Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 3679431A: Wort Production

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Today in 1972, US Patent 3679431 A was issued, an invention of David Henry Clayton and John Karkalas, for their “Wort Production.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention is concerned with improvements in or relating to wort production.

– Wort contains in addition to fermentable carbohydrates, soluble nitrogeneous compounds. Barley malt is the traditional raw material for the production of wort since it provides a source of carbohydrates and “nitrogen com pounds and in addition provides the enzymes capable of degrading the carbohydrates and nitrogen compounds to the soluble components of wort.

Malt is manufactured from e.g. barley by the process of malting. This consists of first germinating and then drying barley grain under controlled conditions.

The manufacture of malt is expensive because (1) large capital investments are necessary for the malting machinery, (2) a skilled labour force is required to operate the malting machines, (3) malt can only be made successfully from the higher qualities of barley which are expensive and (4) during the malting process a physical loss in dry matter occurs; this is known as the malting loss.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved method of producing a wort in which the use of barley malt is reduced or virtually eliminated.

We have found that wort may be produced by treating an aqueous slurry of starch and protein-containing plant material for example unmalted cereal grain e.g. It appears that said hydrodynamic conditions result in the formation of a homogeneous mass very suitable for the action of the starch liquefying enzyme. Examples of starch and protein-containing plant materials other than cereals include roots, fungi material and by-products of processes to which ‘cereals have been subjected.

Examples of suitable materials include tapioca and rice, as well as wheat, barley and maize.

The invention provides a method of producing wort from an aqueous slurry of starch and protein-containing plant material comprising the steps of liquefying starch by treating the slurry with a commercial starch liquefying enzyme subjecting the slurry to hydrodynamic conditions such that a substantial thixotropic reduction of viscosity is produced by shearing forces in the slurry to facilitate the action of the starch liquefying enzyme prior to any substantial reduction of viscosity resulting from the enzymatic liquefaction converting starch to sugar by treatment with a saccharifying enzyme and converting protein to soluble nitrogen-containing compounds by treatment with a proteolytic enzyme.

The invention also provides wort when produced by a method as set out in the last preceding paragraph.

The invention also provides a process for brewing beer including such a method.

The invention also provides beer when produced by such a process.

The invention also provides a process of producing a concentrated wort syrup by concentrating wort produced by such a method.

The invention also provides a concentrated wort syrup when produced by such a process.

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Patent No. 654369A: Apparatus For Pasteurizing Beer

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Today in 1900, US Patent 654369 A was issued, an invention of Edward Wagner, assigned to the Model Bottling Machinery Company, for his “Apparatus For Pasteurizing Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to an improved apparatus for pasteurizing beer, the’object being to provide a simple, cheap, and convenient apparatus for treating the bottled beer to destroy the yeast molecules and germs contained therein, whereby further fermentation is prevented.

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Patent No. 860936A: Bottle Carrier For Bottling Establishments

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Today in 1907, US Patent 860936 A was issued, an invention of Max W. Norkewitz, for his “Bottle Carrier For Bottling Establishments.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates particularly to machinery for bottling establishments and it is’ intended primarily to dispose of the bottles expeditiously from a gang of labeling machines and facilitate the operation of packing them in cases.

My invention is intended for use principally in those bottling establishments where a number of brands of beer or other liquid are bottled and labeled at the same time and its object is to provide means for carrying the bottles away from a gang of labeling machines to the packing tables and without mixing them.

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Patent No. 3895478A: Roll On Capping Head

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Today in 1975, US Patent 3895478 A was issued, an invention of Kenneth F.M. Friendship, assigned to Continental Can Co., for his “Roll On Capping Head.” Here’s the Abstract:

A roll on type capping head for applying closure cap blanks to the mouths of containers, such as bottles, jars or cans, which is characterized by a non-rotatable inner spindle member supporting a cylindrical outer spindle assembly which is rotatable about the axis of the inner spindle member and which carries cap skirt-engaging rollers adapted to be cammed into engagement with portions of the skirt on the cap blank so as to shape it to the contour of the threads on the container neck and to form a pilfer-proof ring thereon. The head is mounted for vertical reciprocation between operative and inoperative positions and the operation of the head and rollers is effected by a pneumatic spring arrangement with a no-cap no-roll operation feature.

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Ballantine’s Literary Ads: Ernest Hemingway

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Between 1951 and 1953, P. Ballantine and Sons Brewing Company, or simply Ballentine Beer, created a series of ads with at least thirteen different writers. They asked each one “How would you put a glass of Ballantine Ale into words?” Each author wrote a page that included reference to their beer, and in most cases not subtly. One of them was Ernest Hemingway, who wrote several memorable novels, such as the The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea.

Today is the birthday of Ernest Hemingway (July 17, 1899–July 2, 1961). He “was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works. Additional works, including three novels, four short story collections, and three non-fiction works, were published posthumously. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature.” His Ballantine ad ran in 1952.

Hemingway NYT Ballantines

His piece for Ballantine was done in the form of a letter on fishing, written from Cuba:

Bob Benchley first introduced me to Ballantine Ale. It has been a good companion ever since.

You have to work hard to deserve to drink it. But I would rather have a bottle of Ballantine Ale than any other drink after fighting a really big fish.

We keep it iced in the bait box with chunks of ice packed around it. And you ought to taste it on a hot day when you have worked a big marlin fast because there were sharks after him.

You are tired all the way through. The fish is landed untouched by sharks and you have a bottle of Ballantine cold in your hand and drink it cool, light, and full-bodied, so it tastes good long after you have swallowed it. That’s the test of an ale with me: whether it tastes as good afterwards as when it’s going down. Ballantine does.

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Patent No. 564528A: Bottling Machine

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Today in 1896, US Patent 564528 A was issued, an invention of Ernest Lyle Miller, for his “Bottling Machine.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

The object of this invention is to provide a bottling machine which can be readily adapted to various sizes of bottles, and which, moreover, can be made simple and compact in construction and reliable in its operation; and the invention resides in the novel features of construction set forth in the following specification and claims, and illustrated in the annexed drawings

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Patent No. 607770A: Apparatus For Pasteurizing Beer

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Today in 1898, US Patent 607770 A was issued, an invention of William J. Ruff, for his “Apparatus For Pasteurizing Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention has for its object an improved apparatus to be utilized in pasteurizing beer, whereby the operation is more perfectly carried out and the beer more effectually and uniformly treated and its chemical properties preserved.

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Patent No. 2354092A: Art Of Brewing Beer, Ale, Or Near-Beer

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Today in 1944, US Patent 2354092 A was issued, an invention of Berthold Stein, for his “Art Of Brewing Beer, Ale, Or Near-Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

The present invention includes both the process of brewing as hereinafter described, and the beverage or resulting product thereof, and when referring to beer it is intended to include ale and near-beer, and analogous beverages of the same class Beer as well as ale is generally described as a fermented malt liquor with an average percentage of alcohol of from three to four per cent. by weight, or sometimes less, as in near beer, which may have about one-half per cent. It has a mildly bitter and aromatic flavor and odor. The brewers have. always attempted to give the beer an aromatic hop flavor and odor. Up to date, they have not succeeded in doing so. The bitter and so-called aromatic flavor is to be derived from. the hops. which are used in the brewing process. While all kinds of beer and` ales taste more or less bitter, there are no beers brewed which really have an aromatic hop flavor and odor. This is due to the processes and apparatuses which are employed in the brewing of beer and ale. All beers and ales have a more or less pronounced bitter taste, and they often have a disagreeable taste and odor as well. The latter is derived principally from the cellulose matter of the husks of the grain, and the fatty oils contained in the grain, such as barley, corn or rice. These bitter tastes and disagreeable odors are the principal reasons why so many people do not drink beer. It is generally understood that beer and ale is made from malt, and hops. In this country, however, beer and ale is brewed mostly from a mixture of barley malt (about 70%), and cereals unmalted (about 30%), namely, corn, rice, corn. Syrups or sugars, and hops. The hops in the brewing of beer and ales are used as a spice or condiment with a view to overcoming the above-mentioned bad taste and odor.

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Patent No. 1190841A: Beer Strainer

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Today in 1915, US Patent 1190841 A was issued, an invention of Alexander Almasy and Joseph Bacha, for their “Beer Strainer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to beer strainers.

The object of the invention resides in the provision of a device of the character named adapted to be incorporated in a beer dispensing system between the supply and the dispensing faucet for the purpose of separating all solid impurities from the beer and trapping same.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a beer strainer embodying an improved construction whereby same may be easily cleaned by separating the component parts thereof.

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Patent No. 385986A: Beer Cooler

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Today in 1888, US Patent 385986 A was issued, an invention of Alois Aufrichtig, for his “Beer Cooler.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

I have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Beer-Coolers. The improvement consists in such construction that either one or more of the pipes or elbows may be removed, and, in combination with such construction, a flanged elbow having parts of different lengths, so that one of the flanges may be in line with the sectional post and the other outside such line.

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