JP2018096699A - Beer foam texture measurement device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device which can measure texture of beer foam easily and precisely.SOLUTION: A light emitting element 10 such as an LED is disposed on an inner surface of a cylindrical body 1 capable of housing a beer mug or the like, at a height position corresponding to a portion of foam formed from a beer poured into a cup or a portion of a bubble being rising slightly below the portion of the formed foam to become the foam. A light receiving element 11 is disposed on the inner surface of the cylindrical body opposing to the light emitting element. Fineness of texture of the foam is determined from an attenuation amount of light transmitted through the portion of the foam or immediately below the portion.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring the texture of foam of beer.

One of the beer umami indexes is the fineness of the foam texture, and Patent Documents 1 to 4 describe the contents related to foam.

Patent Document 1 proposes a beer server having a structure in which beer can be poured into a glass and foam converted from beer can be placed thereon as a home beer server.

Patent Document 2 proposes a method for removing beer stones and yeast rings by using a composition containing alkanesulfonic acid as a method for purifying beer production or storage equipment.

  Patent Document 3 proposes adjusting the total amount of extract derived from wheat to 0.1 to 2% by weight as a method of stabilizing the foam of beer, sparkling liquor or beer-taste beverage.

In Patent Document 4, as a beer frothing tool capable of generating creamy beer foam, an operation of pushing a piston into a cylinder container containing beer is performed, whereby the beer is pressurized and injected from the injection hole. A structure has been proposed in which beer is foamed in a spray-like state during the injection, and finer beer bubbles are generated when the injected beer collides with the donut plate of the partition.

JP-A-2015-113116 Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2015-70841 JP 2013-78332 A JP 2012-229048 A

  In order to make bubbles fine in canned beer and bottled beer, it is necessary to pay attention to the pouring method and the temperature of the glass (mug), but when pouring beer from a server installed in a store such as a beer garden, in addition to the above, There are many factors such as the state of yeast and the washing state of the glass, and management is troublesome.

  Also, if the fineness of the bubbles is judged by just looking with the eyes, or if the toothpick is pushed up against the bubbles, there will be individual differences in the judgment results, and a certain quality cannot be maintained.

  The above-mentioned patent document proposes a method for producing beer in which bubbles become finer and stabilization of the resulting bubbles. However, the fineness of beer bubbles poured into a glass can be accurately and quickly determined based on objective data. There is no suggestion about displaying in the.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the beer foam texture measuring apparatus according to the present invention is a portion that becomes beer foam poured into a container inside a cylindrical body capable of storing a container such as a glass (mug) from above. Alternatively, a light emitting element is provided at a height position corresponding to a part where bubbles are rising slightly below the part that becomes bubbles, and a light receiving element is provided at a position facing the light emitting element on the inner surface of the cylinder, The texture (density) of the foam was measured by detecting how much light from the light emitting element was attenuated.

  The taste of beer is greatly affected by temperature. Therefore, in addition to the light emitting element and the light receiving element, a sensor of a non-contact type thermometer (infrared radiation thermometer) that measures the temperature of the surface of the container may be provided on the inner surface of the cylindrical body.

With the beer foam texture measuring apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to instantly know the fineness of foam texture, which is an indicator of the beer's taste, by a simple operation.
Further, the texture of the foam of beer is sensual and can be expressed numerically in the past, and there are great individual differences. However, according to the apparatus of the present invention, this can be expressed objectively.

Whole perspective view of beer foam texture measuring apparatus according to the present invention Sectional drawing which shows the internal structure of the texture measuring apparatus of the foam of the beer Figure similar to FIG. 2 showing another embodiment FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing another embodiment.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The beer foam texture measuring apparatus includes a cylindrical main body 1. The cylindrical body 1 is large enough to cover the beer glass 2 or the mug from above, and is made of metal or opaque plastic so as not to be disturbed by blocking light from the outside.

  A slit 3 is formed on the side surface of the cylindrical main body 1 so that the gripping portion of the mug is exposed to the outside, and a height adjusting member 4 is provided on the bottom to match the height of the glass 2 and the mug.

  A hollow portion 5 is provided in the upper portion of the cylindrical main body 1, a CPU board 6 is fixed in the hollow portion 5, and a battery 7 is replaceably disposed on the CPU board 6. An LCD display (display unit) 8 electrically connected to the CPU board 6 is attached to the upper surface, and an upper end portion of the switch 9 protrudes from the upper surface of the cylindrical main body 1.

  A light emitting element 10 such as an LED is attached at a height corresponding to the position of beer foam poured into the glass 2 on the inner surface of the cylindrical main body 1, and the inner surface of the cylindrical main body 1 facing the light emitting element 10 is attached. A light receiving element 11 is attached, and a sensor 12 of a non-contact type thermometer is attached below the light receiving element 11, and the light emitting element 10, the light receiving element 11 and the sensor 12 are electrically connected to the CUP board 6. ing.

  Note that when the light from the light emitting element 10 hits the upper edge of the glass 2, the light travels in an unscheduled direction due to the lens effect.

  In the above, while the light emitted from the light emitting element 10 reaches the light receiving element 11, the light is attenuated because it is transmitted through the bubble, and the amount of attenuation is compared with a calibration curve prepared in advance, whereby the texture (density) of the bubble. Can know.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another embodiment. In this embodiment, the display unit is not provided on the upper surface of the main body 1, and the measurement result is transmitted to the receiver 13 such as a smart phone. It is possible to know the details. In the illustrated example, quality management of a plurality of stores can be performed at one place using a cloud system.

  Further, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the height positions of the light emitting element 10 and the light receiving element 11 are set to a liquid (beer) slightly lower than the foamed portion. If the light from the light emitting element 10 is not strong, it is also conceivable that the transmitted light cannot be sufficiently sensed by the light receiving element if the amount of attenuation when transmitting the bubbles is large. Therefore, the light from the light emitting element 10 is applied to a position slightly below the boundary surface between the beer and the beer, which is transparent to some extent and in which a large amount of bubbles are rising.

  Specifically, the number of bubbles per unit area and the size of the bubbles are measured based on the same principle as the particle counter, and the fineness of the bubbles when the bubbles become bubbles is determined from the results.

FIG. 4 shows still another embodiment, which is a simplified measuring apparatus in which the cylindrical body of the embodiment described above is omitted.
Specifically, a CUP board is accommodated inside the disc-shaped main body 14, two legs 15, 16 are suspended from the disc-shaped main body 14, and the light emitting element 10 is attached to the inner side surface of the leg 15. The light receiving element 11 facing the light emitting element 10 is attached to the inner side surface of the leg 16 facing the light emitting element.

In order to use this measuring device, the disc-shaped main body 14 is picked with a fingertip, and the legs 15 and 16 are inserted into the foam of beer or further downward. In this embodiment, since the distance between the light emitting element 10 and the light receiving element 11 is short, the light receiving element 11 can reliably receive light from the light emitting element 10 even if there is a large attenuation.
Even in the case of this embodiment, it is also possible to transmit the measurement results to a place where they are collectively managed via the cloud system.

  The beer foam texture measuring device according to the present invention can be used not only in a store such as a beer garden but also in a general household.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cylindrical main body, 2 ... Beer glass, 3 ... Slit, 4 ... Height adjusting member, 5 ... Hollow part, 6 ... CPU board, 7 ... Battery, 8 ... LCD display (display part), 9 ... Switch, 10 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS ... Light emitting element, 11 ... Light receiving element, 12 ... Temperature sensor, 13 ... Receiver, such as a smart phone, 14 ... Disc-shaped main body, 15,16 ... Leg part.

Claims (3)

  A light emitting device provided at a height corresponding to a portion where the foam of beer poured into the container is foamed or a portion where the foam bubbles are rising slightly below the foamed portion, and opposed to the light emitting device A beer foam texture measuring apparatus, comprising: a light receiving element provided at a position where the beer is placed.   The beer foam texture measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting element and the light receiving element are attached to an inner surface of a cylindrical body capable of storing a container containing beer or a support projecting from the inner surface of the cylindrical body. A beer foam texture measuring device.   The beer foam texture measuring apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the measurement apparatus includes a sensor for measuring the temperature of beer.