Dick Brothers History and Building ideas

1. David G. Jones
davidjones@md.metrocast.net

2. Ideas for Wellman Building Development
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Brewery Tours throughout the buildings and neighborhood
Public Market (German/International Food Market)
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Deli counters: Hy-Vee, County Market, Butcher Block, Kohls = Specialty German meats:
sauerbraten, schnitzel, schwatzwurst, etc
Bakeries: Underbrinks, Krazy Cakes… German Spent Grain bread…
Thai, Mexican, Latin American, Vietnamese, Pilipino, etc. grocery stores
Relocate farmers markets (mall and Washington square)
Open 3 days a week
Illinois Alliance Program information booth for “farm to table” and “farm to restaurant”
programs
Restaurant / café affiliated with microbrewery
Microbrewery and tasting room
Utilize malting room to produce malt. Exclusive production deal to produce malt
only for Dick Brothers.
Information booths for National Brewery Museum Milwaukee, WI, American
Brewiana Association, and German American Heritage Center in Davenport IA
Brewery School Internship Practicals
Dick Brothers Brewery Memorabilia Museum
Assumption: building will be subdivided into 3 or more leasable/procurable sections. Unusable
sections of the building, i.e. portions of the upstairs in the south east corner, will be closed off
until long term repairs can be made.

3. Dick Brothers Brewery Time Line

4. 1909: Boiler house, water tower
constructed 223 S. 9th
Dick Brothers Brewery Time Line
1914: Ice House built at
924 Jersey (rear)
1901: 3 buildings
erected: Office at
901 York, Malt
House at 905
York, and
Stockhouse at 917
York
1896 – 1897:
Brewhouse, Storage
House erected at 905
York
1901: New
Stockhouse: 917
York
1939: Dick
Homestead on 9th
and York
demolished
1909: Bottling
House constructed
at 908-910 York
1872 – 1876: Old
Stockhouse erected
at 925 York
1864 - Old
Brewhouse built
912 – 914 York
1920’s: Garage constructed
at 916 York, Barn – 225 S.
10th (rear)
Discrepancies: 1)
Malt house was in
south building not
905 York. 2)
Stock house has 2
erection dates:
1901 and 18721876 and 2
locations. 3)
1996 - 1897 an
eleven story
brewhouse was
building at 905
York.

5. 1857 – 1872: Dick brothers built their original
brewery with an annual capacity of about 1,500
barrels of lager beer; within the next 15 years, it
would produce about 70,000 barrels annually
The small shack that was built in 1857 was
eventually replaced around 1870 by 27
buildings, covering nearly 10 acres of land and
the mammoth brass and copper brewkettle that
brewed 275 barrels every 24 hours was housed
in a five story building.
The operation of the brewery before 1875 was
almost entirely carried on south of York Street.
The brewery added a malting room around 1870
and has been doing its own malting up to
Prohibition. Bottling was added in 1880, and
artificial refrigeration was installed in 1882.
1860 -1890: 100,000 barrels a year
1918: 135,000 barrels per year
1920 – 1933: Prohibition, Nearo Beer Produced
1940: 150,000 barrels a year, production begins
to declined
December 30, 1903: 300-barrel rice cooker exploded. The explosion destroyed the fifth floor which
contained a 300 barrel tank of water for storage purposes (Hot Liquor Tank) and a 600 bushel malt hopper.
The fourth floor had a 500 barrel and a 200 barrel hot water tanks (Mash Tun / Lauter Tun?). The second
floor had a 300 barrel copper brewkettle. Each level had 12 inch concrete floors. The basement of the
“Brewhouse” once housed a saloon.

6. Dick Brothers Building
German/International “Public Market”:
• Delicatessen and bakeries
• Specialty meats and cheeses
• Fresh fruit and vegetables
• Multiple food vendors and retail food
distributors
Layout cohesive for:
• 3 business units
• Enter at tasting room/bar, walk through
art gallery to dinner
• Food truck bays
• Art gallery and art studio space
• Brewery tours and tourism
• Overflow and large event seating
• Utilization of existing spring water
• Expansion once capital is flowing

7. Public Market
German/International Food Market)
1. Deli counters: Hy-Vee, County
Market, Butcher Block, Kohls = Specialty
meats and cheeses:
sauerbraten, schnitzel, schwatzwurst, etc.
2. Bakeries: Underbrinks, Krazy Cakes…
German Spent Grain bread
(Biertreberbrot), soft pretzels, etc.
3. Thai, Mexican, Latin
American, Vietnamese, Pilipino, etc.
grocery stores
4. Relocate farmers markets (mall and
Washington square) for fresh vegetables
5. Open 3-4 days a week
6. Illinois Stewardship Alliance information
booth for “farm to table” and “farm to
restaurant” programs

9. Bricked archway cellar was used as a grain malting room where the Dick Brothers Company malted their own barley grains.
Humidity and temperature in basement was correct to start the seeds germinating, a part of the malting process, and then
the malted barley grains were moved upstairs for further processing. The brewery malted its own barley in the malting
cellar located above the old fermenting cellar. This cellar, with sturdy brick pillars supporting the vaulted brick ceilings, lay
far back in the present lower levels of the building used in the later times as the bottling house. By the end of the 1930’s it
was used for storage purposes. After the stock house was build on the north side of York in 1875, the caverns continued in
use for another ten years. Then, with the development of refrigeration methods and brewing became a year-round
business, the brewery expanded and the old cellars were abandoned.

10. Malting Process
In malting the grains steep in cool water until they sprout and just before converting from a seed into a small plant they are
quickly dried in a kiln and lightly toasted. The malting process activates starch dissolving enzymes in the grain and makes
the kernel more crumbly and receptive to water. The kilning may be done with just enough heat to dry out the malt, and
can even be accomplished with the sun or in the rafters of a dry barn. The steeping step could have been accomplished in
the arched malting room, the couching step could have been accomplished on the main floor, and the “passive kilning” and
mellowing steps could have been done in the upper stories of the “Bottlehouse”. The smoke stack indicates that there may
have been a kiln used for drying grains. The entire malting process could have took as little as 4 weeks and as much as 2
months.
Steps
Steeping: The grain is soaked in dechlorinated water for 60 to 80 hours at around 60: F but never higher than 70: F. Change water
twice a day to ensure plenty of oxygen is available for seed germination. 1 gallon of water per pound of grain. Calcium Hydroxide
(lime) may be added to the steep water to prevent mold and help leach bitter, astringent materials from the husk.
Couching: This is the seven day period during which sprouting occurs. This process generates heat so careful management of the
thickness of the pile of grains, about 12–16 inches, is needed to keep the process at the desired 59: to 65: F. It is important to aerate
the grain during germination, to introduce oxygen and to remove carbon dioxide generated by the sprouting plants. Proper
modification is indicated by a shoot (tap root) equal in length to the kernel, which grows underneath the protective husk. It was
turned at intervals to achieve even growth and over the next fourteen days or so it is turned and moved towards the kiln. The
temperature was also controlled by ventilation. A day or two after the grain was turned out on to the floor, an agreeable smell was
given off, and roots soon began to appear. A day or so later the future stem began to swell, and the kernel became friable and sweettasting. As the germination proceeded the grain was spread thinner on the floor. The process was halted before the stem burst the
husk.
Kilning: The drying process to remove and reduce moisture levels in the malt from 45% to below 5%. Germination is stopped. The
barley is moved into the kiln, 4–6 inches, for between two and four days. Two stage kilning is used. 1. a low-temperature kilning to
dry out the grains which lasts 48 hours and malt does not get above 112: F; 2. Malt is then cured for 5 hours at 176: F.
Mellowing: Grains are allowed to sit for a couple of weeks or more after kilning to waft away harsher compounds developed during
the kilning.

11. Types and Sources of Malt
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There are two types of malted barley, distinguished by the number of rows of grain in
each ear. Six-row barleys create a firmer, crisper, huskier character, championed by
some ale producers. Two-row barley is traditionally used in English ale-style beers
and imparts a soft, sweet flavor, as favored by lager brewers. Six-row barley is
common in some American lager style beers, especially when adjuncts such as corn
and rice are used, whereas two-row malted summer barley is preferred for traditional
German beers.
Fine malting barley is cultivated mainly in the northern hemisphere, notably in a band
of countries just to the north of 45° latitude. Famous growing areas include Moravia
and Bohemia in the Czech Republic; the Munich Basin of Bavaria, Germany; Denmark;
the English regions of Wessex, East Anglia and the Vale of York; the Scottish Borders
and the Moray Firth; the American Midwestern states (especially North Dakota) and
the northwest; as well as Saskatchewan and Alberta in Canada.
The Dick Brothers probably emulated German malting techniques but used local
available American 6 row barley grains. In order to recreate the Dick Brother’s lager
beer styles while using “old world” kilning techniques and passive refrigeration using
tunnels and caverns, etc… Malt 2 row and 6 row barley September through
December from North Dakota and have wheat, soft white winter wheat, coarse
ground corn, and grits supplied by local farmers in Tristate region. Rice to be bought
at wholesale market price. Utilize passive air drying in the rafters and low
temperature kilning / ventilation.

12. Malt Company
Entice malt companies to operate a seasonal (Sept – January) malting facility at Dick Brothers Brewery in
return for advertising space in the brewery tour and exclusive malt sales to Dick Brother’s microbrewery
using Dick Brother’s proprietary malting techniques.
The gentle air-drying of malted barley led to the creation of the Pilsner style of beer in the mid-1800s. One
of the greatest innovations was the development of gentler malt kilning techniques. The malts used to brew
the first golden colored Pilsner style beers were delicately kilned in an innovative new process in 1842. Kilns
that dried malt with indirect, hot-air heat rather than direct heat.

13. Fermentation and Lagering
Lager beer is fermented for 7 days at 48: to 52: F and conditioned 3 to 6 weeks at 33: to 38: F.
Beer was typically brewed during the winter and stored for summer use. September and
October were the grain harvest months, October and November were the malting months, and
November, December, and January the brewing months. At the start of their endeavor, the Dick
Brothers were producing 1,500 barrels per year, at 275 barrels per batch, which is about 5
batches over these three winter months. At the height of the Dick Brothers operation, capacity
was at 150,000 barrels a year or approximately 1.5 batches per day year round.
Steep wooden steps lead down into the fermenting cellar. In the old fermenting cellar was a
small well-like opening in the southwest corner which gave access to the storage caverns
another level down.
The tunnel was topped with huge flagstones and was ten feet wide and high. Its arched ceiling
was bricked with old fashioned brick masonry of the lime mortar era. The mortar continued to
be in excellent state of preservation when they were rediscovered in 1939.
This cellar once housed the big wooden beer vats in endless rows. Into these vats aged a mellow
lager beer in a constant temperature of 48 degrees of the caverns. When summer came, the
brewery workers, by the dim light of lanterns, drew off the beer into quarter barrels. The barrels
were then hoisted on a crude chain hoist through the well-like openings into the tunnel cellar
Artificial refrigeration was installed in 1882

14. Tunnels and Caverns
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1857 the Dick Brothers began excavating for a network of storage cellars under the south brewery
building
750 gallon wooden vats stored beer for lagering in tunnels dug below basement level.
These tunnels consisted of three “laterals” nearly a half block each in length that ran east and west along
York, partly beneath the sidewalk on the south side of York, partly underlying the street. This main
tunnel extended from the eastern line of the bottling house buildings westward almost to ninth, where it
ended in the large ice storage cellar with stone masonry walls and arched masonry ceiling. East of the
place where this main east-west tunnel was located, a more modern tunnel angled beneath York from
the North side of the street, originating in the old stock house building erected in 1876. This newer
tunnel carried the pipes used to transport beer from the main brewery plant north of York to the
government meter room, where all beer to be bottled was measured and taxed.
To get down into the old storage cellars, it was necessary to use lanterns, or in later days a flashlight, and
wear boots because of the muckiness of the main east-west tunnel. The entrance was gained through
the old fermenting cellar lying below the ground floor of the bottling house. The old steep wooden steps
leading down into the fermenting cellar rotted away many years ago. Once down the ladder into the
fermenting cellar, a small well-like opening in the southwest corner dropped to the level of the old
storage caverns. Another ladder then had to be used to reach the even lower storage cellars of 1856-57.
The lateral led into the central one of the three caverns. These were about ten feet wide and nearly that
high, with arched ceilings bricked with old-fashioned brick masonry of lime-mortar era. The floor was not
level, more than two-thirds being a raised dirt platform. Originally, this was topped with huge
flagstones, and on the flagstones rested the big wooden beer vats, in rows, each with a capacity of some
750 gallons. The caverns were not used after 1885.
The old casks were removed, and the old flagstones upon which they rested were used for fire and bridge
walls in the boilers. Later, the eastern end of the main tunnel was walled off, and the northern end of the
eastern lateral was closed. When the big chimney of the old boiler house south of York was built, its
great stone foundation ran right down through the middle of the western lateral.

15. Alley (old Rail line)
Office
Brewhouse
Storage
House
10th St.
Water
Tower, Boilers
, Refrigeration
, Engineering
Old Stock
House, Rac
king House
Stock
House
Lateral 3
Ice
Storage
Lateral 2
Lateral 1
Alley
9th St.
York St.

16. Beer Aging/Storage
Beer Barrels
Walkway
Walkway
Tunnel Cross Section
Wood Beer Barrel Aging
Wood Beer Barrel Aging
Walkway
Tunnel Overhead

17. Traditional Non Mechanized Brewing Timeline
I.e. without the aid of refrigeration, temperature / humidity control, etc.
September October November December January
Harvest (grains go from field to brewery)
Malting Process (Steeping = 3 days, Couching
= 7 days, Kilning = 3 days or 2 weeks air dry,
mellowing = 2+ weeks)
Milling and Measuring grains = 1 day
Mashing grains into wort and boiling beer (1
day)
Brewing commences
Fermentation (Primary fermentation 7 to 14
days)
Lagering (2ndary fermentation 3 to 6 weeks
or 2 months)
Drawing into 1/4 barrels and distribution
February March
April
May
June
July
August

18. The Original Dick Brothers Quincy Brewery Recipe(s)
The majority of the beers made by the Dick Brothers
were of the American Pilsner style which was based on
the German/Bohemian Pilsner styles. The Dick
Brothers beer was simply branded differently over the
years. The other styles they brewed were a Bock
Beer, and ???, and a Nearo beer during prohibition.
Based on historical brewery records, assumptions
made on equipment size, batch capacity, German
brewing styles and techniques, water chemistry
profiles, confirmations made at present day brewery
(vat sizes, placements, number of barrels, etc.), malting
techniques, storage and lagering techniques, available
ingredients, refrigeration incorporation, brewmaster’s
notes, annual reports, correspondence
letters, confirmation from ancestors… The original Dick
Brothers Brewery Recipe can easily be recreated.

19. Dick Brother’s Homes
Kathleen Faye Roe
Tonya and Ken Sparrow
Dwight and Donna Kisner

20. One of Jacob's prized possessions was a
light green stein that had a skull and
crossbones carved into the top lid. His
name as a written signature, is also
inscribed on the lid. There is also a
German saying written above the skull –
“wishing one good health”
possibly, “Gesuntheit” or “Alaf Sal Laf” or
“wollen eine gute Gesundheit“
Jacob Dick’s Famous Stein
Eric Kuhlman, QND
1984 grad, with stein
belonging to his
great, great, grandfath
er, Jacob Dick.

21. Brewery Advocates
• National Brewery Museum Milwaukee, WI
– Potosi Brewery has very similar story to Dick Brothers
– Joint venture between the Potosi Foundation and the American Breweriana
Association
– http://www.potosibrewery.com/
• American Brewiana Association
– Their purpose is to advance the public knowledge of brewing and breweriana;
to serve historians and collectors, and dedicated to the preservation of the
memories and artifacts of America’s historic breweries! Membership consists
of almost 3000 members in the USA and Chapters throughout the United
States
– http://www.americanbreweriana.org/
• German American Heritage Center in Davenport IA
– Seeks to preserve the heritage of our German speaking ancestors for present
and future generations and to enrich our knowledge of the German immigrant
experience
– http://www.gahc.org/

22. U.S. Brewing Schools
Dick Brothers Brewing Internship Program: Complete 3 months to 1 year programs
giving hands on experience in the brewing industry, from farm fields to finished
product… from malting to marketing. Dick Brothers was established circa 1857 and at
one point had a larger production than Anheuser Busch, and distribution as far as
Mexico City. Students will participate in competitions that utilize the historic brewing
aspects and techniques as well as new techniques taught in the school houses and
collaborate with other brewers to sculpt craft beers. Students will collaborate on
recipes, be involved in the whole process from malting to marketing, recreate
historical recipes, calculate the old brewhouse efficiencies, diagram the historic
brewing processes, write new business processes, etc. We are also hoping to get a
malting company in house to utilize the old malt room and malt drying
rafters. Students can establish relations with the malting company and learn malting
techniques. 4 spots, one senior/grad (year), 2 senior/junior (year), 1 anything (3
months). Leave and go back to schoolhouse for remainder of education, onto full time
brewery position, or export school training. The final test and challenge will be to
convert some of the most hardest craft beer critics, catholic working class lite beer
drinkers.
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American Brewers Guild
Central Washington University: Craft Beer Trade Certificate
Master Brewer's Association of the Americas
Oregon State University: Continuing Education for Brewing Professionals - Brewing Science
courses
Siebel Institute of Technology & World Brewing Academy
University of California – Davis
UC San Diego Extension: Professional Certificate in Brewing

23. Outreach Contacts
• National Brewery Museum Milwaukee, WI
• American Brewiana Association
• German American Heritage Center in
Davenport IA
• Great River Economic Development
Foundation

24. Assumptions to be validated...
1. Number of barrel marks on 5th floor of the brewhouse... probably indicates the
number of barrels of grains and hence total poundage per batch.
2. Temperature of malt room October through December
3. Temperature of the first floor above malt room October through January (and
humidity)
4. Temperature of tunnel if temps consistent at 32 to 48 degree range
5. Vessel dimensions on brew house floor
6. Barrel vs. gallon discrepancies
7. Malt floor square footage and corresponding grain coverage quantity / thickness
8. 4 barrel batch requirements for a year at farm to malthouse market prices
9. Malt kiln location or air dried in upper rooms...
10. Temps of upper rooms in bottle house Nov thru February
11. Where was the government room in the bottle house and where did the modern
tunnel originate in the Old Stock House?

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Other History Bits
1869 The Dick Brothers started the Dick Brothers Milling Company. They built a large mill at the corner of Front and Delaware streets and
erected a large elevator at No. 235 South Seventh street. Tellico Mill??
Dick Brothers had an icehouse on the bay which held 3,000 tons of ice, three icehouses on Spring St. and ice storage at the brewery which
held 10,000 tons.
The brew kettle was replaced with a 300 barrel vessel and brewed 275 barrels every 24 hours.
Before 1875 almost all of the brewing was done on the south side of York.
After refrigeration, long rows of aging casks with a capacity of three hundred barrels each were in another building… the old stock house or
the racking house.
John Breitstadt was superintendent and brewmaster. For more than two months, Breitstadt had been turning out from 250 to 500 barrels
of beer a day. Brew kettle capacity was 275 barrels (300 barrels).
The battery of 6 huge boilers furnished the energy to operate the plant and consumed three carloads of coal a week during the breaking-in
period. Housed in the same building were two ice machines, one with a daily capacity of 125 tons and the other 150 tons, furnishing the
refrigeration for the cooling cellars.
On the south top of the boiler house was a large wooden cupola, on each side of which was a large fan. Inside this cupola there was a
lattice work set at an angle of about forty-five degrees. On the lattice poured a miniature Niagara Falls. On the inside of the beer vats were
coils of pipe, through which the water for the cupola ran, constantly cooling off the hot brew. This water kept going round and round and
round, back to the big fans to be cooled again. When the raw beer reached a certain temperature, it was run over refrigeration coils and
then pumped inot big casks where it underwent the fermenting process. Then it was pumped into aging casks. There were rows of these
casks, holding twenty-five thousand barrels of beer. When it reached the proper age, it was moved again into the storage casks. There
were thirty-four of these, each with a capacity of three hundred barrels of beer.
The Dick Brothers owned two external springs with a large capacity of bubbling water. These had been furnishing the Dicks with water for
seventy-five years, ever since the original brothers started the brewery. The water was inclined to be “hard” and was not used for making
beer, although this was the foundation of the brewery.
Across the street from the brew house was the bottling department and, under that department, the government warehouse, used to
measure and tax the finished beer. Inside were rows of large tanks into which the beer was pumped from the filter house. Once measured
and taxed the beer was permitted to be used in the bottling department, where the process was automatic.
After prohibition, the first beer was delivered to local patrons on Friday, September 15, 1933. On March 22, 1933, President Franklin
Roosevelt signed into law the Cullen-Harrison Act, legalizing alcohol content of 3.2% (by weight) and wine of similarly low alcohol content.
The Cullen-Harrison Act became law on April 7, 1933, and on April 8, 1933, Anheuser-Busch, Inc. sent a team of Clydesdale horses to
deliver a case of Budweiser to the White House. The Eighteenth Amendment was repealed on December 5, 1933 with ratification of the
Twenty-first Amendment.
First city brewery built in 51 x 42 foot building.
1888 saloons served “foamy” beer and then bock beer. 1910 the Schlitz brewery in Peoria started buying all the saloons.

26. References
• Jacob Dick History from:
http://www.obrockgenealogy.com/16/14721.html which
cites Brewery History from
http://www.americanbreweriana.org/history/dickbros.htm
(no longer posted)
• History of the Dick Brothers Quincy Illinois Brewers Bavaria
Germany to Quincy Illinois; Researched and Compiled by
Marcia Kuhlman Cray
• Genealogy Ref I 929.2 CRA
• Carl Landrum’s Quincy A Pictorial History
• Carl Landrum’s Quincy. Volume’s 1 - 4
• Quincy Herald Whig news articles