August 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



529 



Rubber Used in the Brewing Industry. 



IT probably is not known to the average beer drinker that each 

 time he quaffs his favorite beverage he pays toll to the 

 rubber industry. Even if he had such knowledge, it would 

 make little, if any, difference with the quantity of beer he would 

 drink. Yet the brewing industry annually contributes probably 

 several millions of dollars to rubber, in this country alone. 

 No modern brewery can produce beer without the aid of rubber. 

 The uses of rubber by the brewer are as varied as they are 

 essential. The greater part of the rubber used in a brewery is 

 in the form of hose, though the rubber used for gaskets and 

 washers is no small part of the total expense that the brewer 

 must pay for rubber in order to do business. 



Owing to the necessity of having everything scrupulousl)' clean 

 about a brewery, it is necessary to have plenty of hose for water. 



G[Af^'f^> f BREWER S 



Kevkre Brewers HosE. 



With the hose of that class the concrete floors are washed several 

 times each day, and everything else that may be cleaned with 

 clear cold water is washed as frequently as occasion demands. 

 For that work a hose one inch in diameter is used. Such hose 

 is almost invariably of the four-ply class, and continues in active 

 service longer than the hose used for other purposes in a 

 brewery. Nevertheless the continued use, and the scraping about 

 the concrete floors has a constant tendency to wear out the hose, 

 with the result that the item of expense for that kind of hose is 

 far from being infinitesimal each year in any brewery. When 

 one stops to consider the number of breweries in this country it 

 is not difficult to obtain some idea of the cost to the brewers of 

 hose for this purpose alone. 



Another kind of hose which is quite as necessary in a brewery 

 is that specially constructed hose through which the beer passes 

 on its way to the tanks. True, much of the distance which the 

 beer must travel is covered by means of copper pipes, but there 

 are sections of the way where the rubber hose is much more 

 convenient for the brewer, and the additional expense of a less 

 permanent thoroughfare is deemed worth while by the beer 

 maker. Such hose is known in the rubber trade as brewers' hose. 

 The cover of the brewers' hose is heavy and made of a compound 

 that resists wear and abuse. The lining is heavy, and similar in 

 its nature to steam hose. The inner tube is made extra smooth to 

 prevent the beer from foaming and frothing. Some brands of 

 brewers' hose are four-ply, but many brewers use a five-ply hose 

 for a beer channel, believing that the stronger hose is a better 

 investment, though it costs more to purchase. The size of 

 brewers' hose varies from one and one-half inch to two inches. 



A third kind of hose used in a brewery is that manufactured 

 for the purpose of conveying compressed air into the big tanks 

 which hold from 300 to 500 barrels of fresh beer. The chemical 

 nature of beer is such that it is necessary to keep it under 

 pressure to prevent it from "going flat." The pressure necessary 

 is provided by compressed air which is forced into the tanks 

 through compressed air hose. As there seem to the average 

 rubber expert to be numberless giant tanks in every brewery, one 

 may readily believe there are many miles of compressed air hose 

 used in the breweries of the United States. As the life of such 



hose, depending on its care and usage, is far from being in- 

 definite, the annua! contribution of the brewers to the rubber 

 trade for compressed air hose alone is considerable. It is im- 

 possible to obtain an accurate estimate in dollars and cents, but, 

 as heretofore set forth, the cost of hose of the various classes used 

 in the breweries in this country makes an annual total which is- 

 important to the men interested in rubber. 



The tanks, or mammoth barrels, used to hold the beer in the- 

 breweries before it is put in casks or small barrels, are made of 

 wood or steel. There is a divergence of opinion among brewers 

 in regard to whether wood or steel is the better material from 

 which to have these tanks constructed. Formerly all of the tanks 

 were made of wood, and many brewers believe wood has 

 properties which add to the beer. Many beer drinkers prefer 

 beer "drawn from the wood,"' or drawn direct from the barrels 

 in which it is shipped by the purveyor of the beverage to the 

 consumer. Because of their greater durability, however, steel 

 tanks have been installed in many breweries. Not a few brewers 

 use both kinds of tanks in their establishments, keeping the 

 wooden tanks in use as long as possible, but installing steel tanks 

 whenever it is necessary to put in new ones, either because of an 

 enlargement of their plant or to renew worn-out wooden tanks. 

 Both varieties of tank must be cleaned within frequently in 

 order to produce the best results. For that purpose it is neces- 

 sary to have a manhole on the side of each ta"nk near the bottom. 

 To a man who has not been employed in a brewery or on a mod- 

 ern battleship, these holes seem too small to admit the body of a 

 full grown man, and it is safe to believe that men with the rotund 

 fronts, seen on some beer drinkers, are not able to squeeze 

 through, any more than a camel can go through the eye of a 



Goodrich Brewers' Hose. 



needle. The holes, however, are made to admit men into the 

 tanks, but, unless the manholes are hermetically sealed, or what 

 amounts to such closing, it would be better not to have the tanks 

 cleaned and to discard them after they had become too foul to 

 use. Otherwise the leakage at the manholes would spoil all the 

 scientific work of the brew-master. The manholes in the wooden 

 tanks can be closed tightly without the aid of rubber, but it is 

 necessary to use rubber gaskets to prevent leakage around the 

 manholes of the steel tanks. These gaskets are made of fairly 



