JP2008131881A - Apparatus and method for debittering yeast - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for debittering yeast having an improved debittering capability of yeast slurry collected after fermentation process. <P>SOLUTION: In the debittering apparatus 10 in which a bitter substance is removed from the yeast slurry collected after the fermentation process, a yeast slurry tank 11 for keeping the yeast slurry, debittering devices 12 and 13 in which the yeast slurry is debittered by mixing the yeast slurry took out from the yeast slurry tank 11 with alkaline aqueous solution, and a vibrational sieving machine 14 to be used to remove the decke of the debittered yeast as a decke-removing means are provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a yeast de-bitter taste treatment apparatus and a de-bitter taste treatment method for removing muddy yeast bitter substances recovered after a fermentation process.

  Yeast collected after the fermentation process in the production process of beer-like beverages such as beer and sparkling liquor, beer-like beverages such as miscellaneous liquor, is used as a raw material for dried yeast and yeast extract as surplus yeast, Focusing on valuables such as vitamins, they are used as foods such as seasonings and health foods, pharmaceuticals, animal feeds and the like. However, since the surplus yeast is yeast recovered after the fermentation step, hop resin or the like, which is a raw material for effervescent malt beverages or beer-like beverages, is attached and has a characteristic that it has a strong bitter taste. As a method for removing bitter substances from yeast, a method of washing yeast with an alkaline aqueous solution is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In addition, there are also known a method in which surplus yeast is brought into contact with an ethanol solution and subjected to debittering treatment, and a method in which surplus yeast is debittered by steam distillation or steam distillation and organic solvent treatment (for example, Patent Documents 2 and 3). reference).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-162983 JP 61-31083 A Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-22177

  In the conventional debittering treatment method using an alkaline aqueous solution, the yeast (mud yeast) recovered in a muddy state after the fermentation process is passed through a vibrating sieve to remove the decke, and then an alkaline aqueous solution is added to the yeast. And debittering. In this method, since the filterability of the muddy yeast at the time of removal of the decke is poor, the mesh diameter of the vibrating sieve cannot be set finely. For this reason, it was difficult to remove the fine decke.

  An object of this invention is to provide the de-bitter taste processing apparatus and de-bitter taste processing method of yeast which can improve the de-bitter taste processing capability of the muddy yeast collect | recovered after the fermentation process.

  The yeast de-bitter taste treatment apparatus (10) of the present invention is a yeast de-bitter taste treatment apparatus for removing bitter substances from muddy yeast recovered after the fermentation step, and a storage tank (11) for storing the muddy yeast. And a debittering means (12, 13) for debittering the muddy yeast by mixing the muddy yeast taken out of the storage tank and an aqueous alkaline solution, and a deke part of the yeast after the debittering taste. The above-described problem is solved by providing the deck removal means (14) for removal. Further, the yeast de-bitter taste treatment method of the present invention is a yeast de-bitter taste treatment method for removing bitter substances from the muddy yeast recovered after the fermentation step, by mixing the muddy yeast and an aqueous alkaline solution. By providing a debittering process for debittering the muddy yeast and a dekke removal process for removing the dekke content of the yeast after the debittering taste, the above-described problems are solved.

  According to the debittering treatment apparatus and debittering treatment method of the present invention, the muddy yeast and the aqueous alkaline solution are mixed before removing the Decke content from the muddy yeast recovered after the fermentation step. Yeast is dispersed in an alkaline aqueous solution, so that the separability or filterability between the yeast and the deke is improved when the deke is removed. As a result, it is possible to efficiently remove the decke content from the muddy yeast and improve the debittering ability.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the decke removing means may be a vibrating sieve (14). Furthermore, the mesh diameter of the sieve of the vibration type sieve may be # 60 or smaller. Thereby, the Decke content can be separated from the yeast efficiently and reliably, and the debittering ability can be significantly enhanced.

  Furthermore, you may provide the alkali component removal means (15, 16, 17, 18) which implements washing | cleaning and dehydration with the cold water of the yeast from which the said decke part was removed. In this case, the alkaline component added to the yeast can be washed with water to suppress the discoloration of the yeast color.

  In addition, in the above description, in order to make an understanding of this invention easy, the reference sign of the accompanying drawing was attached in parenthesis, but this invention is not limited to the form of illustration by it.

  As described above, according to the debittering treatment apparatus and the debittering treatment method of the present invention, the alkaline aqueous solution is added to the muddy yeast prior to the removal of the deke from the muddy yeast. It becomes possible to remove a part, and the de-bitter taste processing capability of muddy yeast can be improved.

  FIG. 1 shows a yeast de-bittering treatment apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. The de-bittering treatment apparatus 10 includes a muddy yeast tank 11 as a storage tank, a sodium carbonate dissolution tank 12, a first operation tank 13, a vibrating sieve 14 and a first according to the order of yeast de-bittering treatment. 2 operation tank 15, first centrifuge 16, third operation tank 17, second centrifuge 18, and debittered mud yeast tank 19. Hereinafter, these configurations will be described together with the procedure of the debittering process.

The muddy yeast tank 11 stores, for example, muddy yeast recovered after the fermentation process in the production process of beer-like beverages such as beer-like and miscellaneous liquors. Yeast stored for debittering treatment is limited to yeast for beer-like malt beverages such as brewer's yeast and happoshu yeast, and yeast for beer-like beverages such as miscellaneous liquors, as long as the yeast is attached to the decke. Instead, any of wine yeast, baker's yeast, sake yeast, whiskey yeast, and other brewing yeasts may be used. Examples of the brewer's yeast include Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It is preferable to store the muddy yeast at around 10 ° C as much as possible. On the other hand, the sodium carbonate dissolution tank 12 stores a sodium carbonate aqueous solution having a predetermined concentration as an alkaline aqueous solution. When solid sodium carbonate is dissolved in water, it decomposes with time, so that the sodium carbonate dissolution tank 12 is charged with the amount of solid sodium carbonate used in a day's treatment and dissolved with water. However, since sodium carbonate is difficult to dissolve in normal temperature water, first, warm water of about 40 ° C. is introduced into the sodium carbonate dissolution tank 12 to dissolve solid sodium carbonate, and then normal temperature water is dissolved in the sodium carbonate dissolution tank 12. And the solution is diluted to a predetermined concentration. When the amount of muddy yeast charged into the muddy yeast tank 11 is 25 KL (kiloliter) per day, 250 g of solid sodium carbonate is dissolved in 2.5 m ³ of water. In this case, the capacity of the sodium carbonate dissolution tank 12 may be about 3 m ³ .

  The first operation tank 13 is charged with the muddy yeast extracted from the muddy yeast tank 11. A sodium carbonate aqueous solution stored in the sodium carbonate dissolution tank 12 is added to the muddy yeast. Thereby, muddy yeast is disperse | distributed in sodium carbonate aqueous solution in the operation tank 13, and the filterability at the time of the decking process mentioned later is improved. The amount of the sodium carbonate aqueous solution to be added may be appropriately set. For example, 100 kg of sodium carbonate is added per 10 KL of muddy yeast. After the addition, the muddy yeast and the aqueous sodium carbonate solution may be stirred.

  The muddy yeast that has been washed in the first operation tank 13 for a predetermined time (for example, 1.5 hours) is then supplied to the vibratory sieve 14. In the vibration type sieve 14, mud yeast is put on a sieve having a mesh diameter of # 60 (mesh size 250 μm, wire diameter φ0.173 mm), and vibration is given to the sieve to perform a deke removal process. Is called. As a result, the mecked yeast decke (hop resin or the like) is captured on the sieve mesh, and the muddy yeast from which the decke has been removed passes through the mesh.

  Mud yeast filtered by the vibration sieve 14 is introduced into the second operation tank 15. Cold water is added to the muddy yeast after filtration. The cold water may be added in a conduit that leads the muddy yeast from the vibrating sieve 14 to the second operation tank 15, or prior to the introduction of the muddy yeast, the second operation tank is previously provided. 15 may be injected. It is necessary to use cold water that has been sterilized. In the second operation tank 15, the muddy yeast from which the decke has been removed and the cold water are agitated to wash the muddy yeast.

  The muddy yeast washed with cold water in the second operation tank 15 is then supplied to the first centrifuge 16. In the centrifuge 16, the muddy yeast washed in the second operation tank 15 is dehydrated using centrifugal force. The dehydrated yeast is introduced into the third operation tank 17. Cold water is added to the yeast in the third operation tank 17. The cold water may be added in a conduit that leads the yeast from the centrifuge 16 to the third operation tank 17, or is injected into the third operation tank 17 in advance prior to the introduction of the yeast. Also good. In the third operation tank 17, the dehydrated yeast is agitated with cold water and washed. In addition, it is necessary to use the sterilized cold water, and the temperature is preferably about 10 ° C. If the temperature of the cold water is high (for example, 30 ° C. or higher), the rate of decrease in yeast weight may be high.

  After washing by the third operation tank 17, the yeast is again returned to the centrifuge 16 and dehydrated, and the dehydrated yeast is again introduced into the third operation tank 17 and washed with cold water. After the processing by the centrifuge 16 and the third operation tank 17 is repeated a predetermined number of times (for example, 3 to 4 times), the yeast taken out from the third operation tank 17 is supplied to the second centrifuge 18. The The centrifuge 18 performs a dehydration process for final moisture adjustment of the yeast. After dehydration, the pH of the yeast is examined. If the pH is less than 8.0, it is determined that the dealkalization washing is completed, and the dehydrated yeast is introduced into the debittered mud yeast tank 19. If the pH is 8.0 or more, the cleaning by the third operation tank 17 is performed again, the dehydration process is performed by the centrifuge 18, and the pH is inspected again. In addition, since the yeast to which sodium carbonate is added turns brown, it is desirable to confirm the yeast color when the yeast is received from the third operation tank 17 into the centrifuge 18.

  The yeast stored in the debittered mud yeast tank 19 is then appropriately taken out and sent to a dry yeast production facility, a yeast extract production facility, or the like.

  According to the yeast de-bittering treatment apparatus and method described above, since the sodium carbonate aqueous solution is added to the muddy yeast to disperse the yeast before the decke is removed by the vibration sieve 14, the yeast is vibrated. Clogging is unlikely to occur in the sieving machine 14, and the mesh diameter of the sieve can be set to a fine size of # 60. When the removal of the deck is preceded without adding the aqueous sodium carbonate solution, the size of the sieve is limited to about # 32. In comparison with this, according to the present embodiment, the deke removal amount is improved about 10 times, and the deke processing capacity of the vibration type sieve machine 14 is improved about twice. Thereby, the debitter taste processing capability can be improved significantly.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, since the yeast is washed with a centrifuge while adding cold water after removing the decke, the alkaline component can be immediately removed to suppress the color change of the yeast. In addition, a decrease in yeast weight can be suppressed by appropriately setting the cold water temperature.

  In the above embodiment, the sodium carbonate dissolution tank 12 and the first operation tank 13 are used as the debittering means, the vibration sieve 14 is used as the deke removal means, the second operation tank 15, the first centrifuge 16, The combination of the third operation tank 17 and the second centrifuge 18 corresponds to the alkali component removing means. However, the present invention is not limited to the above form, and may be implemented in an appropriate form. For example, the alkaline aqueous solution added to the muddy yeast is not limited to the sodium carbonate aqueous solution, but may be a sodium hydroxide aqueous solution, a potassium carbonate aqueous solution, or the like. The deck removal means is not limited to the vibration type sieve, but can be appropriately changed as long as the decke present in the muddy yeast can be removed. The mesh diameter of the sieve of the vibration type sieve machine 14 is not limited to # 60, and may be smaller (fine) than this. The water washing means may have an appropriate configuration as long as the muddy yeast can be washed with cold water and dehydrated. The second operation tank 15 and the third operation tank 17 may be combined.

The figure which shows the outline | summary of the debitter taste processing apparatus of the yeast which concerns on one form of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10 Debittering processing equipment 11 Mud yeast tank (storage tank)
12 Sodium carbonate dissolution tank (means to remove bitterness)
13 1st operation tank (debittering means)
14 Vibrating sieve (Decke removal means)
15 Second operation tank (alkali component removing means)
16 1st centrifuge (alkali component removing means)
17 Third cleaning tank (alkali component removing means)
18 Second centrifuge (alkali component removing means)
19 Debittering Muddy Yeast Tank

Claims (5)

In a debittering treatment apparatus for yeast that removes bitter substances from muddy yeast collected after the fermentation process,
A storage tank for storing the muddy yeast, a debittering means for debittering the muddy yeast by mixing the muddy yeast extracted from the storage tank and an alkaline aqueous solution, and the yeast after the debittering taste And a deke removal means for removing the dekke content of the yeast.   The yeast de-bittering treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the decking removing means is a vibrating sieve.   The apparatus for de-bittering taste of yeast according to claim 2, wherein the mesh size of the sieve of the vibration type sieve is # 60 or finer.   The yeast de-bittering treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising alkaline component removal means for performing washing and dehydration of the yeast from which the decke has been removed with cold water. In the debittering treatment method for yeast that removes bitter substances from muddy yeast recovered after the fermentation process,
A debittering step for debittering the muddy yeast by mixing the muddy yeast and an aqueous alkaline solution, and a dekke removal step for removing the dekke content of the yeast after the debittering taste, Yeast bitterness treatment method.

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