AU2004212593A1

AU2004212593A1 - Chamber for ageing wine or other beverage

Info

Publication number: AU2004212593A1
Application number: AU2004212593A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Richard John Sugden
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-12-30
Filing date: 2004-09-21
Publication date: 2005-07-21

Description

1 P/00/009 28/5/91 Regulation 3.2

ORIGINAL

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 PATENT SPECIFICATION PATENT OF AbbITION to Patent No. 772624 Preceded by Provisional Application Number 2004900007 of the same title, dated 2 nd January 2004 Invention Title; Applicant; Address; bate; Chamber for Ageing Wine or Other Beverage Richard John Sugden "Springfield" R.M.B. 1665 Princes Highway, BEGA, N.S.W. 2550 3 rd September 2004 The invention is described in the following statement: Chamber for Ageing Wine or Other Beverage.

Background This invention relates to improvements in methods used for ageing beverages and in particular wine or other alcoholic beverages.

Storage of wine or other beverages in wood barrels, often fashioned from oak wood, has traditionally been used to bring about an improvement in flavour through slow diffusion of air through the wood, causing various chemical changes to its contents and also the leaching of some flavourant compounds into the wine or beverage from the wood.

Prior Art Other developments to achieve this have included various circulatory plate systems (patent no.

772624), made from oak wood or other semipermeable material which substantially contains the wine or beverage but allows diffusion of air into the wine or beverage on its other side.

All these methods take considerable time.

Another method of attempting to achieve an improvement in flavour and to age and soften the wine or beverage involves the direct injection of oxygen gas into the wine or beverage.

This method has yielded variable results Both the barrels and also the circulatory plates mentioned above have been stored in a temperature and/or humidity controlled atmosphere to exercise some control over the ageing process occurring.

Disclosure of the Invention Further improvements in control of the ageing process can be gained by controlling both the pressure and gaseous content of the atmosphere surrounding the barrels or circulatory plates or any other ageing apparatus. For example an increase in oxygen content over that of the standard atmosphere can decrease the time taken for the ageing effect to take place According to this invention there is provided a chamber, which contains the barrels or circulatory plates or ageing apparatus, such that the gaseous content and/or the pressure of the atmosphere immediately surrounding them can be controlled.

Brief Description of the Drawings The following drawings will assist in the understanding of one method of achieving the aims of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the chamber Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the chamber Fig. 3 is a sectional view through A-A Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention A chamber 1, which could be constructed of stainless steel, reinforced plastic, or any gastight material, with top 2, end 5 and sealable access door 6 with hinge 3, is depicted which contains multiple pairs of oak plates 4, (Fig which form the semi-permeable walls of a wine or beverage ageing system which have spaces 7 between them, which contain the wine or beverage being circulated via manifolds 8, from and back into a tank (not shown).

The space 9, between and around the multiple pairs of oak plates is occupied by a controlled gaseous atmosphere.

Valve 10, allows the introduction of the controlled gaseous atmosphere to the chamber such that all the semi-permeable oak walls are exposed on one side to this atmosphere. The other side of the semi-permeable oak walls are in contact with the wine or beverage being treated.

Valves 11 are able to be opened for either purging the chamber or to allow circulation of the atmosphere through a monitoring and control unit (not shown) such that the atmosphere is maintained at the temperature, humidity and also the pressure and/or gaseous content required for maximum control over the ageing process.

It will be realized that the wine or beverage ageing chamber according to this invention is not restricted to any particular format but refers to any device which allows control of gaseous pressure and/or gaseous content of the atmosphere either partially or completely surrounding any wine or beverage ageing system involving diffusion of this atmosphere, or part thereof, through oak planks or any other semi-permeable partition which separates the wine or beverage from that atmosphere.

Claims

1. A wine or beverage ageing chamber is disclosed which either fully or partially encloses an atmosphere and a wine or beverage ageing system wherein wine or beverage is either stored or circulated on one side of a wall of a material which is substantially impermeable to the wine or beverage but semi- permeable to the atmosphere while the other side of the wall is exposed to this atmosphere whose temperature, humidity, pressure and gaseous content can be regulated.

2. A wine or beverage ageing chamber substantially as herein described.