Today in 1902, US Patent 700833 A was issued, an invention of Joseph Schneible, for his “Manufacture of Fermented Liquors.” There’s no Abstract, though it’s described this way in the application:
This invention relates particularly to the carrying on of the fermentation of liquors such as malt beverages, for example and to the culture, propagation, and separation of yeast for further use As the fermentation of such liquors is now commonly practiced the yeast propagated for further use is separated and collected under conditions which are liable to result in contamination of the yeast by contact with air,usually teeming with wild ferments and very often with fungi, and in subsequent injury to the finished product.
It is the object of this invention to provide for the carrying on of the fermentation and the separation of the yeast in such a manner as to avoid exposure of either yeast or liquor to such contaminating and injurious influences, while at the same time the fermentation is carried on under practically normal conditions as to pressure.-
In accordance with this invention the newly-fermented liquor containing the yeast in suspension for further inoculation is transferred from the vessel in which the fermentation was carried on to a clean vessel, in which the separation of the yeast intended for further work from the liquor takes place and from which the liquor is withdrawn, thereby leaving the yeast in the clean vessel. The further quantity of liquor to be fermented is then introduced into the vessel containing the yeast and is inoculated thereby,thus avoiding altogether the removal of the yeast from the vessel in which the same has been allowed to separate from the fermented liquor and avoiding its exposure to the contaminating influences above referred to. This process is carried on successively in the manner referred to, the newly-fermented liquor being transferred from the vessel in which the inoculation has taken place and the main fermentation was carried on to a clean vessel, as before.