Brewery man pioneered continuous fermentation

By ELLEN READ

The man New Zealand - and the world - has to thank for revolutionising the brewing process has died in Auckland.

Morton W. Coutts, a founding director of DB Breweries, died of heart failure last week, aged 100.

Despite transmitting the country's first shortwave radio signals in 1926, Coutts' best-known contribution to New Zealand history is closer to the hearts of many - beer.

He developed the process of continuous fermentation in 1953, the first major change to beer-making since the 16th century.

Developed while Coutts was working at Dominion Breweries (now DB Breweries), the process was patented in 1956 and many in the brewing world, including the makers of Guinness, still use it.

Brewing was in Coutts' blood. His Bavarian grandfather, Joseph Khutze (the name was anglicised during World War 1), came to New Zealand in 1867 and managed a brewery in Clyde. The family later ran brewing businesses in Dunedin, Palmerston North and Taihape.

In 1929, Coutts' father founded the Waitemata Brewing Company, which became Dominion Breweries and eventually DB Breweries.

His father's ill health saw Coutts drafted into the family business when he was 15. While there Coutts produced the first carbonated beer in New Zealand, and the first lager.

He tried retiring when he was 80 but the lure of the lab was too great and he returned to work.

Coutts is survived by his wife, Margaret, and their two daughters.