JP2000014378A - Production of rice wines - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for producing a rice wine, capable of reducing the amount of dissolved oxygen in the rice wine. SOLUTION: A rice wine is mixed with an inert gas in a continuous flow to reduce dissolved oxygen in the rice wine. The rice wine is mixed with the inert gas in the continuous flow to reduce dissolved oxygen in the rice wine, then air in a head space of a container during or after filling of the rice wine is replaced with an inert gas. Preferably the mixing is carried out by an in-line mixer. The obtained rice wine has a slight deterioration in quality and maintains flavor filled with a fresh feeling.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for producing liquor including specific steps.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In alcoholic beverages belonging to brewed liquors such as sake and wine, dissolved oxygen contained in the alcohols partially oxidizes components during storage, causing undesired aroma and browning. It is known that deterioration occurs. Particularly in sake, since an undesired flavor called old flavor is generated, long-term storage such as that of distilled liquor is generally not performed. From the viewpoint of suppressing deterioration such as oxidation, measures have been taken to store sake in brown bottles, store and distribute it at low temperatures, and shorten the number of days the product stays in the market. That alone is not enough.

[0003] Several methods have been disclosed for removing oxygen dissolved in alcoholic beverages for the purpose of preventing quality degradation of alcoholic beverages. As a method using a membrane deoxygenator, there is a method (JP-A-6-141840) in which a fermentation stock solution is degassed under reduced pressure by a membrane deoxygenator. The method is characterized in that continuous processing is possible, but it is generally known that when a vacuum degassing apparatus is applied to alcoholic beverages, not only oxygen but also water, alcohol, and even aromatic components are easily removed. I have.

[0004] As a method of using an inert gas, a method of treating a raw liquor characterized by enclosing the inert gas in a container for storing the raw liquor while bubbling the inert gas (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-224641)
Publication). In this method, a method is employed in which oxygen is forcibly removed by blowing nitrogen gas. For example, in order to achieve a dissolved oxygen concentration of about 1 ppm in sake,
The amount of nitrogen gas to be blown must be 7.5 times or more (converted to atmospheric pressure) with respect to the amount of liquid sake, and a desirable aroma or alcohol is volatilized together with oxygen. For this reason, in the method, it is indispensable to provide an apparatus for collecting the volatilized components. Furthermore, since it is a batch-type processing method, it cannot be said that it is suitable for large-volume, continuous processing.

[0005] As a combination of nitrogen gas replacement and mechanical stirring, brewed liquor is stored in a container equipped with a cooling device, and stirred at high speed with a rotating blade provided in the container while maintaining the temperature at a low temperature, while generating cavitation. There is a method of blowing dissolved nitrogen gas without using high pressure to remove dissolved oxygen (Japanese Patent Publication No. 44-6637). The method requires a high-speed stirring device and a cooling device and their operation costs to suppress the rise in temperature of the brewed sake caused by the stirring. Furthermore, the method is not suitable for large-scale, continuous processing because of the batch method.

[0006] Similarly, a method in which nitrogen gas is blown into the sake while bubbling it, and more preferably, the sake is treated while stirring in a container (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-262082).
There is. This method aims to prevent quality deterioration during long-term storage of sake, the sake is kept at 15 ° C. or less, the temperature of nitrogen gas blown into the sake is also 15 ° C. or less, and the amount of sake is 1 Nml / liter.
It is described that performing nitrogen bubbling treatment under the condition of 40 Nml / liter sake improved not only the preservability but also the taste immediately after filling. In order to carry out the method, a cooling device capable of controlling the temperature is required. Further, although there is no description about the degree of reduction of dissolved oxygen, it is considered that under the conditions of bubbling nitrogen gas in the above-described method, substantial reduction of dissolved oxygen as in the above-described processing of sake has not occurred. Therefore, it is different from the technical idea of the present invention.

[0007]

As described above, methods for preventing the deterioration of alcoholic beverages during storage by removing oxygen dissolved in alcoholic beverages have been disclosed. However, any of these methods is incompatible with mass continuous processing. There is a problem in that it is suitable or accompanied by loss of taste and aroma which is preferable for alcoholic beverages. Further, in any of the treatment methods, there is a problem that the amount of dissolved oxygen increases again because air is involved in the step of filling the liquor with reduced dissolved oxygen into the bottle. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing liquor which has solved the above-mentioned problems.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In general, the present invention is directed to a liquor comprising the steps of mixing liquor and an inert gas in a continuous stream to reduce dissolved oxygen in the liquor. It relates to a manufacturing method.

The present inventors have intensively studied a method for reducing dissolved oxygen by replacing an inert gas. As a result, by mixing liquor and inert gas in a continuous stream, the amount of inert gas used is much lower than before, and the dissolved oxygen is efficiently reduced, improving the storage of liquor. In addition to this, the present inventors have found that a liquor having a flavor rich in freshness, which is preferable as liquor, can be obtained, thereby completing the present invention.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be specifically described below. The liquors used in the present invention include mirin in addition to sake, wine, shochu, liqueur, and old sake. For example, sake becomes a product through raw material processing, preparation, saccharification / fermentation, upper tank and refining, and filling processes. Shochu is converted into a product through raw material processing, preparation, saccharification / fermentation, distillation, and filling. Furthermore, mirin is converted into a product through raw material processing, charging, saccharification, pressing, refining, and filling. In the present invention, a roasting method (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-79965) can also be used as the raw material treatment. That is, the conditions of the roasting treatment are preferably 150 to 400 ° C., particularly 2 ° C.
With hot air of 00 to 400 ° C, several seconds to 2 hours, especially several seconds to 5
Minutes. The treatment temperature of the liquor used in the present invention is not particularly limited, and may be selected according to the liquor in a range of 0 to 30 ° C. It is desirable to select from the range of 15 ° C.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the sake after brewing, for example, the sake after the completion of alcoholic fermentation, which is put into the upper tank, and then stored and aged through the burning step, is subjected to pretreatment in the filling step. Without being limited to the method, for example, it can be performed as a pre-treatment or post-treatment of the burning step,
It can also be used in a production process of sake that does not require a burning step. Furthermore, in the present invention, alcoholic beverages may be mixed in a continuous flow after blowing the inert gas, and there is no limitation on whether or not pre-mixing is performed before blowing the gas. Further, it is desirable that the alcoholic beverage mixed in the continuous flow is once sent to a receiving tank to adjust the gas pressure, but may be sent directly to the filling step.

The inert gas used in the present invention includes:
Nitrogen, helium, argon, or a mixed gas thereof may be used, and may be appropriately selected. However, considering the cost required for the inert gas, it is preferable to use high-purity nitrogen gas. The gas injection pressure of the inert gas may be a pressure that can be sealed in a continuous flow of alcoholic beverage, and is in the range of 0.5 to 3 kg / cm ² G as described later. What is necessary is just to select suitably according to quantity and processing speed. The temperature of the inert gas to be used can be appropriately selected according to the processing temperature of the liquor to be used, but the influence on the efficiency of removing dissolved oxygen is less than the temperature of the liquor. Further, the amount of the inert gas charged per liter of the liquor to be treated may be appropriately selected within the range of 0.1 to 5 N liters depending on the concentration of the dissolved oxygen to be treated, the temperature of the liquor to be treated, and the treatment amount. I just need. The roughness of the gas passage section of the inert gas injection section may be appropriately selected according to the type and amount of the alcoholic beverage to be treated and the capacity of the equipment used for mixing in a continuous stream. Judging from the viewpoint of removal efficiency, 1-1
It is desirable to select from the range of the pore diameter of 00 μm.

The equipment used for mixing in a continuous stream according to the present invention only needs to be able to efficiently mix alcoholic beverages and an inert gas, and an in-line mixer for stirring and mixing an object to be treated in a pipe, for example, a Noritake static mixer [Noritake Co., Ltd.] is more preferable because it has no dead space, does not have a physical drive unit, and ensures sanitary properties. A Noritake static mixer is a static mixer composed of a housing and elements. One unit usually includes six elements.
The number of connected units to be used is selected according to the desired degree of stirring and the characteristics of the processing solution, but in the present invention, it may be appropriately selected according to the amount of alcoholic beverage to be processed and the mixing efficiency. Further, by appropriately selecting the inner diameter of the pipe, it is possible to cope with a target throughput. In the present invention, the flow rate of liquor passing through the in-line mixer affects the gas-liquid mixing efficiency, and hence the dissolved oxygen removal efficiency.
It is desirable that the treatment be performed in a linear flow velocity range of up to 500 cm / sec. The liquor production facility used in the present invention can be installed at a low cost simply by adding a new inert gas blowing section and a mixing section of liquor and inert gas to the piping section of the existing liquor production facility as described above. The industrial value is extremely high because the processing capacity is large and the purpose can be achieved with a relatively small amount of inert gas.

In the present invention, there are no particular restrictions on the container used to fill the liquor, but those which can be sealed are appropriately selected from those used for normal liquid filling, such as glass bottles, cans, PET bottles, and stainless steel tanks. it can.

Further, the alcohol and the inert gas are mixed in a continuous flow, the alcohol with reduced dissolved oxygen is filled in the container, and then the inert gas is blown into the head space of the container before tapping. By doing so, it is possible to suppress an increase in the dissolved oxygen concentration after plugging as compared with a case where the treatment is not performed, but more preferably to replace the air in the container before filling with liquor with nitrogen. Is mentioned.

[0016]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following Examples, but it should not be construed that the present invention is limited thereto.

Example 1 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the method for producing alcoholic beverages of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a stock solution tank, 2 denotes a pump,
3 is an inline mixer, 4 is a receiving tank, 5 is a pump,
6 means a plate heater. The pressure of nitrogen gas introduced into an in-line mixer (trade name: Noritake Static Mixer, manufactured by Noritake Co., Ltd.) was examined. The line piping diameter of the in-line mixer was 1 inch and 1 unit was used. As other conditions, the sake flow rate is 20 liters / minute, the sake temperature is 20 ° C,
The nitrogen gas flow rate was set at 15 liter / min. Sake with dissolved oxygen concentration of 6.7 ppm and nitrogen gas pressure of 4 kg /
cm ² G, 2 kg / cm ² G or 1 kg / cm ² G nitrogen gas is mixed in a continuous flow using an in-line mixer, and oxygen gas and excess nitrogen gas are evaporated in a receiving tank. The dissolved oxygen concentration in the sample was measured. Table 1 shows the measurement results of the dissolved oxygen concentration of sake under different nitrogen gas pressure conditions.

[0018]

[Table 1]

According to the results, the sake flow rate was 20 liters /
Under the processing conditions where the sake temperature is 20 ° C. and the nitrogen gas flow rate is 15 liters / minute, the nitrogen gas pressure is 1-2 kg / cm.
² G are more effective than others, it was possible to reduce the dissolved oxygen sake to 0.6ppm in a single process.

Example 2 Mixing in a continuous flow using an in-line mixer (trade name: Noritake Static Mixer, manufactured by Noritake Co., Ltd.) was repeated. The processing conditions were the same as in Example 1 [line piping diameter of in-line mixer, 1 inch, 1 unit. The flow rate of sake is 20 l / min, the temperature of sake is 20 ° C., the flow rate of nitrogen gas is 15 l / min, and the pressure of nitrogen gas is 1 kg / cm ² G].
After the treated sake, the nitrogen gas and the oxygen gas were volatilized in the receiving tank, and then mixed again in a continuous flow. The sake had a dissolved oxygen concentration of 6.5 ppm, and the dissolved oxygen was measured each time the in-line mixer was passed once, and the treatment was performed up to three times. Table 2 shows the measurement results of the dissolved oxygen concentration under the conditions of repeating the removing operation.

[0021]

[Table 2]

From these results, it was possible to reduce the dissolved oxygen in the sake to 0.2 ppm by performing the treatment twice with the in-line mixer.

Example 3 Sake and nitrogen gas were mixed in a continuous flow using an in-line mixer (trade name: Noritake Static Mixer, manufactured by Noritake Co., Ltd.). Inch, 1 unit. Sake flow rate is 20 liters / min, sake temperature is 20 ° C,
Nitrogen gas flow rate is 15 liter / min, nitrogen gas pressure is 1k
g / cm ² G], and nitrogen gas and oxygen gas were volatilized in the receiving tank. Thereafter, the sake was heated to about 65 ° C. by passing the sake through a plate heater and heated, filled in a 300 ml bottle, the head space was replaced with nitrogen, and the bottle was stoppered (product of the present invention). The control product was subjected to a mixing process in a continuous flow without blowing nitrogen gas, filled in a bottle through a burning step as it was, and plugged without replacing the head space with nitrogen. Table 3 shows the measurement results of the dissolved oxygen concentration.
Shown in

[0024]

[Table 3]

As described above, after burning and filling, the control product of 3.
Sake in which the dissolved oxygen was reduced to 0.5 ppm with respect to 5 ppm could be produced. The product of the present invention thus obtained had a smooth, light taste and a favorable taste compared to the sake of the control product without nitrogen substitution.

Example 4 Using an in-line mixer (trade name: Noritake Static Mixer, manufactured by Noritake Co., Ltd.), the mixture was mixed in a continuous flow to reduce the dissolved oxygen (burned sake) (a product of the present invention). And a preservation test of raw sake (product of the present invention). The method of manufacturing the product of the present invention was the same as that described in Example 3, but the sake was not burned with a plate heater during the manufacturing process. In addition, control products without nitrogen gas treatment were simultaneously stored in each sake. The storage was performed at 50 ° C. for 6 days under light shielding. When the sensory evaluation of the burned sake and the unrefined sake after storage was performed by 17 panelists, there were a plurality of panelists who felt old odor or off-flavor for the conventional product, whereas the product of the present invention was refreshing and refreshing. Many panelists felt a savory flavor in taste, and the evaluation of the product of the present invention was clearly preferred as an overall evaluation.

[0027]

As described above, according to the method for producing liquor of the present invention, the dissolved oxygen contained in liquor can be efficiently and continuously reduced, and the liquor is filled with the dissolved oxygen reduced. The stoppered liquor has little deterioration in quality even after storage, maintains a flavor full of freshness, and has a great industrial use effect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for producing alcoholic beverages of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: stock solution tank, 2: pump, 3: in-line mixer, 4: receiving tank, 5: pump, 6: plate heater,

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Shuntaro Yano Inside the headquarters office of Nishimachi 60 Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Naotaka Kurose Naototaka Kurose In the headquarters office in Shijogyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto Pref.Nishimachi 60 Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toshio Kakimoto Shimogyo-ku, Shijogyo-ku, Higashi-irito, Nishimachi 60 Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd. Inventor Sadao Kawakita 3-4-1, Seta, Otsu, Shiga Prefecture Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd. Central Research Laboratory Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Nakamura Shinya Shimogyo-ku Kyoto Kyoto Prefecture Shijō Street Higashibora Inhigashi input Tachiuri West Town 60 Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd. Head Office in the F-term (reference) 4B028 AC14 AG05 AG06 AG07 AG08 AG10 AP04 AP30 AS01 AT20

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method for producing alcoholic beverages, comprising mixing alcoholic beverages and an inert gas in a continuous stream to reduce dissolved oxygen in the alcoholic beverages. 2. The method for producing liquor according to claim 1, wherein the mixing in the continuous stream is performed by an in-line mixer. 3. The liquor according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the liquor and the inert gas are mixed in a continuous stream to reduce dissolved oxygen in the liquor and improve the quality of the liquor. Manufacturing method. 4. The liquor is sake, shochu, wine, liqueur, old sake or mirin.
4. The method for producing alcoholic beverages according to 2 or 3. 5. The method for producing liquor according to claim 1, wherein the inert gas is nitrogen. 6. An alcoholic beverage and an inert gas are mixed in a continuous stream to reduce dissolved oxygen in the alcoholic beverage, and then the air in the container before the alcoholic beverage or in the headspace of the container after the alcoholic beverage is filled. 4. The method for producing liquor according to claim 1, wherein the liquor is replaced with an inert gas.