GB1051743A - - Google Patents

Abstract

1,051,743. Steeping barley. H. J. H. KING Ltd. March 23, 1965 [March 25, 1964], No. 12670/64. Heading A2Q. [Also in Divisions B8 and C6] In the continuous steeping of barley in water or other liquid, for example as part of a continuous malting process, the barley is delivered into the top of a steeping tank, see Fig. 1, which is maintained full of liquid at a desired temperature, and steeped barley is continuously discharged from the bottom of the tank through elevator section 21 of a closed circuit conveyer-elevator system 13, into a discharge shoot 30. Discharge of the barley off the conveyer is facilitated by four jets of water 29. Surplus water from the discharging barley together with water and skimmings overflowing a weir 48 collect in a funnel 33 for removal down a pipe 34 to a hopper 35 wherein the skimmings are separated by a perforated plate 49. The tank and the two elevator sections are supplied with water from an inlet 45 connected to a water supply line 46. The conveyers include a continuous chain 15, Fig. 4, provided at spaced intervals with integral or detachable H-type en masse flights 16 and bucket or plate type flights 17, the bottom sections 18 of which may be slotted or perforated to assist the escape of water. The amount of barley conveyed by the flights is reduced by restrictor elements in the lower horizontal section 14 and the elevator section 21. The restrictor elements 22, Fig. 3 (not shown), engage the slot 20 of the bucket flights 17 and are provided with a manganese skid strip 23 for engagement by the chain 15. The conveyer-elevator system may be associated with a series of steeping tanks.