Today in 1885, US Patent 330184 A was issued, an invention of Conrad Zimmer, for his “Process of Brewing Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The invention consists in a process of brewing beer which consists in subjecting finely ground malt from which the hulls and germs have been removed and water to the saccharification temperature, then boiling the mash a sufficient length of time to coagulate the albuminous substances and render the same insoluble, then separating the clear wort from the insoluble substances, then directly passing the mash into a centrifugal machine for separating the clear wort from the insoluble substance by centrifugal-force, and finally conducting the clear wort to a hop-kettle and boiling it therein.

Today in 1965, US Patent 3216345 A was issued, an invention of William Ernest Parker and Francis Lloyd Rigby, assigned to Canadian Breweries Ltd., for their “Continuous Preparation of Brewers’ Mash.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The apparatus provides means for forming a continuously flowing mash producing stream of grist and water, causing said stream to flow in a substantially horizontal path, heating said mixture to predetermined processing temperature, agitating said stream in a direction normal to its path of flow to maintain solids in suspension, venting said stream of undesirable volatiles above said path of flow, and continuously discharging matured mash. Preferably the apparatus allows the mash to be processed along its path of flow in a plurality of series-connected processing zones linearly adjustable for variation of treatment as to control the production of dextrins, fermentable sugars and protein degradation products, coupled with varied temperature treatment as between the zones if and when required to achieve the product desired.