Alcoholic Beverage Concentrate Process for Turbidity Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
High alcohol content in beverage concentrates can lead to increased turbidity and protein precipitation, making it difficult to produce transparent beverages like pilsner beer, as the resulting beverage appears cloudy and is less desirable to consumers.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a membrane process to remove alcohol and water from an alcoholic beverage, followed by freezing and removing ice to concentrate solids, reducing the alcohol content to 20% or less and increasing the solids concentration, thereby avoiding turbidity issues. This process can be repeated multiple times to achieve a highly concentrated beverage with low alcohol content.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If alcohol concentration in beverage concentrate is increased, then beverage strength is improved, but turbidity increases and proteins precipitate making the beverage cloudy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent separates the concentrate production into two distinct stages: first producing a low-alcohol concentrate that remains clear, then separately adding alcohol to achieve the desired beverage strength. This segmentation avoids the harmful interaction between high alcohol concentration and protein stability during concentrate formulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs alcohol removal before concentrate formation through membrane filtration. By preliminarily removing alcohol from the alcoholic beverage before concentration, the resulting concentrate has low alcohol content and remains clear, preventing turbidity and protein precipitation that would occur if concentration were performed first.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If membrane process is used to remove alcohol, then turbidity is reduced, but process complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical clarification methods with membrane filtration technology. The membrane process uses selective permeability rather than mechanical force to separate alcohol from the beverage, achieving superior clarification while integrating smoothly into existing production workflows.
3Quantity of substance
If water is removed to increase solids concentration, then beverage intensity is improved, but alcohol concentration increases causing turbidity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs alcohol removal as a preliminary action before water removal and concentration. By eliminating alcohol first through membrane filtration, subsequent water removal to increase solids concentration does not trigger turbidity or protein precipitation, as the harmful alcohol is already absent.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts alcohol from the beverage matrix before performing concentration. This extraction of the problematic component (alcohol) allows the remaining components (proteins, solids) to be concentrated without the alcohol-induced turbidity issue that would normally accompany water removal.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The method effectively reduces turbidity and precipitation problems, allowing for the production of clear beverages by maintaining a low alcohol concentration in the concentrate, which can be used to create beverages with very low alcohol content while preserving flavor quality and inhibiting microbial growth.
Implementation Method 1
at least some water and alcohol pass through a membrane to be part of a permeate and other components of the alcoholic beverage do not pass through the membrane and are part of the retentate
Implementation Method 2
The membrane process may be, or include, a reverse osmosis process
Implementation Method 3
freezing water in the retentate to form ice
Implementation Method 4
freezing water in the retentate to form ice
Data Source
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AI summary
Methods and systems for forming a concentrate from an alcoholic beverage, such as a beverage made by fermentation processes. A membrane process may be used to reduce water and alcohol content, followed by freeze concentration to further reduce water content.