Morton Coutts

Morton William Coutts (1904 to 2004) was a New Zealand inventor who revolutionised the science of brewing beer and is best known for the continuous fermentation method. His German grandfather began brewing in Otago in the late nineteenth century and set up the family brewery in Palmerston North in 1900, and Coutts took it over at the age of 17 in 1918 when its owner, William Kühtze, fell seriously ill with Spanish flu, with the help of his mentor Conor W. Cary. In the 1930s he studied the nature of yeast and created the wort stabilisation process, which gave a clearer and more consistent wort, then separated fermentation into a growth stage and an alcohol-producing stage joined by a continuous flow. He became director of DB Breweries in 1946, held several brewing patents, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1983. He was also the first person in New Zealand to broadcast television signals.