When the desired results of fermentation are secured, then, and not until then, is the wort transformed into beer but before it becomes fit for consumption, it must rest for a considerable length of time, to be then transferred to the storage casks, where the processes of fining and krausening take place. For the former process, chips or shavings are used, usually those gained from the beech-tree, by which the muddy particles, resulting from fermentation and still remaining in the beer, are attracted and held, leaving the bulk of the liquid clear and translucent. While this is going on, large quantities of carbonic-acid gas continually escape from the lager-casks, and, ultimately, in order to re-enliven the liquid, a second fermentation must be produced by adding one-fifth of a new beer to four-fifths of the old. This is done by means of pipes which convey the new beer through two tiers of cellars to the lager-casks.
Mashed, sparged, boiled, cooled, doubly fermented, clarified and thoroughly aged, the beer is now ready for racking. This is done by several gangs of men at the same time. The quantity to be racked and the capacity of the packages to be filled being known, the foreman is enabled to determine how many kegs must be held in readiness. Each “racker” has a given number of kegs before him. Above a wide board, which runs along the wall, there is a long row of faucets through which the beer, drawn from the lager-casks, flows into a detachable hose and thence into the kegs. When one keg is full, the hose is quickly inserted into another, and, while this is being filled up, the first is being closed up with a wooden bung tightly hammered into the bung-hole. In the lower end of the pipes, to which the faucets are attached, glass tubes are inserted, which enable the “racker” to discover immediately the slightest change in the color or clearness of the beer. When such a change occurs, the stream of beer must be turned off at once, because the presence of muddy particles indicates that the sediment in the lager-cask has been reached and is being stirred up.
The kegs are now ready for delivery to the retailer, and pass out of the proper domain of the brewer, until they are returned empty and are again conveyed to the wash-house, or, perhaps, if their condition should require it, to the pitching-yard or to the cooper-shop—all of which places we shall presently visit on our tour of inspection.
CHAPTER IX.
WATER, ICE, STEAM, AND LIGHT
Having witnessed the process of brewing, from the grinding of the malt to the racking of the beer, we now turn our attention to the extensive and complicated plant which furnishes this brewery with water, ice, steam and light. The first inquiry addressed to the brew-master concerning the water brings on a highly interesting lecture on the importance of this element in brewing, and the difficulty of obtaining it in the state best suited for our purpose. True, the water which gushes from the gneiss-rocks of Manhattan Island, as well as that which is conveyed to us from afar through the aqueduct, is very good and wholesome; but it will not bear a comparison with the water that the Munich brewer receives from the river Isar, nor that which, ever since the 13th century, has rendered famous the ales of Burton-on-Trent. The reputation of the Munich beer is quite as old as that of this English ale, and in both instances popular superstition attributed the excellent qualities of these beers to secret recipes, possessed only by the monks who operated the breweries. The real and only secret, however, was the exceptionally favorable quality of the water. Our water is not the worst by any means; quite the contrary, it is, as we have said, good and suitable enough for brewing; but not a single experienced brewer in our land would dare to deny that if we had Isar water, our beers would be better than those of Munich; in fact, even with this difference in the water operating against us, much American beer is pronounced by connoisseurs to be superior to the average Munich beer.
In an establishment of the size of the brewery we are describing, water plays an important part, not only as a component of beer, but also as an essential agent of cleanliness, motive-power and temperature. For all these purposes the ordinary supply of water does not suffice. To cover the deficiency, this brewery has two sources from which copious supplies are drawn. The one is an artesian well, which yields, daily, 50,000 gallons of water; the other, a pumping station on the East River which, during the summer months, or whenever needed, supplies daily 900,000 gallons of salt water, used for the condensers of the refrigerating machine. The artesian well is seven hundred feet deep, drilled through solid rock, and constructed in the best manner; it is worked by a powerful duplex pump. The enormous quantities of water flowing into the brewery, and used for purposes other than brewing proper, supply eight steam boilers, furnishing steam for fourteen engines of twelve hundred horse-power; a refrigerating plant, consisting of three machines, of an aggregate ice-melting capacity of 330 tons; the different stables, and the wash-houses, where barrels, chips, wagons, etc., are cleaned.
In describing the different floors on which the processes of mashing, boiling and cooling are carried on, we noticed the presence of many large wooden vats full of water. The water in these vats, used principally for mashing and boiling, receives a preliminary heating by means of exhaust-steam, which proceeds from the brewery engines and would be wasted, unless utilized in the manner indicated. An apparatus, specially designed for this purpose, conducts the exhaust-steam into coils fixed in the vats; in this manner the temperature of the water is raised and less heat is required to bring it to the boiling-point. Ordinarily, these vats are entirely covered with thickly padded canvas, to the end that the heat may be more effectually retained. When we consider that the annual consumption of fuel in this brewery amounts to six thousand tons of coal, we can readily understand that a waste of heat, in whatever form, must, in the long run, result in a very considerable pecuniary loss. In its downward course, from floor to floor, the water used for the purposes before mentioned, flows through pipes which empty into the tubs and boilers, and are supplied, at suitable points, with instruments for gauging quantities and determining temperature. By means of powerful steam-pumps, the water is pumped from the Croton main into the vats, where it is heated as described. The vats on the floor next to the ground-floor furnish warm water for cleaning the kegs. Thus, the water, too, passes through a series of connected pipes, vats, tubes and tuns, up and down the entire height of the building, serving a different purpose at every stage and forming another circle within a circle.