JP2000168749A - Method for inspecting beverage and inspection unit used therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inspecting method and an apparatus with respect to property inspection of a barreled beverage wherein accurate sample inspection can be performed without waste in the beverage and free from troubles of a preservation space and handling heavy objects. SOLUTION: An inspection unit 1 which can flow on a beverage filling line for barrels is used. The inspection unit 1 comprises a holding barrel 2 having the same appearance as that of a normal barrel and a storage container 3 which is smaller than the holding barrel 2 and has a transparent portion on at least a part. The holding barrel 2 allows the storage container 3 to be detached from its center. The storage container 3 has a filling port 3i to which a spear valve (not shown) is attached, wherein the valve has a filling port to be engaged with a nozzle (not shown) of a barreling machine on the line, and the filling port 3i is at the same position as that of a beverage filling port of the normal barrel when it is attached to the holding barrel 2. The inspection unit 1 is made to flow in the line, and after the storage container 3 is filled with the beverage, the container 3 is removed from the holding barrel 2. The storage container 3 is used to preserve the beverage. The beverage in the container 3 is inspected after a predetermined period has elapsed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a beverage inspection method and an inspection unit used for the method. For example, the present invention can be applied to a method of inspecting beer filled in a keg or a bottle through a beer filling line and an inspection unit used in the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As one type of quality control performed on bottled or barreled beer, beer property confirmation inspection has been conventionally performed. This property confirmation inspection is performed by filling and sealing beer in a bottle or barrel on a beer filling line, and inspecting the beer in the bottle or barrel after a predetermined period has elapsed.

[0003]

By the way, in the case of bottled beer, a transparent bottle called a white bottle is circulated on a filling line, and the beer filled in the white bottle is visually checked through a bottle to check the properties. Can be implemented. On the other hand, in the case of a barrel-packed beer, the barrel is opaque, so that it is necessary to open the barrel for inspection, so that one barrel of beer is used by opening. In the case of bottled beer, several hundred milliliters of beer can be used even if the bottle is opened, but in the case of bottled beer, the minimum beer is 7 liters, so waste of beer cannot be ignored. Further, there is a problem of a storage place for storing a barrel for a property confirmation inspection, and there is a problem of handling a heavy material since at least one barrel weighs about 11 kg. On the other hand, a method has been adopted in which the beverage in the barrel filled on the barrel beer filling line is transferred to a smaller predetermined container and stored and inspected, but the amount of work in preparation and beer filling increases. There is a disadvantage.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a beer inspection method and a beer inspection method capable of performing a strict sample inspection while solving the problem of waste of beer used for a property confirmation inspection, a storage place of an inspection beer, and handling of heavy objects. It is an object to provide an inspection unit used in the method.

[0005]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described. In addition, in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, reference numerals in the accompanying drawings are added in parentheses, but the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiment.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a storage container (3) is mounted in a holding hole (2a) of a storage barrel (2), and the storage barrel (2) equipped with the storage container (3) is placed in a barrel. After the beverage is filled and sealed in the storage container (3) through a beverage filling line for use, the storage container (3) filled with the beverage is extracted from the holding barrel (2), and after a certain period of time, the storage container (3) is extracted. ) Is characterized by inspecting the filled beverage.

According to the inspection method of the present invention, the use of the storage container (3) having at least a transparent part at least partially allows the beverage to be visually inspected without opening the storage container (3) in the inspection. Inspection and the like can be performed.

According to the method of the present invention, one barrel of the beverage is not wasted in the inspection of the beverage, and the storage container (3) is smaller than the barrel flowing through the filling line. And the problem of handling heavy objects is eliminated. In addition, since the beverage is stored in the storage container (3) on the filling line, the step of transferring the beverage in the barrel to a predetermined container smaller than the barrel, which is performed in the related art, can be omitted.

The inspection unit (1) according to a third aspect of the present invention includes a holding barrel (2) that can be distributed on a beverage filling line for barrels, and a barrel filling machine that is detachable from the holding barrel (2) and is on the filling line. And a storage container (3) smaller than the holding barrel (2) having a filling port (3i) connectable to the storage container (3).

The inspection unit (1) according to a fourth aspect is characterized in that at least a part of the storage container (3) has a transparent portion.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the inspection unit (1) is characterized in that the storage container (3) has an outlet different from the filling port (3i).

By using the inspection unit (1) according to any one of the third to fifth aspects, the method of the present invention can be easily carried out.

[0013]

FIG. 1 shows a vertical section of an inspection unit 1 to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a view from the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 and 2
As shown in FIG. 1, the inspection unit 1 of the present invention has a holding barrel 2 and a storage container 3. The holding barrel 2 has a holding hole 2a for mounting the storage container 3 at the center. The holding barrel 2 is different from the barrel which originally circulates in the beer filling line only in the mounting portion of the storage container 3, and the other portions are the same. That is, the holding hole 2a is simply added to the actual barrel.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the storage container 3. However, the left side from the line bb shows the cross section, and the right side shows the appearance. FIG. 4 is a view from the direction of arrow B in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the storage container 3 has a cylindrical portion 3a, and upper and lower plates 3b and 3c arranged above and below the cylindrical portion 3a. The cylindrical portion 3a is made of a transparent acrylic or glass material. Packings 3e, 3e are provided at the upper and lower ends of the cylindrical portion 3a.
The upper plate 3b and the lower plate 3c are covered from outside of e. Bolt holes 3g... 3g, 3h... 3h are formed at four corners of the upper plate 3b and the lower plate 3c, respectively.
The upper plate 3b and the lower plate 3c are tightened toward the cylindrical portion 3a by e and the cap nut 3f. Thereby, the lower end of the cylindrical portion 3a is closed by the lower plate 3c.

In the center of the upper plate 3b, a filling port 3i for filling a beverage such as beer without the storage container 3 is provided, and a female screw 3j is attached to an inner periphery thereof.
The shape of the female screw 3j that engages with a nozzle (not shown) of a keg filling machine installed in a beer filling line is determined.

The upper plate 3b is fitted into the inner peripheral groove 4a of the holding ring 4 at its four corners. The retaining ring 4 has a cylindrical ring main body and a flange 4b protruding outward from the upper end thereof. Notches are formed at four locations on the inner periphery of the holding ring 4. By aligning these notches with the four corners of the upper plate 3b, the upper plate 3b can be attached to and detached from the holding ring 4.

As shown in FIG. 1, the storage container 3 is supported inside the holding barrel 2 with the flange 4b of the holding ring 4 closely contacting the periphery of the holding hole 2a. In this state, the filling port 3i is located at the same position as the filling port of the barrel that originally circulates through the beer filling line.

The inspection unit 1 is circulated through a beverage filling line for barrels, and a beverage is stored from a filling port 3i of a storage container 3 mounted on a holding barrel 2 by a keg filling machine that packs the beverage on the filling line into a barrel. The container 3 can be filled. Storage container 3
Is filled with a spear valve (not shown), and the keg filling machine completes filling when the liquid level of the beverage reaches a certain altitude of the keg flowing through the filling line. Even if the storage container 3 has a smaller capacity than a normal barrel, the beverage can be filled without overflowing.

The storage container 3 filled with the beverage and sealed by the above-mentioned method is extracted from the holding barrel 2, and after a certain period of time, the storage container 3
Inspection of the properties of the beverage filled in the can be performed.

Further, as shown in FIG.
Alternatively, a plate 3k with a bottle having a bottle 3l on the plate can be used. The lower end of the bottle 3l is provided with an opening 3m for pouring out the beverage filled in the storage container 3. A stopper (for example, a crown) 5 is attached to the opening 3m, and the bottom of the storage container 3 is closed. The stopper 5 attached to the opening 3m can be opened more easily than the spear valve attached to the filling port 3i. If the stopper 5 is pulled out from the opening 3m and the beverage is poured out, the trouble of opening can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but may be implemented with various modifications. For example, if a storage container having at least a transparent portion is adopted as the storage container 3,
The property confirmation test of the beer can be performed without opening the storage container 3, and thereafter, the property confirmation test can be performed using the same storage container 3 every time the property confirmation test comes.
In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described example of beer, and can be applied to a property test of a general beverage.

[0022]

As described above, according to the beverage inspection method and the inspection unit of the present invention, the beverage is transferred from the barrel to another container without being transferred from the barrel to the other container. Since the beverage is filled and sealed in a small container, one barrel of the beverage is not wasted at the time of inspecting the properties of the beverage, and the storage place of the beverage for inspection and the handling of heavy objects can be saved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a mounted state of a holding barrel and a storage container of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view from the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the storage container of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a view from the direction of arrow B in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a storage container with a bottle opening.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inspection unit 2 Holding barrel 2a Holding hole 3 Storage container 3a Cylindrical part 3b Upper plate 3c Lower plate 3d Packing 3e Hexagon bolt 3f Cap nut 3g 3h Bolt hole 3i Filling port 3j Female screw 3k Plate with bottle 3l Bottle opening 3m Part 4 Retaining ring 4a Groove 4b Flange 4c Notch 5 Plug

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masahiko Shintani 2-10-1, Shinkawa, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Inside Kirin Brewery Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shoji Furukawa 2-1-1, Shinkawa, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Kirin Beer Company F term (reference) 3E079 AB01 AB04 FF16 FG05 FG09 GG10

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A method for filling and sealing a beverage in a predetermined container on a beverage filling line for a keg, and inspecting properties of the beverage filled in the container after a lapse of a predetermined period, wherein the container is capable of being distributed in the filling line. The keg was fitted with a storage container smaller than the holding keg and capable of filling the beverage on the filling line, the storage container attached to the holding keg was filled with the beverage on the filling line, and the filling was completed. A method for inspecting a beverage, comprising extracting the storage container from the holding barrel and storing and inspecting the beverage using the extracted storage container. 2. The inspection method according to claim 1, wherein a container having at least a transparent part is used as the storage container. 3. A holding barrel which can be circulated on a beverage filling line for a barrel, and which is smaller than the holding barrel having a filling port detachable from the holding barrel and connectable to a keg filling machine on the filling line. An inspection unit comprising a storage container. 4. The inspection unit according to claim 3, wherein at least a part of the storage container is transparent. 5. The inspection unit according to claim 3, wherein an outlet different from the filling port is provided in the storage container.