Liquid Beer Concentrate Manufacturing via Ethanol Extraction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge lies in producing a beer concentrate that maintains flavor and stability while removing significant water content from beer, as existing methods often lead to quality loss due to chemical reactions and precipitation of solutes during storage.
Innovation Solution
A process involving distillation to remove ethanol from beer, followed by membrane separation (nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, or forward osmosis) or freeze concentration to produce a liquid beer concentrate, which is then packaged separately from the concentrated alcoholic liquid, retaining essential flavor components and minimizing ethanol content to prevent quality degradation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If water is removed from beer to produce concentrate, then the concentration of beer components is improved, but chemical reactions and precipitation occur leading to quality loss
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts ethanol from beer through distillation before concentration, removing the substance that causes quality degradation during storage. This allows the remaining beer components to be concentrated without suffering from ethanol-induced chemical reactions and precipitation, thus resolving the contradiction between achieving high concentration and maintaining quality stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary de-alcoholization through distillation before the concentration step. By removing ethanol in advance, the subsequent concentration process can achieve high beer component concentration without triggering quality loss from chemical reactions and precipitation that would occur if ethanol were present during concentration and storage.
2Stability of the object's composition
If ethanol is removed by distillation followed by water removal by membrane separation or freeze concentration, then the liquid beer concentrate is produced with improved stability, but the process complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the concentration process into two distinct stages: first removing ethanol through distillation, then removing water through membrane separation or freeze concentration. This segmentation allows each step to be optimized independently, achieving high stability liquid beer concentrate while managing process complexity through modular, sequential operations rather than a single complex process.
3Productivity
If significant water content is removed from beer, then the beer concentrate can be produced with higher efficiency, but the foaming properties and flavor stability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts ethanol from beer before concentration, removing the substance that causes foaming instability and flavor degradation in concentrated products. This extraction enables efficient water removal and high-concentration beer production while preventing the harmful foaming and flavor issues that would otherwise occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the ethanol concentration parameter by removing it through distillation before the concentration step. This parameter change prevents ethanol from interfering with foam stability and flavor retention during subsequent water removal, allowing efficient concentration production without the harmful effects of foaming and flavor degradation.
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 process results in a high-purity liquid beer concentrate with improved stability and reduced foaming, allowing for efficient production of beer using domestic appliances, while minimizing capital investment in de-alcoholization units and maintaining the quality of the final product.
Implementation Method 1
removing at least a part of the ethanol from the alcoholic beer by means of distillation, thereby producing (i) a low alcohol beer having an ethanol content of 0-1.5% ABV alcohol and (ii) an alcoholic liquid containing at least 10% ABV ethanol
Implementation Method 2
removing at least 70 wt.% of the water present in the low alcohol beer by means of membrane separation and/or freeze concentration
Implementation Method 3
wherein the membrane separation is selected from nanofiltration, reverse osmosis and forward osmosis
Implementation Method 4
removing at least 70 wt.% of the water present in the low alcohol beer by means of membrane separation and/or freeze concentration
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The present invention relates to a process of manufacturing a packaged liquid beer concentrate, said process comprising: - providing an alcoholic beer comprising 3-12% ABV ethanol; - removing at least a part of the ethanol from the alcoholic beer by means of distillation, thereby producing (i) a low alcohol beer having an ethanol content of 0-1.5% ABV alcohol and (ii) an alcoholic liquid containing at least 10% ABV ethanol; - removing at least 70 wt.% of the water present in the low alcohol beer by means of membrane separation and/or freeze concentration to produce a liquid beer concentrate; - if the alcoholic liquid contains less than 20% ABV ethanol, concentrating the alcoholic liquid to an ethanol content of at least 30% ABV by means of distillation, reverse osmosis or forwards osmosis; - separately packaging the liquid beer concentrate and the alcoholic liquid within a single container or within separate containers that together form a kit of parts. The present process offers the advantage that it can utilise de-alcoholisation units that are commonly used in the production of low alcohol beer, thus minimising capital investment. The low alcohol beer that is obtained by the dealcoholisation step can be concentrated in a single step to produce the liquid beer concentrate.