Today in 1950, US Patent 2530594 A was issued, an invention of Fremont W. Benedict, for his “Separating Solid Matter From Hot Wort.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
The present, invention aims to effect air separation from the hot wort of most of the nitrogenous substances, and hop resins prior to the delivery of the wort to the coolers and starters. The method of the invention involves introducing the hot wortl into a charging zone where the wort is under some turbulence and from whence it flows into an adjacent and substantially larger quiescent zone. The communication between the two zones is well below the liquid level; and substantially clear wort is withdrawn from the quiescent zone near the liquid level and at a point as remote as practical from the charging zone. The apparatus of the invention comprises a tank of any desired configuration having a partition dividing the tank into a charging or feeding compartment and a’ settling compartment of considerably larger volume than the charging compartment. The lower end of the partition is spaced a short distance above the bottom of the tank, and the space between the partition and the tank bottom provides the communication between the two compartments. The hot wort is preferably delivered in a stream above the. liquid level, so that it splashes into the wort in the charging compartment and keeps the wort there in agitation. A float-controlled discharge is provided for withdrawing substantially clear wort from near the liquid level “of the-settling compartment at a point remote from the partition.
