Today in 1894, US Patent 531314 A was issued, an invention of A.M. Hofmann, for his “Process of and Apparatus for Preparing Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

It may be stated at the outset that I have primarily designed my improvement for the particular application to beer in barrels or kegs orin bottles, and I therefore, and for the sake of convenience, hereinafter confine the description of my invention in its application to racking, carbonating and bunging beer, though it is also applicable to, and I desire to be understood as intending it for, any and all liquids or beverages requiring similar treatment to prepare them in receptacles for the market.

A known manner of carbonating a beverage to prepare it for the market is to introduce into the holder containing it a liquid (preferably of the same kind) in small quantity proportionately to the quantity contained in the holder, but so highly charged with the gas, for which -,it affords a vehicle and a mixing or incorporating medium, as to supply the contents of the receptacle,and thoroughly impregnate them, with a charge of gas adequate for all requirements in the beverage.

I find that where the carbonating procedure referred to is employed on beer, the diffusion of the gas through the beer in the receptacle, however thoroughly it may be produced, is not lasting where the receptacle is not completely, or at least approximately, filled with the beer to be charged, which it rarely is; since the space left on filled affords, as it were, a pocket, in which the gas tends to accumulate, and whence it quickly escapes on opening or venting the receptacle, leaving the beer, when poured or drawn for consumption, insufficiently carbonated. Incomplete filling of the receptacles is, perhaps, as likely of occurrence where the receptacles are glass bottles as where they are barrels or kegs, notwithstanding that the transparent nature of the former renders the matter of completely filling them readily accomplishable.

My process consists in withdrawing from a .receptacle after filling it with beer (taken by preference directly from the cask) a suitably small proportion of its contents, and replacing the quantity thus withdrawn with an equal, or approximately equal, quantity of liquid highly charged with gas, thereby, practically, withdrawing the desired quantity from the receptacle, then charging it excessively with gas, and returning to the receptacle the same liquid, charged, that was withdrawn from it. Thus, after a receptacle has been completely filled, or substantially so, with the beer to be carbonated, (and complete filling of a barrel or keg is a matter as simple as filling a bottle) by withdrawing ascertain quantity to make room or the charge, and replacing it with an equal or substantially equal quantity of the supercharged carbonating liquid, the desirably full condition of the receptacles is attained.

Today in 1900, US Patent 664824 A was issued, an invention of Gottlieb Schmidt, for his “Cold Air Pressure Apparatus For Beer or Other Fluids.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention relates to an apparatus involving an air-chamber and a refrigerator adapted more particularly for cooling beer or other fluid, wherein cold air will be directed under pressure to said fluid where it is to be dispensed, the construction and operation of the parts thereof being hereinafter set forth, and the novel features thereof pointed out in the claims.

And here are the original drawings filed with the application:

Today in 1940, US Patent 2225996 A was issued, an invention of Carl W. Johnson, for his “Beer Foam Control Device.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to devices for controlling the amount of foam on beverages which are maintained in storage containers under gaseous pressure, and is particularly adaptable for use in connection with the dispensing of malt beverages such as beer and ale.

One of the difficulties encountered in the dispensing of malt beverages has been the inability to control the foam or cap which forms on the beer when it is drawn into a glass or other container. It is desirable to maintain beer in a keg under relatively high pressures to prevent the beer from becoming flat, the pressure applied to the liquid serving to retain the natural gases formed in the beer during the fermentation thereof. Heretofore it has been found, however, that beer cannot be placed under very much pressure because it will cause foaming with the result that the person dispensing the beverage must scrape a considerable quantity of foam off the top of the beer in a glass, and that part which is removed is wasted.

It is, therefore, a general object of my invention to provide a device for controlling the amount of foam which is produced in dispensing beverages, such as beer, in. order that the beverage may be maintained under relatively high pressure to prevent it from becoming flat, and at the same time permit it to be dispensed with very little foam or cap thereon.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device which can be easily adjusted to meet different pressure conditions in order that a uniform amount of foam will be produced at all times.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this general type which is of extremely simple construction and which can be readily cleaned to maintain the original flavor of the beer.

Today in 1985, US Patent 2225996 A was issued, an invention of Hubertus J. Souren, assigned to Grolsche Bierbrouwerij B.V., for his “Stationary Beer Container.” Here’s the Abstract:

A stationary beer container having upper and lower end connections coupled with a flow line coupling and valve assembly adapted to cooperate with a standard beer tap head used with barrels or kegs. The flow line coupling and housing assembly of the invention is connected with a line to the lower end of the beer container and a vertical line to the upper end of the container including a transparent section for determining the beer level in the container. The same type of tap head is used for tapping beer from the container, filing the container, and cleaning the container.

Today in 1942, US Patent 2305641 A was issued, an invention of John F. Silhavy, for his “Method of and Apparatus For Making Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

I have invented new methods of and apparatus for heating `and boiling wort in the brew or hop kettle which will be described in connection with My invention is easily adaptable to and can be easily installed in existing kettles. When steam at 25 pounds gage pressure is used as a heating medium in the coil or jacket of a brew kettle, the temperature of the steam is about 265 F. According to my invention I employ heating means and mediums for the brew kettle which range in temperature from about 600 F to about 2000 F so that high’ heating temperatures far beyond those attainable by steam at ordinary pressures are obtained and by this new heating I obtain new and distinct advantages. In my heating systems I use high temperature heating mediums or means which are at a temperature greatly in excess of steam as now used and the wort is contacted with extremely hot surfaces or extremely hot gases. I have shown several ways in which these high and increased temperatures may be obtained but I- am not to be restricted thereto as any heating medium or means which produces high temperature is burned below the surface of the liquid mixture in the brew kettle. In Fig. 2 I have shown a simple form of a burner 3 which can be used but other submerged burners providing submerged combustion with high temperatures can be used. The burner has a tubular portion 32 with a threaded end 33, a combustion chamber 34 and outlet ports 35 for the combustion gases adjacent the combustion chamber. Gaseous fuels are preferably used and such fuels may be mixed with air in stoichiometric proportions in an industrial carburetor or the like and then forced under pressure through the tubular portion 32 and through the burner, being burned in the combustion chamber. By using excess gas a reducing flame is produced and by using excess air an oxidizing flame is obtained. Preferably purified gases such as hydrogen, C2H2 methane, or the like are used. The mixture of fuel and air is burned beneath the surface of the liquid mixture in the brew kettle. The burner may be positioned at any suitable height in the brew kettle but the burner should be placed sufficiently deep in the liquid being heated whereby the combustion gases will give up their heat to the liquid as they bubble through the liquid Wort, and so that the gases of combustion in escaping will not carry off valuable heat. The ideal position of the burner is to have the temperature of the outgoing combustion gases and the wort about the same.

Today in 1966, US Patent 3293040 A was issued, an invention of Raymond L. McAdam and Richard G. Shaler Jr., for their “Method for Chill-Proofing Beer with Water Soluble Alkyl Cellulose Ethers.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to beer, the treatment thereof during processing, and a novel composition having utility in such treatment and elsewhere. More particularly it relates to a method and composition for the treatment of beer during processing for chill-proofing the beer.

The present invention is in part an improvement in the now conventional method of chill-proofing beer by the addition to the beer of a swelling gelling clay such as hectorite during processing of the beer. In the preferred embodiment the present invention contemplates the combination of a water soluble cellulose ether with the clay. This combination is employed as the clay itself was previously employed. Through the use of the new combination it has been discovered that the chill-proofing properties of the clay are maintained as before but the sludge produced by the clay in the beer is substantially reduced. Also, it appears that the beer is less turbid than when the clay alone is used.

Sludge reduction is desirable since beer is trapped by the sludge and is lost when the sludge is removed. By reducing the sludge level a greater recovery and yield of beer is possible.

Thus the present invention provides an improvement in the method of treating beer with a swelling gelling clay to chill-proof the .beer which comprises adding about .120% with respect to the clay of a water soluble cellulose ether to the beer during the treatment thereof with the clay. The new composition of the present invention may be defined as a swelling gelling clay and about .1- 20% by weight with respect to the clay of a water soluble cellulose ether.