A container 100 containing material 140 such as hops for flavouring a beverage is disclosed, the container 100 being formed from liquid impermeable material and comprising an inlet 110 for receiving beverage to be flavoured, an outlet 120 for dispensing flavoured beverage and a compartment 130 within the container, configured to allow liquid to pass between the inside of the container and the inside of the compartment 130, the compartment 130 containing and retaining material, further comprising means configured to allow compression of the material in the compartment. Also disclosed is a dispenser 500 for dispensing a beverage flavoured from the container 100 and methods of extracting flavour from hops and of flavouring beverages.

A container 100 containing material 140 such as hops for flavouring a beverage is disclosed, the container 100 being formed from liquid impermeable material and comprising an inlet 110 for receiving beverage to be flavoured, an outlet 120 for dispensing flavoured beverage and a compartment 130 within the container, configured to allow liquid to pass between the inside of the container and the inside of the compartment 130, the compartment 130 containing and retaining material, further comprising means configured to allow compression of the material in the compartment. Also disclosed is a dispenser 500 for dispensing a beverage flavoured from the container 100 and methods of extracting flavour from hops and of flavouring beverages.

Compositions which include hop materials infused with exogenous flavorant matrix and methods for infusing hop materials with a flavorant matrix are provided, wherein the method includes emulsifying a flavorant additive into a carrier system to provide a flavorant matrix; and infusing the hop material with the flavorant matrix.

Compositions which include hop materials infused with exogenous flavorant matrix and methods for infusing hop materials with a flavorant matrix are provided, wherein the method includes emulsifying a flavorant additive into a carrier system to provide a flavorant matrix; and infusing the hop material with the flavorant matrix.

One embodiment of the present invention is a nested fermentation method for making a beverage, such as an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beer, a wine, or the like, the method comprising the steps of: creating a first solution, wherein creating the first solution comprises fermenting first fermentation ingredients; creating a second solution, wherein creating the second solution comprises removing a first portion of alcohol from the first solution; creating a third solution, wherein creating the third solution comprises removing a first portion of water from the second solution; creating a fourth solution, wherein creating the fourth solution comprises adding second fermentation ingredients to the third solution and fermenting the second fermentation ingredients in the third solution.

A beer making system may adjust the beer making process based on the age and provenance of hops to achieve a designed flavor profile. Hops may be analyzed and packaged, with the analysis stored for recall by a beer making system. When the hops are used during beer making, compensations may be made to the recipe parameters to compensate for estimated changes in the hops performance. In one use case, hops may be analyzed and sealed into single-use packages, which may be subsequently used with an automated or semi-automated beer making machine. A database lookup may be performed at beer making to adjust a recipe to increase or decrease time, temperature, or other parameters of a beer making process.

One embodiment of the present invention is a nested fermentation method for making a beverage, such as an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beer, a wine, or the like, the method comprising the steps of: (1) performing a first fermentation process on first fermentation ingredients to form a first solution; (2) removing a first collection of alcohol, aromatics, and water from the first solution to generate an intermediate solution; (3) adding additional fermentation ingredients to the intermediate solution; (4) removing additional alcohol, aromatics, and water from the intermediate solution after fermentation of the additional fermentation ingredients; (5) repeating steps (3) and (4) as necessary to create a concentrated solution; and (6) adding aromatics and/or alcohol to the concentrated solution.

A method for preparing hop extract emulsions is provided. One to two parts hop extract is combined with eight to nine parts diluent oil as an oil mixture. The oil mixture is heated until reaching a viscosity threshold when the heated oil mixture is combined with an emulsifying solution. The emulsifying solution includes an emulsifying agent dispersed in water. Upon combining the oil mixture and emulsifying solution, the emulsifying agent enrobes droplets of the hop extract. The combined oil mixture and emulsifying solution is mixed and homogenized.

A method for preparing hop extract emulsions is provided. One to two parts hop extract is combined with eight to nine parts diluent oil as an oil mixture. The oil mixture is heated until reaching a viscosity threshold when the heated oil mixture is combined with an emulsifying solution. The emulsifying solution includes an emulsifying agent dispersed in water. Upon combining the oil mixture and emulsifying solution, the emulsifying agent enrobes droplets of the hop extract. The combined oil mixture and emulsifying solution is mixed and homogenized.

The invention relates to a method for preparing a brewed beverage, in particular for brewing a beer, comprising adding alkali metal salts of alpha-acids and beta-acids to wort before or during boiling of the wort, andafter boiling of the wortsubjecting the wort to a fermentation step wherein the brewed beverage (or beer) is produced. The method comprises contacting (blending or mixing) an alpha-acid and beta-acid containing matter with one or more alkali metal compounds, thereby forming alkali metal humulates and alkali metal lupulates, prior to the addition to the (boiling) wort.