288 MEETING OF THE MIDLAND COUNTIES SECTION HELD AT THE W3 HITE HORSE HOTEL, CONGREVE STREET, heed on THURSDAY, FEBRUARY irs, ). Ms. F. A. Sari in the Chair. The following Paper was read and disoussed : BREWERY ENGINEERING AND THE FUTURE.* By Dp. R. In tho thesis I am submitting I hope to con- vinee you that improvement in the technique of brewing, in s0 far as it is dependent upon the devising, designing, perfecting and, finally, the adoption of new machines and equipment, is impeded by deficiencies in the knowledge available of our subject: that in spite of its great antiquity and the vost scale on which it is practised, and in spite also of the immense accessions of late to our know- ledge of all the branches of science concerned, brewing remains to such an extent im: perfectly understood that serious obstacles are placed in the way of tho engineer who would improve, if he could, brewery plant and processes. In the twenty-one years of my connection with the Indetry in thie ‘country it has passed through many changes, some begun before that time, but reaching their full development only during the last quarter of century, others initiated and perfected within that time and others again of which at the moment we only see the beginnings, and in the course of those changes I have had many experiences which support my point of view. Before I go further into my subject I want to make it clear thst, as I seo it, the ongineer- ing side of brewing falls into two main divisions, which differ sharply from each other in their scope, in the class of mind required to cope with them and in the demands each makes for assistance from other branches of science. In a brewery of to-day there is an import- ant section which is gonerally known as the * Thin ‘wag propared while the writer was on the Contineat at the end of December, 1020. "Con- sequently it was not until the 0 of tho Fet 7, 1930, number of the Journal of tho Institute of the fact that Mr. Lloyd Hind hhnd corered part of the eamo ground. In theso cit- cumstances the writer has thought it best to leavo the expressions of his views unchanged. ‘SsuIoMAN. ongineor’s department. This represents one of these two divisions, No dopartment hes been subjected to greater changes in the last quarter of a century. To give only a few oxamples: the passage from steam to elecrilty, the introduction on a large scale of refrigerating machinery and especially the development of high speod machines, the maintenance of vast and highly complicated bottling plants, have all been accomplished by tho engineers of the breweries. Such in- novations have put demands upon these men which could only have been met adequately by those thoroughly trained in their profession and also gilted with considerable flexibility of mind, qualifications which do not necessarily coincide. ‘This is, however, phaso of browery engineering where ap intimate knowledge of the scientific side of the browing process is not essential and where the ordinary rules which gover the practice of mechanical engineers, if intelli- gently applied, should be sufficient to guide the engineer ond safeguard him from most pitfalls. And yet thero are duties which fall upon the engineer's department in which there is room for error, if correct browing principles are not closely followed. ‘The running of mains is the duty of the engincer’s department. It is by no means uncommon, even to-day, to find mains, whether for wort or beer, which cannot be dismantled for cleaning or which, if they can be dismantled, are so ed as to entail ‘an exoossive amount of labour in doing 20, or which cocks, valves and fittings which may harbour dirt and from which dirt cannot be readily removed. Again, racking pasioalace met with of such dimensions and 0 disposed that they are only partially filled, so permitting of undesirable veration of finished beers and of the consequent growth of undesirable organisms. Many similar examples could be found, but the ono I have given will suffice to illustrate my point,SELIGMAN; BREWERY ENGINEERING AND THE FUTURE. So much, then, for the first category of engineers who serve the brewer. ‘Import ant as they are and invaluable as are their services, it is not their field of activity which T have taken for my subject to-night. It is rather that of the body which is concerned, as I have been largely coneerned, in devising or improving the mechanical moans which the brewer requires in order to prosecute his arduous and difficult art. Ido not know the history of the brewery engineer, and I doubt whether it has ever been written, I imagine, however, that ho has developed gradually from the craftsman who, among many other duties, plied his craft, were it of coppersmith, fitter or plumber, in or about a brewery. No doubt he at first was master only of his own trade, but gradually he will havo enlisted other tradesmen to make good his own deficiencies or to widen the field of his activities. In this way will have arisen the many firms of specialists who are prepared to supply the equipment the brewer requires, or, in some cases, themselves to design plant and utensils which, in their opinion, should help the brewer in his calling. It is not improbable that in the years which are past such a simple organisation as this was well adapted to its ends and may, indeed, have been all that circumstances and the state of knowledge at the time made possible. My submission is that to-day such an organisation is inadequate to tho task of improving existing brewing processes and methods. I hope to show that in ordor to effect further improvements it is necessary for the engineer to enlist the help of a whole team of scientists and that without their help he can only hope to advance by the tedious, wasteful method of trial and error which, as often as not, will cause him to miss his objectives altogether. ‘At this stage I would like to draw on my ‘own experiences in order to show with what wastage of time and energy such small advances as my associates and I have been able to record have been achieved, and to indicate how both might havo been saved had knowledge which has since been acquired been available to us. I shall choose my examples so as to show, if I can, how many branches of science he must call to his aid who wishes to make any progress in your particular field. 2389 When I first gained touch with the brewing industry it was in the early stages of one of the changes to which I havealready referred. Some time before that, wood, which had beon considered to be the only material of which fermenting vessels could be mado, had become suspect. This was the result of growth of knowledge which the bacteriologist had taught the practical brewer, not without much pain and trouble to both. Convinced by now that they could not expect to produce stable beers in vessels the very substance of which was impregnated with infecting organisms, many brewers had turned to copper and many had found relief. Some had, however, only boen relieved of their bacteriological difficulties to be faced by another and this time chemical trouble ; the effect of copper ontheir yeast. Consequently, a demand had. arisen for some other material which should confer on fermenting vessels the benefits of sterility without the countervailing toxio effect on living organisms. Now, whether this demand was justified or not, whether the material which I and those associated with me put forward was well adapted to meet that domand, is totally irrelevant to the argument I am attempting to advanes. I only cite this instance to show that what was rightly or wrongly held to be @ step forward was impeded by our lack of chemical knowledge at the timo. Aluminium had been known in the metallic state for somo cighty years, its salts had been distinguished from all others in Roman times, it was a material of daily commerce, and yot at « time when it had become available for the brewer in the form in which he just then wanted it, there was no know} ledge available as to whether it could or could not bo used for his purposes with safety and without fear of damaging cither his yeast or his beer. Asa result, it was necessary to go through the whole tedious process of constructing ‘one fermenting vessel after another, starting with ono holding about a gallon and each succeeding vessel bigger than the last, until a 50 barrel vessel was attained. It was necessary to find a brewer willing to face the risk of installing such a vessel in his brewery, and, finally, to wait and see the result of a long series of fermentations in auch a vessel, before it was possible to answer xy