Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 4383040A: Fermentation Process And Apparatus

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Today in 1983, US Patent 4383040 A was issued, an invention of Richard Fricker, for his “Fermentation Process and Apparatus.” Here’s the Abstract:

A method for continuous fermentation in which carbohydrate solution is fed continuously into a fermentation zone containing substantially homogeneously distributed yeast and carbohydrate solution whereby the carbohydrate is fermented to ethanol, a proportion of the fermenting liquid continuously passing to a pressurized settling tank, yeast depleted liquid being withdrawn from the upper part of the settling tank and yeast enriched liquid being withdrawn from the lower part of said tank and returned to the fermentation zone, a proportion of yeast being withdrawn without being returned to the fermentation zone, said proportion being such that the concentration of yeast in the fermentation zone is substantially constant, and the pressure within the settling tank is sufficient to prevent the formation of gaseous carbon dioxide. The method enables rapid continuous fermentation to take place using high concentrations of yeast.

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Patent No. 2936236A: Method Of Draining Off Wort From A Straining Tank

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Today in 1960, US Patent 2936236 A was issued, an invention of Robert C. Gadsby, Schwaiger Joseph, and Frank H. Schwaiger, assigned to Anheuser Busch, for their “Method of Draining Off Wort From a Straining Tank.” There’s no Abstract, but the description states that the “invention relates to a straining tank or grain extractor or lauter tub, and more particularly to a new type of straining tank for use in the brewing industry to remove extract from brewers grains. This divisional application relates to the method of straining employed by said straining tank.”
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Patent No. 1907994A: Cap

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Today in 1933, US Patent 1907994 A was issued, an invention of Edward McManus Charles, assigned to Crown Cork & Seal Co., for his “Cap.” There’s no Abstract, but in the description they talk about an “invention relat[ing] to caps for containers and particularly contemplates a cap wherein a sealing ring or cushion is usually employed.” If you keep reading, it’s explained that this crown works better than previous ones for a variety of reasons, even though it looks pretty much the same as other crowns.
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Patent No. 114671A: Improvement In The Manufacture Of Yeast And In The Application Of The Same In Mashing And Brewing

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Today in 1871, US Patent 114671 A was issued, an invention of Duby Green, for his “Improvement in the Manufacture of Yeast and in the Application of the Same in Mashing and Brewing.” There’s no Abstract, and in the description there’s never really any simple overview or summation of the invention, Green just dives right it to explaining his formula and how it works. I guess he figured the crazy long title was enough.
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Patent No. 3033762A: Straining Tank

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Today in 1962, US Patent 3033762 A was issued, an invention of Robert C. Gadsby, Schwaiger Joseph, and Frank H. Schwaiger, assigned to Anheuser-Busch, for their “Straining Tank.” There’s no Abstract, but in the description it’s stated that the “invention relates to an improved straining tank or grain extractor or lauter tub, and more particularly to an improvement in an existing kind of lauter tub presently in widespread use in the brewing industry to remove extract from brewers grains.” They later elaborate a bit more:

This invention relates to an improvement in existing lauter tubs having agitators therein which increases the efficiency or reduces the draw-o time to about two-thirds of the time previously required. This is important because the lautering step in the brewing process has in the past been one of the slowest and one of the bottlenecks in the production of beer. In other words, in the usual brewing operation today, the capacity of the step which uses lauter tubs or straining tanks largely determines the capacity of the brewery.

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Patent No. 519513A: Apparatus For Racking Beer

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Today in 1894, US Patent 519513 A was issued, an invention of Harry Torchiani, for his “Apparatus For Racking Beer.” There’s no Abstract, but in the description it’s stated that the “invention relates to that class of. devices that are used in drawing or filling beer from casks into the barrels, half-barrels, kegs, etc.,” adding this. “The object of my invention is to provide an apparatus of this kind, which can readily be adjusted for barrels or kegs of different sizes, and which prevents the spurting of the beer from the apparatus or keg when the apparatus is withdrawn from the keg.”
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Patent No. 3381841A: Bung For Barrel

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Today in 1968, US Patent 3381841 A was issued, an invention of Howard F. Kusserow, for his “Bung For Barrel.” There’s no Abstract, but in the description it’s claimed that the “invention lies in the general field of container closures. It is directed to re-usable closures which may be readily applied and removed, and more particularly to bungs for beer barrels, although it is not limited to such use.” Apparently, the new bung was to replace wooden ones with a bung made from polyethylene, a “resiliently yieldabie material.”
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Patent No. 1302549A: Process For Brewing Beer

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Today in 1919, US Patent 1302549 A was issued, an invention of Herman Hausen, for his “Process For Brewing Beer.” There’s no Abstract, but as Prohibition began, the invention was specifically for non-alcoholic beer to satisfy demand for at least the taste of beer once the regular kind was outlawed. Here’s a fuller explanation.

My invention relates to the manufacture of non-alcoholic beer, of beer containing less than one-half of one percent of alcohol, and of temperance beer. In the processes heretofore employed for making such beverages, the de-alcoholizing occurs by distillation of the alcohol after the liquid vis fermented or the beer brewed. These old processes involve certain disadvantages which are obviated by my invention, which, generally speaking, consists in simultaneously boiling and fermenting the beer wort in a vacuum and within the range of beer fermentation temperatures at which the activity of the yeast is not destroyed to evaporate the alcohol and preserve live yeast in In the accompanying drawing I show more or less diagrammatically and mostly in sectional view all the apparatus required to carry out my new process.

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Patent No. D591850S1: Filled Beer Glass Shaped Condom

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Today in 2009, US Patent D591850 S1 was issued, an invention of Brian Osterberg, for his “Filled Beer Glass Shaped Condom.” There’s no Abstract, and there’s not much to say about it, other than his invention is the “ornamental design for a filled beer glass shaped condom.” I probably should have waited until after dark to post this one. Seeing it reminded me of a passage from a book I read when I was a kid: Summer of ’42, by Herman Raucher. There’s a scene in the book where the 15-year old protagonist, Hermie, goes to the drug store to buy condoms. Looking over the packaging, in his head he’s imagining that the color of the box matches the condom itself, and thinks to himself. “Plaid, that’s enough to send a young girl screaming into the night!” I can’t imagine one that look like a full glass of beer, that just seems weird.

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Patent No. 2039564A: Beer Dispensing Apparatus

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Today in 1936, US Patent 2039564 A was issued, an invention of Elmer H. Smith, for his “Beer Dispensing Apparatus.” There’s no Abstract, but in the description it states that his “invention relates to new and useful improvements in beer dispensing apparatus, and more particularly to a beer dispensing faucet having means embodied in the construction thereof, whereby the beer, regardless of the pressure on, the beer at its source, may be dispensed into, a glass or suitable container without excessive foam.”
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