Today in 1906, US Patent 818056 A was issued, an invention of Fredrick H. Strobel, for his “Beer-Cooler.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
My invention relates to an improvement in beer-coolers and the principal object is to provide means for thinning out the volume of beer and spreading it over a correspondingly large surface as it is drawn from the tanks.
Today in 1962, US Patent D 192604 S was issued, an invention of Frank W. Evans, for his “Combination Beer Glass and Cocktail Shaker.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
The ornamental design for a combination beer glass and cocktail shaker, as shown.
Today in 1963, US Patent 20090098075 A1 was issued, an invention of Chantal Bergeron, Stefan Gafner, and Jennifer L. Lafrance, for their “Hops-Based Deodorant.” Here’s the Abstract:
The present invention relates to deodorants and other body care products comprising a CO2 extract of the hops plant having bacteriocide/bacteriostat properties wherein the CO2 extract has a very low level of essential hops oils.
So some deodorants today do list hops as an ingredient, such as the Tom’s of Maine line, all of which list Hops extract [CO2] and caprylic/capric triglyceride as one of the ingredients.
Which on Tom’s website they have a separate page for each of the body care ingredients, including Hops extract [CO2] and caprylic/capric triglyceride:
What is it?
The hop plant is a perennial herb that grows in vines. Native to Europe, Western Asia, and North America, it is known for the speed and persistence of its growth. Most people are familiar with hops because of its role in beer-making, although it also featured in ancient kitchens and the medical recipes of herbalists. First widely used in beer by monks in 9th- and 10th-century Germany, the hop didn’t gain popularity because of its flavor. Instead, the “bitter principles” of hops exhibit antimicrobial behavior, making the ingredient an effective preservative and stabilizer. In 1516, Wilhelm IV, lord of Bayern, ordered that hops be one of the required ingredients in beer in his Reinheitsgebot (Purity Law). That law led to similar enactments in other countries and helped to standardize the use of hops in brewing. Hops’ distinctive bitterness has now become one of the familiar attributes of a typical beer. Only the female flowers, known as cones, are used in beer-making. For our deodorants, we use hop resins extracted from the cones.
What does it do?
Unpleasant odor is caused by skin bacteria when we sweat. The “bitter principles” that help hops to preserve beer also, it turns out, fight odor. Hops inhibits the growth of bacteria in our deodorant by causing leakage in the bacterial cell membrane, which impairs bacterial function and therefore prevents odor. We use hops in all but our Long-Lasting Roll-On Deodorants.
What are the alternatives?
Lichen (Usnea barbata) has been in our (and many other natural) deodorants since 1991, and it provided effective and natural odor protection. However, a minor percentage of the general population—often, those who tend to have fragrance allergies—may experience a skin reaction to lichen. Even though it’s a relatively uncommon reaction, we weren’t satisfied, and our scientists continued to search for ingredients with less irritancy potential. We also felt increasingly uncomfortable with the environmental drawbacks to using lichen. Studies have shown that the large-scale harvesting of lichen may not be sustainable given its long regeneration rates.
What are the risks?
Hops are believed to have sedative properties, but topical application in the amount found in our deodorant will not cause sleepiness. Tom’s of Maine recognizes that no two people are alike, and even with pure and natural ingredients, some individuals may develop an allergic reaction that is unique to them. As with any product, be sure to discontinue use if you experience discomfort or other indications that the product may not be appropriate for your individual body chemistry.
Today in 1963, US Patent 3085945 A was issued, an invention of Wayne W. Luchsinger and John G. Fleckenstein, assigned to the Kurth Malting Company, for their “Malting Process.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
According to the present invention there is provided a novel malting process which gives greatly increased malt recoveries and with other benefits which will be disclosed hereinafter. There is also provided a novel malt produced having substantially retarded, and/or essentially free of rootlets. This novel malting process broadly comprises acidulating a cereal grain, as well as contacting the cereal grain with a growth-stimulating amount of gibberellic acid, in the period from initial steeping to the growth or germination stage prior to any significant growth or germination, viz, usually within about 6 hours, and as much as 1 day, or slightly longer, after steep out, and thereafter completing the germination.
By acidulating is meant applying an acidic substance to the grain, such as by spraying or immersing the grain in an aqueous solution of the acidic substance to inhibit growth. Thus, the acidic substance can be incorporated in the steep water at any stage of the steeping operation or it can be applied to the grain at steep out or thereafter and before any significant growth or germination has resulted, viz, within about 6 hours and as much as 1 day or slightly longer after steep out. However, malt recoveries are generally progressively lowered as the acidulation treatment is delayed after steep out. Nevertheless, the malt recoveries generally obtained after such tardy or deferred acidulation are higher than without such treatment.
Acidulation without the addition of gibberellic acid to the grain inhibits growth but the grain is not converted to usable malt, especially at low pH values below 3.8. Gibberellic acid alone without acidulation promotes growth but losses due to respiration and rootlets are excessive.
Surprisingly, the combination of acidulation and gib- 4 untreated malt and, in fact, almost reaches the ultimate object of going from grain to malt without loss. The 1% loss in the aciduiated-gibberellic acid treated malt due to steeping and abrasion is presently considered unavoidable but negligible compared to the reduction in other losses.
The avoidance of wasteful rootlet formation in the process of this invention is particularly significant since the germinating grain (barley) is more readily stirred and because matting is avoided. The barley thus requires less volume during germination so that more barley can be malted with existing equipment than when rootlet growth takes place. For example, instead of germinating 250i) bushels in a bed, from 3500 to 4000 bushels can be germinated. The increased productive capacity leads to lower costs. Furthermore, the essentially rootlet-free malt produced according to this invention requires much less storage volume and transportation space than conventional malt with rootlets. In addition, this malt has a higher bushel weight than conventional malt after the rootlets are removed.
The reduction in loss due to respiration is also highly important, not only because of the waste of the kernel constituents which is avoided, but also because of the reduced amount of heat developed in respiration. This heat must be removed to maintain the grain at a proper malting temperature. Since less heat is evolved there is less to remove. Turning of the malt to avoid overheating thus can be reduced. There is also less expense involved in refrigeration since less cool air is needed to maintain the malting temperature.
Today in 2010, US Patent WO 2010042896 A1 was issued, an invention of Raul Cano, assigned to the Fossil Fuels Brewing Company, for his “Novel Yeast Strain and Methods of Use Thereof.” Here’s the Abstract:
The present disclosure relates to an isolated yeast strain deposited as NRRL Y-50184. The present disclosure also relates generally to methods of manufacturing of products, including a fermented beverage or a fermented food using yeast cell from the isolated yeast strain or a cell culture derived from the strain.
This is one of three patent applications filed by Cano and Fossil Fuels Brewing, of which this is the earliest. They all have the same priority date of October 10, 2008. The second, EP 2350262 A1, was published August 3, 2011 and the third, US 20110293778 A1, was published December 1, 2011. All three seem virtually identical to one another.
In 2006, I wrote about this story for the Celebrator Beer News, and two years later, in 2008, online under the title Dinosaur Beer, after it was reported in the Washington Post, with several errors and odd discrepancies. Here’s that story, from 2008:
No, I don’t been those lumbering giants making flavorless beer-like industrial beverages which we all hope might one day become extinct, I’m talking about a beer made with roughly 45-million-year old yeast found in a bug entombed in amber, and extracted just like the plot of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. This time around, the story involves Fossil Fuels Brewing Co., whose owners include Dr. Raul J. Cano, the Emeritus Professor at Cal. Poly in San Luis Obispo who originally made the discovery. According to the story in today’s Washington Post, the breakthrough came last month.
“I was going through my collection, going, ‘Gee whiz — this is pretty nifty. Maybe we could use it to make beer,’ ” says Cano, 63, now the director of the Environmental Biotechnology Institute at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.
Last month? Hold on just a second. First of all the article mentions the following:
In April, at the World Beer Cup in San Diego, “we had one judge give us the highest marks, one just below and one who didn’t like it,” says Chip Lambert, 63, the company’s other second microbiologist. “We learned that the issue was that in these competitions, you brew to match the traditional concept of the style, which these yeast just don’t do.”
Ignoring for the moment that the World Beer Cup isn’t judged like that (there are no “highest marks” or anything similar), the Washington Post published this article yesterday, September 1. That would mean the World Beer Cup took place five months ago, not to mention that to enter that competition you have to register and submit your beer well in advance of the actual judging. I’m not trying to quibble with the story, a least that wasn’t my original intent, but this just doesn’t add up. Last month? Setting all that aside for the moment, I wrote about this two years ago, when Stumptown Brewing, in Guernville, California, made a beer called Tyrannosaurus-Rat, also using Dr. Cano’s ancient yeast.
This is part of what I wrote in Fall of 2006 in the Celebrator Beer News, reviewing a beer and barbecue festival held along the Guernville River at Stumptown:
But as good as the barbecue was, I was there for the beer. I was particularly keen to try what Stumptown was billing as a beer made with the world’s oldest yeast. Their “Tyrannosaurus-Rat” — or T-Rat for short — was essentially their popular “Rat Bastard,” but brewed using yeast that was 30 million years-old, give or take a few million years! How it got to be in Stumptown’s beer is nearly as interesting as the beer itself. It was discovered in the Dominican Republic trapped inside of a bee that was also trapped inside of a piece of amber, a terrific preservative. And the bee had been there for somewhere between 25 and 40 million years. Dr. Raul J. Cano, Emeritus Professor at Cal. Poly in San Luis Obispo, made the discovery in 1995 and managed to extract living bacterium, including a few strains of yeast, directly from the bee’s stomach. The ancient microorganisms were patented and also inspired the movie “Jurassic Park II.” It fell into Stumptown’s lap during a ski trip where the Hackett’s met a friend of Dr. Cano, and the rest, as they say, is literally ancient history.
I tried the T-Rat alongside of its modern counterpart, Rat Bastard, as they were the same in all respects except for the yeast. The Rat Bastard is a well-made pale ale, with good aromas and a crisp, clean palate. It has a generous hop bite that finishes bitter, then drops off sharply in the end. The T-Rat was much smoother, with softer, fruity flavor characteristics and just a touch of lemony sweetness that wasn’t tart. The finish is quite clean, with just a quiet hop presence lingering. While they’re both good beers, I think the T-Rat has a more complex, developed taste profile but its smoothness makes it great. The fact that it was made with such an old yeast is fascinating and given how good the beer is, no mere novelty.
There are also other anomalies. In my story, which relied primarily on Stumptown’s information, the yeast was found in a bee from the Dominican Republic. The Washington Post account, however, lists the Lebanese weevil as the yeast carrier. On top of that Dr. George Poinar, who was also involved in finding and extracting the DNA from amber, says on his biography web page that its age was 125 million-years old.
And here is the original press release for Stumptown’s version of the beer, from June 27, 2006:
For the first time, 25-40 million year old yeast has been used to brew a commercial batch of beer (“Tyrannosaurus Rat”) to be made available to the public on July 8th at Stumptown Brewery (15045 River Rd. Guerneville, Ca.). Dr. Raul Cano, Lewis “Chip” Lambert, and Peter Hackett will be celebrating this historic event and available for questions from 11:00A.M. on Saturday July 8th.
The public tasting of the T-Rat is the culmination of coincidences that involved a 20-40 million-year old bee trapped in amber and discovered in the Dominican Republic, a pair of renowned scientists, a ski weekend and an award winning microbrewery.
Amber is nature’s perfect preservative. It desiccates its specimens and protects them from damaging radiation of all types. Man has successfully used it to preserve their dead for thousands of years; Nature has preserved many of its inhabitants, including the recently identified spider web, in their elegant tombs for tens of millions of years.
Dr. Raul J. Cano, Emeritus Professor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, reported in Science (Volume 268, May 19, 1995) that he extracted a living bacterium from the gut of a stingless bee entombed in amber 25 – 40 million years ago. Independently, Lewis (Chip) Lambert, Fremont, CA, at the time Director of Pre-Clinical Research at a Bay Area biotech company, confirmed his work in a very skeptical scientific environment that has, for the most part, accepted its validity. In addition, Raul’s work became the underlying premise for the movie Jurassic Park.
The patented ancient microorganisms (USPO#5,593,883) became the focus of a new company based on the potential use of these microbial isolates for industrial and medical applications, and the hunt began. From the ancient-amber library came a few yeast strains and with them, the question, could they be used to make beer? The answer was a resounding yes as very good beer was brewed for the Jurassic Park II cast party and Raul’s daughter’s wedding reception.
After this initial success, Fossil Fuels Brewing Company was born with the motto “We bring good things back to life.” Using ancient yeasts that had all been thoroughly tested and selected for their beer-making properties, Fossil Fuels Brewing Co. planned to produce high quality distinctive beers with yeasts that had been isolated from amber.
The partners then proposed trials of these ancient yeasts to numerous microbreweries. Much to their surprise, in an industry that thrives on innovation, found a lack of enthusiasm among commercial breweries.
Fast forward a few years to the snowy slopes of Alpine Meadows where Carla Hackett was taking a ski lesson from Raul’s now friend and business partner, Chip. Carla had all the attributes of a great skier that her husband, an Aussie who owns the Stumptown Brewery in Guerneville, lacks. On the second, never the first, ride up the chair lift, an important relationship was established when the question was raised, “would you like to make some beer with some patented, 35-million year-old yeast?” The affirmative response started a brewing relationship between Stumptown Brewery and Environmental Diagnostics, Inc.
This random path led the ancient yeast to Stumptown Brewery on May 6th where Peter, Owner/Brewer, put the yeast to work. On June 21st came the news that “T-Rat” had finished fermenting and was conditioning. Perhaps most importantly, that it’s “very good, very unique. The yeast character is unusual, exotic, and very pronounced”.
On page two of the Post piece they finally do mention Stumptown’s involvement. The new versions, which include a wheat beer and a pale ale, are made at Kelley Bros. Brewing, which is in Manteca, California. I really enjoyed the pale ale version that Stumptown brewed and will eagerly try these two new versions. But I’m still a bit bewildered by the discrepancies that seem to accompany this story. But I guess history itself is a lot like that, so maybe it’s fitting after all. I wonder what “Cheers” is in dinosaur-speak? “Here’s tar in your eye?”
Subsequent to that in 2008, I got a snarky e-mail from someone chastising me for not covering the story more, but I was unable to find out any new information. Supposedly Cano had set up a company to make the beer with the ancient yeast he discovered, Fossil Fuels Brewing Company, but the website has been static with no news for eight years.
In late 2008, this was posted on their website:
1. WHERE CAN I GET THE BEER?
The beer is available through two of our partners: Kelly Bros. Brewing Co. [now out of business] and Stumptown Brewery. Both breweries are located in beautiful Northern California. These are the ONLY locations as of right now that brew our beer and offer it on tap. The Fossil Fuels beer and atmosphere is always worth a road trip. (Make sure to leave room for the growlers on the way home).
2. WHEN IS THE BEER GOING TO BE DISTRIBUTED?
Rest assured we are working hard to spread our beer around the nation as soon as possible. As a young company the passion to bring our beer to you is immense but equally matched by legal restrictions, overhead, and distribution licenses.
3. IS THE BEER GOING TO BE BOTTLED?
The decision was made to pursue and distribute kegs to pubs and restaurants before we moved into bottling our beer. Luckily most of these vendors will have growlers for you to take home. Bottles are definitely in the works and we’ll make sure you know as soon as they are available.
4. CAN I HAVE A BOTTLE/KEG SHIPPED TO ME?
This is probably the most frequently asked question and the most painful to answer. The simple answer is no. It’s hard for us to reply this way, but it keeps us out of jail. As we grow the company new channels of distribution will allow us to legally distribute through the mail and over state and country lines (SGT Nuckols, Bart W.E. thanks for your service in Korea, we’re working on it). We are thrilled at the level of enthusiasm and interest from everyone and we are aware of all our supporters.
5. CAN I HAVE THE YEAST TO BREW MY OWN BEER?
Our unique yeast is what distinguishes us from every other beer on the planet. However, once the patents are complete and genetic markers have been placed in the ancient yeast, Fossil Fuels will be able to distribute the yeast to our fellow craft brewers (along with a confidentiality agreement, of course).
6. WILL YOU BE AT THE GABF?
Before we released the beer to the public we did enter the Great American Beer Festival (GABF). And, although receiving excellent marks (5/5 from some judges) our beer was a victim of its own uniqueness. We entered our extra-pale ale style beer, but due to its distinct taste profile, it did not fit with more common styles of beer. The assigned “experimental” category was full of chocolate, pumpkin and other bizarre flavors. Fossil Fuels is definitely distinct but in it’s own unique way. After seeing the results of the last competition, the decision was made to forego the GABF for the time being. However, we will be attending other brew fests, competitions and festivals in the future and hope to raise a pint with you.
Pint glasses full of Fossil Fuels Beer are raising eyebrows around northern California. This could be due to the fact that the unique ingredient for the line of Fossil Fuels beer is a yeast strain dating back to the Eocene Epoch, which is about 45 million years ago. A team of scientists, Dr. Raul Cano (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA) and Lewis “Chip” Lambert (Fremont, CA), are partnering with brew masters Peter Hackett (Stumptown Brewery, Guerneville, CA), Joe Kelley (Kelley Bros. Brewing, Manteca, CA) and attorney Scott Bonzell (Oakland, CA) to produce what is surely one of the most interesting and unique beers of this or any time. With the green light from beer critics, brewers and end consumers alike, the team that comprises Fossil Fuels Brewing Co. is gearing up to share the product with the public in the summer of 2008.
The history of the yeast literally dates back before the dawn of man, to a time when the earth was warm, tropical and teeming with life. Modern mammals that we see today were beginning to appear in what is known as the Eocene epoch (from the Greek word eos meaning “dawn”). During this time, a snapshot of biological life was trapped by tropical tree sap. Over the course of millions of years, the sap hardened into amber, which preserved and protected its contents. That is, until Dr. Cano, using amber obtained from locations around the world (including Burma, Central and North America), isolated and revived a bacterium, which had lain dormant in the gut of an encased bee for approximately 40 million years (Science 268, pp. 1060-1064, 1995). During his research, Dr. Cano, periodically working with Mr. Lambert, isolated a few yeast strains that resembled modern Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In other words, they are similar to the yeast we use every day for brewing and baking, except the newly discovered yeasts were much further back in the evolutionary chain. Essentially, Dr. Cano isolated the long lost ancestors of modern brewing yeast.
Through chance and circumstance, a small group of people teamed up to form Fossil Fuels Brewing Co., which is utilizing the unique yeast strains to brew exceptional beer. Although not widely publicized, last summer a select few northern Californians had the opportunity to try some of the pilot brews and they raved about new (old?) pale ale. Jay R. Brooks, the tasting director of the exalted Celebrator Beer News Magazine commented when comparing the Fossil Fuels brew to an identical pale ale differing only in the strain of yeast (Celebrator, October/November 2006, pp:27-29):
“[Fossil Fuels] is smoother, with softer fruity flavor characteristics and just a touch of lemony sweetness that isn’t tart…It has a more complex and well-developed taste profile, and its smoothness makes it great. The fact it is made with such old yeast is fascinating, and given how good the beer is, no mere novelty.”
Peter Hackett, long time pub owner and award winning brew master called Fossil Fuels:
“A remarkably unique beer that tastes like nothing I’ve ever had before, in a very good way.”
Fossil Fuels Brewing Co. hosted a launch party at Kelly Brothers Brewing Co. in Manteca California July 26, 2008 to commence the release of their new beer brewed with its truly remarkable yeast to the public.
The following year, the website changed to a story format, which is what remained there online for a few years, changing once more to a more streamlined tale. Last fall, the site went down, but more recently it’s the current streamlined version, but there’s virtually no information there now, though you can sign up to “be the first to know when something awesome happens,” which seems optimistic, but who knows. The beer I had using the yeast was interesting, but I’m not sure it’s enough to build a successful business around, especially in the competitive market of today. I’ll be happy to be proved wrong, but only time will tell. With the recent changes to the site, maybe they are finally ready to launch it again.
Today in 1969, US Patent 3438531 A was issued, an invention of Raymond L. Millard and Arthur W. Tschannen, assigned to the Adolph Coors Co., for their “Plastic Bung For A Beer Barrel.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
This invention relates to plastic bungs for beer barrels.
The invention comprises, in essence, a bung plug having a circular wall section sized and tapered to fit a standard bung orifice, and an oversized, tapered, conical skirt at the leading rim of this wall adapted to guide and subsequently lock the hung in the orifice. A seal ring circumscribes and outstands from the wall adjacent to the skirt and is in functional juxtaposition therewith, for the skirt protects the seal from scraping against the sides of the bung orifice until the bung is finally positioned.
It follows that the primary object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved plastic bung which may be fitted into an ordinary bung orifice in a beer barrel and will not thereafter leak.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved bung formed of a selected type of synthetic resin plastic material which combines the desirable properties of rigidity, resilience and the ability to cold flow at moderately high stresses, and which is formed and proportioned to stress the sealing portion of the bung against the walls of an orifice, by a resilient pressure in the body of the bung, with pressure sufficient to deform and to cold flow the sealing portion to produce a tight, leakproof fit.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved leakproof bung of such synthetic resin which will reliably seal a hung opening in a beer barrel that is scratched, pitted, marred or otherwise made irregular by use and abuse.
A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved bung for a beer barrel which is adapted to be securely fitted into the bung orifice of the barrel with out contacting, sliding or otherwise damaging the sealing portion of the bung against the wall of the bung orifice while the bung is being driven into place in the bung orifice.
Today in 1862, US Patent 34943 A was issued, an invention of Charles Chinnock, for his “Beer Measure.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
I have invented a new and improved can and measure for liquids liable to froth or foam when drawn or measured and also to separate the froth or foam from the liquid when pouring into other vessel or vessels.
Today in 1979, German Patent DE 202014002381 U1 was issued, an invention of Vetreria Di Borgonovo S.P.A., for his “New Type of Beer-Tasting Glass.” Here’s the Abstract, translated from German:
Glass (10), namely thought to try out of beer (B) comprising:
– A receiving body (11) for receiving the consumer to cast into the glass beer (B), and
– A lower handle (18) for supporting and for manual handling of the glass,
wherein the receiving body (11) in turn comprises:
– An upper edge (12) having a rounded shape;
– An upper part (13), adjacent to the upper edge (12) and having an outwardly divergent flared shape;
– A central part (14), adjacent to the upper part (13) and having a bottom up to inwardly converging flared shape, and
– A circular lower part (16), which adjoins the central part (14) and with this at the bottom of the receiving body (11) of the glass (10) has a bulge (17);
wherein the glass (10) is adapted to allow a consumer who used to drink beer (B) the glass (10) both fully perceive the flavor characteristics and flavors of the drink and its visual characteristics, namely foam, to improve.
Today in 1979, US Patent 3505946 A was issued, an invention of Peter D. Bayne and John L. Pahlow, assigned to Schlitz Brewing Co., for his “Apparatus For Reconstituting Concentrated Wort.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
This invention relates to a process of brewing and more particularly to a process and apparatus for reconstituting concentrated brewers wort.
Wort concentration has great potential and can offer advantages by increasing the production efficiency of existing plants, increasing production volume without a corresponding increase in capital expenditure and providing a simplification of both production processes and control of product uniformity without sacrificing quality of product.
More specifically, concentrated wort provides several distinct advantages. Brewhouse equipment generally works at peak capacity for only a few months of the year. By concentrating wort during off season periods a more efficient use of the facility results so that the brewhouse equipment can be used more efficiently throughout the year.
In addition, concentrated wort can be shipped to distant points where it can be reconstituted, fermented, finished in plants which can be built at relatively low cost because they do not require the expensive grain handling and brewhouse equipment. Moreover, weight savings can be realized by shipping the wort concentrate as opposed to shipping malt and raw grains required for conventional brewing.
A system of wort concentration and reconstitution has outstanding potential in conjunction with a continuous or accumulated batch fermenting system. Wort concentrate is stable in storage and the concentrate can be metered into the present system in the desired flow rate, reconstituted, and then passed directly into the continuous fermenting system without storage. Using the reconstituting system of the invention in conjunction with a con tinuous fermentation process averts the necessity of holding the reconstituted wort at temperatures and under conditions which might create microbiological growth. Moreover, combining the reconstituting system with a continuous fermentation system completely eliminates the necessity of large storage tanks and chillers for maintaining a supply of wort for fermentation and provides a substantial cost saving in plant and equipment design over that of conventional systems.
The concept of wort concentration provides an alternate approach to the problems that some brewers have attempted to solve by freeze concentration of beer. Wort concentrate, because it does not contain alcohol, does not present the legal ramifications which accompany freeze concentrated beer.
The present invention is directed to a continuous, high capacity process for reconstituting concentrated wort. The wort is reconstituted without color gain, loss of hop bitter or alteration of flavor. According to the invention, concentrated wort at a temperature of from 60 to F., but preferably under and having a solids content of 80% is continuously pumped from a storage tank and/or shipping containers and passed into a mixing system. Deionized water, or filtered mains water, depending upon the purity of the water, is introduced into a mixer at a constant flow rate and is mixed with the stream of concentrated wort to partially reconstitute or dilute the wort. In some cases, particularly in high capacity installations, a second mixer in series may be employed and a second stream of either deionized water or filtered mains water is introduced into the second mixer down stream from the first mixer. This second or breakdown stream of water is continuously introduced at a variable flow rate and mixed with the partially reconstituted wort to complete the reconstitution to the fermentation gravity.
Today in 1914, US Patent 1092999 A was issued, an invention of William R. Kinnear, for his “Metallic Keg.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
The object of my invention is to provide a beer keg with an inner and an outer shell, each shell being made in two pieces and joined together at the center with a liquid proof joint, the inner shell being enameled on the inside and the outside; the connection joining the two sections of each shell being such that the shells may readily be taken apart and examined, and if the enamel should in any way become defective, the inner shell can be removed from the outer and re-enameled.
A further object of my invention is to provide a liquid shock absorber and a nonconductor in the space between the inner and outer shells, which distributes any shock which may be given to the keg throughout the entire area of the absorber and thus protects the inner shell from said shocks and preserves the enamel intact, the non-conductor preventing the passage of heat.
A further object of my invention is to construct the joint between the sections of each shell in such manner that the securing means is in the space between the two shells, so that the inner face of the inner shell presents an unbroken enameled surface; and with these and other objects in view, my invention consists of the parts and. combination of parts as will be hereinafter more fully pointed out.
