Patent Application
20190241420
The present invention relates to a beverage dispensing appliance for in situ forming and dispensing a malt based fermented beverage (MBFB) by mixing a carbonated liquid diluent with a MBFC concentrate. The level of froth formed by the thus formed MBFC upon dispensing can be controlled very easily.
In recent years, home dispensing appliances for domestic use have become very popular. Smaller containers ranging between 1.5 and 12 litres are now produced by many breweries and are readily available in shops. The reduction of the kegs volumes for domestic use compared with kegs used in pubs result in a substantial increase of the cost of the packaging per unit volume of beer.
Furthermore, there is presently a trend to fancier kinds of beverages, wherein multiple beverage components or beverages are added to one another so that consumers can create at home their own compositions adapted to their tastes. This trend also applies to fermented beverages, such as malt based fermented beverages (MBFB), like beers of various flavours and types.
One way, on the one end, of reducing the cost of packaging per unit volume of beer, and, on the other hand, of offering the consumers a large palette of compositions, is to provide containers filled with MBFB concentrates which can be used alone or admixed with one another and diluted with a liquid diluent. The containers can be in the form of unit doses such as capsule or a pad. By mixing such MBFB concentrates with a liquid diluent a desired beverage can be created in situ and simultaneously served. The addition and mixing of the liquid diluent to the unit dose is generally carried out in a dispensing appliance.
Examples of dispensing appliances of this type are coffee dispensers, where hot water is forced to percolate under pressure through a coffee powder bed contained in such unit dose before being served. Similar dispensing apparatuses exist for brewing tea. Another example of such dispensing apparatuses are soda machines, often used in fast food restaurants and other places where a consumer can fill its glass with a soda of his choice out of a selection of sodas, all available from the same dispenser. In such soda dispensers, syrups which are concentrated versions of the target soda contained in various pouches, are mixed with sparkling water upon dispensing the target soda thus formed. Such soda dispensers are advantageous because the syrups pouches are of much smaller dimensions than a corresponding ready to drink soda, and thus much cheaper to ship and to store.
Many brewers have been tempted to implement with fermented beverages the same dispensing solution as for sodas, but to date with very limited to no success. One reason for these repeated failures is probably that fermented beverages are more difficult to concentrate and preserve over long periods than soda syrups. Indeed, rapid degradation of the proteins contained in beer concentrates has been observed, which does not happen with soda syrups. Solutions have been proposed to solve said degradation problems, such as in EP-Patent Application No. 16163061.
An example of in situ production and subsequent dispensing of a MBFB comprises mixing an MBFB concentrate stored in one or several containers to be mixed with a carbonated diluent, typically carbonated water or a carbonated base beer characterized by rather neutral flavours profile. The carbonated diluent is a liquid comprising CO2 at a concentration above saturation at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. It is generally stored or produced in situ at a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure, so that the CO2 is dissolved in the liquid diluent. Upon mixing the carbonated diluent with the MBFB concentrate in a mixing chamber, a pressure drop may cause CO2 to form froth and foam in the mixing chamber before dispensing. The amount of foam and froth formed depends on the CO2-concentration, temperature and pressure of course, but it depends also on the composition of the MBFB concentrate the carbonate diluent is mixed with. For a dispensing appliance designed for dispensing a variety of MBFB's it is therefore not possible to tune the equipment in plant for forming a desired amount of froth applicable to all MBFB varieties. A system “one size fits them all” does not apply here.
It would be desirable to provide a dispensing appliance for dispensing MBFB by mixing a carbonated diluent with a variety of MBFB concentrates, which is capable of tuning the amount of froth produced during dispensing of a charge of MBFB into a vessel. The present invention proposes a solution meeting such objectives. These and other objects of this invention will be evident when viewed in light of the drawings, detailed description, and appended claims.
The present invention is defined in the appended independent claims. Preferred embodiments are defined in the dependent claims. In particular, the present invention concerns a dispensing appliance for preparing and dispensing a malt based fermented beverage (MBFB) by mixing an MBFB concentrate with a carbonated diluent, said dispensing appliance comprising a mixing chamber for mixing the MBFB concentrate and the carbonated diluent, said mixing chamber being defined by walls and being divided by a mid-plane, M1, normal to a longitudinal axis, X, into an upper portion and a lower portion, said mixing chamber comprising:
In order to drive the flow of MBFB concentrate out of a container into the mixing chamber, it is preferred that the dispensing appliance further comprises a gas tube connectable to a source of pressurized gas, arranged such that an outlet of said gas tube enters into fluid communication with the interior of the container containing the MBFB concentrate fixed to the fixing device.
In order to avoid sudden pressure drops in the flow passage, it is preferred that a geometry of the core is such that at least 70% of the core surface is substantially parallel to the walls of the chamber. In a preferred embodiment, the translation of the core along the longitudinal axis, X, towards the upper portion reduces the width, w, of the portion of the flow passage at the level of both concentrate opening and diluent opening. By translating the core along the longitudinal axis, X, the width, w, of the flow passage can preferably be varied locally between 0.1≤w≤10 mm, preferably between 0.5≤w≤5 mm, more preferably 1≤w≤3 mm. In some embodiments, a core surface may contact a wall of the mixing chamber and, for example, sealing one or more of the concentrate and/or diluent openings, and/or the outlet of the mixing chamber.
For a better control of the mixing ratio of concentrate to carbonated diluent, it is preferred that the concentrate opening and the diluent opening are both provided with volumetric flow controllers, such as volumetric pumps, or valves. The mixing of the MBFB concentrate and the carbonated diluent can be enhanced if the core surface and/or the walls of the mixing chamber are structured with protrusions and/or recesses. Such structured surfaces also reduce the formation of a turbulent flow.
The core can be translated along the longitudinal axis by one of the following preferred means:
Alternatively, the position of the core can be set by the container when fixed to the fixing device, depending on the concentrate composition contained in said container. For example, a portion of the core surface facing directly the concentrate opening can be provided with a core coupling means suitable for reversibly coupling to a complementary coupling means mounted on a condensate container and extending out of an opening of said condensate container by a predefined distance. The predetermined distance defines the position of the core along the longitudinal axis, X, when the condensate container is fixed to the fixing device and when the complementary coupling means is reversibly coupled to the core coupling means at said portion of the core surface
The present invention concerns the dispensing appliance per se, but also the dispensing appliance ready for use, with a container containing a MBFB concentrate fixed to the fixing device, and a source of carbonated diluent, preferably carbonated water, connected to the diluent connection. If the MBFB is pressurized, then a source of pressurized gas, preferably CO2, can be connected to the gas tube.
The present invention also concerns a method for controlling the amount of froth formed during dispensing of a malt based fermented beverage (MBFB), said method comprising the following steps:
For a fuller understanding of the nature of the present invention, reference is made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
As shown in
As illustrated in
When a single container (1) containing an MBFB concentrate is illustrated in
The MBFB concentrate contained in the container (1) can be obtained by producing a fermented beverage in a traditional manner (e.g., for a beer, by brewing it in any fashion known in the art), followed by concentrating the thus produced fermented beverage. Concentration occurs by removing, on the one hand, a fraction of the water contained therein and, on the other hand, a fraction of the ethanol contained therein. A substantial amount of both water and ethanol can be removed from the beverage by filtration, micro-filtration, ultra-filtration, or nano-filtration, using appropriate membranes well-known to a person skilled in the art.
The flow of MBFB concentrate into the mixing chamber can be driven by gravity only, and controlled by means of a valve (not shown). But this embodiment is not preferred because it would impose the flow of carbonated diluent to be driven by gravity too, in order to not creating sharp pressure drops at the level of the diluent opening into the mixing chamber. It is therefore preferred to drive the flow of MBFB concentrate either with a pump (not shown) or by pressurizing the interior of the container by means of a source of pressurized gas, preferably of pressurized CO2. The pressurized gas can be stored in a pressure canister (3) as shown in
The carbonated diluent is a liquid diluent containing an amount of CO2 higher than the solubility of CO2 in said liquid diluent at room temperature and at atmospheric pressure. This means that the carbonated diluent is sparkling with CO2 bubbles at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The liquid diluent is preferably water. Other liquid diluents, however, can be used instead of water. In particular, a beer with a rather neutral flavours profile can be used as carbonated diluent. A flavoured aqueous solution can also be used, with for example, fruity flavours like cherries, peach, and the like to produce fruity beers. Water has the great advantage that the source (4) of carbonated diluent can be a water tap present in all households, equipped with a carbonation station. If a pressurized CO2 cartridge (3) is used to drive the flow of MBFB concentrate into the mixing chamber, the same pressurized CO2 cartridge can be used for carbonating tap water. Filters can be used to treat the water coming out of the tap if the quality is not satisfactory. If a carbonated diluent other than carbonated water is used, it can be stored in a vessel (not shown).
As can be seen in
Entry of the carbonated diluent and MBFB concentrate into a mixing chamber is a critical step in dispensing appliances because a great pressure drop may arise in the mixing chamber, leading to the premature formation of froth even before the beverage has been dispensed into a vessel (10). The design of the mixing chamber could be optimized for one type of MBFB, but customers are not satisfied with a dispensing appliance able to dispense only a very limited number of MBFB's. Customers claim the liberty of creating new beverages from different concentrates or of choosing a MBFB out of a large selection of products. Each MBFB concentrate and each carbonated diluent will react differently upon mixing in a mixing chamber and one recipe will lead to the formation of more froth than desirable whilst another recipe will yield insufficient froth formation.
As illustrated in
It is also preferred that the longitudinal axis, X, passes through the outlet (2d) of the mixing chamber. The walls of the mixing chamber, excluding the openings and outlets, preferably define a geometry of revolution about the longitudinal axis, X. All sharp edges in the mixing chamber are preferably rounded to reduce pressure drops as the flow passes such ridges (the figures are schematic and comprise many sharp edges, which are preferably avoided in practice). The lower surface of the core (i.e., the portion of core surface facing the outlet (2d) of the mixing chamber) preferably has a tapered geometry. The tapered geometry can be conical with the apex of the cone facing the outlet of the mixing chamber, in alignment with the longitudinal axis, X, as illustrated in
By locally varying the width, w, of the flow passage (2p) the pressure of the liquid mixture formed by the condensate and the carbonated diluent can be controlled. This is important for controlling the amount of CO2 bubbling and, more importantly, the location where CO2 starts bubbling and forming froth. As shown in
In
In
As explained above, the width, w, of the flow passage can be varied by translating the core along the longitudinal axis. In general the width of the flow passage can be varied between 0.1≤w≤10 mm, preferably between 0.5≤w≤5 mm, more preferably 1≤w≤3 mm. In some instances, the core may seal the condensate and diluent openings or, alternatively, the outlet of the mixing chamber, with a width, w, which can reach locally 0 mm (i.e., the core surface contacts a wall of the mixing chamber).
With the translation of the core, the level of froth or foaming of the MBFB being dispensed can be controlled. This level of froth depends of course on the taste of the users. It also depends on parameters that are beyond the control of the users and of the appliances manufacturer. In particular, it depends inter alia:
Each new MBFB composition is characterized by its own set of values of the foregoing parameters. All these values may vary over ranges which, at least to date, are too broad and complex for allowing an auto-regulation of the pressures as a function of a desired level of foaming. It follows that a dispensing appliance with set dimensions of the mixing chamber width, can only satisfactorily dispense a restricted selection of MBFB's, with agreeable levels of foam. With its moving core, the present invention permits the tuning of the properties of the dispensing appliance, so that the optimal dispensing conditions can be defined allowing the dispensing of a large variety of MBFB's with the required level of foam formation. For each new MBFB composition, the optimal position of the core must be determined in order to dispense said MBFB with the desired amount of foam. Once the optimal position of the core has been found, it is set and it needs not be moved again as long as the same MBFB composition is being dispensed (and as long as there are no variations in temperature, CO2 concentration, and pressures in the carbonated diluent and MBFB concentrate). When a new MBFB composition is desired, the optimal core position must be determined again, as explained below. A data base can be established giving optimal core position ranges suitable for a selection of pre-established MBFB compositions.
The core can be translated along the longitudinal axis, X, by any known manner. For example, as shown in
In an alternative embodiment, the position of the core can be controlled by the container (1) containing the concentrate. Because the level of froth formed upon dispensing a MBFB out of a dispensing appliance according to the present invention depends strongly on the composition of the concentrate, a pre-set position of the core may be associated to a given concentrate composition. For implementing this embodiment, all other dispensing parameters must of course be according to pre-set conditions, including the carbonated diluent, pressures at the source of carbonated diluent and in condensate container, etc. For example, as illustrated in
The complementary coupling means can be mounted at one end of a stem of predefined length, LA, LB. The stem needs not be rigid, depending on the type of (complementary) coupling means (71, 72) used. For example, the core and complementary coupling means (71, 72) can be magnets. In this case, the stem can be flexible, and can be replaced by a string. The core and complementary coupling means (71, 72) can be a male/female threaded screw, which could possibly combine with a fixing device between the concentrate container and the mixing chamber also comprising a similar thread. By fixing a concentrate container by screwing it over the threaded fixing device of the dispensing appliance, the complementary fixing means (71) would simultaneously engage the core fixing means (72). The same would happen when unscrewing an empty container, which action would simultaneously disengage the complementary coupling means from the core coupling means.
As illustrated schematically in
The mixing chamber must be cleaned regularly. This can be done by rinsing it with a rinsing solution, such as water, possibly with a detergent, after a given number of dispensing operations. If the liquid diluent is water, it can be injected through the diluent opening (4d) without CO2, to thoroughly rinse the mixing chamber. Alternatively, an additional rinsing opening (6) can be provided in the mixing chamber, and connected to a source of rinsing liquid. This rinsing opening is devoted exclusively to rinsing and detergents can be used. The rinsing opening (6) can be located at a wall of the mixing chamber facing the core or, as illustrated in
The present invention concerns the dispensing appliance per se. It also concerns, of course, the dispensing appliance with a container containing a MBFB concentrate fixed to the fixing device, as well as with a source of carbonated diluent, preferably carbonated water, connected to the diluent connection. Thus loaded and connected the dispensing appliance of the present invention, is operational and can be used to dispense an MBFB with an optimal amount of foam. If the dispensing appliance comprises electrically driven functions, it must of course be connected to a source of power. For example, the dispensing appliance may comprise a cooling unit for cooling the carbonated diluent, electrically driven pumps, flow controllers, valves, etc.
The present invention also concerns a method for controlling the amount of froth formed during dispensing of a malt based fermented beverage (MBFB), said method comprising the following steps:
These operations seem cumbersome, but they are rapidly carried out and it is quite easy to find an optimal position of the core providing the desired level of foam, with very limited waste of beverage. Once the right position of the core is found, it can be maintained at said position as long as the same components and dispensing conditions are used.
2s
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16196358.2 | Oct 2016 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2017/077423 | 10/26/2017 | WO | 00 |
