A beverage dispenser includes a nozzle to dispense a beverage. The beverage dispenser further includes a camera to capture an image of the beverage as the beverage is dispensed from the nozzle. The camera has a field of view that includes the beverage. The beverage dispenser further includes a light source that illuminates the field of view of the camera. The beverage dispenser further includes a computer. The computer analyzes the image of the beverage and determines a characteristic of the beverage.

A method for cooling a mixed beverage formed with one or more beverage components includes circulating a refrigerant through a heat exchanger having a phase change material to cool a beverage component and sensing a temperature of the refrigerant. The method further includes detecting a first instance when the sensed temperature of the refrigerant equals a threshold refrigerant temperature, detecting a second instance when the sensed temperature of the refrigerant equals the threshold refrigerant temperature, and stopping circulation of the refrigerant when the second instance is detected.

A consumable item dispenser and method may include an ingredient storage unit configured to store a consumable ingredient used to produce consumable items by the dispenser. A sensor may be configured to sense an amount of consumable ingredient remaining to be dispensed. An input/output unit may be configured to communicate data over a communications network. A processing unit may be in communication with the sensor, and be configured to authenticate an electronic device associated with an operator and register the electronic device associated with the operator. A determination as to whether an amount of the ingredient in the ingredient storage unit is at or below a threshold level. The processing unit may generate a notification indicative that the ingredient is at or below a threshold level, and communicate the notification to the operator in response to being generated.

The present invention relates to a device for preparing and dispensing reconstituted beer, said device comprising: a first vessel containing a liquid concentrate for preparing a beer; a second vessel containing an alcoholic liquid; a source of water; a source of pressurized carbon dioxide; a reconstitution unit; a dispensing unit for dispensing the alcoholic beer; wherein the device is operable (i) to form a reconstituted beer comprising water from the source of water, carbon dioxide from the source of pressurized carbon dioxide, liquid concentrate from the first vessel and alcoholic liquid from the second vessel, in the reconstitution unit and (ii) to dispense the reconstituted beer from the dispensing unit; wherein the liquid concentrate in the first vessel an ethanol content of 0-1% ABV; and wherein the alcoholic liquid in the second vessel contains 12-100 wt. % ethanol and 0-88 wt. % water, ethanol and water together constituting 80-100 wt. % of the alcoholic liquid.

An alternative aspect of the invention relates to a device wherein the source of water and the source of pressurised carbon dioxide are replaced by a source of carbonated water and the device is operable to form a reconstituted beer comprising water from the source of carbonated water, liquid concentrate from the first vessel and alcoholic liquid from the second vessel in the reconstitution unit.

The aforementioned devices can be used to prepare a reconstituted beer of superior quality. The use of an essentially alcohol-free concentrate offers the advantage that the stability of the concentrate is substantially improved.

A beverage dispensing device and methods for dispensing beverages are provided. In one embodiment, the beverage dispensing device includes a housing, a carbonation assembly, a carriage assembly, and one or more flavorant containers. The beverage dispensing device can also include a controller with a UI to allow a user to customize aspects of a beverage. These customizable aspects can include fluid volume, carbonation level, flavorant type, and/or flavorant amount. Based on the customized aspects of the beverage, the beverage dispensing device can dispense an amount of carbonated or uncarbonated water, and can dispense a type and amount of flavorant. Illustrative embodiments of flavorant containers are also provided.

The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for securely providing telemetry data of a dispenser machine to an administrator system via an exposed web service over a computer network. To secure the exposed web service, the systems and methods of the present disclosure provide secure gateways at the dispenser machine and the administrator system that can provide one or more of message integrity, authentication, authorization, and confidentiality. The secure gateways are implemented separate from the applications creating web service request and response messages at the dispenser machine and the administrator system, respectively. Because the secure gateways are implemented separate from the applications creating the web service request and response messages, the applications creating the web service request and response messages can be created and modified without consideration to message security, which is handled transparently by the secure gateways.

Disclosed is a system for producing a beverage, in particular a cold beverage, comprising a cartridge that has a reservoir filled with a beverage substance, a beverage preparation unit with a cartridge receptacle into which the cartridge can be reversibly inserted, and a cartridge discharge device which causes at least partial transfer of the beverage substance from the reservoir into a mixing chamber; furthermore, the beverage preparation unit comprises a fluid supply which opens into the mixing chamber, or the system includes a movable plunger which is placed inside the reservoir and can be transferred from a starting position into a final position by means of the cartridge discharge device.

A post-mix beverage dispenser utilizing a beverage dispensing valve including a movable valve activation device is provided. The beverage dispensing valve can move the valve activation device to a predetermined activation position to dispense a fluid in response to a control signal.

An additive dispensing system for a refrigerator that includes a reservoir configured to contain an additive and an additive outlet in fluid communication with the reservoir. The additive dispensing system is configured to be connected to a refrigerator and is operable to selectively dispense an amount of additive to water dispensed from the refrigerator. The additive dispensing system may be connected to a water filtration system of the refrigerator such that the additive dispensing system may dispense the amount of additive into filtered water dispensed from the refrigerator.

A beverage dispenser includes a nozzle to dispense a beverage. The beverage dispenser further includes a camera to capture an image of the beverage as the beverage is dispensed from the nozzle. The camera has a field of view that includes the beverage. The beverage dispenser further includes a light source that illuminates the field of view of the camera. The beverage dispenser further includes a computer. The computer analyzes the image of the beverage and determines a characteristic of the beverage.