Process of manufacturing a liquid beer concentrate

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024254418-A1
Application number	US-202418432959-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 5, 2024
Priority date	Aug 3, 2021
Publication date	Aug 1, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process of manufacturing a liquid alcoholic beer concentrate, said process comprising:providing a low alcohol beer having an ethanol content of 0-1% ABV, a free amino nitrogen content of 8-400 mg/L and containing 0.1-4 g/L maltotriose and 0.5-6 g/L of maltotetraose;removing at least 70 wt. % of the water present in the low alcohol beer by means of membrane separation to produce a low alcohol beer concentrate, wherein the membrane separation is selected from nanofiltration, reverse osmosis and forward osmosis;combining the low alcohol beer concentrate with alcoholic liquid having an ethanol content of at least 30 wt. % to produce a liquid alcoholic beer concentrate having a an ethanol content of 10-60 wt. %.The present process offers the advantage that it is relatively easy to operate, whilst at the same time losses of small organic molecules (e.g. acids) are minimized effectively.

First claim

1 . A process of manufacturing a liquid alcoholic beer concentrate, the process comprising obtaining a low alcohol beer having an ethanol content of 0-1% ABV, a free amino nitrogen content of 8-400 mg/L and having 0.1-4 g/L maltotriose and 0.5-6 g/L of maltotetraose by:
(i) obtaining an alcoholic beer having an ethanol content of 3-12% ABV and an original extract of 7-14% (m/m); and (ii) removing ethanol from the beer by means of distillation at a temperature between 20-65° C. and a pressure between 1-200 mbar to produce a low alcohol beer and an ethanol-containing distillate; (iii) removing at least 70 wt. % of the water present in the low alcohol beer by membrane separation employing a pressure between 6 to 80 bars to produce a low alcohol beer concentrate, wherein the membrane separation is selected from nanofiltration, reverse osmosis and forward osmosis and using a membrane with a glucose rejection of 80-100% when measured using 2,000 mg/L aqueous glucose solution at 1.6 MPa, 25° C. and 15% recovery; (iv) combining 1 to 5 parts by weight of the low alcohol beer concentrate with 1 part by weight of alcoholic liquid having an ethanol content of at least 30 wt. % to produce a liquid alcoholic beer concentrate having an ethanol content of 10-60 wt. %; wherein the distillative removal of ethanol either yields a distillate with an ethanol content of 40-80 wt. % or a distillate with an ethanol content of 10-40 wt. % which is further concentrated to an ethanol content of 40-80 wt. %, and wherein the ethanol-containing distillate having an ethanol content of 40-80 wt. % is applied in the alcoholic liquid in an amount such that the alcoholic liquid contains 60-100 wt. % of the distillate.

2 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the low alcohol beer comprises 1-5.5 g/L maltotetraose.

3 . The process according to claim 2 , wherein the low alcohol beer comprises 2-5 g/L maltotetraose.

4 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the low alcohol beer comprises 0.2-3.5 g/L maltotriose.

5 . The process according to claim 4 , wherein the low alcohol beer comprises 0.4-3 g/L maltotriose.

6 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the low alcohol beer is produced using a yeast fermentation with restricted formation of ethanol.

7 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the ethanol content of the low alcohol beer does not exceed 0.5% ABV.

8 . The process according to claim 7 , wherein the ethanol content of the low alcohol beer does not exceed 0.3% ABV.

9 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein membrane separation is carried out using a membrane with a sodium chloride rejection of 80-100% when measured using 2000 mg/L sodium chloride solution at 10.3 bar, 25° C., pH 8 and 15% recovery.

10 . The process according to claim 9 , wherein membrane separation is carried out using a membrane with a sodium chloride rejection of 90-100% when measured using 2000 mg/L sodium chloride solution at 10.3 bar, 25° C., pH 8 and 15% recovery.

11 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein membrane separation is carried out at a pressure of 10-75 bar.

12 . The process according to claim 11 , wherein membrane separation is carried out at a pressure of 15-70 bar.

13 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein water is removed from the low alcohol beer by reverse osmosis.

14 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the low alcohol beer comprises 0-10 mg/L of hop acids selected from iso-alpha acids, hydrogenated iso-alpha acids, hulupones and combinations thereof.

15 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the alcoholic liquid comprises hop acids in a concentration of 50-2,000 mg/L, the hop acids being selected from iso-alpha acids, hydrogenated iso-alpha acids, hulupones and combinations thereof.

16 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the low alcohol beer concentrate and the alcoholic liquid are combined in a weight ratio of 7:1 to 1:1.

17 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the low alcohol beer concentrate comprises 250-3,000 μg/L of riboflavin.

18 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the alcoholic liquid comprises, per kg of ethanol, 50-2,000 mg of ethyl acetate.

19 . The process according to claim 1 , further comprising filling the liquid alcoholic beer concentrate is into a single-serve capsule or a container.

20 . A liquid alcoholic beer concentrate obtained by a process according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Heineken Supply Chain Bv

Inventors

• Brouwer Eric Richard
• Bekkers Augustinus Cornelius Aldegonde Petrus Albert

Classifications

• C12C12/00

  Processes specially adapted for making special kinds of beer · CPC title

• B67C3/02

  Bottling liquids or semiliquids; Filling jars or cans with liquids or semiliquids using bottling or like apparatus · CPC title

• B01D2311/04

  Specific process operations in the feed stream; Feed pretreatment · CPC title

• B01D61/04

  Feed pretreatment · CPC title

• B01D61/025

  Reverse osmosis; Hyperfiltration · CPC title