JP3056947B2 - Moromi mashing tank - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mashing tank.
More particularly, it relates to an apparatus suitable for sake production.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to understand the present invention, an outline of a method for producing sake is first described. In the manufacture of sake, rice is first refined and then steamed to steamed rice, and a portion of the steamed rice is used to make koji. Then, koji, water and a seed yeast are added to a part of the steamed rice to make a sake mother. At this time, minerals such as lactic acid and “potassium phosphate” which is a nutrient source of yeast may be added in order to suppress the propagation of various bacteria. Steamed rice, koji and water are added to the sake brewer thus prepared, and the mash is subjected to alcoholic fermentation. The moromi after the fermentation is squeezed and separated into a liquid part (sake) and a solid part (sake lees). In this case, depending on the composition, addition of brewing alcohol or addition of brewing sugar (generally referred to as “four-stage addition”) may be performed before the moromi squeezing step. The squeezed sake is usually sterilized by heating and stored in a tank.

[0003] In the production of the above-mentioned sake, many people rely on the experience and intuition of skilled workers, such as Toji, in padding (mixing) and temperature control of the raw materials, but in recent years, labor has been reduced in production control. In order to streamline and streamline, a mechanical stirring device with a jacket has been developed and put into practical use as a brewing tank for sake production. For example, as shown in FIG.
There is known a stirrer in which a stirrer 23 is attached to a stirrer shaft 22 connected to a stirrer 1 (see Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 51-9094). According to this stirrer, in the initial stage of preparation in which steamed rice swells and solidifies due to a large amount of solid content, an operation close to a manual rough paddle is possible, but the movement of the solid material is poor, and the solid material is moved up and down. Since the movement is not promoted, there is a drawback that quality / temperature management (hereinafter referred to as “product temperature management”) cannot be performed sufficiently. Furthermore, when the steamed rice is liquefied and saccharified and the solid content is reduced to a state where it is easy to flow, flow stirring of the liquid raw material is insufficient in the preparation with this type of stirring device, and the flow between the fluid flowing through the mantle 24 is not sufficient. Heat exchange is not performed well, and product temperature management becomes extremely unsatisfactory. Further, there is a disadvantage that the above-described four-stage addition and stirring and mixing at the time of alcohol addition cannot be sufficiently performed.

[0004] In addition, in a stirring apparatus having two or three stages of paddle blades or turbine blades, stirring and mixing can be performed at a stage where steamed rice is easily liquefied and saccharified and then fluidized. In the early stage, it is not possible to perform the reciprocating agitation of “rough paddle”, and there is a disadvantage that steamed rice grains are mechanically crushed and gelatinized.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and has as its object to prepare a solid state of steamed rice, which is a raw material, in the initial stage of preparation in the production of foods, particularly sake. Turn over and up and down stirring and liquefaction, perform sufficient stirring and mixing in the fluidized state after saccharification,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a moromi mashing tank capable of producing high-quality sake under good quality control conditions.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the gist of the present invention is to provide a main stirring shaft rotatable in the vertical direction at the center of a cylindrical raw material charging tank having a shell at a body and a bottom. A spiral blade formed in a spiral shape is arranged near the inner surface of the raw material charging tank, and the spiral blade is connected to a plurality of support arms extending in a radial direction from the main stirring shaft. A paddle blade is fixed to a lower end portion, and further, a cutting blade for cutting down a raw material in a raw material charging tank is provided between a main stirring shaft and a spiral blade in a vertical direction. According to a first aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a moromi mashing tank is characterized in that the sectional shape of the cutting blade is tapered in the rotation direction.

[0007]

[Function] Into the raw material charging tank, charge the charging water, koji rice (to which liquefaction enzyme and saccharifying enzyme are added as necessary), steamed rice and sake mother, and rotate the main stirring shaft at a low speed (2 to 10 rotations per minute). When rotating slowly, the steamed rice, which is a solid substance, is turned up by the spiral wings, and the steamed rice deposited at the bottom is slowly pushed up to the upper part. The steamed rice in the upper part is drawn downward from the vicinity of the center part, further pushed outward by paddle blades, and then pushed up by spiral blades. In this way, the stirring and mixing is performed in a state close to the manual rough paddle operation so as not to violate the steamed rice grains.
Eventually, when the steamed rice is melted by koji and liquefaction and saccharification progress,
By the above-mentioned action by the spiral wing, paddle wing and face,
The moromi is stirred and mixed. When the liquefaction further proceeds, the rotation speed of the main stirring shaft is slightly increased (about 8 to 20 rotations per minute), and the liquid is stirred and mixed mainly by the paddle blade and the spiral blade. During the stirring and mixing, appropriate product temperature control is performed by heat exchange between the fluid flowing in the mantle and the raw material in the preparation tank. Thus, the reciprocal mixing in a state with a large amount of solids and the fluid mixing in a state with a large amount of liquefied matter are efficiently performed under a good temperature control state, and a product of excellent quality can be obtained.

[0008]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1A, reference numeral 1 denotes a raw material charging tank;
Reference numerals a and 2b denote jackets provided on the trunk and the bottom, respectively. 3
a, 3b are supply and discharge ports of a cooling medium (cold water, hot water or steam) to the mantle 2a, and 4a and 4b are supply and discharge ports of a cooling medium (cold water, hot water or steam) to the mantle 2b, respectively. Exit. In the present embodiment, since the body jacket 2a and the bottom jacket 2b are separately attached to the main body of the raw material charging tank 1, they do not communicate with each other.
Therefore, for example, by supplying a coolant to the body jacket 2a and supplying a heat medium to the bottom mantle 2b, it is possible to cool the content liquid of the body part and heat the content liquid of the bottom part simultaneously or independently. Operation becomes possible, and there is an advantage that more appropriate and precise product temperature management can be performed. Of course, a cooling medium may be supplied to 2a and 2b in the opposite manner. When the precise temperature control as described above is unnecessary, the body jacket 2a and the bottom jacket 2b may be integrally attached to the main body of the raw material charging tank 1. In the upper part of the raw material charging tank 1, a raw material inlet 5 is provided.
A processing liquid outlet 6 is provided at the center of the bottom.

A rotatable main stirring shaft 7 is disposed in the center of the raw material charging tank 1 in a vertical direction, and the main stirring shaft 7 is connected to a continuously variable transmission driving device 8 installed above the raw material charging tank 1. I have.
A spiral blade 9 formed in a spiral shape and provided near the inner surface of the raw material charging tank 1 is connected to a plurality of support arms 10a, 10b, and 10c extending from the main stirring shaft 7 in the radial direction. Although the U-shaped bolt is used in FIG. 1A for the method of connecting the spiral blade 9, the present invention is not limited to this, and other connection methods, for example, the spiral blade 9 and the support arm 10 a,
10b and 10c may be welded. The spiral blade 9 is installed along the inner surface of the charging tank 1 over approximately 180 °. That is, the spiral starts to be wound from the support arm 10a.
The winding is finished at c (see FIG. 3 which is a plan view). Further, the spiral blade 9 may be wound over approximately 360 °. Further, a cutting blade 12 is fixed to the arm 11 and the support arm 10a extending in the opposite direction from the support arm 10c, and a paddle blade 13 is fixed to the lower end of the main stirring shaft 7. Although the number of the paddle blades 13 in this embodiment is two, four may be used. Further, the paddle blades in the present embodiment are inclined paddle blades, but are not limited to this shape, and may be ordinary paddle blades that do not tilt. 14 is a discharge valve, and 15 is a thermometer.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the cross section of the cutting blade 12 is tapered in the rotation direction and slightly rounded.

The spiral blade 9 smoothes the turning movement of the solid material, but the effect can be further enhanced by the cutting blade 12 for cutting down the raw material. Further, since the spiral wing 9 is arranged close to the inner surface of the raw material charging tank 1, the contents near the inner surface of the trunk of the raw material charging tank 1 are rotated by the rotation of the spiral blade 9, so that the body of the raw material charging tank 1 is rotated. There is an advantage that the heat transfer effect from the mantle is improved because of the smooth movement to the upper part along. The outer diameter of the spiral blade 9 varies depending on the blade width of the spiral blade 9 and the physical properties of the contents, but it is sufficient that the outer diameter is approximately 70% or more of the inner diameter of the raw material charging tank 1. Furthermore, it is more effective if the inner diameter of the raw material charging tank 1 is approximately 90%. When the spiral blade 9 is a large charging tank or when it is necessary to switch the strength, as shown in FIG. 2, the spiral blade 9 is close to the inner surface of the charging tank opposite to the side facing the spiral blade 9 in FIG. In order to do so, it is preferable to provide another spiral wing 9a. In the case of a large charging tank, the main stirring shaft 7, the supporting arms 10a, 10b, 10
c, the spiral blade 9 and the pitched paddle blade 13 have a double structure, and by passing cold or hot water through them, it is possible to maintain good control of the material temperature of the raw material.

FIG. 3 shows a spiral wing 9 and supporting arms 10a, 10b,
It is the top view which looked at 10c from the top.

In this case, the cross section of the face 12 is triangular. The cross-sectional shape of the cutting blade 12 may be slightly rounded as shown in FIG. The point is that it only has to be tapered in the rotation direction.

[0014]

As described above, the present invention has the following advantages. When the amount of solids in the raw material is large, the main stirring shaft is rotated at a low speed, and the spiral blade, cutting blade, and pitched paddle blade cut and cut the raw material without crushing, and the vertical movement of the raw material and stirring and mixing are performed. It is performed smoothly, and at the same time, temperature control for promoting liquefaction, saccharification, or fermentation is performed through heat transfer with the mantle. When the liquid substance increases with the progress of liquefaction and saccharification, by rotating the main stirring shaft slightly faster, the flow stirring and mixing of the raw material is smoothly performed mainly by the spiral blade and the pitched paddle blade, and at the same time, between the outer jacket By means of heat transfer, a product of good quality can be obtained under constant temperature control. Furthermore, by arranging the mantle separately on the body part and the bottom part of the raw material charging tank, better and more precise product temperature control becomes possible.

The apparatus of the present invention can be widely applied not only to alcoholic beverages but also to the production of foods having liquefaction and fermentation steps using grains as raw materials.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a sectional view of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG.
(B) is sectional drawing of a cutting blade.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a spiral wing and a support arm.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional stirring device provided with a notch stirring blade.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Material supply tank 2a, 2b ... Jacket 3a, 4a ... Supply port 3b, 4b ... Discharge port 5 ... Material input port 6 ... Processing liquid discharge port 7 ... Main stirring shaft 8 ... Continuously variable speed drive 9, 9a ... Spiral Blades 10a, 10b, 10c Support arm 11 Arm 12 Cutting blade 13 Paddle blade 14 Discharge valve 15 Thermometer 21 Motor 22 Stirring shaft 23 Cutting stirrer blade 24 Jacket

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) C12G 3/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A main stirring shaft is rotatably arranged in a central portion of a cylindrical raw material charging tank having a shell at a body portion and a bottom portion so as to be rotatable in a vertical direction, and is formed in a spiral shape close to an inner surface of the raw material charging tank. Helical blades are connected, the spiral blades are connected to a plurality of support arms extending radially from the main stirring shaft, paddle blades are fixed to the lower end of the main stirring shaft, and the main stirring shaft and the spiral blades are further fixed. A moromi mashing tank provided with cutting blades for cutting down the raw material in the mashing tank in the vertical direction between the mashing tank and the mash . 2. The mash filling according to claim 1, wherein the cross-sectional shape of the cutting blade is tapered in the rotation direction.
Tank .