Today in 1966, US Patent 3279534 A was issued, an invention of Robert C. Gadsby, Joseph Schwaiger and Frank H. Schwaiger, assigned to Anheuser-Busch, for their “Percolator for a Brew Kettle.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide an improved percolator for brew kettles, such as are used in the brewing industry. Another object is to provide in such a percolator a plurality of flat heating sections which can be easily cleaned and replaced or repaired if necessary. Another object is to provide an improved percolator design which is shaped to distribute heat in a predetermined manner :and which is shaped so as to create a natural flow of the liquid being heated within the percolator. Another object is to provide a percolator of a design in which there is little likelihood of trapping condensate therein. Another object is to provide connectors between the relatively flat heater sections which prevent entrapment of the liquid so as to prevent the overheating of any liquid which might otherwise become entrapped.

Today in 1890, US Patent 438328 A was issued, an invention of William J. Seib, for his “Apparatus For Brewing.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention relates to an improvement in apparatus for use in collecting, condensing, and storing the essential oil and aromatic properties of hops to save them, and which is, therefore, especially serviceable for the particular purpose for which I have invented it namely, that of saving the aforesaid properties of the hops while they are being boiled with the wort in the manufacture of beer.

My present invention is particularly designed to afford an improvement in the construction of an apparatus for the same purpose as that set forth in the application of Carl Hoefner for Letters Patent of the United States No. 301,482, allowed on the 22d day of March, 1890. The construction of the apparatus therein described necessitates that the vapor from the kettle shall pass to the condenser and return by the same course to the storage-reservoir, which impairs the effectiveness of the condensation, since the liquid thereof has to pass under the influence of the rising heated vapor to gain access to the receptacle.

My object is to provide an apparatus for the purpose stated whereby this objection shall be obviated; and to this end my invention consists in the construction hereinafter set forth and claimed.

Today in 1944, US Patent 2359876 A was issued, an invention of Frank H. Schwaiger, assigned to Anheuser-Busch, for his “Brewing.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The principal objects of the present invention are to devise a better, simpler, more thorough and more economical way of removing. the suspended solids from the wort. The present invention consists principally in cooling the wort, while it still contains the hot break sludge, under conditions that overcome the difficulties and disadvantages that have heretofore made it impracticable to delay the removal of the sludge until the wort is cooled. It also consists in delaying the removal of the hot break solids until the wort is cooled. It also consists in aerating the wort at or above pasteurizing temperature and quickly cooling and simultaneously aerating it again and then separating the sludge therefrom by sedimentation. It also consists in a novel way of utilizing hot break for removal of cold break from the wort. It also consists in the process hereinafter described.

Today in 1962, US Patent 3056436 A was issued, an invention of Paul R. Fechheimer and Warren H. Harlan, assigned to the Cherry Burrell Corp., for their “Filling Head for Filling Machines.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

A principal object of the invention is the provision of a filling spout structure having a retractable filling stem adapted, upon the presentation of a container to be filled to the filling spout structure, to enter the container and assume a lowermost position in which the bottom or free end of the stem lies in close proximity to the bottom of the container being filled, whereupon as the liquid product is introduced into the container the filling stem will automatically retract.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a retractable filling stem of the character described which coacts with a vacuum tube forming a part of the filling spout structure, the vacuum tube serving to establish a predetermined height of fill for the container.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a filling spout structure having a retractable filling stem adapted to be locked in retracted position, the filling spout structure incorporating means responsive to the presentation of a container thereto for releasing the locking means so as to permit the filling stem to enter the container there beneath.

Today in 1918, US Patent 1280280 A was issued, an invention of Leopold Nathan, for his “Art of Brewing Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to an improved process for preparing beer and has for one of its objects the preparation of a beer which is substantially free from free oxygen or air.

Today in 1915, US Patent 1155009 A was issued, an invention of Simon Schlangen and Nicholas Schlangen, for their “Beer-Racking Apparatus.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to improvements in Beer-Racking Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

Among the objects’aimed at by the invention are; to provide a construction whereby it shall be possible to secure an even and uniform filling of the packages regardless of the variations in the amounts of expansion and contraction which different packages exhibit under the application and release of the counter-pressure to which they are subjected in the filling operation, to provide a construction not requiring any adjustment of parts to adapt it to the filling of packages of different sizes; to provide a construction wherein the contents of the filled package shall be vented to the atmosphere through the counter-pressure return pipe during the withdrawal of the filling tube from the package, thereby insuring the complete filling of the package by back-flow oi liquid from the counter-pressure return pipe to fill the space created by the withdrawal oi the filling tube regardless of the amount of expansion and contraction of the package; to provide a construction which will more effectively prevent waste and loss of beer at the bung of the package when the 3 seal is broken; and generally, to provide a simplified and improved racking mechanism of the type referred to.

Today in 1985, US 4542683 A was issued, an invention of Noel R. Wilkinson, for his “Brewing Apparatus.” Here’s the Abstract:

Brewing apparatus and a method of brewing in which mash cooking and wort boiling are carried out in a single vessel (2), the vessel having an agitator (202), a heater preferably formed as a steam jacket (220, 224) and as an external through flow heater (8), the wort being circulated through the heater and back into the vessel by means of a tangential feed inlet (56) which causes the vessel’s contents to whirl while the wort is boiling. The apparatus and method reduces the requirement for separate mash cooking and wort boiling vessels.

Today in 1965, US Patent 3207606 A was issued, an invention of Rees Philip Williams, assigned to Brewing Patents Ltd., for his “Continuous Fermentation Process for Beer Production.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to the manufacture of beer, and more particularly to the fermentation of Brewers Wort.

The present invention stems from the discovery that a continuous through flow of liquid is compatible with a sutficient period of dwell time in each phase of fermentation to enable that phase to be carried out in isolation from the other phases, and the object of the present invention is to provide a process for the continuous fermentation of wort, with the attendant advantages of relatively smaller vessels and a higher production rate.

The process of the present invention makes use of the same materials and the same times and temperatures as are used in the conventional batch processes, but with the advantage that there is a continuous through flow of the materials from one end of the apparatus to the other.

This continuous through flow has very considerable advantages. Firstly, it is relatively simple to make the apparatus in a closed state so that once it has been rendered sterile, and if sterile materials are used to feed it, there is no further possibility of infection arising. The apparatus can be used continuously for relatively long periods so that cleaning operations are reduced. The beer produced can be checked and correction of activity and temperature can be introduced while the process is in action. Above all, relatively very much less space is required for a continuous flow apparatus to produce for example 168 barrels of fermented beer in one week.

The process accordingly comprises a first step of continuously forming in a first phase a mixture of sterile wort and yeast and keeping said mixture at a temperature and for a period of time both selected to ensure yeast propagation and the onset of fermentation of the wort; a second step of passing the resultant mixture continuously to a second phase and keeping the mixture at a temperature and for a period of time both selected to ensure completion of the fermentation; and a third step of continuously passing the fully fermented wort to a third phase in which it is allowed to settle.

The process does not involve a new kind of fermentation with novel stages of working or novel chemical reactions. On the contrary, the conventional reactions are carried out with the conventional materials for the conventional periods of time allowed in batch operation, but the entire process is carried out with continuous through flow. It has not hitherto been suggested in the art to select comparative volumes for the vessels to give the required relative dwell times for the various phases of fermentation. It is well known to those skilled in this art that the times and temperatures of the conventional operation cannot be altered to any great extent and it is probable that batch operation has continued to be vused for fermenting the wort, in spite of the inherent disadvantages of batch operation, because it was not throught possible to carry out the process as a continuous process.