Today in 1881, US Patent 249332 A was issued, an invention of Francis J. Geis, for his “Mixture or Grist for Brewing Purposes.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:
My invention consists in a mixture or grist for brewing malt-liquors, composed of malt and cereals or grain having the cellulose or integument and germ or heart removed, the cereals or grain constituting from about twenty-five to fifty per centum, by weight, of the said mixture or grist.The cereals or grains thus treated have the oily and other objectionable matter removed, but contain the maximum amount of starch and the necessary albumenoids and gluten.
In carrying out my invention I prefer to remove the cellulose or integument and germ or heart of the cereals or grain by means of mechanism which is another invention of mine, and for which I intend to apply for Letters of Patent.
Before brewing I substitute for preferably from twenty-five to fifty per centum of the weight of malt ordinarily employed to produce a given quantity of the beverage alike weight of the prepared cereals or grain, and mix the two to form a grist. I then subject the combined mass of malt and cereals or grain to treatment by any suitable one of the usual methods employed in the manufacture of lager-beer, beer, ale, porter, or other malt-liquor, according as I desire to produce either of those beverages. I have found that one hundred pounds of the prepared cereals or grain will equal one hundred and thirty-six pounds of malt in extractor wort (the liquor that runs or is produced before fermentation) for the beverage, and as the prepared cereals or grain are much the cheaper,it is obvious that by means of employing this substitute I very materially cheapen the cost of the beverage. A larger and better quality of yeast of a uniform and vigorous character also results from the use of the prepared cereals or grain.
