The Western Brewer May 1914
New Brew House and Power Plant of the C. Schmidt & Sons B.C.
Otto C. Wolf Project
Transcribed by Rich Wagner
The magnificent new brew house and power plant erected by the C. Schmidt & Sons B.C., Philadelphia, were recently completed and put in operation. The business of this well- known company had its beginning over fifty years ago, when the late Christian Schmidt established the Kensington Brewery, a view of which is shown as it appeared in 1863. Only ale and porter were brewed until 1880, when the equipment for lager beer was added. The firm name of C. Schmidt & Sons was adopted in 1892 and ten years later the change to the present corporate name was made. The founder died in 1895, but the business continued to increase rapidly under the able management of Edward A. Schmidt, who though still a young man has made for himself a place in the front rank of the business men of Philadelphia. He has for years been a leading spirit in brewing trade circles and has the merited distinction of being president of the United States Brewers' Association at the present time. Mr. Schmidt is also the dominating figure in the Robert Smith Ale brewery and the Peter Schemm brewery in Philadelphia.
The new Schmidt brew house is located on Girard avenue, just east of Second street, and a view of same is shown in an accompanying illustration. The clock tower of the brew house is so strikingly illuminated at night that it was commented on at length in the April issue of THE WESTERN BREWER. The top of the tower is 235 feet from the ground, the clock's dial is twenty-three feet in diameter and the minute hands are twelve feet long.
The entrance to the brew house is ornate, a classic entablature being supported on granite, Ionic columns. The bronze doors are massive and tasteful, entering these, the second floor, which is the brew house proper, is reached by a bronze stairway with marble treads. The architecture throughout is very elaborate, yet tasteful and practical.
From the floor of the brewhouse rise in succession a series of tiers or galleries for the accommodation of the brewing machinery and appliances and from these the photographs reproduced herewith were for the most part taken. For the trimmings and wainscotings marble was employed throughout, and the hand rails are all of polished brass.
The kettles having a capacity of 780 barrels each were installed by Emil Schaefer and are fine examples of modern coppersmithing. In one of the views of the kettle floor will be seen one of the two grants. These are exceptionally large, each having twenty-five cocks. They were furnished complete by A.S. Baer & Son of New York. The filter tubs are provided with an apparatus for the automatic regulation (to within half of a degree) of the temperature. This apparatus was installed by the Standard Regulator Co. of New York. The propellers in the mash tubs and the apparatus in the Lauter tubs (known as the Hellwig system) together with the direct drives were manufactured by A. Zieman, Stuttgart, Germany, and furnished through the agents, Messrs. A.S. Baer & Son, of New York.
Among the views shown are those of the filter and mash tubs, the rice cooker, the grain pump, the actuating machinery for the tubs, the switchboard, the scale beam, malt and mill hoppers, hot water tanks, etc. A top view is shown of the hop jack which with the malt and meal hoppers was furnished by Emil Schaefer. The hop strainer which can not well be shown by a photograph is of the Hupfel design.
The two 500-bbl. hot water tanks on the top floor of the brew house are constructed entirely of copper including the heating coils and accessories. They were built and furnished by George F. Ott of Philadelphia, who also supplied the 1,500-bushel spent grain tank over the driveway and the Russia iron coverings for various tanks in the brew house. The contract for copper piping valves, fittings, etc. and for the elevators, conveyors and other machine work was awarded to the Kensington copper & Machine Works, Philadelphia.
The entire brew house is a model in every respect and reflects great credit on the architect, Mr. Otto C. Wolf, of Philadelphia, who was the designer, as our readers will remember, of the fine new Ruppert brew house in New York City, illustrated in the WESTERN BREWER for The new power house, also just recently completed is built and equipped throughout according to the most modern engineering practice. The coal storage bins have a capacity of 1,000 tons, filled direct from the cars. The four boilers already installed (in two pairs) have a total capacity of 1,600 H.P. and space has been provided for another unit of 600 H.P. All of the ash and coal handling machinery is of the latest and best types.
The smokestack, rising to a height of two hundred feet, has an internal diameter of 9.5 feet at the top, which enables the chimney to take care of 3,000 H.P. The outside diameter at the bottom is 18 feet and the weight above foundation is 797 tons. It is equipped with a system of lightning protection. This chimney is said to be the second highest and certainly one of the handsomest in Philadelphia. It was designed and erected by Bergen & Lindeman, Inc. of New York City, and with the adjacent clock tower, forms a striking landmark.