USRE14889E - Manufacture of alcohol-reduced beer - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MANUFACTURE OF ALCOHOL-REDUCED BEER.

Specification of Reissuefi Letters Patent. fieissued June 22, 192() No Drawing. Original No. 1,302,551, dated May e, 1919, Serial No. 260,952, filed November 4,1918. Appli.

' cation for reissue filed July 3, 1919. Serial No. 308,658.

To all whom it may concern:

Be. it known that I, HERMAN HEUSER, a

' citizen of the United States, residing at Evanston, in the county of Cook and btate of lllinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture ofiXlcohol-Iieduced Beer, of which the following is a specification.

My invention refers to the manufacture of alcohol-reduced beverages made from fermented ,beverages such as beer beverages,

and in particular it refers to the manufacture ofv non-intoxicating beer containing a small amount of alcohol, as for instance less than of l per cent. by volume. In accordance with the present invention the. fBIll'lBIl-x tative-and propa'gative actions of yeast are utilized for the'production in the alcoholreduced beverage of a characteristic taste and flavor. More particularly my present invention consists in subjecting alcohol-1e duced beer to the action of fermenting wort or kraeu'sen containing the elements of yeast fermentation under such conditions that while the fermentationof the wort will re-- store the characteristic taste and flavor. of the original beer to theal'cohol-reduced beer it will not carbonate the latter, and then carbonating the uncarbonatedf-mix'ture by any artificial means.

In carrying out my invention, any kind of beer may serve as a base for the operations to be described, and any suitable apparatus may be employed. I prefer, however, to use beer of normal gravity, thoroughly fer merited, well clarified, and light in color, and the following exemplification of my inven tion is based on its application to beer of customary composition and usual'alcoholic content. Assuming that the quantity to 'be processed is 100 barrels of such beer, this uantity is subjected to boiling forthe reuction of its alcohol to the desired extent. When the alcohol content of thebeer has been reduced to say 0.07 per cent. by volume determined afterthe volume. rectification to the original 100 barrels has taken place, the beer is cooled to a suitable temperature, say 48 F., and at this temperature it is mixed with fermenting wort which has an alcoholproducing capacity of 3.50 per centrby volume and is pitched to the barrel with 2 pounds of thick-fluid vigorous yeast containing lactic acid bacteria. The addition of the fermenting wort necessarily results in, the

production of limited amounts of alcohol and of carbon dioxid. The greater part of the latter escapes into the atmosphere. In order, however, to reduce the amount of carbon dioxid produced by this fermentation in the beverage, I may use Wortin an advanced'state of fermentation, providing it is not entirely fermented. I am thereby enabled to" take advantage also of the more vigorous condition of the yeast in such wort, as Well as of its improved taste and flavor.

The alcohol-reduced beer is subjected to thev action ofthe fermenting wort or kraeusen under such conditions that while the kraeusen-fermentation restores the taste and fiav or'of the original beer .to the alcohol-reduced-beer it will not carbonate the latter, as for example by using a smaller amount of wortthan is'necessaryto develop a suflicient amount of carbonicacid gas to often vesce or carbonate the beer, say 5 barrels of such wort to 100 barrels-of the alcohol-reduced beer, -or by treating the alcohol-rethe taste and flavor of the beer, and when thebeer and wort have been thoroughly mixed the mixture is stored at a temperature of about 48 F. for about a Week to stimulate yeast fermentation as Well as theac tivity of the lactic acid bacteria,1a'nd then it is cooled to the storage temperatures of beer, say 37 or 38 F., to-avoid infection liable in thebeer is too small to exercise any retarding efl'ect thereon,.-and as the restorae tion of the taste and flavor imparted by the yeast and lactic acid bacteria is not affected by the very small amount of carbonic acid gas that may be present in the mixture,

it is carried to its maximum degree.-' The taste and flavor improvement in the beer'is watch d y p i ical Sampling, and when .to occur at higher temperatures,and is stored it has been advanced to the desired degree, whichmay take a week or two, the -beer containing by this time analcohol-content of 0.24% by volume is subjected to artificial carbonationby any well known means. Such carbonation may be preferably carried out to the best advantage by carbonating the beer in bullrwhile it is being mechanically stirred. Finally, after having been clarified by filtration, the beer is ready for the market.

lam aware that it has been proposed to I introduce into cooled alcohol-reduced beer about fifteen per cent. of kraeusen to produce asecondary fermentation to restore the taste, flavor and effervescence of the'original beer, and that in such process the etl'fervescence is produced by the carbonation of the beer bythe-carbonic acid gas developed by this kraeusen fermentation, as in the patents to Uhlmann, No.'613,915 dated Nov. 8, 1895, and'Nilson, No. 721,383, dated Feb. 2, 1903. In such a process the kraeusen carbonation. of the beer is necessarily done in a closedor bunged vessel, in the same way that it is done in the customary chipcask fermentation of regular beer,-because otherwise the carbonic acid gas would escape without per-' forming its.carbonating function; and such kraeusen f carbonation proceeds under a bunging pressure of5 or 6 pounds, while simultaneously large quantities of CO are blown off through the bunging apparatus. This necessitates the addition of a lar g e;

amount of fermentable' carbohydrates to pro- .duce the necessary volume of CO because unlike regular beer which contains 0.30%

of CO, alcohol-reduced beer contains no CO, and as beer must contain 0.41% of CO before it attains the average degree of chipcaskv'efifervescence alcohol-reduced beer requires about four times as much CO as regular'beer to make it properly eiiervescent. The result is that such kraeu'sen carbonation permits only the fermentative or alcohol-and CU -producing action of the yeast and the large amount of (lo arrests the propagative action of the yeast,'as-well as the action of the lactic acid bacteria, and

so the taste and flavor restoringactivities;

* of these elements are retarded, it being wellknown that where the working of yeast is limited to it's fermenta'tive action alcohol and C0, are abundantly produced but the characteristic taste andflavor of the yeast are not reproduced or restored, and that in treating-beer CO, exercises a pronoun'ced retarding effect upon both the propagative and f'ermentative actions of the yeast (see page 1700f Die Gacrungs-fuehrung by Delbrueck' and Hayduck) and that 0.40% of CO stops the yeast propagation (see F I ZZustrierte-s B'muerei Lexicon 1910, vol. 2, p. 369, by Delbrueck).- In the kraeusen carbonation of alcohol-reduced beer a mininecessary to carbonate 77 barrels of alcoholthose beverages made by kraeusen carbonaan alcohol-rest of from 0.05 to 0.15% of mum amount of kraeusen having a certain alcohol or carbonic-acid gas producing capacity is necessary-to carbonate thebeer, for examplewith kraeusen having an alcohol producing capacity oi 3.50% by volume corresponding to a CO producing capacity of 2.03%, 223 barrels of such kraeusen are reduced beer to produce barrels of car bonated beer, it being understood that normany-0.41% of CO is retained in the beer' and at least 0.20%is blown oii. Also the kraeusen carbonation precludes stabilizing the alcohol contents of the beer as of the CO developed the amount retained averages at the usual bunging pressure not less than 0.41% and the amount blown off during the long time required for this treatment is between 0.20% and'0.40%, so that taking thedevelopment of the alcohol and C0, by yeast fermentation at the correct ratio of 51.11 to 48.89 and the specific gravity of alcohol at 0.7935, it is obvious that the amount of CO retained in the beer corresponds to 0.5 1% of alcohol by volume and the amount of C0, blown off through the banging apparatus may correspond to the same figure, whereby the total amount of alcohol produced by kraeusen carbonation is about 1% by volume. So it is not practical to stabilize the alcohol-content of tion within the internal revenue limit of less than J -of 1% by volume, and as the commercial alcohol-reduced beers contain alcohol by volume after the volume rectification to the original amount has taken place, this alcohol-rest added to the alcohol produced by kraeusen carbonation increases the uncertaintyof stabilizing by kraeusen carbonation the alcohol to this small amount permitted by the internal revenue regulation. 1

On the other hand, thesedisadvanta es are obviated by the present invention. producing yeast fermentation in the alcoholreduced beverage under such conditions, that carbonation does not occur, I can use fermentable material or kraeusen in amounts suflicient to produce the fermentation for restoring the taste and flavor of the original beveragebut below the minimum amount necessary for carbonation, and thus may stabilize the alcohol content at any predetermined amount. I also am able to utilize both the ierm'entative and propagative aci tions of the yeast, as thesmall amount of CO that may be present in the beverage is insuflicient toarrest this propagative action,

I tion of the yeast in nalogy with its action in the main form itation of wort or beer where the characteristic taste and flavor of the original beverage are produced. pensing with kraeusen carbonation I am also able to artificially carbonatethe beverage to restore its efl'emescenc after the tastev and flavor restoration by thepropagative action of the yeast contained in the added'kraeusen has takenplace in the alcohol reduced beer and so without impairing the restored taste or flavor. bacteria contained in the pitching yeast imparts to the beverage the pungent taste of the original beer-and helps to remove the burnt taste or flavor imparted by boiling to the alcohol-reduced beverage, and as CO is inimical tothe .growth and development of such bacteria 'they are given full freedom of action by my invention as the CO in'the beer is negligible, while there is no' danger of too much lactic acid being formed as the low temperature at whichth'e bacteria are present in the beverage keeps their action within beneficial limits, it being understood can be preserved at even the lower temperatures at which ordinary chipcaskfermentation of regular beer proceeds as is apparent from the fact that many regular beers contain large quantities of lactic acid,

I mean by beer beverages, all beverages made by yeast fermentation ofliquids possessing in solution the essential constituents of beer wort inuabout the same ratio as beer wort, itbeing immaterial from what materials or by What process such liquids are made. a i

I mean by wort as used in the claims hereof. Wort or kraeusen containing the required elements of fermentation. This application is a continuation of parts. of my By dis- Also, the action of the lactic acid.

co-pending pplica-tion filed July 25th,19151, bearing Serial Number 853,059. 7

I claim: V 1'. Iii-the manufacture of a low alcoholic beverage the' process which consists in producing a yeast fermentation in un -alcoholreduced fermented beverage without carbona-ting the beverage, and then artificially carbonating the beverage.

-2. In the manufacture of low alcoholic beer the process which consists in producing a yeast fermentation in alcol1 olreduced beer wlthout carbonating it, and then artificially carbonating the beer.

3. In the manufacture of low alcoholic fermentable substances and active yeast to alc'ohoLreduced beer, causing fermentation,

beer, the process which consists in subjecting alcohol-reduced beer to the action of fermenting wort without carbonating'it, and

then artificially carbonatin the beer. that the bacteria are readily acclimated to the temperatures employed, astheir activity tion of wort in-an advanced .state offermentation without carbonating the beer, and then artificially carbonating the beer.

6. In the manufacture of alcohol-reduced .beer the process which consists in adding beer, the process which consists in reducing v thealcohol content of beer belowone-half of one per cent. by volume, subjecting the alcohol-reduced beer to the action of fer-