ORDER XIV.—MAKERS OF FOODS, DRINKS AND TOBACCO

Sub-order 2.—Makers of Drinks

458.—Other Skilled Workers

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ale taster

tastes beer to sample it for quality, etc., before it leaves brewery, or if it is returned as unsatisfactory; usually done by brewer or assistant brewer (453) q.v., or by a storekeeper (941).

back room man (distillery)

see fermenter (distillery).

blender (mineral waters)

see syrup maker.

blender, spirit

mixes spirits according to quality, maturity, and strength, in order to produce required blend, by pouring or running prescribed quantities into vat; adds colouring liquid to mixture, stirs it up in vat by air-blast; runs out into casks.

brewer (distillery)

is in charge, under manager, of all operations incidental to making of crude spirit; is responsible for preliminary grinding and mixing, boiling and fermenting, i.e. the preparation of the distiller's wash; controls work of mash men, malt men, labourers, etc., in a distillery; sometimes also attends got still,see pot still man (454); duties up to point of boiling in mash tank, as for brewer (brewery) (453).

brewer, ginger beer

as for brewer, non-alcoholic.

brewer, hop ale

as for brewer, non-alcoholic.

brewer, non-alcoholic

a skilled expert, in charge of all brewing operations in factory where ginger beer, hop ale, British wines, fruit wines, or other non-alcoholic beverages are manufactured; superintends boiling of water, filling of vats with ingredients, e.g. ginger, hops, fruit juice, sugar, malt, spirit, colouring matter, as required, and running of water into vats; directs control of passage of mixture, after fermentation into a succession of tanks or vats.

cider maker, cider worker

general terms for any worker engaged in one or more of the following operations: washing apples in a tank or bath; running in water and stirring apples in bath with a rod; starting and stopping dredger which picks up apples from bath and conveys them to cylinder, where they are reduced to pulp (pomace) by revolving steel knives; opening or closing chute through which pomace falls on to table below; wrapping pomace in muslin cloths into rectangular slabs (cheeses); piling a number of cheeses on a table or truck up to desired height; at a signal from foreman (451) q.v., in conjunction with another worker, pushing table or truck on to hydraulic press which is then set in motion by foreman and after juice has been extracted, pulling cheeses from hydraulic press and stacking them; washing presscloths; adding finings (clarifying agents) to cider in vats in quantities decided by manager; drawing off cider from one vat and running it through connecting pipe into another vat, leaving sediment in first, sometimes passing cider through filter of sterilised cotton pulp or asbestos before it runs into second vat; keeping cider stoves clean and at an even temperature, reporting to manager in event of any variation of temperature.

compounder

see syrup maker.

compounder of wines

is in charge of labourers who carry ingredients used for making British wines, by hand, to vats; supervises blending of wine, as required, and connection of casks to vats when wine is run off; supervises cleaning out of vats and casks with hosepipes and brushes, dried grains man; is in charge of a gang of labourers in a distillery who carry wet grain into room heated by steam (unless this is done by automatic conveying machinery); turns on or off valve cocks admitting steam, and thereby regulates temperature of hot room, testing by thermometer; superintends labourers who shovel grain into sacks or carts after drying for removal.

engineer (aerated water factory) ; gasman (aerated or mineral waters)

is responsible for running of gas making plant consisting of (i) a generator in which carbonic acid gas is generated by action of sulphuric acid on sodium bicarbonate or on calcium carbonate;

(ii) a gas holder or cylinder, into which gas so generated passes automatically, and where pressure is automatically applied;

(iii) a saturator, fitted with an agitator, or mixer, in which water is impregnated with carbonic acid gas; tips specified quantity of sodium bicarbonate into receiver of generating plant with a scoop; switches on or off power-drive of machinery; operates cocks, valves, and levers regulating supply of sulphuric acid, gas, and water; is also responsible for proper running of bottling plant.

fermenter (cider, ginger beer, etc.)

controls fermentation of brew for ginger beer, etc., or of fruit juice for cider, using a thermometer to test temperature; adds yeast and any colouring matter that may be required; (in case of ginger beer, etc.) is usually done by non-alcoholic brewer q.v.

fermenter, fermenting man (distillery) ; back room man, tun man, tun room man, washer (distillery)

works at mash tuns and "wash backs" at distillery; operates, as directed by brewer (453) q.v., apparatus for mashing grain, for uniting worts from successive mashings, for souring wort and "pitching" with yeast, for adjusting temperatures of liquors in vats, and for mixing wash from various backs in charger; generally assists brewer in preparing wash for distillation of potable spirits, and in cleaning and discharging of apparatus; cf. fermenter (brewery) (453).

finings man

see top man.

fruit essence maker

a qualified chemist who, with aid of unskilled labour, makes fruit essences by adding concentrates of fresh fruits (obtained by evaporation) to alcohol, by fractional distillation of essential oils, or by extracting oil from lemon and orange rind by percolation process; for artificial essences, works by synthetic processes.

fruit juice and syrup maker ; syrup maker

(i) (cold process) combines juice expressed from fruit with sugar, or mixes berries, etc., with sugar to extract their juice and sweeten it;

(ii) (hot process) pours a syrup, made scalding hot, over fruit in bottles and corks them immediately; in either process adds acetic or citric acid to prevent candying, and sulphate or potassium or lime to prevent fermentation.

gasman (aerated or mineral waters)

see engineer (aerated water factory); cf. gasman (459).

grinder, malt grinder

see miller.

herb beer maker, herbal extract maker, hop extract maker

as for brewer, non-alcoholic.

lime juice cordial maker

a non-alcoholic brewer q.v. or a syrup maker q.v. engaged in manufacture of lime juice cordial; instructs assistants as to boiling of sugar, addition of lime or lemon juice and preservatives, and addition of flavouring and colouring matter.

malt crusher

see miller.

mashman, mash house man, mash room man, mash tun man (brewery)

controls, by means of levers, in co-operation with miller q.v., flow of malt from milling machine into mashing machine, a contrivance fitted to end of grainmill spout; turns on supply of water, which is churned up and mixed with malt in mashing machine, the mixture then running into mash tun or tuns in a "mash" of the consistency of thick soup; decides when brewing process, i.e. a natural process which goes on in mash tuns, is complete; then opens, by means of levers and cocks, in co-operation with side man q.v., sluices which conduct liquor, now called wort, to boiling coppers; in small breweries, sometimes also does work of side man q.v.

miller, malt miller, malt millman ; grinder, malt crusher, malt grinder

in brewery or maltster's factory, (i) is in charge of a large mill, into which malt runs automatically through a hopper from malt store room at top of building; controls amount of malt entering mill by mechanically-operated gauges;

(ii) (in small establishments) feeds machine with a shovel; in all establishments, malt then passes through a succession of rollers and screens, which reduce it to required degree of fineness; examines malt at intervals to ascertain whether rollers are functioning correctly, and adjusts rollers, by levers, to obtain requisite fineness; also manipulates slides, which control flow of ground malt to various chutes or channels, as required; in breweries, malt eventually runs into mashing machine, connected with mashing tun or tuns on ground floor of building.

perryman

as for cider worker.

pop maker

slang term for any person employed in manufacture of ginger beer, including non-alcoholic brewer, and unskilled assistants who clean tanks, bottle and label beverage.

re-racker

"racks" or runs beer from casks into bottling machines; connects up pipes and works pump, if necessary.

sarsaparilla maker

extracts, by crushing and steeping, syrup from roots of smilax ornata, used as a medicinal drink; usually done by non-alcoholic brewer q.v.

side man, copper side man

receives hops from hop room man (459) q.v. and shovels them into boiling copper; in co-operation with mash man q.v., controls, by means of cocks and valves, sluices which allow wort to run from mash tun into copper; sees that mixture is boiled properly in copper; in small breweries, sometimes also does work of hop room man (459), mash man, or hearth man (459) q.v. or combines several of these occupations.

smeller, cask smeller

smells returned and cleaned casks to make certain that they are sweet before hoops are finally driven on.

syrup maker ; blender (mineral waters), compounder

(i) dissolves sugar in water to certain specific gravity, and adds essence and other ingredients according to a fixed formula; filters syrup through a bag into enamel pan, from which it passes by glass pipes to syruping machine;

(ii) (more usually) superintends boiling of sugar in steam-heated boilers; directs assistants as to addition of lime or lemon juice, preservatives, flavouring and colouring matter, or other ingredients; decides when boiling process is complete, and directs running of mixture into storage tanks;

(iii) see fruit juice and syrup maker.

topman, topper-up ; finings man, treater

mixes "finings" (isinglass, etc., used to clarify beer by precipitating impurities) according to formula, as required; goes round from cask to cask, and pours into each a specific quantity of "finings" mixture.

treater

see topman.

tun man (distillery)

see fermenter (distillery).

tunner

opens, by hand, cocks or valves which allow liquor to run from one set of vessels to another, e.g. from fermenting vessels to unions or cleaning vessels; takes temperature readings from time to time, and reports readings to brewer (453) q.v.; sometimes also washes out tuns.

tun room man (distillery)

see fermenter (distillery).

washer (distillery)

see fermenter (distillery).

wine blender (medicated wines)

directs cellarman (455) q.v. in fining and racking wine, also in mixing (by hand, in a vessel) and adding to wine, substance which medicates wine without reacting adversely upon meat extract, malt, etc., when these are added; directs cellarman engaged in working pumps and filters, etc., for addition of meat extract, malt, or other substance.

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From: A Dictionary of Occupational Terms Based on the Classification of Occupations used in the Census of Population, 1921,
Ministry of Labour, 1927. Digitised by Peter Christian, August, 2016.   This text is in the Public Domain.