DODSON AND BALL’S BREWERY.

Marlborough Express, Volume IV, Issue 172, 24 April 1869, Page 4

DODSON AND BALL’S BREWERY.

We have had much to say of late on the score of fostering local industry, from a theoretical point of view, and the other day curiosity led us to inspect a practical illustration as exemplified at Messrs. Dodson and Ball’s Brewery, near the Opawa bridge, and we cannot do better than give a brief description of the premises as shown to us by the courteous principal of the firm. The works are situate on a piece of land lying between the Renwick Road and the Opawa, having a frontage to the Grove Road, and cover some four acres or thereabouts. On the easterly side is a considerable hop-garden, which just now presents a somewhat bare appearance; the poles lately stripped of their luxuriant foliage and valuable Bowers, are piled in stacks at Intervals. Drains are cut in various directions, from which the water is drawn which sometimes soaks through during floods. Substantial banks, thickly planted with a dose thorn fence), and rows of poplars only ' a few feet, apart, form a complete break-

wind, so essential to hop and prevent any possibility of overflow from the creek, the bed of which has been cleared, and the earth thrown up, until the bank has attained great strength and solidity ; on this have been laid all the spai’e foliage and cuttings from the trees and hedges, in order to detain any floating matter, and cause all the sediment to fall and add still more to it. Thus the whole estate is kept flood-proof under the most extreme circumstances. We next visited the works; a long narrow building having an upper floor its entire length, has a central platform for receiving grain, &c., from the drays, and is at the present time neatly filled, with barley, in readiness for conversion into malt. At one end of this building is a large tank, built of brick, and laid in cement, in which 100 bushels of barley can be steeped with ease. At the other end is a new kiln, just completed, about 19 feet square, and 24 teet high, a most substantial brick structure, and of the most complete character of any in the colony. Inside we found a furnace burning coke (which, by the way, is made on the premises). The inner structure may be likened to an immense hopper, the walls of which, widening from the fire-place below, reach up to a series of iron girders, upon which is laid an iron floor, perforated all over with small holes, through which the hot air ascends among the germinated grain. This floor is 14 feet from the fire, and is designed especially for the production of pale malt, now so highly prized. The erection is surmounted by an emblematic cowl, also the work of a Blenheim artist. The malt floor is 98 feet long and 17 feet wide, and is laid in cement, thus insuring equality of temperature, and perfect cleanliness. In another place we witnessed the final process. An ingenious machine was engaged in winnowing and cleaning a quantity of malt for a brewery in a neighbouring town—sorting out all defective grains,'and blowing away the dust, culm, &c. We next visited the brewery itself, where is produced some 20 to 30 hhds. of ale weekly, a quantity ,we are assured under the demand for some time past, and further contemplated improvements were explained to us for the purpose of enabling the firm to extend their operations. A few yards distant was the cellar, wherein were rows of casks in the various stages of fermentation. Hard by this again are new stables, carthouses, &c. In the course of a lengthened conversation with our guide, he informed us that they supplied malt both to Picton and Wellington ; and that this season they should manufacture 6,000 bushels against 4,000 last year. gWe were much impressed throughout our visit with the order, quietness, and cleanliness that everywhere prevailed—everything seemed in its place, and every man at his work, and doing it in a way that at once showed he was a master of it. The brewery has no pretension to finish, or completeness, but still every advantage has been taken to lessen labor, and many simple yet judicious mechanical contrivances were pointed out and explained. It is worthy of note, that the ale produced at this establishment is made altogether of Wairau grown articles—malting, hopgrowing, and brewing being carried on simultaneously. Every impi'ovement is constantly being added, and we cannot do less than express a hope that its spirited and enterprising owners may live long to enjoy the well-earned fruits of their labors.