department ins below the settling squares. Surely the settling squares were for cleansing? Or did they, as described in an earlier post, run the beer into butts for cleansing? Is that what was in the basement?

In the 1890's not everything was running beer yet. Explaining wht some types of beer still needed to be matured in the brewery cellar. Almost certainly this would have included some of their Pale Ales. This was still brewed sometimes as a Stock beer.

That cellar on the quayside sounds totally out of proportion. 6,000 barrels is about two months worth of production. To have that capacity just for Pale Ale says much about Calder's trade. And how long Pale Ale was being stored before sale. As the 19th century progressed, beers was increasingly exported in bottles. Which meant brewers needed a whole set of new equipment to wash and fill the bottles. Funny the two destinations that are mentioned: Australia and the West Indies. We saw just a couple of days ago that many Scottish brewers were exporting to Australia in 1910.

The most exciting bit is still to come. When we sample Calder's beers.