Today in 1893, US Patent 503168 A was issued, an invention of Gustav Hermann Schneider (a.k.a. G.H. Schneider), of Hamburg, Germany, for his “Brewing Process.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention has relation to the art of brewing beer from the wort, and it has for its object the provision of means whereby a product is obtained whose nutritive properties are materially increased, that is not as liable to secondary fermentation and that will keep in good condition for a longer time than beer brewed in the usual way.

One of the advantages of my invention lies in the fact that the fermentation may be interrupted at any time, thereby enabling the brewer to vary the percentage of alcohol in the beer, according to requirements, and consequently preserve to the beer a larger percentage of extracts than has been possible heretofore.

A further advantage of my invention consists in obviating the cellar storage otherwise necessary, and in cheapening considerably the production of beer, notwithstanding that a product is obtained of a taste far more cess.

I attain these objects by adding hops to the wort, boiling the same by means of steam under pressure, cooling the boiled wort, filtering, and subjecting the filtered wort to a yeast fermentation, pasteurizing the fermented liquid by means of heat, cooling it down, and aerating it by means of ozonized air,and finally charging the sterilized liquid with carbonic acid, when the beer will be ready for storage, these operations, and the storage being successively carried out under exclusion of ambient atmospheric air, the liquid being forced through the various apparatuses, and finally to the receiver, by means of sterilized air. But that my invention may be fully understood, l will describe the same in detail, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figures 1 and l show in side elevation a plant by means of which my invention may be carried out, and Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of my improved pasteurizing and aerating apparatus.

And here’s the original drawings filed with the patent application:

Today in 1958, US Patent 2847309 A was issued, an invention of Harold Howard Rohrbeck, assigned to the Olympia Brewing Company, for his “Brewing Process.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

Heretofore, in the conventional brewing process, it has taken considerable time toV filter the wort through the lautering bed provided by the grain in the lauter tub and also to sparge the bed. I believe the reason for this is that the lines, which are microscopic glutinous protein matter, have collected in the interstices of the filtering bed and have restricted and even completely closed them thus slowing down the filtering step.

It is a main object of the present invention to provide a brewing process overcoming the above disadvantage.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a process in which all or part of the fines are removed from the mash prior to the mash entering the lauter tub whereby to speed up the filtering operation.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus by which the method of the present invention may be carried out.

The process -of the present invention is characterized by the steps of separating the fines from at least a part of the mash prior to the mash being conducted to the lauter tub so that the filter bed is not nearly as congested or restricted by the presence of the fines as heretofore has been the case and thus the filtering action of the bed is much more rapid than heretofore.

Today in 1960, US Patent 2948617 A was issued, an invention of Stanley William Thomas Paine, for his “Processing of Brewers’ Wort.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The invention is more particularly concerned with the method which comprises passing the wort in continuous movement from a mash tun as sweet wort to a fermentation vessel as hopped wort, and in the course of that movement raising the temperature of the wort to a high value, holding the wort at the high temperature in a holding vessel, reducing the temperature of the wort and passing it to a hop extraction vessel and then passing the hopped wort to a sedimentation vessel where this is required and thence through a sludge separating device and a cooling device to the fermentation vessel.

Today in 1898, US Patent 608744 A was issued, an invention of John L. Alberger, for his “Process of And apparatus for Gasing Beer or Similar Liquids.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved process of and apparatus for gasing beer, the special object being to provide a process and apparatus which shall enable the operation to be performed more quickly than by the processes and apparatus previously in use for this purpose.

Today in 1911, US Patent 1000086 A was issued, an invention of Fred W Goetz and Claes Flodin, for their “Straining-Tank.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

Our invention relates, more particularly, to an improvement in tanks for straining hopped wort from the hops after the wort has been boiled with them for the requisite length of time in the brewing-kettles provided for the purpose.

In the process of brewing beer it is necessary, in order to prevent the beer from becoming bitter, to drain the wort from the hops as quickly as possible, after the boiling operation above referred to has been completed; and it is highly desirable that as much of the wort as is loosely held in the hops by absorption be drained 0H and recovered for further treatment.

One of our objects is to provide a construction of straining-tank which will enable the hopped wort to be quickly and effectively washed and drained from the hops and cause the latter to be freed, up to the maximum practical extent, of its wort-contents.

Another object is to provide a construction of straining-tank whereby the spent hops may be discharged therefrom in a simple and effective manner.

Today in 1956, US Patent 2756917 A was issued, an invention of John T. Kline, for his “Valve For Counter Pressure Filling Apparatus.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

Briefly outlined they are as follows: The charged liquid is supplied to a reservoir by piping connected to a continuous source of supply forming a closed circuit; air or gas under pressure, such as carbon dioxide, is also supplied to the reservoir by suitable piping leading from a continuous source forming a closed circuit, thereby providing a head above the liquid in the reservoir; and a plurality of filling heads, each one of which contains a rotary fiat valve and means to temporarily seal the containers, is joined to the bottom of the reservoir and connected with the interior thereof by suitable piping to permit removal of the liquid and/ or the air or gas confined therein. By positioning the valve in each filling head in a predetermined pattern, a filling sequence is accomplished which permits the filling of the containers without excessively foaming or effervescing the liquid. This sequence consists of temporarily sealing the container to the filling head; then positioning the valve to permit the air or gas under pressure in the reservoir, commonly called counter pressure, to enter into the container to equalize the pressure between them; then positioning the valve to permit the liquid in the reservoir to enter into the container under its normal hydrostatic pressure and to return the air or gas (counter pressure) in the container back to the reservoir as it is being displaced by the liquid; then positioning the valve to out off the flow of the liquid and the air or gas (counter pressure) to and from the container; then exhausting any air or gas remaining in the container and finally permanently sealing the container.

My invention, while relating generally to apparatus for transferring gaseous liquids from a source of supply to containers, specifically relates to the rotary fiat valve employed by such apparatus and is specifically directed to the method employed in conveying the liquid and air or gas from the reservoir to the container.