Morton William Coutts (7 February 1904 – 25 June 2004)''Obituary: Morton W. Coutts''
NZ Herald, 2 July 2004. was a New Zealand inventor who revolutionised the science of brewing

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

. He is best known for the continuous

fermentation Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food ...

method.

History

Coutts'

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

grandfather, Frederick Joseph Kühtze, began brewing beer in Otago, New Zealand in the late 19th century. In 1900 he moved to

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

and set up the family

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

. The brewery was inherited by William Joseph Kühtze, who changed the family name to Coutts during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

to sound more

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. When William Kühtze became seriously ill as a result of the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

in 1918, Morton Coutts took over the brewery at age 15 with the aid of his mentor, Conor W. Cary.

Continuous fermentation method

In the 1930s, Coutts investigated the nature of

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constitut ...

which is the most important ingredient in any brewing. Coutts speculated: ''...that yeast could be properly controlled if you looked on it as a human being with a brain. It has so many enzyme mechanisms to call upon to react to whatever is necessary for its survival. Instead of looking on the final product I always took notice of the yeast as an organism that produced whatever you ended up with.'' This led him to create the

wort Wort () is the liquid extracted from the mashing process during the brewing of beer or whisky. Wort contains the sugars, the most important being maltose and maltotriose, that will be fermented by the brewing yeast to produce alcohol. Wort ...

stabilisation process, which resulted in a clearer and consistent wort. He then separated the fermentation into stages. In the first stage the yeast grew and in the second the fermentation began. The yeast was thus encouraged to either grow or produce

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

. As a result, Coutts created a continuous flow between the two fermentation processes. In the 1983 Queen's Birthday Honours, Coutts was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, for services to the brewing industry.

Other work

Apart from his several patents for the brewing of beer, Coutts was also the first person in New Zealand to broadcast

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

signals, and the first to send a

shortwave radio Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...

message to

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. Note: Obituary is incorrect with regards to the shortwave message to Britain. The first NZ to Britain radio contact was on 18 October 1924 between Frank D. Bell, Z4AA and Cecil W. Goyder, G2SZ and this was the first ever trans-world two-way radio contact.

References

External links

Morton Coutts - Continuous Fermentation System
(broken link) {{DEFAULTSORT:Coutts, Morton 1904 births 2004 deaths New Zealand brewers New Zealand centenarians Men centenarians New Zealand people of German descent 20th-century New Zealand inventors New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century New Zealand businesspeople 20th-century New Zealand scientists