Davenports Brewery History (How beer was made)

SCREENING was the first process. Malt is put into the machine where rotating wire drums, constantly cleaned by steel brushes, roll the malt around to ensure that the corn rubs the dust and husk from one another.
From the Screen Room, the screened malt was transported by conveyer (running above the machine and exiting to the right) to the Malt Mill.

The cleaned malt now entered the Malt Mill through the conveyer from the Screen Room (seen top left).
The Mill was quite a complicated machine which, rather than crush or grind the husks, cracked them open then dropped them into a hopper below. It was capable of sorting different size corns - dealing with the largest first so ensuring all sizes received equal treatment.

The malt entered the machine through the hopper at the top, where the large cylinder seen in the foreground contained revolving paddles which ensured the rapid and thorough mixing of the exact proportion of malt and pure water at a carefully controlled temperature.

On leaving the mashing machine the mixture of malt and water flowed into a large insulated vessel called a Mash Tun. Here it was kept for two hours at a constant temperature. During this process known as Mashing, a natural consistent of malt called diastase, acted upon the starch of the corn and transformed it into Maltose, which is a rich malt sugar

Following Mashing, the solution of malt sugar and water (This mixture is called wort.) was run off through pipes to one of the massive coppers.
A measured amount of hops were then added to give the desired flavour and the whole mixture was boiled to maintain purity and kill any germs - for 150 minutes.

Next the wort flowed from the Copper through a pipe into what was basically a very large strainer called The Hop Back. The mixture flowed through a series of perforated plates, leaving behind the residue of the hops.

N.B. You will have noted that up to this point all processes have involved the flow of liquid, and may have suspected that (Because liquid will only flow downwards) the beginning in the Screen Room must have been at a higher point than now at The Hop Back. This is correct: The Screen Room was situated at the top of the Brewery and the Hop Back was installed in the cellar. We must now return to the the very top of the building to:

The wort was moved by compressed air (See below) up from the cellar to large shallow tanks and allowed to settle for a short time. In other words, the hop seeds and any other small particle would fall to the bottom of the tank.
The Cooler Room was a well ventilated room to allow for the escape of steam from the still warm liquid.

At the same level as the Cooler Room were the Refrigerators. Although the temperature could be adjusted accurately they were not refrigerators as we think of them today, but rather a series of pipes through which cold water was circulated.
The wort, still at a temperature between 190 degrees and 200 degrees Fahrenheit, was delivered through pipes to the troughs at the top of each bank of cooling panels. From there it overflowed and ran slowly down where it was collected in the pan in which the refrigerators stand. This process reduced the temperature to 59 degrees Fahrenheit.

The wort, now cooled, flowed down to the Cooling Room where yeast was added to it and where it was soon to become beer .
It was here too that an Officer of H. M. Customs and Excise would determine the quantity and strength of each brew to ascertain the amount of duty payable.

As soon as the wort (it would still be wort at this time) had been inspected and released by the Customs and Excise Officer, it was allowed to flow into the fermenting vessels where it would remain for a week. During that week, an amazing transformation took place and the wort would be wort no longer and instead would become beer.

The Temperature of the Fermenting Rooms was immune from any outside influence Any seasonal weather variation was compensated for by artificial means. The rooms would be cool in the height of summer and mild in the depth of winter. This control was achieved by the cooling/heating equipment seen suspended from the roof in the picture on the right.

During fermentation yeast grows up to six times its original weight. The surplus was skimmed off the top of beer and sent to one of the Barm Rooms where it was placed in one of the tanks. It was then pressed between cloths into cakes and dried. The surplus yeast was sold and used for many other purposes such as a medication.

At the completion of the fermentation process, it would have been quite acceptable for the beer to be poured into barrels without further attention, but at Davenports it flowed into large Conditioning tanks where its behaviour could be controlled and, so, improved. Another advantage of leaving the beer in tanks was that it allowed the beer's own natural gasses to be produced making it ideal for bottling. Davenports bottled ales were noted for their creamy head and sparkle.

Following the Conditioning process, the beer was chilled in order to retain the quality.
The Chilling was done by apparatus more like today's refrigerator.
The beer was passed through pipes which were encased in larger pipes containing frozen brine. The brine was contained in the tank in the centre of the photograph.

This photograph shows the refrigerating machinery which cooled the chilling plant situated in the cold stores. If, instead of chilling beer, it were to be used for making ice, it could produce 120 tons per day.
This plant had its own electrical sub-station (inset) where electricity was transformed from a very high voltage to 3-phase and neutral, 415 vac and 1-phase 250 vac.

This is a view of the most modern of the Cold Stores. Here the beer was stored in tanks to await filtering: the next stage.
Note the wall tiles. These were 'insulated' and helped to maintain the set temperature.

From the Cold store, the chilled beer was brought here for filtering. No chemicals were used in this process; the beer was passed through filters made of cotton fibre pulp compressed into discs measuring 18" in diameter and 1¼ thick. This removed any trace of suspended yeast and particles of hops and emerged bright and sparkling ready for bottling.

After each batch of beer had been filtered, it was necessary for the filters to be cleaned. This was done in the Pulp Washing Room. Here the discs were placed in the copper vessel and churned around for many hours with cold water continually running through the pulp. The pulp was then sterilised by washing in hot water. Finally, it was washed yet again in cold water.
Each wash took a complete day, during this time careful testing took place to check for any unsterility.

The beer was moved from room to room, not by pump as one might imagine, but by compressed air. To prevent the ingress of any impurity the air was first filtered, washed, and cooled.

The final stage of production has now been reached: Bottling.
Although this picture is looking through a maze of pipes, at ground level the room was light and spacious. At the time, Davenports believed it to be the most modern in the world and were proud of its capability to process and dispatch 24,000 bottles of beer per hour. The following five pictures give a greater account of the operation.

The bottles entered these two washing machines where they passed through four separate tanks.
The first two contained high temperature caustic soda which completely sterilised them. They were then sprayed inside and out ready for the next tank. In this tank the bottles were washed in hot water. The final tank contained cold water at 37 degrees Fahrenheit. This final chilling was important because it greatly assisted the filling process.

The bottles seen here were continuously transported by conveyer to an automatic filling machine, where they were filled with beer from one of the Cold Stores Tanks. When the filled bottles exited the machine, each one had a stopper placed in its neck by hand, which was then automatically tightened.
At the far end of the machine a labeling machine can be seen.
Note the two large circular charts above the conveyer; these recorded the constantly monitored temperature of the beer and the bottles.

The Labeling machine worked in conjunction with the Bottling and Stoppering machine.
The filled bottles were delivered via a conveyer belt and after having a label affixed to the front, were placed into a crate and another label fixed across the stopper. Each case was then sealed ready for delivery.

In those days people did not live in a "Throw-away Society"; most things were recycled. A deposit was charged on the bottles and stoppers, which was refunded upon their return. In this photograph staff are removing, inspecting, sorting and replacing the rubber seal on the stoppers. They were then placed on a chain conveyer and taken through a hot wash where brushes scrubbed them clean. When this was finished, they were discharged into tanks of clean running water.

The beer, now brewed, conditioned, bottled, stoppered, and labeled was conveyed to the Bottled Beer Store to await delivery. This spacious, temperature controlled room had the capacity to store 100,000 cases

In addition to beer and stout, Davenports also supplied wines and spirits.
As well as many famous brands - which you will recognise in the zoomed image - they bottled their own brand in another part of the premises.

The final step was to deliver the beer.
After an order had been processed, it was taken by conveyer (along with others) to the Loading Decks. From there it was loaded onto lorries and delivered to the customer. The decks were large enough to allow fifteen five-ton lorries could be loaded at the same time.

The first part of the Davenports story is now complete. We have seen the ingredients used in brewing, and how everything was kept spotlessly clean. We have seen how the beer was made, conditioned, stored, and delivered.
In the next part we will look around the offices and at some of the facilities offered to the Staff.
Prepare to be surprised.