HISTORY | BRAUWELT INTERNATIONAL 50 achievements in science and technology in 350 years – Part 1

FIRST 250 YEARS | Master brewers, brewery engineers and brew- used for lifting malt bags, driving the malt mill, water pumping and agitating ing scientists have over some 350 years contributed to the develop- a mash kettle. In 1795 it was converted ment of science of botany, biochemistry, laboratory instruments, from single-acting to double-acting, which increased the effect to some engineering and process technology in many ways, e.g. by techni- 35 hp. The steam engine was successful cal improvements, adopting new machinery and new processes. and used as a demonstration piece vis- ited by potential customers for Watt and Boulton, who became main producers MANY OF THESE ACHIEVEMENTS 2. A saccharometer (fig. 1) was used for of many steam engines in England. are well known and often quoted – others metering of wort gravity, known first It was innovative for its time and an less. This paper is an attempt to list 50 brew- example of breweries driving the early ing science achievements in a chronologi- industrial revolution, as it 1) used a cal order, and this mission can be debated, condenser, 2) had a double-acting pis- because some people will value machinery ton, 3) used a centrifugal governor for developments, others barley breeding pro- speed regulation and 4) used a sun and grams, others the resulting beers etc. planet gear to convert the reciprocating The yeast strain Saccharomyces Cerevi- motion of the beam into a rotating mo- siae was used for thousands of years in the tion. The engine worked for 102 years fermentation of alcoholic beverages before at Whitbread, after which time it was anyone realized it, and hops were used since donated to the Powerhouse Technical medieval times, this paper however con- Museum in Sidney, Australia, in 1887, Fig. 1 Brewhouse saccharometers centrates on major brewing achievements where it can still be seen, sometimes in the last 350 years, listed chronologically by English citizen James Baverstock Sr even in operation (fig. 2). The steam en- rather than according to importance: in 1770, and later popularized by John gine is claimed to be the greatest single 1. The Dutch scientist and pioneering mi- Richardson (1741 - 1813) in 1784 [2]. factor in the upcoming new industrial crobiologist, Anton Van Leeuwenhoek 3. James Watt and Matthew Boulton built era, and it was first used in a brewery (1632 - 1723) from Delft, is credited and installed a 15 hp steam engine in [18]. with having invented – or greatly im- 4. John Lofting, a Dutch inventor proved – the microscope. He himself (1659 - 1742), invented a beer pump. constructed 25 microscopes, some of The English citizen Joseph Bramah them magnifying up to 275 times. His (1748 - 1814) further developed this work is known from a letter from Leeu- device for beer pumping from the cask in wenhoek in 1673 to the British Royal cellar to the bar by a mechanical handle Society. He described observations of pump in 1797, and he had his invention single cells from mold, bees and lice and patented (Pat. No. 2196) in 1793 [6]. earned also a reputation as “the Father 5. Michael Combrune documented the of Microbiology” [1]. use of a thermometer particularly for Fig. 2 Watt & Boulton Steam Engine from beer brewing in his book “The Theory 1785 – Powerhouse Museum Sidney and Practice of Brewing” in 1804, but the place where the mill horses used to also stated that the thermometer was stand at the Samuel Whitbread brewery used already in the 16th century for oth- in London. Watt was the great, but poor er purposes [4]. inventor, Boulton the business man in 6. The “Pilsner” was first brewed Author: Axel G. Kristiansen, Director, Scandi- navian School of Brewing, Copenhagen, DK this partnership. The steam engine re- by the young brewmaster Josef Groll placed 24 horses at Whitbread and was (1813 - 1887 / fig. 3) from Vilshoven

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near Munich, who on 5th October 1842 8. Carl Joseph Napoleon Balling (1805 - was a dramatic and late observation of produced the first batch of Urquell beer 1868), Professor and Chair of Chemis- the science community, who hitherto brewed using very soft Bohemian water, try at the Prague University, described had believed that cloudy and sour beer very pale, low protein malt, and Saaz the connection between original grav- was caused by chemical reactions. He hops in the town of Pilsen – a town now ity, real extract and alcohol with a new proved that microorganisms could be in the country of Czech Republic, but relation in the “Balling formula” in removed by heat treatment, a process then in a region 1843. He felt like a German and spoke since known as pasteurization. Pas- known as Bohe- German, although living in Bohemia, a teur was also a philosopher, and several mia. His bottomfer- Czech region, but kept good relations to quotes remain from his hand – here is mented “Pilsner” his Czech colleagues and students. He one: “Science knows no country, be- was a pale, dry discovered and documented in 1843 cause knowledge be- and hoppy , that 2.0665 g extract in wort during longs to humanity” different to the fermentation to beer is converted to [11].

hitherto darker, 0.9565 g CO2 + 1.0 g alcohol + 0.11 g 13. Irish chemist and assis- sweater “Dunkel” Fig. 3 Joseph Groll yeast dry material, with 4 places of deci- tant brewer Cornelius lager beers. Groll’s “Pilsner” was first mals. He also created the “Balling sugar O’Sullivan (1841 - served in the public houses “Zum Gold- tables”, which – with 3 places of a deci- 1907) described in the enen Anker”, “Zur weißen Rose” and mal – offer a relation between specific Journal of the Chemi- “Hanes” on 11th November 1842. Groll gravity of wort/saccharose and percent cal Society, 1872, died on 22nd October 1887. He allegedly extract of wort. The “Balling formula” how starch during died drinking beer at “Wolferstetter Kel- is still standing and used globally as the mashing gets broken ler” in Vilshofen, his home town back in reference for calculation, even though to dextrins and ulti- Bavaria, as he only worked at Bürgerli- later brewing scientists have suggested mately to maltose, and ches Brauhaus in Pilsen from 1842 - 45 a more precise formula [7 and 8]. O’Sullivan is credited Fig. 5 Cornelius [5 and 10]. 9. William Thomson, engineer and physi- with the discovery of O’Sullivan cist (1824 - 1907), later known as the the disaccharide maltose. He isolated 1st Baron Kelvin, English citizen, for- alfa- and beta-amylum, and he further mulated the law on expansion of gasses identified raffinose. He used Fehling’s needed for cooling and heating in brew- copper solution to quantify the sugar eries, and he defined an “absolute ther- concentration in 1872: The cupric re- mometric scale”. He became famous for ducing power (towards Fehling’s solu- determining the correct value of abso- tion) increases as the process of hydroly- lute zero as approximately – 273.15 sis proceeds [13]. Celsius or 0 oK [3]. 10. Patrick Stead (1788 - 1869), was a maltster who developed a new malting system using steam and hot air to con- trol germination and kilning, which became patented in 1842. This was the early type “pneumatic malting”, which reduced manpower and slowly turned Fig. 4 Document from Joule’s Brewery malting from craft to industry, slowly, June 1854 because classic floor malting was still 7. James Prescott Joule (1818 - 1889), an common practice in 1950 [13]. English physicist and brewer, was born 11. Brewing of the same brand of beer in in the house next to the Joule Brewery more than one brewery can be traced (fig. 4) in Salford and therefore raised back to the Hungarian Anton Dreher in as a brewer. He is well known for the the 19th century. This concept was later “Joule’s Law”, but it is less known that continued in the USA by the Pabst Brew- he claimed to be able to measure tem- ery Company in the 1930s. In 1948, peratures to within 1⁄200 of a degree following acquisition of other brewer- Fig. 6 Louis Pasteur Fahrenheit (3 mK). Such precision was ies, Pabst became the first brewer with 14. In 1870 Louis Pasteur published “Des uncommon in 19th century scientific plants from the Atlantic to the Pacific. causes des maladie de la biere” and experiments. Joule is a famous scientist, By the late 1940s Schlitz and Anheuser- “Études sur la biére” in 1876 – beer but his brewing experience and use of Busch had also followed this trend [13]. pasteurization was introduced. In Den- practical technologies should not be 12. In 1862 the French chemist and mi- mark the inventor Anders Pindstofte forgotten. It is also a little known fact crobiologist Louis Pasteur (1822 - applied it for the first time in industrial that he was the first to replace a steam 1895 / fig. 6) discovered that yeast was use for bottled beer pasteurization at engine with an electric motor in 1840 a living organism and in fact responsi- Tuborg’s breweries in Copenhagen in [9 and 13]. ble for converting sugar to alcohol. This 1880 [12].

392 BRAUWELT INTERNATIONAL | 2013/VI 17. Determination of nitrogen and pro- tein content in barley, malt, wort, beer etc. was introduced by Professor Johan G. C. T. Kjeldahl (1849 - 1900), Carls- berg Laboratory, in 1883, as he became father to the “Kjeldahl method” [12]. 18. Alfred Jørgensen, student of Emil Chr. Hansen, publishes “Die Mikroorganis- men der Gärungsindustrie” in 1889, Fig. 7 Cooling machine by Carl von Linde and he starts a brewers’ yeast micro- biological laboratory, nowadays part 15. A cooling machine for beer cooling (fig. of Cara Technology. Alfred Jørgensen 7) was first used in 1876 by Carl von Laboratories (AJL) was throughout Linde at the Munich Paulaner Brewery the 20th century a leading yeast strain (in Denmark first used by Carlsberg in provider and brewery consulting com- 1887). This invention had far reach- pany [12]. ing production implications, because it 19. Glass bottles were manually filled until Fig. 9 Søren P. L. Sørensen made brewing possible all year. Before the 1880s, when the first bottling ma- of the number of H+ ions in one liter of the cooling machine, breweries had to chinery was invented. Narrow mouthed a solution and introduces the pH-scale acquire frozen ice for cooling, some- bottles were patented in 1886. Multiple for metering acidity in liquids in 1909 times provided from far away with head filers appeared in 1899, and fully [16]. horse wagon of railway [10]. automatic rotary fillers in 1903 [13]. 23. Wort coolers (fig. 10) start to replace 16. Yeast purification by means of dilu- 20. The American inventor William Painter brewhouse coolships in the years after tion of yeast suspensions in test tubes (1838 - 1906) patents the “crown cork” 1930. The counterflow wort cooler was first used by Emil Christian Hans- bottle closure in 1892 and soon thereaf- provides faster, more hygienic and en- en (1842 - 1909), since 1875 head of ter starts the Crown Cork & Seal Com- ergy saving chilling than the old cool- Carlsberg’s physiological laboratory. pany of Baltimore. By 1906 CCC plants ship. Hansen eliminated this way, bacteria are running in , France, the 24. The draft beer cooler with additional and wild yeast, and together with Søren United Kingdom and in Japan (www. carbonation facilities became known Anton van der Aa Kühle, then Director crowncork.com/about/about_his- after 1930. and Master Brewer at the old Carlsberg tory.php). 25. By late 19th century, cans were used for 21. William Gosset (1876 - 1937) devel- food, but not before 1909 the Ameri- oped the “Student’s t-test” in 1908 can Can Company made its first at- when working as a chemist for the tempt to can beer. This was unsuccess- Guinness brewery in Dublin. Gosset de- ful, and the American Can Company vised the t-test as a cheap way to moni- had to await the end of prohibition in tor the quality of his Guinness stout by the U.S. before it tried again. In 1933, determining if two sets of data were after two years of research, they devel- significantly different from each other. oped a can that was pressurized and The t-test is commonly applied, when had a special coating to prevent the the test data would follow a normal dis- beer from chemically reacting with tribution, if the value of a scaling term the tin. Later, during World War II, in the test statistic were known. The the U.S. brewers shipped millions of t-test work was accepted in the jour- cans of beer to soldiers overseas, and Fig. 8 J.C. Jacobsen – Carlsberg nal “Biometrika”, but Guinness had canned beer and soft drinks became a company policy that chemists were popular worldwide after World War Brewery, he designed and manufac- not allowed to publish their findings. tured an industrial yeast propagation However, Guinness allowed Gosset to plant in 1883. This so called “propa- publish his mathematical work, but gation plant” quickly became part of only if he used a pseudonym, that was industrial brewing, because it offered “Student” (Wikipedia). a safe way of producing large quanti- 22. Professor Søren Peter Lauritz Sø- ties of cheap and high quality brewers’ rensen (fig. 9), successor of Professor yeast. The founder of Carlsberg, Jacob Johan Kjeldahl at Carlsberg Labora- Christian Jacobsen (1811 - 1887/ tory, Copenhagen, discovers that the fig. 8), sent Hansen travelling around concentration of hydrogen-ions deter- in Europe to cure beer diseases for sev- mines acidity. He defines metering of eral breweries at no cost in an effort to acidity/alkalinity as “the potential for increase industry beer quality [10 and hydrogen ion concentration” meas- 12]. ured as the negative decadic logarithm Fig. 10 Early wort cooler

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II. The early beer cans required a can and Precision, re. William Thomson/1st 10. Jackson, Michael (1999): Beer Hunter – opener, but in 1959 Ermal Fraze came Baron, Lord Kelvin: Institute of Physics The birth of lager, The Beer Hunter. up with a can-opening method that Publishing. 11. Pasteur, Louis (1876): Etudes sur la now dominates the canned beverage 4. Combrune, Michael (1804): The Theo- Bière. market. His invention was the “pull- ry And Practice Of Brewing. 12. Jørgensen, O.B. (1992): Glimt af biote- tab” (www.crowncork.com/about/ 5. Weyermann, Sabine (2009): On the knologien i Danmark. about_history.php). trail of Josef Groll – Rediscovering au- 13. Anderson, Ray (2005): Brewery Histo- The second part of this report, entitled “50 thentic bohemian malt and beer, Scan- ry, The Journal of the Brewery History. achievements in brewing science and tech- dinavian Brewer’s Review vol. 66, no.6, 14. ISP Company (year unknown): The nology in 350 years – Part 2”, will be pub- 2009. mechanism of Colloidal Instability of lished in BRAUWELT International no. 1, 6. Trentmann, Frank (2012): The Oxford Beer. 2014. ■ Handbook of the History of Consump- 15. Meilgaard, Morten (1975): Flavor tion. Chemistry of Beer Part I, MBAA Tech. lReferences 7. Berglund, Viggo (1944): Vatten, Sven- Quarterly vol. 12, No.2, 1975. 1. Dobell, Clifford (1932): Antony van ska Bryggareföreningens månedsblad 16. Zangrando, Tullio (2010): How pH got Leeuwenhoek and his “Little Animals”. April 1944, pp.99 - 1558. its name, BRAUWELT International 2. Bud, Robert; Warner, Deborah Jean 8. Nielsen, Henning; Kristiansen, Axel G. 6/2010, pp. 216 - 217. (1998): Instruments of Science: An (2007): Balling’s Formula – scrutiny of 17. Pajunen, Esko (2009): Lectures at Scan- Historical Encyclopedia, re. saccharom- a brewing dogma’’, BRAUWELT Inter- dinavian School of Brewing re. special eter and thermometer. national 2/2007. fermentation processes and US patent 3. McCartney, M.; Whitaker, A. (eds) 9. Cardwell, Donald S.L. (1991): James 4915959 maturation of fermented (2002): Physicists of Ireland: Passion Joule – A biography. beer issued 10-4-1990.

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