Today in 1958, US Patent 2823125 A was issued, an invention of Frank H. Schwaiger, assigned to Anheuser-Busch, for his “Apparatus for and Process of Fermenting Beer.” There’s no Abstract, but in the description it states the following:

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide an improved fermenter which can be fabricated from stainless steel and which requires no overhead chamber for capturing foam which must necessarily rise upwardly into said chamber. Another object is to provide an improved fermenter which requires no special housing, which is easily housed on a single floor of a building, which can be easily cleaned, which requires less space per unit capacity, and which separates the foam from the beer more completely and more efficiently. Another object is to provide a fermenter construction which moves the foam automatically toward the foam chamber. Another object is to provide a fermenter which without moving parts automatically prevents beer from spilling over a baffle into the foam chamber even though the beer increases in volume during fermentation. Another object is to provide a fermenter which can be fabricated in a metal fabricating shop, shipped to the brewery, and placed upon a suitable base therein.

Another principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved process wherein the foam condensate is directed back into the manufacturing process at a different point from where the foam was taken. Another object is to provide a process wherein the foam condensate can be filtered or treated before it is redirected into the process.