Hop Pellet Dosing System for Uniform Beer Flavor Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current beer production methods for adding hop pellets, such as cold hopping, often result in inefficient flavor distribution and potential damage to lupulin ingredients due to early temperature-intensive fermentation and extraction processes.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a dosing system and pump for feeding hop pellets into a fermented beer precursor, allowing for gentle, low-shear introduction of lupulin-containing hop pellets in a granulated or pelletized form, ensuring even distribution and minimizing temperature exposure to preserve flavor compounds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If hop pellets are extracted in a separate container to create hop extract, then the extraction of aroma components is improved, but the hop pellets are only dissolved in a portion of the beer stream and the process complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the essential function of hop pellet dissolution from the complex extraction process and implements it directly in the beer stream through the dosing system. Instead of creating a separate hop extract in a container, the system dosing hop pellets directly into the beer, allowing extraction to occur in-situ where the beer flows through the dosing system, thereby simplifying the process while maintaining aroma extraction efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The dosing system is designed to perform multiple functions: it doses hop pellets, facilitates their dissolution in the beer stream, and distributes them uniformly throughout the beer. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for separate extraction containers and subsequent addition steps, reducing process complexity while achieving comprehensive aroma component extraction
2Quantity of substance
If hop pellets are ground to increase extraction of aroma components, then the extraction efficiency is improved, but the lupulin granules are damaged and aroma substances are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the physical state parameters of hop pellet introduction from ground/powdered form to intact pelleted form. The dosing system is designed to dose whole or lightly flaked hop pellets without subjecting them to grinding or intensive mechanical treatment, thereby preserving the integrity of lupulin granules while still achieving effective aroma extraction through controlled dissolution in the beer stream
3Productivity
If hop addition is heated to temperatures above 80°C during and after hopping, then the fermentation process is improved, but the aroma substances are damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The dosing system performs preliminary action by dosing hop pellets into the beer stream before the beer enters the temperature-intensive fermentation process. The hop pellets are introduced and begin to dissolve at lower temperatures, allowing aroma components to be extracted and incorporated into the beer before heating occurs, thereby protecting aromatic substances from thermal damage during subsequent high-temperature fermentation
4Ease of manufacture
If hop pellets are added manually to the cold storage tank, then the process simplicity is maintained, but the flavor distribution is inefficient and dosing precision is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces the manual mechanical addition process with an automated dosing system that uses controlled mechanical or pneumatic mechanisms to dose hop pellets precisely into the beer stream. This substitution maintains operational simplicity from the operator's perspective while achieving precise, repeatable dosing quantities and uniform distribution throughout the beer, eliminating the imprecision of manual addition
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
This approach enables a flavor-friendly dosage of hop pellets, maintaining the integrity of lupulin ingredients and achieving a rapid, uniform distribution of hop flavors in beer, particularly effective when conducted at low temperatures, thereby enhancing the taste characteristics of the beer.
Implementation Method 1
When fed into a line carrying beer precursor, a uniform and rapid distribution of the hop pellets and their ingredients in the beer precursor can be achieved in a particularly advantageous manner. The flow rate of the beer precursor, especially the pumping time, in the line can be adjusted to the dosing.
Implementation Method 2
The process according to the invention can optionally be supplemented by the following step: IV. Clarifying the beer provided with pelleted and/or granulated hops by means of mechanical separation technology, in particular by a filtration device and/or a centrifuge
Implementation Method 3
It is recommended to equip the tank preferably with one or more stirring devices so that the added hop pellets or hop granules can be better distributed.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method for metering hops pellets (200) into a fermented beer precursor in order to produce beer, comprising a system (1) comprising a metering system (8) and a pump (12). The method is characterized by the following steps: I. supplying hops pellets (200) into the system (1); II. metering a specified quantity of hops pellets from the metering system to the pump (12); and III. supplying the specified quantity of hops pellets (200) from II. into a beer precursor-conducting line (13) or a tank filled with beer precursor by means of the pump (12), wherein the metered hops pellets (200) are supplied into the beer precursor-conducting line (13) or into the tank filled with the beer precursor in a pelleted and/or granulated form.