JPH10179132A - Production of low-alcohol sake - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To produced a low-alcohol Sake(a Japanese fermented, mildly alcoholic beverage made from rice) rich in ethanol content at 3-12% ethanol concentration. SOLUTION: (1) A fraction containing a large amount of an ester component is initially separated from a Sake and (2) an alcoholic fraction consisting essentially of ethanol is then separated from the Sake. (3) The alcoholic fraction containing a large amount of the ester component in (1) is mixed with the resultant concentrate of the Sake in a process for distilling the Sake under a reduced pressure and producing the low-alcohol Sake.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a process for producing low-alcohol sake by distilling sake under reduced pressure. First, distillation is performed for the purpose of recovering an ester component, and then alcohol is reduced. Perform a second distillation,
By remixing the previously recovered ester component with the sake concentrate having a reduced alcohol content, the ester component is equal to or higher than that of ordinary sake and the ethanol concentration is 3%.
The present invention provides a method for producing a low-alcohol sake, characterized in that the content of the alcoholic beverage is about 12%.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Sake (original sake) brewed by a conventional method originally has an ethanol concentration of 17 to 21%. In general, sake as a commercial product is generally added to this sake liquor as appropriate, diluted to an ethanol concentration of 13 to 16%, and then consumed as it is. However, in recent years, demand for beer and other low-alcohol-concentration liquors has increased, and softening of alcoholic beverages has been progressing. Sake is no exception. However, simply adding a large amount of water to the sake liquor will cause the balance of alcohol, acidity, and umami (amino acids) to be lost, resulting in wateriness.

[0003] In order to reduce the alcohol content without excessively diluting the extract content of sake, a method of distilling sake under reduced pressure is generally known. The ester component giving a gorgeous impression disappears.

[0004]

[Table 1]

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-295470, a sake concentrate obtained by distilling sake under reduced pressure is used as a "production method of non-alcoholic sake", but the original aroma of sake is also lost. Therefore, the fragrance of cedar is added as a means to compensate for the missing part. This scent is different from the original scent of sake even if it is in harmony with the sake concentrate.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, there is provided a method for producing low-alcohol sake which is rich in ester components and has an ethanol concentration of 3 to 12% in low-alcohol sake obtained by distilling sake under reduced pressure. Things.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems The present inventors have conducted intensive studies to solve the above-mentioned problems, and as a result, have conducted at least two distillations under reduced pressure at different ratios of distilled ethanol to sake as a raw material.
It has been found that it can be achieved by performing it several times. That is, in the present invention, in the process of producing a low alcohol sake by vacuum distillation of sake, (1) first, a fraction containing a large amount of ester components is separated from the sake, and (2) a fraction containing ethanol as a main component is then separated. A method for producing a low-alcohol sake, comprising separating from the sake, (3) mixing the resulting sake concentrate with a fraction containing a large amount of the ester component of (1).

[0008] Sake used as a raw material in the present invention can be a common one, and for example, it is preferable to use a sake brewed by a conventional method and having an ethanol concentration of 17 to 21%. The term "reduced pressure distillation" as used herein refers to a method in which a liquid or slurry-like substance is appropriately heated at a pressure lower than the atmospheric pressure, a volatile component is evaporated, and then cooled and recondensed for recovery.

The first vacuum distillation is a distillation for recovering the ester component. The esters distilled here include ethyl acetate, isoamyl acetate, ethyl caproate and the like. At this time, it is preferable that the ratio of the distilled ethanol is 3% or less based on the raw sake, since the ester component having higher volatility than ethanol is preferentially recovered. The ratio of the ethanol to be distilled can be set by a known method, for example, the amount of the raw material sake and the steam that come into contact with each other or the degree of reduced pressure for performing the distillation. By this step, 55 to 95% of the ester component contained in the sake is removed, and the remaining ethanol concentration in the sake is preferably 75 to 95% of the raw material sake. If the ester component cannot be sufficiently distilled off in one operation, the distillation under the same conditions can be performed again. Then, the second vacuum distillation,
This is distillation for the purpose of reducing alcohol components in sake. The alcohols removed here include ethanol,
Examples include n-propyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, amyl alcohol and the like. In this step,
Alcohols are distilled off to lower the alcohol so that the ratio of the distilled ethanol to the raw material becomes 10% or more. By this step, the ethanol concentration in the remaining sake is preferably 10 to 70% of the raw sake.

The thus obtained low alcohol sake concentrate is appropriately watered, and the ester component obtained in the first distillation is mixed again. The amount of water to be added can be calculated from the alcohol concentration in the finally obtained sake and the alcohol concentration of the remixed ester component. As the ester component to be remixed, a component originally contained in the raw sake may be mixed, or an ester component of another sake may be mixed.

According to the above-mentioned method, it is possible to obtain the desired low alcohol sake having an ethanol concentration of 3 to 12%. Sake with lower ethanol concentration (including alcohol with traces of alcohol or beverages with ethanol concentration of 0%)
Can be produced by increasing the amount of steam introduced so that the ethanol concentration of the residual liquid after the second vacuum distillation in the above-mentioned production process becomes 10% or less of the raw sake. Furthermore, the fraction distilled off can be used as ethanol using sake as a raw material, for example, as high-grade shochu or as alcohol for adding sake mash.

In carrying out the present invention, the vacuum distillation apparatus is not particularly specified, and any known apparatus and method can be used, but the first distillation is intended to recover a small amount of a highly volatile ester component. Therefore, it is possible to use a device capable of continuously feeding the raw material and steam and continuously distilling out the ester component and the alcohol component, for example, a thin-film gas-liquid countercurrent distillation device. This apparatus includes, for example, the following. A funnel-shaped rotating plate having a rotating shaft vertically installed in the center of a vertically installed cylindrical column vessel and having an inverted conical side wall, with the bottom side facing upwards, and A rotating plate fixed to the rotating shaft such that the rotational symmetry axis of the rotating container overlaps with the rotating shaft in the column container, and a funnel-shaped fixed plate having an inverted truncated cone-shaped side wall, with the lower base facing upward and It has an internal structure in which a plurality of fixing plates fixed to the inner wall of the column are alternately provided such that the rotationally symmetric axis of the truncated cone overlaps with the rotational axis in the column container. Under reduced pressure,
The raw material that has flowed down from the upper part of the column while rotating the shaft flows down to the center on a stationary plate having the shape of a frustoconical side, and falls onto a rotary plate having the shape of a lower conical side. The dropped raw material is formed into a thin film by centrifugal force, moves on the rotating plate toward the inner wall of the cylinder, reaches the inner wall of the column container, and flows down onto the fixed plate having the shape of the side surface of the lower truncated cone.
This is a gas-liquid countercurrent contact device that can transfer the ester component or alcohol component in the liquid into the vapor by raising the vapor from the lower part of the column and performing gas-liquid countercurrent contact while repeating this process. . Use of this apparatus is desirable because the ester component does not volatilize until a predetermined reduced pressure condition is reached.

An example of the method for producing sake of the present invention using the gas-liquid countercurrent contact device will be described below. (1) First, using 1000 parts by weight of sake, under reduced pressure, 20
The distillation is carried out at a temperature of from 70 to 70 ° C., preferably from 25 to 65 ° C., more preferably from 30 to 55 ° C., and a distillation ratio of from 0.5 to 3%. The distilling ratio can be set by increasing or decreasing the ratio of the steam to be fed to the raw sake in the range of 0.3 to 5%. The fraction obtained here contains an ester component of about 60 to 95% of the original liquor, and the ethanol concentration is 6%.
It is about 0 to 80%. (2) Next, the sake concentrate obtained in (1) is distilled under the same environment as in the above step, under the condition of a distillation ratio of 10 to 30%. Distillation ratio is the ratio of steam to raw sake 7
It can be set by increasing or decreasing in the range of ~ 35%. The fraction obtained here has an ethanol concentration of 35-6.
It is about 5%. (3) To 960 parts by weight of the sake concentrate obtained in (2),
By mixing 10 parts by weight of the ethanol component obtained in (1) and 30 parts by weight of water, 1000 parts by weight of low-alcohol sake with 10% ethanol can be obtained.

By the above-mentioned production method, it is possible to obtain a low-alcohol sake which is rich in an ester component, and in some cases, contains an ester component equal to or higher than that of ordinary sake, and has an ethanol concentration of 3 to 12%.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. FIG. 1 shows a process chart of an embodiment of the present invention. (1) 1 genuine brewed sake (brand name: Tokumusume component: sake content +1.0 alcohol content: 19.3%, acidity: 1.8 amino acid content: 1.6)
000 parts by weight were used.

A gas-liquid countercurrent contact device is a funnel-shaped rotating plate having a rotating shaft vertically installed at the center in a vertically installed cylindrical column vessel and having an inverted conical side wall. A rotating plate fixed to the rotating shaft such that the axis of symmetry of the cone is overlapped with the rotating shaft in the column container, and a funnel-shaped fixed plate having an inverted frustoconical side wall. Then, a device having an internal structure in which a plurality of fixed plates fixed to the inner wall of the column were alternately arranged such that the lower base was directed upward and the rotationally symmetric axis of the truncated cone overlapped with the rotational axis in the column container was prepared. . The apparatus includes a rotating plate and a fixed plate.
The diameter of the bottom of the column was about 300 mm.

The above-mentioned unrefined liquor was preheated to about 36 ° C. from the upper part of the column of the apparatus by a preheater, and then charged at a rate of 500 parts by weight per hour. (2) At this time, the rotating cone in the column was rotated at a speed of 700 revolutions per minute, and the internal pressure of the column was set to minus 97.5 kPa. Further, steam was introduced from the lower part of the column at a rate of 5 parts by weight per hour. (3) Although there is no temperature control means in the column, when the apparatus is operated under the above conditions, the temperature at the upper part of the column is about 38 ° C. and the temperature at the lower part of the column is about 40 ° C. In a steady state, alcohol containing a large amount of ester components was vaporized and distilled off from the upper part of the column, and the gas was cooled and liquefied. As a first alcohol fraction, the total amount was 10 parts by weight at a rate of 5 parts by hour. Was recovered. (4) Sake components not recovered from the upper part of the column were discharged from the lower part of the column as a first distillation residue at a rate of 500 parts by weight per hour, for a total amount of 1,000 parts by weight. If necessary, it may be cooled to 20 ° C. or lower for the purpose of maintaining quality. (5) Next, the pressure condition in the column was the same as in (2), and the first distillation residue of (4) was brought to about 36 ° C. by a preheater from the top of the column in which the input amount of steam was set to 22 parts by weight per hour. After preheating, it was charged at a rate of 200 parts by weight per hour. (6) Although there is no temperature control means in the column, when this apparatus was operated under the above conditions, the column upper temperature was about 36 ° C, the column lower temperature was about 40 ° C, and the gas-liquid equilibrium was in a steady state. The alcohol mainly composed of ester was vaporized and distilled off from the upper part of the column, and the gas was cooled to liquefy, and was converted to a second alcohol fraction at an hourly rate of 3%.
A total of 150 parts by weight was collected at a rate of 0 parts by weight. (7) A total of 960 parts by weight of the sake components not recovered from the upper part of the column were discharged from the lower part of the column as a second distillation residue at a rate of 192 parts by weight per hour. If necessary, it may be cooled to 20 ° C. or lower for the purpose of maintaining quality. (8) To 960 parts by weight of the second distillation residue obtained in (7),
By mixing 10 parts by weight of the primary alcohol fraction obtained in (3) and 30 parts by weight of water, an ethanol concentration of 1 part was obtained.
1000 parts by weight of 0.0% low-alcohol sake (component: sake degree minus 12.5 alcohol content 10.0% acidity 1.9 amino acid degree 1.7) was obtained.

The obtained low-alcohol sake retains the gorgeous aroma of the ester, has no off-flavor such as burnt off-flavor, and does not feel watery, and was highly evaluated by panelists. When the secondary alcohol fraction obtained in (6) was evaluated for liquor, it was evaluated as having no off-flavor and off-flavor, and being round and tasty. In carrying out the present method, a high temperature of 50 ° C. or more is preferable in terms of distillation efficiency, but distillation was performed at a low temperature as much as possible in order not to change the original aroma and taste of sake and to avoid coloring.

Table 2 shows the analysis values of the general component and the fragrance component of each fraction.

[0020]

[Table 2]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows steps in an example.

Claims (3)

[Claims] In the process of producing a low-alcohol sake by distilling the sake under reduced pressure, (1) first, a fraction containing a large amount of ester components is separated from the sake, and (2) a fraction mainly containing ethanol is then separated. A process for producing low alcohol sake, comprising separating the sake concentrate from the sake, and (3) mixing the resulting sake concentrate with the fraction containing a large amount of the ester component of (1). 2. When separating a fraction containing a large amount of an ester component, the ratio of the distilled alcohol is 3 to the raw sake.
% Or less. 3. A means for performing distillation under reduced pressure has a structure in which a rotating cone and a fixed cone are alternately combined. Under reduced pressure, sake is allowed to flow down from above into a thin film on the rotating cone, and steam is passed from below. The method for producing low-alcohol sake according to claim 1, wherein a gas-liquid countercurrent contacting device is used to raise the liquid.