Bottling 1880 - 1914 (part 2)

As you can probably tell, I'm working away on the next volume of my mega series on the history of UK beer. 60,000 words or so, currently. Still a along way to go, though. Loads more recipes to write.

This week, I wrote 13,000 words on bottling. Like these ones:

Several different methods of sealing bottles were employed. The oldest, and one still used today, was a cork. This was very effective, but relied very much on the quality of the cork itself. And good quality corks were expensive. It was also easy to disturb any sediment when removing it. There was also a risk of contamination from corks as they naturally contained moulds and yeasts. 

"there is nothing to beat a corked bottle beer — provided the cork is steamed and washed in a revolving wire drum to remove all dust and to soften and sterilise it." 

The most popular type was the internal screw stopper. They were usually made of very hard wood and fitted with a rubber washer. That such stoppers could be reused was a double-edged sword. As they used a standard thread, they would fit any brewer’s bottles. Unlike the bottles themselves, customers made little effort to return stoppers to the right brewery. Which meant that even if you bothered to buy good quality stoppers you would inevitably end up with inferior ones from your rivals.  I can remember buying quart bottles with this type of closure in the late 1970s.

Flip-top stoppers – like those used by Grolsch – weren’t much used in the UK, despite their popularity in the USA and the rest of Europe. Its use was mostly limited to Lager and rarely used for British-style beers.

Various weird and wonderful single-use stoppers were in use, most of which didn’t hang around for long. One did, however, stand the test of time: the crown cork. In the run up to WW I this was becoming increasingly popular, especially for half pints. 

"He [Mr. Robert D. Clarke] believed that the crown cork would prove to be the cork of the future. It imparted no taste, and being soaked in paraffin it was absolutely clean and satisfactory. He had practically scrapped the whole of his ordinary cork bottles, and was using nothing but crowns and porcelain stoppers." 

 

Bottled beer in the 1950’s – Bright Bottled Beers (part seventeen)

I’ve renewed enthusiasm for this never-ending series. Especially when we’ve got to the fascinating subject of devices for closing beer bottles. I’m never going to get bored with that.

“Stoppers and Crown Corks
because the closure forms an apparently minor part of the bottled beer equipment, it often does not receive the attention which is its due. What is the good of producing a good beer, and going to the further expense of bottling it, if it is to be spoilt at the last stage by the use of an inferior closure? There can be no doubt that the introduction of screw-stoppers and crown corks have contributed largely to the present-day popularity of bottled beers. But it is upon their use or abuse that the quality of the article depends. Stoppers as made to-day differ considerably from those originally turned out.”
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, page 348.

It’s pretty obvious that a cheap stopper than doesn’t seal properly is likely to bugger your beer. The triumph of the crown cork is a surprisingly recent development. Screw stoppers predominated from the late 19th century until around WW II. They were a huge improvement of corks, the earlier method of sealing bottles. Corks were porous and liable to jump out if the pressure inside the bottle became too great.

Flip-top stoppers, as used by Grolsch never seem to have been that popular in Britain. While in Germany they were the preferred format until at least WW II. And have made a comeback in the last 20 years.

Here’s what you should look for in a screw stopper:

“Early stoppers had the appearance of compressed charcoal, and the heads parted easily from the threaded portion. This fault is still to be found in cheap grades. Better class stoppers to-day are made from vulcanite, with a hard and smooth external appearance. The milling round the head is better defined, and tougher, so that it will not wear off as was formerly the case. A rubber band of good quality should be insisted upon, as upon it depends the final seal. With stoppers as with bottles, the makers can now supply a quality which will stand the strain of pasteurization with a minimum of damage.”
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, page 348.

I get the feeling that pasteurisation of bottled beer wasn’t that common before WW II. I assume that because makers were only just starting to deliver bottles that were up to it in the mid-1950’s.

Oddly, the type of stopper depended in the bottle size:

“For half pints the crown cork has entirely replaced the screw stopper; for pints the screw stopper still largely holds the field and for quarts, when produced, it is universal. The main advantage of the screw stopper over the crown is that if only part of the contents are to be consumed the remainder can be kept in good condition, whereas a crown cannot be replaced as an airtight closure, hence the retention of the screw stopper for pints and quarts. There is the necessity for a special opener for crown corks, but this is not serious as the crown corks opener seems nowadays to be usually available. The crown cork has two very great advantages over the screw stopper. For quick trade in the bar, where the crown can be easily and quickly removed this type of closure is unequalled. There is not the necessity of recovering the stopper and the bottler is not faced with the rather troublesome job of cleaning the screw-stopper and ensuring that the rubber rings are in good condition."
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, page 348.

I was wondering why half pints had all gone over to crown corks. Simple – you were unlikely to want to reseal a half pint. You don’t really need a special opener for a crown cork. Ask a Czech. They have dozens of methods of getting a crown cork off without a bottle opener. Even I can do it.

As well as being difficult to clean, screw stoppers could easily become separated from their bottle and get lost.

It’s worth noting that by the 1950’s most bottled beer in pubs was sold in half-pint bottles. Though there were still plenty of pints in the take-home trade.

More details about crown corks:

“At one time difficulty was experienced with porous corks in the crowns and often beer would come into contact with the metal crown and cause discoloration of the cork. A backing of lacquered paper or a layer of lacquer between cork and metal will prevent this trouble. Many crowns are furnished with an aluminium spot in the centre of the cork, so that the cork itself only comes into contact with the lip of the bottle. The use of a slice of natural cork has largely been superseded by a composite of cork particles bonded together with a synthetic resin. As received in their cartons crown corks are usually practically sterile and if care is used in their handling between carton and the hopper on the filling machine no serious trouble of infection need be anticipated. In fact such trouble is extremely rare. The use of ordinary corks as closures for beer bottles is to all intents and purposes obsolete. Polythene stoppers and caps are being developed, but have not yet come into use to any extent for beer in this country.”
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, page 349.

The seals are all of plastic now. I can remember when they were still little disks of real cork.

Bottle washing next.

The invention of the crown cork

"Background to the Crown" is a frustrating booklet in some ways. The end is rather anticlimatic and brief. There's no real description of how William Painter came up with the idea, nor how he put it into practice. Just one brief paragraph:

"In the summer of 1891 William Painter took a holiday and while staying at a seaside resort on Rhode Island he drew up the design for an "over the top" sealing cap, which was destined to revolutionize the bottling industry. In other words the "Crown" was born.

The British patent - No. 2031 of 1892 - was issued on February the 2nd. Plate 8 is a reproduction of the first sheet of drawings accompanying the patent."
"Background to the Crown" by Cecil J. Parker.

I'm sure there must have been a lot more to the invention than that. Rhode Island. Mmm. Where Dann brews for Pretty Things is almost in Rhode Island. And pretty close to the coast. Not sure why I bothered to mention that.

"It was a remarkable specification. Its basic simplicity combined with functional perfection to satisfy the whole list of requirements for a faultless closure. The opening paragraph of the specification is worthy of quotation. It reads as follows:-

"The objects of my invention are to seal bottles as effectually and reliably as can be done by the use of corks and fastening wires or cords, and to do this with a substantial saaving in the cost of sealing materials as well as with economy in applying the sealing devices to the bottles, it being understood that the said sealing devices may be thrown away after having been used once as is common with ordinary corks."

These claims were sell justified, as nearly sixty years of ever expanding usage have proved."
"Background to the Crown" by Cecil J. Parker.

I'm not sure why the author found that passage so worthy of quoting. It's a little dry. Though at the end there's the best clue as to the date of the booklet. Nearly 50 years from 1892 would date it to around 1950. Not far from my last guess.

"Like other new closures the "Crown" was received by the bottling industry with a certain degree of scepticism. Accustomed as they were to using more elaborate means of sealing, its very simplicity made them hesitant to give credence to its efficiency. But William Painter and his associates were not to be discouraged. The first foot-operated machine was quickly designed and built, followed by the single head power crowner. In 1899 the multiple headed machine made its appearance, strangely different from but ultimately to develop into the highly efficient and well-known "Jumbo".

The first bottlers who were sufficiently far sighted to give the new "Crown" closure a trial were soon convinced that its merits were not overstated. With the recently developed high output automatic bottle making machines, the glass manufacturers found the simplified "Crown" finish eminently suitable to their production methods. The streamlined shape of the "Crown" enabled it to be fed rapidly to the crowning heads and as a consequence high speed continuous bottling became almost overnigh an established achievement.

For over fifty years many have racked their brains to find a better closure than the "Crown" but all have failed. This is partly due to the fact that practically all possible modifications of the cap were foreseen by the inventor himself and covered in various specifications. Its design has changed only in very minor detail from the original one laid down so long ago. Its essential principle remains unaltered from that day to this. It is the perfect closure."
"Background to the Crown" by Cecil J. Parker.

Having seen the other weird and wonderful bottle degsigns, I can understand why bottle makers would have liked the simple shape required for a crown cork. And no fiddly bits of wire or scary spikes.

Could you invent a better way of closing beer bottles than the crown cork? I doubt it somehow. I don't see how you could come up with something cheaper or simpler. That it has survived a further 60 years and remains by streets the most popular way of sealing beer bottles says something.

Slightly less weird stoppers

By the 1880's two camps had emerged in the search for the perfect stopper. On the one side were the adherents of internal devices like the Codd stopper. On the other, those who favoured an external "over the top" stopper like the various forms of flip top. Neither was perfect.

"The "over the top" supporters held their type of closure to be superior from the point of view that the pouring lip of the botde was protected from dirt and that the removal action could be more gradual, allowing top pressure to escape slowly and so eliminate the excessive fobbing. The bottle could be filled in its natural position and satisfactorily cleaned inside. These were undoubtedly favourable points, but it remained an unfortunate fact that up to then they had been unable to produce a successful pressure-holding closure without the aid of wire bails or like appendages.

The problem of the "interior" sealers was to make a closure that could be applied from the outside and be removed outwardly leaving an unobstructed interior. That of the "exterior" sealers was to find a cap that was sufficiently strong to hold high pressures. This then was the situation at the time that William Painter entered the field."
"Background to the Crown" by Cecil J. Parker.

I'd never considered just how difficult it is to design an exterior stopper capable of resisting the pressure inside a beer bottle. A crown cork seems such a simple and obvious solution. Why did it take so long to be invented?

Well, we're getting closer to that invention. Because now the key figure appears on the scene: William Painter. The man who finally came up with the crown cork. But not quite yet. Because he started out in the internal stopper camp.

"William Painter, of English descent, lived at Baltimore in Maryland. By trade he was a Mechanical Engineer and by nature a genius in things mechanical. During his working career he took out over eighty patents covering many widely divergent subjects. Possessed of an extremely active brain and an "up and doing" temperament he was for ever thinking out something new and then making it.

We cannot know for certain how he became interested in the bottle closure problem, but as so many others were at that time, it is more than likely that his position as foreman in an engineenng shop brought him into contact with an inventor who was having working models made of some form of stopper. We do know, however, that in September of 1885 William Painter's name appears in the English Patent Office records as co-inventor with another of an "interior" seal stopper. See Plate 7.

It was a very simple invention, as will be seen from the drawings which show A, the earliest form ; B, later form with stud ; and C alternate form with wire loop. These were to facilitate opening! The scaling disc was made from some flexible material such as rubber. It was of greater diameter than the neck of the bottle and was pushed into the latter in such manner that a convex surface was presented to the interior, the principle being that pressure from within the bottle would tend to flatten the disc and so tighten it against the inside of the neck."
"Background to the Crown" by Cecil J. Parker.

Simple, yes. Effective? I doubt it. Looks very flimsy to me, even the later versions. How exactly did you get the stopper out? Or did you just push it in?

"It is fairly obvious that at this time William Painter did not have a very extensive knowledge of the practical side of bottle sealing. In the earliest form it will be seen that while there was an inner shoulder to the bottle neck to prevent the sealing disc from sliding out under internal pressure, no means were provided to ensure that it did not penetrate too far when inserted. This was rectified in the later forms by change of the neck finish. Another curious point concerning the earliest specification is that alternative to india-rubber, the disc, it was said, might be made of linoleum.

For some years Painter worked hard to make a go of this closure. A certain degree of success was undoubtedly achieved, for 1890 found him taking out patents for a combined filling and stoppering machine, tongs for forming the bottle necks and another machine for fixing wire lifting loops to the sealing discs. It is significant, however, that at the same time he was patenting a spring bail for holding the stopper in place during pasteurization. From this it would appear that its pressure holding capacity was not all that could be wished for and this probably altered the trend of his thoughts from inner to outer sealing."
"Background to the Crown" by Cecil J. Parker.

It's that change of heart that lay behind the invetion of the crown cork. About which we'll hear next time.

Weird stoppers

I'm continuing with the very informative account of the history of beer bottle stoppers. I know. This blog has hit a new low. The really sad bit is that I really am finding it fascinating.

The crown cork is so simple, cheap, easy to remove you wonder why it wasn't developed earlier. Instead there were plenty of whacko and totally impractical solutions kicked around. The first - finding ways getting an unwired cork to remain in place - was never going to fly.

"The defenders of the long stopper did not, however, give in without a struggle and attempts were made by altering the shape of the bottle neck to enable it to withstand higher internal pressures without resorting to wiring. Various patents were issued embodying different principles, some of which are illustrated in Plate 4.

J. Yeo in 1879 concentrated on the idea of neck designs in which the cork was subjected to side pressure only. H. T Lufwin in 1880 was one among several who made use of a metal pin through the stopper and P. England in 1887 introduced an offset bottle neck in order to increase the frictional hold. The patents of Yeo and England would obviously have met strong opposition from the bottle makers owing to the technical problem of reproducing the shapes required in the glass, to say nothing of the difficulty which would be encountered in drawing the cork in the case of the latter. Lufwin's idea was objectionable from the point of view of the use of a sharp spike and the necessity of fitting it by hand in each bottle."
"Background to the Crown" by Cecil J. Parker.

Most of those necks look like they wouldn't pour very well. And you'd have to hold the bottle the right way. Lufwin's design, on the other hand, looks plain scary. What would happen when you tried to take out the cork from a bottle with too much pressure in it? I can imagine that spike flying out in an eyewards direction. Wouldn't that be fun? Risking your sight every time you drank a bottle of beer.

Bottles like that would probably have been a bugger to clean, too. Something which would really have put bottlers off them.

I'm sure Cecil Perker would be amazed (and a little dismayed) at how many bottles are sealed with corks today. Especially as he worked for a manufacturer of a rival stopper. I'm not sure what I think of corked and caged beer bottles myself. I'll admit that they look classy. But opening them isn't my favourite passtime - I can also imagine a cork flying eyewards. And they form a very imperfect seal. Longterm, a beer is going to struggle to remain carbonated. Like Harvey's Imperial Stout. Cracking beer, but I've only had one bottle with a normal level of carbonation. Then there's the problem of "corking" - fungus growing on the cork tainting the contents. Really not nice.

Others were busy with a different kind of stopper.

"The early attempts at closure simplification contained in general the same basic principle, that is to say employment of a cap easily stamped out from sheet metal and in most of them the utilisation of a thickened neck ring to the bottle under which the cap was to take hold.

One of the first to introduce a preformed dished cap was B. Martin in 1878 — see Plate 5 — who employed a separate outer holding band bent at intervals under the shoulder of the container. No provision was apparently made for a sealing gasket, but the fundamental idea of the two-piece cap was sound and indeed persists to-day in the well known band cap, used chiefly for wide mouthed closures."
"Background to the Crown" by Cecil J. Parker.

The well-known band cap? Not well known by me. If you know what he means by this, let me know. I've genuinely no idea.

Here are some other experiments with metal caps:

"Two months later in the same year a patent was issued to W. E. Gedge for a one-piece cap of sheet metal, the lower edge of which was spun under the shoulder of the glass by means of a wheel which was pressed against it while the container was rotated in a machine. An india-rubber washer was used as sealing medium. Cork discs were evidently used as well, for in 1887 we patent taken out by C. Laurent covering the use of gold-beaters skin as a facing to the cork in this type of cap. Plate 6.

Also in 1887 a closure was patented by J. Holmes which consisted of a dished cap with a flanged edge, in which a packing ring of cork formed a side seal on the container. Plate 5.

H. J. Haddan followed soon with a sheet metal cap containing a very thick cork washer. As will be seen in Plate 6, this was deep in section and was provided with a number of dependent lugs though the extremities of which a wire was threaded. When the wire loop was tightened a gripping action was obtained below the shoulder provided around the bottle neck."
"Background to the Crown" by Cecil J. Parker.

Mmm. Gedge's cap looks very much like a crown cork to me. Except for bit about attaching it with a wheel. There's something else I don't understand. I can't see what's holding on the cap designed by Holmes. Surely it needs to hook under something at the mouth of the bottle?

Haddan's cap with its lugs and wire, sounds as complicated as a flip-top stopper. Wasn't that exactly the sort of thing they were trying to avoid?

The last one is a variation on that design, but even less practical, by the look of it. It doesn't even look as if it's forming a proper seal.

"In a specification of November 1888 issued by E. L. Blake and J. Wild—see Plate—there was a modification of the Haddan cap in which the body was shallower and the lugs were clipped on to a spring band. The glass finish was practically identical with that of the Haddan patent but the holding point was beneath the reinforcing ring instead of the lower shoulder.
"Background to the Crown" by Cecil J. Parker.

We've not finished with the weird stoppers quite. Did brewers ever use the devices at a commercial level? I'd love to know.  Unfortunately the author doesn't mention anything about that. The band cap presumably was, as it's mentioned that it was still in use. But what about the others?

Background to the Crown

Nothing to do with the monarchy. The crown meant is a crown cork and the title of a booklet produced by the Crown Cork Company.

I'd given little thought to stoppers before my current obsession with bottling. If pushed, I'd have said crown corks had been introduced a little before 1900 and that before that old-fashioned wine-style corks had been used. After reading the booklet, I'm much wiser. And that wisdom I'll be passing on.

A couple of words of warning. The booklet has no date. My guess, based on the style of the illustration would be 1950's or 1960's. It also lacks page numbers. It does name the author: Cecil J. Parker, Chief Chemist at the Southall Research Laboratories of the Crown Cork Company Limited.

We start with an account of early replacements for corks.

"The steady continuous growth of the industry which arose from these two modest beginnings brought with it the need for more and more bottles and for more efficient means of sealing. In point of numbers the demand for closures naturally exceeded by many times that of bottles, for whereas the former may be used but once, the latter is refilled several times over. It is interesting to note that although, particularly in Great Britain, the ordinary cork stopper, which was a "one use" device, took pride of place, the tendency of new inventions during several decades was to produce a closure which would have a life equal to that of the bottle and which in many instances formed almost an integral part of the same.

There was indeed no lack of inventive thought applied to the solution of the stopper problem. For some unfathomable reason it seemed that the one great urge of innumerable mechanically minded men over a period of many years was to introduce a new form of bottle closure. Imagination truly ran riot and some of the ideas evolved bordered on the fantastic. Simplicity of design and practicability were forgotten while intricacy and caprice raced hand in hand to the Application counter of the Patent Office.
"Background to the Crown" by Cecil J. Parker.

Interesting motivation that, to make a stopper with as long a life as the bottle it closed. One that, ironically, remains unfulfilled by the crown cork. Surely the kind of stopper, given the booklet was published by the Crown Cork Company, the text is trying to promote.

You may have noticed that the original text is a bit flowery. Reads like someone trying a bit too hard to me. (Something I can never be accused of. Trying too hard. I knock these posts off in 20 minutes before breakfast.)

"It is not the purpose here to discuss the merits and disadvantages of the thousand and one types of stoppers that were engendered in the brains of inventors prior to the appearance of the Crown Cork. Many were virtually stillborn and as many again enjoyed but a brief span of life before being thrown into the discard by the perplexed and harassed bottlers. Some of the more whimsical forms are shown herewith in Plates 1a and 1b, but all have perished "unwept, unhonoured and unsung".

Out of early chaos emerged three closures that were destined to survive the holocaust and in one case at least to endure to the present day. They owed their survival to the one characteristic they had in common — simplicity. The first of these was the interior glass marble which was kept pressed against a rubber ring in the bottle neck by the gas pressure of the beverage. It was invented by H. Codd in 1870 and had a life extending well into the memory of most of us. It was known generally as the Codd Stopper and used exclusively for minerals. It was simple and effective, but necessitated inversed filling. The seating of the rubber ring provided a breeding place for bacteria and breakage was a considerable item. This was not due to any weakness of the bottle, but rather to the cupidity of small boys who liked marbles. See Plate 2."

The bit about pop bottles closed with marbles should help date the piece. I'm a bit of an old bastard, but I can't remember those stoppers. I can remember my mum telling me about them. It always sounded a weird way to close a bottle to me. And not the most secure method. Even putting aside cleaning problems. "Most of us" implies that a mjority of people would still be able to remember them. And I think they fell into disuse around WW II. Late 1950's or early 1960's is my revised guess.

"The second survivor for many years was the levered wire bail stopper. The origin of this type of closure is obscure, but the earliest reference to it in its best known and simplest form is found in a patent taken out by W. J. King in 1888. See Plate 2. Other forms were introduced many years prior to this but were either without the lever action or else achieved the latter by more complicated design. This stopper had a much greater vogue on the Continent than in Great Britain and is possibly still on use there."
"Background to the Crown" by Cecil J. Parker.

Mmm. For an expert on bottle closings the author seems remarkably ignorant of what went on in the rest of Europe. Flip-top ceramic stoppers definitely never went out of use in continental Europe.

"The third, and so far as this country is concerned, the only present day survivor of the trio is the yet familiar screw stopper. It is used as we are well aware almost exclusively for the largest sized beer bottles. Its continued use is due to the fact that it provides a quick and efficient re-seal when only part of the bottle's contents have been consumed. Here again its beginning is rather obscure, although its prototype was clearly indicated in a patent of 1876 by one S. Walker. This would appear to be one of the first screw stoppers to have been applied to an interior thread formed in the glass and employing a rubber ring washer. It will be noted — Plate 3 — that a sharp thread was used, but this was modified in a later patent by H. Barrett, 1879, when the coarse pitched rounded thread as used to-day was introduced. Plate 3."
"Background to the Crown" by Cecil J. Parker.

Ah, more dating evidence. I can remember internal screw stoppers. Just. Last time I spotted them in the wild must have been about 1978 in Mr. Fisher's shop and offie on Brudenell Road in Leeds. Sealing quart bottles of something from the Whitbread brewery in Kirkstall. Which confirms what the author says about them being used for larger bottles. Both quart bottles and internal screw stoppers weren't common after the mid 1960's. Newly-revised date guess: late 1950's.

There's quite a bit more of this. I would say: "Tell me to stop when you've had enough." But we both know I wouldn't listen.

Bottling in 1914 - stoppers

I never realised just how fascinating a topic bottling was. What did I use to write about?

It's hard to remember, in a world dominated by crown corks, how just 100 years ago there were competing methods, and conflicting opinions, about the best way to seal bottles. The victory of the crown cork wasn't imagined back then.

Here's what Hadley said later in the article about stoppers:

"The screw stopper is still in general use in this country, and much as we may object to it on hygienic grounds I must say I think it will never be superseded for flagons, it is so readily replaced and the beer kept in condition for further use. I have been trying for some time to obtain a stopper which has all the advantages of the existing stopper while removing its defects; the samples I have to show you are the best efforts I have been able to produce up to the present—being solid rubber it is unbreakable, there is no joint to conceal micro-organisms, and it makes a good joint. The one great drawback at present is the cost.

The crown cork seems to be gaining ground for half pints, but having had no personal experience with it I am not prepared to say whether it is a success or not. With me the principal demand, after stoppers, is for corked half-pints, and take it all round there is nothing to beat a corked bottle beer — provided the cork is steamed and washed in a revolving wire drum to remove all dust and to soften and sterilise it. A certain corky flavour is very rarely imparted to beer by cork which is diseased by mould, but this too may be removed by well steaming."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 20, Issue 6, November-December 1914, page 516.

By screw stopper, he means bottles with an internal screw thread in the neck of the bottle into which the stopper screwed. This type of stopper did cling on a remarkably long time. I can remember the off-licence opposite where I lived in Leeds in the late 1970's having Whitbread beer in quart bottles of this type.

It's odd for us to read of the author's enthusiasm for real corks over crown corks. I doubt you could find a brewer today that preferred unreliable, porous, expensive corks. My experience of corked bottles of Harvey's Imperial Stout tells me that a crown cork is a far more reliable stopper, especially for long-term storage.

The topic of stoppers came up in the discussion after the paper had been presented. Mr. W. R. Wilson reckoned:

"The trade of his (the speaker's) firm was very largely in half-pints. The author seemed rather to lean to the cork for half-pints. Personally he much preferred the crown corks. With corks there was always a difficulty in regard to stout in the summer. If the weather got very hot they wanted a larger cork, and then, as soon as that was provided, the weather turned cool, and they found that the cork had become a little too tight. Again, the customers complained that the corks were difficult to draw. In the Midlands, at all events, the crown cork appeared to be making great headway, and he could not help thinking that, as far as the half-pints were concerned, it would not be very long before the crown cork would supersede both the ordinary cork and the screw stopper."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 20, Issue 6, November-December 1914, page 526.

Now isn't that stuff about different-sized corks in summer interesting? A real cork seems a very expensive way of sealing half pint bottles - no wonder crown corks were gaining ground.

Mr. Robert D. Clarke agreed that crown corks were the way forward:

"He believed that the crown cork would prove to be the cork of the future. It imparted no taste, and being soaked in paraffin it was absolutely clean and satisfactory. He had practically scrapped the whole of his ordinary cork bottles, and was using nothing but crowns and porcelain stoppers."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 20, Issue 6, November-December 1914, pages 526 - 527.

Mr. F. M. Maynard was a fan of the Grolsch-style porcelain stoppers:

"Personally, he strongly objected to the screw stopper on hygienic grounds; and although crown corks might be satisfactory in the public-house, where they were accustomed to drawing them, they were not so suitable for private trade. The stopper he favoured, and which he found other brewers were also adopting, was the Continental porcelain spring stopper. It was absolutely clean, it was washed with the bottle, and did not get lost, being attached to the bottle. He considered it the most successful stopper he had ever used, especially for the private trade, since the same stopper was also largely employed for sterilised milk bottles."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 20, Issue 6, November-December 1914, page 529.

Is he saying there that people couldn't work out how to open a bottle sealed with a crown cork? Surely that's much simpler than drawing a cork? I can open a crown-corked bottle without a bottle opener, but I doubt very much that I could remove a cork without a corkscrew.

Customers in the author's region, the West Country, still wanted corks:

"If the Midland brewers had only half-pints to deal with, they were very fortunate indeed, because the half-pint was really the most profitable size. The flagons were run at a very fine margin indeed. With regard to the question of corks, they were demanded in the West of England by the public, who would, in fact, have nothing else. They might find the crown cork in a few of the free houses ; but 90 per cent, of the half-pint trade was served in corked bottles."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 20, Issue 6, November-December 1914, page 530.

The author also had a big objection to Grolsch-type stoppers - they got caught in the bottle washing machines:

"As to the spring stopper, he could not see where the advantage of that came in, because it had an ordinary india-rubber ring. He had tried them and given them up, the reason being that they seized on the brush-heads and the operators were continually cutting their thumbs."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 20, Issue 6, November-December 1914, page 533.

I wonder how they get around this problem? They must do, as you wouldn't find a mass-produced beer like Grolsch using porcelain stoppers.

Next time it's the turn of the bottling process itself. Sound like fun? No? You miserable bastard.