Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 3867551A: Preparation Of Beer

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Today in 1975, US Patent 3867551 A was issued, an invention of Yves Germain Jaegle, for his “Preparation of Beer.” Here’s the Abstract:

Beer is prepared by a process wherein groups of batches of wort are turned serially at temperatures increasing from 10 DEG to 14.5 DEG C into a cylindrical, vertically disposed vat having a conical bottom. Convection currents are instituted to homogenize the contents of the vat and fermentation is carried out until a beer of the desired degree of fermentation is formed. The resultant beer is mellowed by a warm keep phase, cooled and subjected to a cold keep phase.

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Patent No. 20110036840A1: Ring Pull Can Cap

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Today in 2011, US Patent 20110036840 A1 was issued, an invention of Tal Zakai, for his “Ring Pull Can Cap.” Here’s the Abstract:

The present innovation is a dual purpose “ring-pull/can cap”, which performs as both a sealing cap for metal beverage cans in addition to its traditional usage as a can opener. The design is a modification of the U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,752 “easy open wall”, which is the current opening mechanism on most consumer beverage cans, also known in the industry as an “easy open end”. The “ring-pull/can cap” is an improvement of the well known ring-pull design found on most metal cans today, but also allows consumers to close and seal off the can when not in use.

There are two popular opening methods that have been used for opening metal cans to date: The “full open” mechanism and the more recent “half open” mechanism, as described below. The present invention deals with the improvement of the popular “half open” method, which currently does not allow the beverage can to be resealed after opening.

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Patent No. 5718161A: Beer Brewing System And Method

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Today in 1998, US Patent 5718161 A was issued, an invention of Leigh P. Beadle, for his “Beer Brewing System And Method.” Here’s the Abstract:

There is provided a system for brewing beer particularly suited for a brew pub setting. The invention utilizes a cooker to heat water and a pre-blend syrup of ingredients. Once the beer mixture is boiled for a sufficient length of time in the cooker, the mixture is transferred to a brewing vessel. A spiral spray nozzle is used to add water to the brewing vessel in a conical spray pattern which causes the water to be oxygenated once it passes through the spiral spray end of the nozzle. Yeast is added to the brew mixture and oxygenated water in the brewing vessel. The beer mixture is permitted to ferment in the brewing vessel for a sufficient length of time. The fermented beer mixture is transferred to a plurality of kegs, each of which contains a mixture of sugar and gelatin. The sugar and gelatin allow the beer mixture and age and clarify. Once the beer mixture has aged a sufficient time, the beer mixture is dispensed from the kegs. The system of the invention includes a keg cleaning device for simultaneously depressurizing the keg while hooking up the device to the keg.

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Patent No. 1526945A: Hop Picker

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Today in 1925, US Patent 1526945 A was issued, an invention of Daniel E. Williamson, for his “Hop Picker.” There’s no Abstract, and the application is a little hard to read because of the mistakes the character reader made, which was in higher numbers than usual. But essentially it appears to be a comb to pick hops, roughly described as follows.

The combs are both vented to create a new and useful Hop Picker, with hands being used to comb the hops from the which the following is a specification, pulling vines into the basket. It will be understood this invention relates more particularly that where the device is used on both hands to devices for picking hops, it is preferably made right and left.

It looks simply like a stylized comb used to manually pick the hops, possibly the stragglers that a machine missed or for smaller acreage where a machine was too big or inefficient.
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Patent No. 2925237A: Can & Bottle Opener

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Today in 1960, US Patent 2925237 A was issued, an invention of John L. Fox, for his “Can and Bottle Opener.” There’s no Abstract, but the application states that his ” invention relates to a can and bottle opener, and more particularly to a can and bottle opener which can be moved to an out-of-the-way position when it is not being used.

An object of the invention is to provide a can and bottle opener which includes a novel mounting means so that for example with the opener mounted beneath a kitchen cabinet or shelf, the device can be kept in an out-of-the-way position until it is being used, and wherein when the device is being used it can be readily moved to an operative position, and wherein the opener of the present invention is provided with a magnetic means.

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Patent No. 3563424A: Beer Tap

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Today in 1971, US Patent 3563424 A was issued, an invention of Mack S. Johnston, for his “Beer Tap.” There’s no Abstract, but the application states that his “invention relates to a beer-tapping device and especially to an improved adapter for attachment in the beer outlet of a standard keg. It comprises a metallically enclosed, readily assembled unit, insertable from outside the keg with a laterally offset liquid passageway through the adapter. The offset passage takes optimum advantage of the limited space available while, at the same time, the unit is compatible with existing systems. Also disclosed is a novel metallic locking unit for separating the beer and gas passageways in the adapter as well as a novel flexible resilient check valve for the gas passage through the adapter.”
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Patent No. 2108096A: Merchandise Display Apparatus

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Today in 1938, US Patent 2108096 A was issued, an invention of James E. Barsi, assigned to Anheuser-Busch, for his “Merchandise Display Apparatus.” There’s no Abstract, but the application states that “this invention relates to apparatus of the kind that are used for advertising and displaying merchandise and has for its main object to provide an advertising and/or display apparatus that is of attractive appearance and of such construction that, in addition to holding a plurality of samples of the advertised product in such a way that said samples may be easily handled and inspected by the public, it will also display in an attractive manner other articles or packages containing material that is particularly adapted for use in connection with the advertised product. For example, if the apparatus is intended to be used primarily to advertise a certain brand of beer, it will be equipped with a tray or equivalent part for holding a plurality of bottles or cans of beer and it will also be equipped with a shelf or equivalent part for sustaining packages of various kinds of food that are frequently served With beer, such for example, as pickles, olives, cheese, sausage, crackers, etc.”
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Patent No. 237884A: Cask For Beer And Other Liquids

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Today in 1881, US Patent 237884 A was issued, an invention of William Mainzer and John Singer, for their “Cask for Beer and Other Liquids.” There’s no Abstract, but the application states that “the object of this invention is to furnish casks for holding beer and other liquids, so constructed that they can be safely handled and transported without detaching the faucets, and can thus be furnished to the consumer with faucets applied ready for use, and can be returned to be refilled without detaching the faucets.”
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Patent No. 253683A: Apparatus For Raising Beer

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Today in 1882, US Patent 253683 A was issued, an invention of Peter J. Catterall and Edward Birch, from Manchester, England, for their “Apparatus for Raising Beer.” There’s no Abstract, but the application states their “invention relates to apparatus for raising valves, through one of which the liquid is admitted to the chamber, and through the other the liquid is forced to the bar or delivery-tap” and there “is a section of the three-way tap that admits and discharges the water used to raise the beer or other liquid.”
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Patent No. 491939A: Process Of Producing Pure Cultivated Pressed Yeast

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Today in 1893, US Patent 491939 A was issued, an invention of Charles A. Hansson, for his “Process of Producing Pure Cultivated Pressed Yeast.” There’s no Abstract, but the application begins by stating that he’s “invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Producing Pure Cultivated, Pressed Yeast, of which the following is a specification.”

For the production of a pure cultivated pressed yeast it is necessary to have the fluid out of which the yeast is to receive its nourishment free as far as possible from foreign ferments and bacteria, that is sterilized.

According to methods heretofore used in the manufacture of yeast the sterilizing of this fluid could not have been effected to any advantage because, as the theories now existing indicate, the pepsin and not the lactic acid (the latter serving merely as a mediator) acts as a converter of the albumin into peptones, and as the pepsin contained in the grain is insufficient to transform all albuminoids in the mash into peptones, a comparatively small part of it was so transformed, and the greater part would, consequently, during the process of sterilizing, coagulate and thus be rendered insoluble, that is useless as nourishment for the yeast plant. To overcome this difliculty I make use of an additional increment of pepsin, by adding to the mash, a reinforcing quantity of pepsin and by leaving the mash under the influence thereof, together with some inorganic acid, (when necessary) and at a temperature most favorable for the pepsin, whereby much more of the albumin contained in the raw material is transformed into peptones, and I acquire a fluid which may be submitted to heating sufficiently for sterilizing with but little or no detrimental coagulation of albumin. Through the heating process I am enabled to procure a fluid sufficiently sterilized and thereby practically prepared for a pure cultivated yeast.

Having the fermenting tub covered and introducing into the fluid by mechanical means, sterilized air favorable for the development of the yeast, I avoid its infection which would take place should the fermentation be carried out in the usual way.

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