Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 3875303A: Preparation Of Beer

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Today in 1975, US Patent 3875303 A was issued, an invention of Josef Hieber, assigned to Interbrew Betriebs Und Beteilg, for his “Preparation Of Beer.” Here’s the Abstract:

Beer is produced from a wort concentrate by a process involving sterilizing and desalting water, providing the sterilized and desalted water with a controlled salt content, dissolving a wort concentrate having at least 80% dry substance content in the water and fermenting with yeast to produce beer. The wort concentrate is dissolved in the water with a jet mixer and fermentation is carried out in a vessel containing a cooling chamber located above a centrifuge drum having therein plates for separating yeast and an impeller for circulating wort.

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Patent No. 4653388A: Small Scale Production Brewing

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Today in 1987, US Patent 4653388 A was issued, an invention of Noel R. Wilkinson, for his “Brewing” process, though specifically more of a “small scale production plant.” Here’s the Abstract:

An improved brewing unit in which energy is saved by providing a mash tun, hot water tank and kettle in a single unit, by partially enclosing the mash tun with the tank and if necessary pre-heating the water supply to the tank by using the heat from wort coolers provided between the unit and fermentation tank; further improvements are provided by constructing the kettle as a combined kettle and whirlpool in a single chamber having a circular wall and a tangential inlet to the wall, a pump and wort boiler being in circuit with the kettle so that wort is continuously circulated through the boiler and tangential inlet to the kettle while the worts are boiled. The combined kettle and whirlpool saves space and enables the process of brewing to be shortened with resultant savings in both energy and brewing time.

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Patent No. 724100A: Wort-Separator

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Today in 1903, US Patent 724100 A was issued, an invention of Max Henius, for his “Wort-Separator.” There’s no Abstract, but in the description claims that the “object is to provide a wort-separator of novel as well as comparatively simple and inexpensive construction, whereby the filtration of wort, both from grains and hops, may be effected more thoroughly and with greater economy both of time and labor than by any other filtering means hitherto employed and of which I am aware.”
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Patent No. 149046A: Improvement In Cooling And Preserving Beer

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Today in 1874, US Patent 149046 A was issued, an invention of Peter Libber, for his “Improvement In Cooling And Preserving Beer.” There’s no Abstract, but this introduction sums it up:

This invention relates to device for cooling and preserving beer and ale and similar substances in the process of manufacture, and which is required to be kept at such a temperature as to prevent its becoming sour in the process of fermentation preparatory to being barreled; and it consists in the construction and arrangement of the cooling float or swimmer employed to regulate the temperature of the beer in the fermenting tubs, as will hereinafter be more fully explained.

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Patent No. 6871579B2: Device For Producing Beer And A Unit For After-Fermentation

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Today in 2005, US Patent 6871579 B2 was issued, an invention of Evgeny Konstantinovich Belkin, Andrei Arkadievich Peshkin, Vladimir Gennadievich Matveev, Leonid Mikhailovich Prikhozhan, and Yury Vasilievich Artamonov, for their “Device For Producing Beer and a Unit for After-Fermentation.” Here’s the Abstract:

The invention relates to the food industry. In order to reduce sales expenses and preserve the taste of beer, the inventive device is provided by i-number communication units, necessary for operational connection and disconnection of i-number units for after-fermentation, and each of i-number units for after-fermentation is embodied in such a way so that it is transportable, thermally insulated, hermetic, protected from deposited yeast mixing with non-filtrated beer while transportation and can be connected to a cooling system, arranged at a point of sale and/or dispense.

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Patent Nos. 2546250A & 2546251A: Process Of Concentrating Yeast Slurries & For Drying Yeast

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Today in 1951, US Patents 2546250 A and 2546251 A were issued, both inventions of Stanley L. Baker, for his “Process of Concentrating Yeast Slurries” and “Process for Drying Yeast.” There’s no Abstract for either, but the description for the first is an “invention relat[ing] to the concentration of dilute suspensions or slurries of yeast and especially of brewers yeast slurry which will be referred to hereinafter as an example although it will be understood that the invention is not restricted thereto.”
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His second patent is described as an “invention relat[ing] to drying dilute suspensions or slurries of yeast and especially brewers yeast slurry which will be referred to hereinafter as an example, although it is to be understood that the invention is not restricted thereto.” You may have noticed that this description is exactly the same as the first. What’s clear is while these are two different patents, they are vey similar and are both about roughly the same yeast process. Even the drawings are only slightly different from one another.
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Patent No. 2740049A: Method And Apparatus For Destruction Of Live Yeast Cells In Beer

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Today in 1956, US Patent 2740049 A was issued, an invention of William C. Stein Sr., for his “Method and Apparatus for Destruction of Live Yeast Cells in Beer.” There’s no Abstract, but the description states that the “invention relates to a method and apparatus for destroying live yeast cells in beer.” When he lays out the various objects for the invention, it’s clear that the yeast is destroyed when “the beer is cascaded over violet ray tubes,” allowing for the “continuous treatment of the beer.” It apparently differs from how this was accomplished beforehand, as using this method “the beer will be subjected to a pre-carbonation pasteurization whereas under prior process the beer was pasteurized after carbonization.”
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Patent No. 1995626A: Manufacture Of Minim Alcohol Beverage

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Today in 1935, US Patent 1995626 A was issued, an invention of Karl Schreder, for his “Manufacture of Minim Alcohol Beverage.” There’s no Abstract, as far as I can tell, Minim means low-alcohol. I wonder if that was a common term back then? It’s not one I hear these days. Curiously, although the invention relates to what they call “low alcohol beverages,” the percentage of alcohol is never discussed, which strikes me as odd. Here’s what is revealed:

It has been found that Termobacterium mobile (Lindner) (Pseudomonas Lindneri-Kluyver) discovered by Professor Dr. Lindner is particularly suitable for the manufacture of beverages containing a low proportion of alcohol.

A process for the manufacture of beverages of this kind forms the subject-matter of the present application.

For obtaining a high grade end product it is essential that the preparation of the malt and of the wort be carried out carefully.

Okay, but what is the “high grade end product?” Is it non-alcoholic or near beer below 0.5% a.b.v.? Or something that might be considered a session beer with an alcohol percentage lower than a beer of typical strength?
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Patent No. 3174650A: Bung Withdrawing Assembly

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Today in 1965, US Patent 3174650 A was issued, an invention of Frank A. Bellato, for his “Bung Withdrawing Assembly.” There’s no Abstract, but the description states simply that the “invention relates to a device for removing the wooden bungs from beer kegs and similar containers after such kegs have been emptied of their contents.” Then the goals of their patent application are laid out:

A major object of the invention is to provide an auger, of special form for the purpose, having a pilot portion arranged so as to first penetrate the bung along a path axially of the bung without possible deviation from such path such as grain direction or irregularities in the wood of the bung might cause, and having a portion following the pilot portion arranged to then advance into the bung in a manner to cause the bung to be withdrawn from the bung hole and split into separate sections so that such sections will fall of themselves from the auger.

It is another and important object of the invention to provide a means for operatively mounting the auger, both for rotation and axial movement, in an upwardly facing position, and a means for supporting the keg above the auger in such a position that the bung, which as usual is in one side of the keg, will be disposed in a downwardly facing position directly in line with the auger.

The importance of having the bung disposed in an inverted position, with the auger disposed below the keg and bung, is that no chips or wood dust, as created by the action of the auger, can enter the keg but will drop down clear of the keg.

A further object of the invention is to provide a catch tray and carryotf chute in connection with and directly below the auger which will receive, and cause to be carried alway, all chips, withdrawn bung pieces, as well as any liquid residue dropping from the empty keg when the bung is withdrawn, and keep such waste matter from possibly fouling the auger supporting and operating mechanism.

The keg, when initially placed on the supporting means, may not always be disposed with the bung in the necessary downwardly facing position, and a still further object of the invention is to provide a keg support-ing means which enables the keg, after once being supported, to be easily rotated so as to dispose the bung in the proper position for engagement by the auger.

In connection with this latter feature, it is also an object of the invention to provide a clamping unit for engagement with the top of the keg, which will rst exert a yieldable hold-down action on the keg which still allows the keg to be rotated if necessary, and which will then clamp the keg against any movement. At the same time, the clamping means is mounted so that it can be readily moved clear of the keg so as to offer no interference with the placement of the keg on or removal of the same from the supporting means.

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Patent No. DE2145298A1: Instant Beer Powder

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Today in 1973, US Patent DE 2145298 A1 was issued, an invention of Siegfried Beissner, for his “Instant Beer Powder — by vacuum-freeze drying.” Here’s the Abstract:

Beer is subjected to vacuum-freeze drying at -10 degrees to -20 degrees C, under a press. of about 0.5 atm. with agitation. Beer can be rapidly restored by treating the powder with water and a source of CO2 (pure CO2 or a mixt. of NAHCO3 and tartaric acid) and/or alcohol. The CO2-source and/or alcohol can be enclosed in capsules made from water-sol. gelatine and packed together with the beer powder.

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Given that we’re seeing this type of product in the trade recently, and the anti-alcohol groups have been going apeshit, I would have thought this was a more recent invention. But a version of it was around at least as early as 1973, over forty years ago. I wonder why it took so long for it to make it to market?