JPS6028273B2 - automatic koji making machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a koji making machine that automatically produces koji for sake, koji for seasoned salmon, and the like.

Conventional koji making machines culture bacteria by alternately introducing air with controlled temperature and humidity from below and above a culture container containing sediment inoculated with aerobic bacteria.

As described in Patent No. 274550 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 35-15433), when making koji, the moisture and temperature distribution inside the layer of sediment inoculated with aerobic bacteria is averaged, and the longitudinal distribution inside the layer is It has been ideal to measure the average temperature and to minimize the difference between the measured temperature and a preset target average temperature. However, the conventional patent No. 27
When making koji using the apparatus shown in Figure 2 of No. 455, the following problems occurred.

That is, simply inserting air alternately from below and above the culture container does not uniformly introduce air into the deposit. In addition, because the circulating air is replenished with small amounts of fresh air, aerobic bacteria remain only on the surface of the deposit.
Furthermore, since the deposit is structured in one layer, the temperature and humidity in the layer direction of the deposit are not uniform. As a result, good-tasting koji could not be produced. Here, the present inventor discovered that by cutting off fresh air and circulating only air containing a large amount of carbon dioxide gas, aerobic bacteria do not stay on the surface of the sediment that comes into contact with carbon dioxide gas, but instead spread the sediment. They discovered that by configuring the deposition section in multiple stages, the temperature and humidity inside the deposit layer can be made uniform.

In addition, by applying circulating air to the deposits more uniformly,
It was found that good koji could be obtained from the whole sediment. The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the apparatus and the discoveries made by the inventor, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic koji making machine that automatically produces good koji.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention uses an automatic koji making machine to discharge air alternately and diagonally across the sediment inoculated with aerobic bacteria stored in a culture container from below and above. It is characterized by being designed to be inhaled.

Next, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a culture container, and ventilation ports 2, 3, 4, and 5 for discharging and inhaling circulating air are provided on the top, bottom, left, and right sides of the culture container. Ventilation port 2
, 3, 4, and 5 each have a damper 6 that limits the amount of ventilation.
, 7, 8, and 9 are attached. In the culture container 1, deposits 10 containing aerobic bacteria and having a thickness of usually 7 to 8 cm are stacked in multiple stages (in three stages in the figure). A temperature sensor 11 and a humidity sensor 12 are buried within this deposit 10. Outputs from the temperature sensor 11 and humidity sensor 12 are connected to a control box 13 that controls a humidity regulator, blower, and damper, which will be described later. The ventilation ports 3 and 5 are connected to the ventilation passage 14 via dampers 7 and 9, respectively. Similarly, the ventilation passages 2 and 4 are also connected to the ventilation passage 15 via dampers 6 and 8, respectively. The ventilation passage 14 has two entrances and exits, one of which is connected to the ventilation passage 18 which is connected to the ventilation opening of the blower 17 via a damper 16. Also ventilation duct 15
It also has two entrances and exits, one of which is connected to the ventilation passage 18 via a damper 19. Blower 1
7 is driven by motor 2. On the other hand, a three-pronged branch pipe 21 is connected to the intake port of the blower 17.

A humidity regulator 22 that adjusts the humidity of circulating air, a filter 23 that sterilizes external air, and a damper 24 that regulates the inflow of air to the humidity regulator 22 are connected to each mouth of the branch pipe 21. There is. The other entrance and exit of the ventilation passage 14 is connected to a ventilation passage 26 via a damper 25. Similarly, other entrances and exits of the ventilation passage 15 are connected to the ventilation passage 26 via dampers 27. This ventilation passage 26 is connected to the branch pipe 2 via the humidity regulator 22 and the damper 24.
1. The other port of the filter 23 is opened to the atmosphere via the damper 28 and constitutes an air intake port. Further, a damper 29 is attached to the ventilation passage 26, which is exposed to the atmosphere and forms an air exhaust port. Next, the operation of the automatic koji making machine constructed as described above will be described. The inside of the culture container, which is filled with sediment inoculated with aerobic bacteria in multiple stages, generates heat due to the growth of bacteria.

For uniform fermentation within the bacterial deposit, it is necessary to maintain the temperature within the culture container at a constant temperature of around 60 qo. Air is circulated to keep the temperature within this culture container constant. In this case, it is preferable that the air be applied to the sediment as uniformly as possible, and as mentioned above, it is not preferable that fresh air be mixed in while the bacteria are fermenting. For this reason, the dampers 28 and 29 are kept fully closed during bacterial fermentation. Further, to apply air alternately from below and above the deposit 10 in a direction across the deposit, specifically, the following steps are repeated.

The time required for each step is about 5 minutes. 1st step: Air flow from ventilation port 2 to ventilation port 3.

Second step: Air flow from ventilation port 4 to ventilation port 5.

Third step: Air flow from ventilation port 3 to ventilation port 2.

Fourth step: Air flow from ventilation port 5 to ventilation port 4.

What each of these steps have in common is that two diagonally opposing
Only one ventilation hole is open, and the other two ventilation holes are closed.

Next, the opening and closing states of the damper for realizing each of these steps will be explained.

In the first step, dampers 8, 9, 16, 27,
28 and 29 are fully closed, and dampers 6, 7, 19,
25 is in a fully open state.

The damper 24 is in an open or closed state depending on the humidity state of the circulating air. Air discharged from the blower 17 passes through the dampers 19 and 6 and reaches the ventilation opening 2 according to the open/closed state of the damper. The air coming out of the ventilation port 2 crosses the inside of the culture container 1 from the lower left to the upper right and reaches the ventilation port 3. Ventilation port 3
The air coming out passes through dampers 7 and 25, and damper 24
Alternatively, the air is returned to the blower 17 via the humidity regulator 22, and thus the air is circulated. In the second step of the same machine, dampers 6, 7, 16, 27, 28, and 29 are fully closed, and dampers 8, 9, 19, and 25 are fully open.

The damper 24 is in the engaged or closed state depending on the humidity state of the circulating air. Depending on the open/closed state of the damper, the blower 17
The air discharged from the dampers 19 and 8 passes through the dampers 19 and 8 and reaches the ventilation opening 4. The air coming out of the ventilation port 4 crosses the inside of the culture container 1 from the lower left over the stone and reaches the ventilation port 5. The air coming out of the ventilation opening 5 passes through the dampers 9 and 25 and returns to the blower 17 via the damper 24 or the humidity regulator 22, and thus the air is circulated. Similarly, in the third step, dampers 8, 9, 19, and 25 are fully closed, and dampers 6,
7, 16, and 27 are fully open.

The damper 24 is in a closed or closed state depending on the humidity state of the circulating air. Air discharged from the blower 17 passes through the dampers 16 and 7 and reaches the ventilation opening 3 depending on whether the damper is opened or closed. Air coming out of the ventilation port 3 crosses from the upper right to the lower left inside the culture container 1 and reaches the ventilation port 2. The air coming out of the ventilation port 2 passes through the dampers 6 and 27, returns to the blower 17 via the damper 24 or the humidity regulator 22, and is thus circulated. Similarly, in the fourth step, the damper 6,
Dampers 7, 19, 25, 28, and 29 are in a fully closed state, and dampers 8, 9, 16, and 27 are in a fully open state. Depending on the opening/closing state of the damper, the air coming out of the blower 17 is circulated across the inside of the culture container 1 from the lower right to the upper left, but a detailed explanation of the air flow will be omitted. The fermentation is completed by repeating the above four steps in a cycle of about 20 minutes for a certain period of time (about 20 to 3 m hours) without introducing fresh air.

After completing the fermentation, the dampers 28 and 29 are fully opened to let fresh air pass through the culture container 1 without circulating air in order to cool the koji. In order to cool the koji, the damper 24 is kept fully closed, and the dampers 28 and 29 are kept fully open.

The blower 17 is in the atmosphere (in the room where the automatic koji making machine is housed)
Fresh air is sucked in from the air through a dasopar 28 and a filter 23 for removing germs from the atmosphere, and the fresh air is discharged into the ventilation path 18. On the other hand, the air discharged from the blower 17 crosses the inside of the culture container 1 and is sent to the ventilation path 26.
The air that has passed through the culture container 1 and is sent into the ventilation path 26 is exhausted to the atmosphere via the damper 29. The method by which the air discharged from the blower 17 traverses the culture container is preferably carried out in four steps when circulating the air.
The deposit 10 thus turned into koji is cooled and the koji can be taken out. According to the present invention described above, the following effects can be achieved.

Since air circulates across the sediment in the culture container, every corner of the sediment in the culture container is exposed to the circulating air, producing good koji.

Also, during fermentation, fresh air is cut off and only air containing a large amount of carbon dioxide gas is circulated, so bacteria not only enter the surface where the sediment is exposed to air but also penetrate deep into the sediment, causing A good koji is formed on the whole thing.

Furthermore, since the circulating air ventilation path is long, the temperature inside the culture container can be maintained constant without the need for a special cooling device.

Furthermore, since the inside of the culture container is cooled by introducing air from the atmosphere after fermentation is completed, there is no need to take out the koji from the culture container and cool it, and koji can be produced automatically.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figure shows an embodiment of an automatic koji making machine according to the present invention. 2, 3, 4, 5...Ventilation, 6, 7, 8, 9...
...Damper, 13...Control box, 14
, 15, 18... Ventilation duct, 17... Blower.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A culture container that stores a sediment inoculated with bacteria, and a ventilation hole provided in the culture container that discharges or inhales air alternately from below and above the sediment and diagonally across the sediment. , a blower that discharges air to the ventilation port or sucks air from the ventilation port, a ventilation path that communicates the blower and the ventilation port, a damper provided in the ventilation path, and a damper that controls opening and closing of the damper. An automatic koji making machine consisting of a control device.