On January 28, 1873 Louis Pasteur was granted the patent for BREWING BEER AND ALE, U.S. Patent No. 135,245.
Louis Pasteur born in Dole, France was a French chemist and microbiologist. His most notable works dealt with germ theory and the invention of pasteurization.
Many may not know that Pasteur also found cures for chicken cholera, cholera, anthrax, smallpox and rabies. The discovery of the cholera vaccine came in 1879 when Pasteur discovered the chicken cholera pathogens lost their pathogenicity and retained “attenuated” pathogenic characteristics over the course of many generations. The chickens were inoculated with the attenuated strain of cholera and it was discovered the chickens were resistant to the virulent strain. This theory led to the development of other vaccines for diseases such as anthrax, tuberculosis, and smallpox.
Pasteur also helped the beer manufacturing industry with the patent mentioned above. According to the patent application Pasteur’s invention “consists in expelling air from the boiled wort while confined in a closed vessel or closed vessels, and then cooling it by the application of sprays of water to the exterior of such vessel or vessels.” This new method eliminated the exposure of wort, the boiled extract of malt, to atmospheric air. When the wort is exposed to air during the brewing process the quality and the quantity of the beer is impaired.
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