Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 3979527A: Preparation Of Hop Oil

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Today in 1976, US Patent 3979527 A was issued, an invention of Derek Roy, James Laws, and John Anthony Pickett, assigned to Brewing Patents Limited, for their “Preparation Of Hop Oil.” Here’s the Abstract:

An improved method of making hop oil is described involving steam distilling the hop oil under vacuum at a temperature not exceeding 50°C. The distillate can be collected by cooling to less than -20°C. The collected distillate or hop oil extracted therefrom can be used in beer making processes to give beer having a hop character very similar to that obtained by dry hopping.

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Patent No. DE2808712A1: Plant To Manufacture Beer Wort By Hydrating Crushed Malt

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Today in 1979, US Patent DE 2808712 A1 was issued, an invention of Simon Redl, assigned to Anton Steinecker Maschinenfabrik, for his “Plant to Manufacture Beer Wort by Hydrating Crushed Malt — Introduces Water as Unbroken Film to Avoid Aeration of Product.” Here’s the Abstract:

The installation comprises a pressure roll mill for wet crushing brewers malt into a wort mixing chamber where a hydrator introduces additional water and an agitator mixes the milled malt and water. The hydrator is designed to introduce water in the form of a continuous, film which runs down a guiding surface extending into the wort mix. The guiding surface pref. extends alongside or beneath and for the full axial length of the mill rolls. The guiding surface is a side wall of the casing which forms the chamber containing the mill rolls and the agitator. Both walls are pref. employed as guiding surfaces. Water is pref. run on to the guiding surface from an adjustable width slot at the bottom of a supply pocket. The guiding surface pref. form one edge of the slot which has a width of 0.5-5.0., (1.5-3.0) mm. The hydrator offers faster and more homogeneous mixing in of water than single exit water inspectors. Undesirable aeration of the wort is held to an absolute minimum which was not possible with spray injectors.

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Patent No. 504610A: Barrel Registering Machine

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Today in 1893, US Patent 504610 A was issued, an invention of Andrew W. Oppmann, for his “Barrel Registering Machine.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to machines for registering barrels, half barrels, and kegs, the nature and objects of which will fully appear from the subjoined description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure l is a perspective view of my new registering machine as seen arranged over an elevator, for receiving the barrels from below. Fig. 2 is a like perspective view of the same as seen for receiving the barrels through an opening in a well from a room on the same floor. Fig. 3 is a view of an office or room located above or in another part of the building having electric bells connected with the machine for the purpose of announcing the delivery and registration of barrels or kegs by the said machine.

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Patent No. 57746A: Improved Refrigerator For Liquids

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Today in 1866, US Patent 57746 A was issued, an invention of Robert W. McClelland, for his “Improved Refrigerator For Liquids.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

What I claim as my invention, and seek to secure by Letters Patent, is a refrigerator for cooling ale, beer, and other liquids, arranged so that the casks may be supported upon slides E, resting upon the ways D in the upper part of the chest A, and the liquids be conducted by a flexible pipe, G, into a receiver, I, inclosed in the cooling-tube H, and then drawn for use through a faucet, M, passing through the small doors 0, said several parts being constructed and arranged substantially as set forth.

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Patent No. 4538746A: Keg-Tapping Assembly

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Today in 1985, US Patent 4538746 A was issued, an invention of James H. Hines, for his “Keg-Tapping Assembly.” Here’s the Abstract:

The invention contemplates improved safety interlock mechanism incorporated in a keg-tapping assembly which is removably attachable to a standard beer keg or the like, via a bayonet-type engagement between lugs on the keg and a slotted flange on the keg-tapping assembly. The keg-tapping assembly is of the variety in which a handle is depressed to gain beverage-dispensing access to the keg and in which the handle is raised to close the keg and to shut off supply of gas pressure to the keg. A guide formed in the keg-tapping assembly locates a vertically displaceable locking leg, having articulated connection to the handle, such that in a downward actuation of the handle, the guided locking leg will be in a position to deny lug displacement into or through one of the slots of the slotted flange, before handle displacement can either begin to open the keg or to admit gas pressure thereto. The result is that unless the handle is sufficiently raised to allow safe removal of the keg-tapping assembly from a keg, the keg-tapping assembly cannot be removed.

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Patent No. 3464435A: Quick Keg Tap With Self-Sealing Connection

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Today in 1969, US Patent 3464435 A was issued, an invention of Kay R. Lamb and Charles R. Mandeville, for their “Quick Keg Tap with Self-Sealing Connection.” Here’s the Abstract:

A keg-tapping assembly consisting of a collar installed in an opening of a keg. A bushing assembly carrying a sleeve is fastened on the collar with the sleeve extending through the collar with clearance for gas to pass into the keg. A normally closed pressure-responsive gas admission valve of the type used in pneumatic tires is provided on the bushing assembly. The bushing assembly also includes a normally collapsed live rubber axial conduit. A removable draft tube assembly can be mounted on the bushing assembly, the draft tube assembly including a rigid draft tube which is forced through the live rubber conduit and is contained coaxially in the sleeve, the draft tube extending into the keg to a considerable depth so that beverage can be forced out through the draft tube responsive to the admission of gas under pressure through the gas-admission valve. When the draft tube assembly is withdrawn, the live rubber conduit collapses, sealing otf the assembly so that foreign material cannot enter the keg.

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Patent No. 4220048A: Cooler And Level Indicator For Beer Kegs

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Today in 1980, US Patent 4220048 A was issued, an invention of John A. Grepiotis and Joseph A. Grepiotis, for their “Cooler and Level Indicator For Beer Kegs.” Here’s the Abstract:

A cooler and level indicator for beer kegs comprising an insulated container for holding iced water in contact with a keg of beer, an insulated cover for sealing the container and an externally readable level gauge for indicating the iced water level, said level being proportional to the amount of beer remaining in the keg after the keg becomes buoyant.

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Patent No. 3526510A: Beer Foam Adhesion

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Today in 1970, US Patent 3526510 A was issued, an invention of John B. Bockelmann, Leonard Raymond and William Tirado, assigned to the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Co. for their “Beer Foam Adhesion.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

The present invention relates to a novel method of enhancing so-called foam cling in certain beers or the like, as hereinafter more specifically set forth.

The use, as additive, of the heptyl ester or the octyl ester of para-hydroxy-benzoic acid, as such or in the form of an alkali metal salt or alkaline earth metal salt thereof, as a chemical pasteurizer for-“beer (cf. US. Pat. No. 3,232,766) has eliminated the necessity for conventional pasteurization as a means for preserving beer against undesired bacterial growth. However, the presence of the said additive in beer is bound up with a drawback in that the normal foam produced by the pouring of the beer into a glass no longer has the adhesion or cling which is generally associated with beer quality and which is produced by conventional pasteurized or draft beer.

Various agents are known for achieving good adhesion to the sides of the glass from beer containing the aforesaid additives. However, these are bound up with one disadvantage or another. Elimination of the additive agents results in a beer foam that rapidly wipes the glass clean, leaving no beer foam cling and imparting, from the standpoint of those who equate beer foam cling with good quality and good appearance, an inis a desideratum in the art of making paraban-pasteurized finished beer to provide an additive which is free from any disadvantage or undesired drawback and which imparts to the beer containing heptyl or octyl ester of para-hydroxy benzoic acid the capacity of forming, upon being poured into a glass, a normal foam of good stability and good cling (sometimes referred to as curtain formation).

A primary object of the present invention is the realization of the aforesaid desideratum. Briefly stated, this is achieved according to the present invention by the expedient of incorporating into beer which has been paraben-pasteurized an appropriate and effective amount of, as foam stabilizer and curtain former, one or more of .(a) sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate (cf. US. Pat. No. 2,441,341); (b) sodium dihexyl sulfosuccinate;- (c) sodium diamyl sulfosuccinate; (d) disodium N-octadecyl sulfosuccinamate (cf. US. Pat. No. 2,252,401); and (e) tetrasodium N-(1,2-dicarboxyethyl)-N-octadecylsulfosuccinamate (cf. US. Pat. No. 2,438,092).

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Patent No. 566898A: Racking Apparatus For Barreling Beer

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Today in 1896, US Patent 566898 A was issued, an invention of Alfred E. Peroe, for his “Racking Apparatus for Barreling Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention relates to what is termed “racking apparatus” used for barreling beer or fermented liquors under pressure and my improvements upon this class of devices relate to a method of constructing them by which the air or gas escaping from the barrel as replaced by the entering beer or liquor will be conducted from the barrel, so as not to interfere with or impinge upon the entering beer or liquor.

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