Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 4836097A: Whirlpool For Coarse Sludge Separation In Brewing Of Beer

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Today in 1989, US Patent 4836097 A was issued, an invention of Hans Tretter, assigned to Anton Steinecker Maschinenfabrik Gmbh, for his “Whirlpool for Coarse Sludge Separation in Brewing Of Beer.” Here’s the Abstract:

The present invention refers to a whirlpool for coarse sludge separation from the wort in brewing of beer, said whirlpool being being constructed as a circular receptacle provided with a base on which the sludge deposits and with a heating means for heating the wort.

For providing a possibility of treating the wort in a space-saving manner and without any special insulating measures in the wort heating process, the invention is characterized by the features that a rotationally symmetrical inner boiler is provided as a heating means, said inner boiler being arranged in the interior of the receptacle such that it is concentric with the longitudinal center axis of the receptacle and such that its lower side extends in spaced relationship with the base of the receptacle.

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Patent No. 279019A: Beer Chip

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Today in 1883, US Patent 279019 A was issued, an invention of Bernard Rice, for his “Beer Chip.” There’s no Abstract, though it’s described this way in the application:

This invention relates to that class of beer chips in which groves or indentations are made upon the surface surfaces of the chips for the purposes of increasing their superficies. Prior to my invention such grooves have been impressed upon the surfaces of the chips, as by calendering-rolls; but such method of producing the grooves is objectionable,because when the chips are applied to repeated use the grooves are obliterated by the natural expansion of the wood when exposed to the beer, and hence it is necessary to re-indent the chips after each use in order to preserve the desired condition thereof.

My invention is designed to overcome such objection; and to this end it consists in a chip having portions of the wood removed in proper lines across the grain to produce the desired grooves or indentations, as hereinafter more fully described.

This is almost exactly the same as a previous application and patent grant from Rice a year earlier, with Patent No. 257977A.

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Patent No. 258664A: Process Of Making Brewers Yeast

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Today in 1882, US Patent 258664 A was issued, an invention of Friedrich Meyer, for his “Process of Making Brewers Yeast.” There’s no Abstract, though it’s described this way in the application:

This invention has relation to a process for compounding brewers yeast; and it consists in forming from hops, malt, and water under certain degrees of heat a first yeast, which is afterward used in certain proportions in another step or series of steps, wherein malt, water, and hops are again employed and subjected to heat at varying temperatures to form a second yeast, which is again employed with malt, water, and hops, subjected to heat as before and tested by a saccharometer, to form a third or stock yeast, which will last from four to six months, and from which, together with malt, hops, and water, a present use yeast, which will last about one month, may be formed by compounding therewith malt, hops, and water at certain temperatures, all of which will be hereinafter fully pointed out in the body of the specification and claim.

In carrying out this process I take the proportions of about one-half ounce of hops to one-half gallon of boiling water, throw the hops into the yeast-can, and add the boiling water, and stir this mixture until the heat recedes to 190 Fahrenheit. I then add three quarts of cracked barley-malt and mash it well, after which 1 add one quart of boiling water and stir the mixture until the heat recedes to 160 Fahrenheit, when I cover the can and let the contents stand for five minutes. I then increase the heat by adding as little boiling water as possible until 176 Fahrenheit has been reached, when I again cover the can and let it stand for one hour, then cool the contents of the can by stirring them until the heat has receded to 90 Fahrenheit. I then put the liquid thus formed into a stone jar and place the jar into warm water at a temperature of about 80 or 90 Fahrenheit, and keep the heat of the Water up to that point by using boiling water until the liquid has ceased to ferment, which will be from thirty-six to forty-eight hours. As this yeast will last only from six to eight hours, the preparations for the formation of the second yeast should be completed at this time.

To make the second yeast, I take one gallon (dry measure) of cracked barley-malt and put it in the yeast can, and pour one-half gallon of boiling water thereon, and mash well together. This should be permitted to stand ten minutes, and then raised to a temperature of 176 Fahrenheit by adding boiling water to the amount of about three gallons. It should be then covered and permitted to stand for about one hour, after which it should be strained through a brass sieve into a clean tin can and placed 011 the stove, where it should boil for one hour and be skimmed during the operation of boiling. If one hours boiling should prove to be insufficient, it may be boiled a little longer. It, should register, when properly boiled, about 20 saccharometer, and the test should be made at 90 Fahrenheit. About two ounces of hops should then be added by stirring them in until the hops are thoroughly wetted, and the cover should be again replaced and the contents of the can boiled from three to five minutes longer. Remove the can from the stove and let it stand fifteen minutes, and then strain the contents of the can through a brass sieve into a stone jar, and cool it to about 94 Fahrenheit by setting the stone jar into cold water in the winter season. In summer it should be reduced to 90 Fahrenheit, as the natural temperature at this season will cause the temperature of the liquid to rise in a short time. Then add to the liquid thus produced one pint of the first yeast to each gallon of the liquid. Then wrap the jar in cloth, and set it away in a place where the temperature may be maintained at from to Fahrenheit until it is done fermenting, which’ will be about thirty-six hours. Then be ready to proceed to the formation of the third yeast, as this, which is termed the second yeast, will not keep longer than from ten to twelve hours.

To form the third yeast, I place four gallons of boiling water in the yeast-can and permit the heat to recede to 180 or 176 Fahrenheit. I then add about sixteen pounds of cracked barley-malt and mash well. The can is then rinsed down with about one-half gallon of boiling water and stirred until the temperature is about 150, and then left to stand about ten minutes. Boiling water should then be added and the contents of the can stirred until the heat reaches 176 Fahrenheit, after which it should be covered and left to stand for one hour, and should then be strained through a brass sieve. Then take this liquid and place it in a clean tin can and set it on the stove and boil it from three to five hours, skimming it during the operation of boiling, until it be comes of a consistency of 38 saccharometer under a test at 90 Fahrenheit. Then put in one-half pound of hops and stir until the hops are thoroughly wetted, and then boil from three to five minutes longer. Remove the can from the stove, stir the contents, cover the can, and let it stand covered for about fifteen minutes, during which time it should be stirred occasionally, and then strained through a brass sieve into a clean yeast-can, and reduce its temperature to 91 Fahrenheit by placing the yeast-can into cold water. Then add one quart of the second yeast above described and stir well. The temperature during this stirring should be maintained at about 00 Fahrenheit. Then wrap the can in cloth and place it in a place where the temperature may be maintained at between and Fahrenheit until fermentation ceases, which will be about forty-eight hours. This yeast, called the third yeast, will then be lit for use. This third or stock yeast will keep from four to six months, and should always be thoroughly shaken before using. This stock yeast is intended for shipment for use in making a fourth or pre-cut use yeast, which, when made as herein after described, will keep about one month.

To make the fourth or present-use yeast, I take fifteen quarts of boiling water and place it in the tin yeast-can and let it reach a temperature of 170 Fahrenheit, and then place in it about sixteen pounds of cracked barley malt, mash well, and rinse down with about one quart of boiling water and stir until the temperature is about 150 Fahrenheit, then cover the can and let it stand about ten minutes. I then add boiling water until the temperature reaches 176 Fahrenheit, which requires about sixteen quarts of boiling water. I then let it stand on the stone and boiled for about three hours to thicken it, care being taken to skim the contents during the operation of boiling. The proper consistency should be about 30 saccharometer under a test at 90 Fahrenheit. When at this consistency about six ounces of hops should be thoroughly stirred in, and the contents should be boiled from three to five minutes longer. The can should then be removed from the stove and left to stand for about fifteen minutes, during which time it should be stirred occasionally. It should then be strained through a brass sieve into a yeast-can, which should be placed in cool water, stirred, and reduced to a temperature of 90 Fahrenheit. One quart of the third or stock yeast should then be added by stirring it in under a temperature of 90 Fahrenheit, and the can wrapped up and placed in a position where a temperature of from 60 to 70 Fahrenheit can be maintained until fermentation ceases, which will be about forty-eight hours, after which it will be fit for use.

The superiority of this stock yeast over the yeast now employed lies in this, that it may be kept in stock for a period of six months, and from it a present-use yeast may be made that will last for a period of about one month, while the yeasts now employed will keep but a few hours at the furthest.

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Patent No. 700833A: Manufacture Of Fermented Liquors

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Today in 1902, US Patent 700833 A was issued, an invention of Joseph Schneible, for his “Manufacture of Fermented Liquors.” There’s no Abstract, though it’s described this way in the application:

This invention relates particularly to the carrying on of the fermentation of liquors such as malt beverages, for example and to the culture, propagation, and separation of yeast for further use As the fermentation of such liquors is now commonly practiced the yeast propagated for further use is separated and collected under conditions which are liable to result in contamination of the yeast by contact with air,usually teeming with wild ferments and very often with fungi, and in subsequent injury to the finished product.

It is the object of this invention to provide for the carrying on of the fermentation and the separation of the yeast in such a manner as to avoid exposure of either yeast or liquor to such contaminating and injurious influences, while at the same time the fermentation is carried on under practically normal conditions as to pressure.-

In accordance with this invention the newly-fermented liquor containing the yeast in suspension for further inoculation is transferred from the vessel in which the fermentation was carried on to a clean vessel, in which the separation of the yeast intended for further work from the liquor takes place and from which the liquor is withdrawn, thereby leaving the yeast in the clean vessel. The further quantity of liquor to be fermented is then introduced into the vessel containing the yeast and is inoculated thereby,thus avoiding altogether the removal of the yeast from the vessel in which the same has been allowed to separate from the fermented liquor and avoiding its exposure to the contaminating influences above referred to. This process is carried on successively in the manner referred to, the newly-fermented liquor being transferred from the vessel in which the inoculation has taken place and the main fermentation was carried on to a clean vessel, as before.

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Patent No. 1760071A: Centrifugal Separator

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Today in 1930, US Patent 1760071 A was issued, an invention of Henry George Koepke, for his “Centrifugal Separator.” There’s no Abstract, though it’s described this way in the application:

My invention relates to centrifugal separators of the discharge nozzle conical type, primarily constructed for the separation of yeast from most of the associated liquids in which it has been’ propagated.

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Venezuela’s President Gives Brewery Ultimatum: Brew Or Go To Jail

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There’s an interesting development going on in Venezuela. Empresas Polar, the country’s largest brewer — with an 80% market share — completely shut down their operations in April, apparently because of “supply problems of its main raw materials.” The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, according to the drinks business, “has now threatened to take over the closed breweries, saying that the business owners risk being ‘put in handcuffs.'”

The country has been hit by a dire economic downturn over the last several years, and the president has not exactly been helping. John Oliver has covered the situation there hilariously at least twice, first in early May 2015 and then again last Sunday. In that report he mentioned that Marcos was threatening to jail owners of closed factories and have the government seize the buildings and take them over. And apparently one of those businesses he’s targeting is Polar. Here’s the rest of the story from the drinks beverage:

He said he was also ordering action “to recover the production apparatus, which is being paralyzed by the bourgeoisie”.

Meanwhile, Polar said it could no longer access the US currency needed to import the malted barley for beer production, and had to close the last of its breweries. Access to foreign exchange is currently under the control of the country’s government.

The beer shortage has had a big impact, as Venezuelans really like their beer. The tropical country has the highest per capita consumption rates of any nation in South America, and ongoing economic woes have to some extent been softened so far by the affordable luxury of a cold beer.

It’s the latest chapter in a long-running set of shortages and supply problems for beer and other food in Venezuela.

Polar’s billionaire owner, Lorenzo Mendoza, has been a vocal opponent of the President, with Maduro accusing him of waging an “economic war” on his government. Over the past year, Polar has been embroiled in a strike by brewery workers, conflict with the trade unions, and has seen its distribution centre occupied by the military.

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Apropos of the nothing, it was almost impossible to find an image of Polar Pilsen that didn’t include a model in a bikini. Go ahead, Google it and see how hard it really is.

ABI To Introduce Budweiser Prohibition Brew, Non-Alcoholic Bud

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Anheuser-Busch InBev is introducing a new non-alcoholic beer, at least in Canada (for now), called Budweiser Prohibition Brew. According to AdAge:

Budweiser is introducing a buzz-free version in Canada. The new non-alcoholic beer is called Budweiser Prohibition Brew. It could enter other countries, including the U.S. “Budweiser Prohibition Brew is only available in Canada for now, but we’re excited by the prospect that it could eventually be offered in the U.S., the birthplace of Budweiser, sometime in the future,” said Ricardo Marques, VP for Bud in the U.S.

The beer “leverages the latest de-alcoholization technology to create a beer that has 0.0% alcohol by volume and yet delivers the great taste of Budweiser,” according to Budweiser Canada. It is “an ideal choice for a work lunch or casual afternoon with friends, as well as designated drivers and people with active lifestyles,” said Kyle Norrington, vice president, marketing for Labatt, which is the Canadian division of Anheuser-Busch InBev. In the U.S., A-B InBev currently markets the non-alcoholic O’Doul’s brand.

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It certainly seems like ABI is beginning to take some radical marketing steps recently. First, there was renaming Budweiser as “America” and now using the Budweiser brand for a non-alcoholic beer, both of which seem like steps the old management would never have taken, because of concerns of harming the core brand perception. But ABI, of course, has no loyalty to the brand, or indeed anything, as long as profit can be squeezed out of it. Their approach seems more like a scorched earth way of thinking.

And we still haven’t seen what they’re planning to do, if anything, with all of the area codes that they tried to trademark. And you know there’s an end game with all of the acquisitions of smaller breweries they’ve been buying up. If history is any judge, the last time there were over 4,000 breweries, consolidation was rampant in the next few decades, and by 1900 — just 25 years after the high point — there were only a little more than 1,800. And by the time Prohibition took effect, there were less than 700, which represents only 17% of the 4,131 in 1873. So there is some precedent to watch out for, consolidation is nothing new. Some is inevitable due to market forces, the fact that not every brewery can compete in their local market for a variety of reasons (quality of their beer, business acumen, etc.), but sometimes its predatory as a way to squash competition. The next decade will certainly be enlightening as everything plays out.

Here’s the reaction from the Canadian press, or at least the Globe and Mail and the Financial Post.

Patent No. 5906151A: Apparatus And Method For Brewing An Alcoholic Beverage

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Today in 1999, US Patent 5906151 A was issued, an invention of Adam Firestone, Jeffers Richardson, Donald E. Othman, and Michel A. Blom, assigned to Firestone Walker, LLC, for their “Apparatus And Method For Brewing An Alcoholic Beverage and Beverage Brewed by Same.” Here’s the Abstract:

An apparatus for brewing an alcoholic beverage includes a plurality of wooden barrels including at least one first wooden barrel, at least one second wooden barrel, and at least one third wooden barrel; an enclosed trough; a plurality of first conduits providing flow communication between each of the plurality of wooden barrels and the enclosed trough; an enclosed catch pot in flow communication with the enclosed trough; a plurality of second conduits providing flow communication between the enclosed catch pot and each of the plurality of wooden barrels; and devices, such as valves, for controlling flow between each of the plurality of wooden barrels and the second conduit. The at least one first wooden barrel is a new barrel that has been filled with an alcoholic beverage up to 5 times, the at least one second wooden barrel is a middle aged barrel that has been filled with an alcoholic beverage from 6 to 12 times, and the at least one third wooden barrel is an old barrel that has been filled with an alcoholic beverage from 13 to 30 times.

This is essentially a patent for Firestone Walker’s modified Burton Union System that they pioneered when they first started, and then scaled-up when they bought the old SLO Brewery in Paso Robles and increased the size of their beer production. Jeffers, of course, is still there is the Barrelmeister, or Director of the Firestone Walker Barrelworks. That system is one of only two such brewing systems left in the world, the other being at Marston’s in Burton-on-Trent in England.
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Here’s a few photos of the system at the Paso Robles brewery in 2012.

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Patent No. 2420708A: Beer Meter

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Today in 1947, US Patent 2420708 A was issued, an invention of Clifford S. Hutsell, for his “Beer Meter.” There’s no Abstract, though it’s described this way in the application:

To carry out the principles of my invention, the liquid is passed through a cooling coil which is immersed in some suitable cooling medium, the length of such cell can be varied so that the beer or other liquid can be passed through one loop or many loops of the coil; in this way the beer is brought under constriction in which its velocity is dissipated by frictional losses without the liquid itself being agitated. The liquid is then led through a discharge opening from which it may be drawn into a glass or other receptacle. This whole dispensing action is controlled, except for the adjustment of the length of coil used, by a single operating lever. My device will control the delivery of beer so that its included gas will be properly handled. The volume of the liquid is accurately measured. Each portion dispensed is accurately counted. The control and serving of beer on draught has always presented a difficult problem due to the beers susceptibility to the influence of three ever-present, variable factors; pressure, balance. Beer in its making is charged with carbon dioxide, the retention of such charge is essential to maintain its quality. When the beer is quiescent, at a sufficiently low temperature, the carbon dioxide is inert. This temperature is below the desirable serving temperatures and as the temperature is raised for serving there is a area sufficiently small to form a restriction to the temperature and agitation or tendency to discharge the carbon dioxide from the beer. To offset this tendency to dissipate its included gas and also to raise the beer to the discharge faucet, gas or air pressure is applied to the beer in the keg. The amount of pressure necessary to hold the carbon dioxide charge in the beer is in direct proportion to the tempera considerable degree, destroys the essential quality of the beer and in addition frequently causes excessive foaming at the faucet and a consequent wastage of beer.

A certain degree of refrigeration together with some form of constriction between the beer keg and the discharge tap would effect adequate control of the beer if the composition and condition of the beer were constant. However, no constant amount of restriction of the line is equally effective at all times because the beer may vary in its gaseous content, in its temperature, or it may have been recently agitated.

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Patent No. 2348797A: Crown Cap Selecting Machine

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Today in 1944, US Patent 2348797 A was issued, an invention of Louis A. Fischer, assigned to the Schaefer Brewing Co., for his “Crown Cap Selecting Machine.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to crown cap selecting machines, and has for its object to provide means for inspecting the interior of such machines while the same are running, and also provide means for preventing the caps from clogging during the operation of the machine.

In the use of such cap selecting machines, it frequently happens that inspection of the interior of the same becomes necessary and also that certain caps which have become clogged be removed. Also certain foreign matters must be dislodged.

This requires a shutting down of the machine and a re-starting, this requiring several hours of non-use of the machine.

The invention consists of a door closed opening which permits the caps to be ejected from the machine, capable of being opened and closed during the operation of the machine, and the invention also consists in the means for preventing clogging of caps.

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