BREWERIES & EQUIPMENT Beer brewing began in the Delaware
Valley in the mid-seventeenth century when early Swedish settlers first
brewed beer in the home. Quakers established the first commercial brew
houses in Philadelphia in 1683. Eastern Pennsylvania's rich farmland
provided an ample source of barley and hops, key ingredients for brewing
beer, and the proximity of the Delaware River allowed Philadelphia
brewers to ship beer south to Wilmington. By the American Revolution,
Philadelphia was among the country's leading brewing centers, and
remained so through the late-nineteenth century.Brewing equipment
SOUVENIR ALBUM F.A. Poth Brewing Company Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1890
This souvenir album from the F.A. Poth Brewing Company of Philadelphia
contains twenty color plates with views of all parts of the brewery.
Shown here, clockwise from top left, are a general view of the brewery
complex, an interior view of the brew house, where water, malt, and hops
are combined to create wort, and an interior view of the fermenting
room, where barrels of wort are left open to the air as yeast converts
sugars into alcohol, turning the wort into beer. ENGRAVING "View of the inside of a Brewhouse" The Domestic Encyclopedia by A.F.M. Willich 1821 Text accompanying engraving: Of the Brew House
The following is an eligible construction where brewing is followed as a
trade. "The cold liquor [water] pump A, raises the water from the river
or well B, which, as well as the wort pump M, is driven by a horse with
proper machinery, which likewise grinds the malt used in the
brew-house. The grinding house is situated between the pumps, as may be
seen by the mill spout P, which conducts the malt from the mill into the
mash tun H. The liquor from the river B, is pumped into the cistern or
reservoir, where it is ready at all times during the hurry of brewing;
and from the cistern it passes through the large pipe D, into the liquor
copper, E, where it may be stopped by a cock at the extremity of the
pipe. The liquor when warmed for mashing is let into the mash-tun, H, by
opening the cock, F, in the bottom of the copper, and runs down the
trunk Z, which carries into the raising spout, G, in the mash-tun, H,
this spout by a notch in the moveable or false bottom of the mash-tun,
conducts the liquor between the moveable and real bottoms, which, by
ascending, assists the mashing very much. The extract or wort is let
go, by turning the cock, K, into the underback, L, and is from thence
carried by the horse pump, M, into a level with the wort copper, O, and
runs from the pump through the pipe,N, into the wort copper. When
cold liquor is required for mashing, as is the case in small beer
brewing, it is obtained from the cistern, C, by the pipe, Q, which
communicates with it. Thus these three very laborious parts of the
business, viz. pumping the liquor from the river or well; mashing, and
pumping up the worts into the copper, may easily be performed by two
men; and they are able to mash a very considerable quantity of malt, and
attend to the steaming of the casks, liquoring the backs, &c.
between the mashes. When all the worts are in the great copper, O, and
are boiled sufficiently, they are run off into the first back, T, by
turning the cock, R, from the spout, W, conducting the worts from the
drainer, S, which detains the hops. This back communicates with the two
large backs, Y, which are sufficient to contain all the worts, and they
may be laid at a greater or less depth, by using one or both these
backs, stopping either of the pipes, X, by putting in one of the plugs,
U. The situation of these two backs is higher than the fermenting tuns,
and by pipes the worts are conveyed into them below; and if there is
conveniency, the tuns, when cleansing, ought to be high enough to fill
the casks in the cellar by means of a leathern pipe.
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