London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London

Hornsey 1956

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hornsey, Borough of]

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7. Some time ago many licensees followed the brewers' recommendation
of using only clean glasses and refused to refill used beer glasses.
This experiment failed partly because of the objections of many customers
and also because of delays in busy periods while soiled glasses were being
washed and dried.
8. The use of filters, sieves, etc. is general to the trade, but none of
these are designed to deal with any bacterial or salivary contamination of the beer.

Table: They are purely methods for the removal of fines; i.e. yeasts, vegetable matter and grit which may be found in a beer barrel.

They are purely methods for the removal of fines; i.e. yeasts, vegetable matter and grit which may be found in a beer barrel.

Public HouseBeer SalvagedTreatmentRe-used inSoiled Glasses
No. 1Into drip trays from pumps.Collected in pail.Mild Ale.Re-used on request.
No. 2Under each pump special continuous funnels connected direct to pump.None. Apart from daily washout of system.All.Re-used on request.
No. 3Spillage direct through drip sink into utiliser. No special filtering.None.Mild Ale. About 10%Re-used on request.
No. 4Mild spillage collected and returned to brewery at 1s. gallon. Other beers individually salvaged and filtered into main barrels.Filter bags and papers.Bitters only. Best bitter.Re-used on request. Clean glasses routine a failure.
No. 5Mild Beer straight through drip sink into utiliser—non-filtering. Bitters filtered after collection and put in utiliser.Utiliser washed daily. Beers part filtered.Mild Beer only. About 5%Re-used on request.
No. 6Spillage salvaged under each pump and collected and filtered back through papers into individual barrels.Drip sink runs to waste.A11 beers.Re-used on request.
No. 7Spillage collected daily from under pumps.Each separate beer filtered through papers into same barrels.All beers.Re-used on request.
No. 8Spillage into individual drip trays. Collected and filtered daily back into individual barrels Bottoms not used. Drip sink runs to waste.All beers.Re-used on request.