Excerpt from Spons Encyclopaedia of the Industrial Arts, Manufactures, and Commercial Products, Vol. 2: Containing, Beverages (Continued), Blacking, Blacks, Bleaching Powder, Bleaching, Bogwood, Bones, Borax, Bromine, &C Before the introduction of machinery, the malt and liquor were mixed in the mash tun with cars, or wooden stirring-rods, and this method is still adopted in very small breweries. Where larger mash tuns are employed, such a method of mashing would not only be too laborious, but would produce most unsatisfactory results. The appliances most desirable for mashing are those best effecting the thorough mixing of the hull and flour of the crushed malt with the liquor, and leaving the goods in a porous condition, so as to be readily penetrated by any further amount of liquor. One of the earliest mashing machines, still in use in many old breweries, consists of a radial frame, which travels round in the mash tun. This frame has two horizontal shafts, one above and slightly in advance of the other. Each shaft carries a number of chain wheels, and over these work chains fitted with transverse teeth or rakes. As the shafts revolve, the teeth on the chains are drawn up through the goods, all parts of the latter being successively acted on as the frame carrying the shafts travels round the tun. At Barclay's, all the mash tune but one are fitted with chain rakes of this kind, and they are also in use at Reid's and other London breweries. At Barclay's, the chains are now made of malleable cast iron. At Reid's, where there are four mash tuns, each capable of mashing 160 qrs., the mashing machine in each tun is double, or instead of the frame carrying the chain wheel shafts being merely a radius of the tun, it extends across the whole diameter. By this arrangement the goods are turned over twice during each revolution made by the frame, and the mixing is thus effected more quickly. In slow gear, the frame makes a complete revolution in fifteen minutes, whilst in quick gear it completes the circuit in ten minutes, the speed being equivalent to one revolution in five minutes with a single machine. In Reid's machines, the rake chains are of wrought iron throughout. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.