Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 204687A: Improvement In Safety-Valves For Fermented-Liquor Casks

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Today in 1878, US Patent 204687 A was issued, an invention of Henry Shlaudeman, for his “Improvement in Safety-Valves for Fermented-Liquor Casks.” There’s no Abstract, though it’s described this way in the application:

The object of my invention is to produce a safety-valve to be placed upon storage-casks, hogsheads, &c., in which malt and other fermenting or fermented liquors are placed in stock viz., before drawing into vessels for consumption or sale-and is constructed so that the weighted valve will be raised automatically if more than a certain quantity of carbonic-acid gas is generated, and allow said gas to escape without exposing the liquors to the open air, and by thus excluding the air stopping fermentation at a fixed degree, and preventing the bursting of the cask or hogshead, the device inclosing a weighted valve that shall have a fixed and definite capacity of retaining the gases.

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Beer In Ads #1938: Saturday On The Lake Front

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Friday’s ad is entitled Saturday On The Lake Front, and the illustration was done in 1952 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #69 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a well-to-do family is spending the weekend at the lakefront home, and entertaining with beers. It’s funny how many of these ads in the 1950s depict experiences that would not be familiar or easily relatable to the average beer drinker. Were they meant to be aspirational? Because otherwise it just seems strange to show scenes of affluence in mainstream magazines.

069. Saturday on the Lake Front by Douglass Crockwell, 1952

Patent No. WO1999007820A3: Lipid Removal

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Today in 1999, US Patent WO 1999007820 A3 was issued, an invention of Charles Bamforth, Robert Muller, and Kamini Dickie, for their “Lipid Removal.” Here’s the Abstract:

A method for removing lipids material from beer or other beverages. The beer is contacted with immobilised lipid binding protein which binds any lipid present in the beer or other beverage. After the lipid removal stage is complete there are no lipid binding additives remaining in the beverage.

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Beer In Ads #1937: Casting Lessons In The Backyard

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Thursday’s ad is entitled Casting Lessons in the Backyard, and the illustration was done in 1952 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #68 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a group of people are relaxing in someone’s backyard. After many beers, they decided it would be a good idea to get out a fishing rod and start lawn casting.

068. Casting Lessons in the Backyard by Douglass Crockwell, 1952

Patent No. 1302922C: Process For Producing A Malt Beverage Having Improved Foaming Properties

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Today in 1992, US Patent 1302922 C was issued, an invention of Joseph L. Owades, for his “Process for Producing a Malt Beverage Having Improved Foaming Properties and Product Produced Therefrom.” Here’s the Abstract:

The foaming properties of a brewed malt beverage are improved by adding to the beverage during the normal brewing process a measured quantity of ginseng.

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Patent No. 890031A: Malting Kiln

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Today in 1908, US Patent 890031 A was issued, an invention of John F. Dornfeld, for his “Malting Kiln.” There’s no Abstract, though it’s described this way in the application:

I have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Malting-Kilns, of which the following is a specification.

Malting kilns as heretofore constructed comprise buildings of considerable height, in the upper part of which are arranged the malting floor or floors, and in the lower part are introduced the hot gases and. products of combustion from a furnace, together with a quantity of fresh air. No means is provided for mixing the hot and the cold air to produce a uniform temperature throughout the kiln and asa consequence the hot air rises in columns through the cooler surrounding air reaching the top of the kiln and there escaping through the ventilator at a temperature considerably in 4excess of the cool fresh air remaining in the bottom of the kiln.

One of the objects of this invention is to obviate the difficulty mentioned by mixing by mechanical means, the hot air and gases with cool fresh air, making a uniform mixture and introducing said mixture into the Further objects of the invention are to reduce the height of the kiln building, which reduction is rendered possible by locating the furnace outside of the kiln proper, and in other ways to improve the construction of such kiln.

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Beer In Ads #1936: Amateur Fortune Teller

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Wednesday’s ad is entitled Amateur Fortune Teller, and the illustration was done in 1952 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #66 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a woman put on a scarf, sat down at a table and began reading palms. Luckily, the beer probably helps with their gullibility.

067. Amateur Fortune Teller by Douglass Crockwell, 1952

Craft Beer Taste-Test Time Trials

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My son Porter has a subscription to Mad Magazine that we started for him a few years ago, when he began picking it up at the grocery store and really liked it. I remember devouring every issue when I was his age, too. The new issue (#540 August) came the other day, and features an illustration of Donald Trump on the cover with his head popped open and Mad Magazine’s mascot Alfred E. Neuman jumping out on a spring, like a jack-in-the-box. Which seems appropriate, frankly, but that’s another story.

Inside the issue, he brought my attention to a two-page piece on “New Olympic Events that AMERICANS Are Sure to Win.” These included “Synchronized-Selfies” and “Marathon TV Binge-Watching.” But the one he made a point to show me was the “Craft Beer Taste-Test Time Trials.”

You know you’ve got a perception problem when Mad Magazine is making fun of you. It’s a shame that enjoying good beer has been so perverted both from within and also from outside, in the form of the big brewers taking pot shots at a lot of core aficionados’ behavior.

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Patent No. 7730912B2: Bottle Filler

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Today in 2010, US Patent 7730912 B2 was issued, an invention of John Richard Blichmann, for his “Bottle Filler.” Here’s the Abstract:

An improved bottle filler assembly for filling bottles from kegged carbonated or non carbonated beverages without carbonation loss or oxidation that is intuitive to use, sanitize, and keep free of bacteria. In the preferred embodiment, a long hose gradually reduces the pressure of the beverage on the way to the filler. Two tubes are placed inside each other forming an annulus where CO2 can be forced to the bottom of the bottle via a CO2 valve thereby purging the bottle of air (O2). A valve seat placed on the bottom of the tubes allows the beverage to flow into the bottle from the bottom by depressing a trigger.

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Patent No. 2083281A: Beer Tap Fitting

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Today in 1937, US Patent 2083281 A was issued, an invention of Fred M. Spayd, for his “Beer Tap Fitting.” There’s no Abstract, though it’s described this way in the application:

This invention relates to liquid dispensing apparatus and more particularly to beer dispensers and cleaning apparatus therefor.

One object of the invention is the provision of a beer keg or the like having a thing through which the draft tube can be inserted and having a bayonet connection with the keg bung, the fitting having a self-closing valve adapted to be opened and to be held open by the draft tube, but normally closed when the draft tube is withdrawn so that the pressure within the keg may be maintained.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a self-closing valve fitting adapted to be readily attached to and disconnected from a barrel bung, and having attaching means at its opposite ends which are complementary to one another so that the fitting is adapted for use with standard connections.

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