AGING OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES USING CONTROLLED MECHANICALLY INDUCED CAVITATION

Abstract

An extreme acceleration of the process of aging spirits to obtain aged liquors includes circulating the spirits through a cavitation zone within a controlled cavitation reactor and exposing the spirits therein to high energy cavitation induced shockwaves. Sources of flavor and color such as charred wood chips may be added to the spirits to provide the color and flavor of liquors aged for years in traditional charred oak barrels. The method and apparatus of the present invention obtains the same conversion of undesirable alcohols, flavor extraction, and color as years of aging in an oak barrel but does so in a matter of minutes or hours. The apparatus and method also can be used in conjunction with traditional aging techniques and methods and the total aging time is still reduced dramatically.

Claims

1. A method of aging an alcoholic beverage to produce an aged beverage, the method comprising the steps of: (a) obtaining a volume of alcoholic beverage to be aged; and (b) subjecting the alcoholic beverage to cavitation within a cavitation zone of a controlled cavitation reactor.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein step (b) comprises circulating the alcoholic beverage through the cavitation zone two or more times.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of introducing additives to the alcoholic beverage prior to step (b).

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the additives comprise wood chips.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising charring the wood chips prior to introducing them to the distilled spirits.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the additives comprise flavorings.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of at least partially aging the alcoholic beverage in a vessel prior to step (b).

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the vessel comprises a charred barrel.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of at least partially aging the alcoholic beverage in a vessel following step (b).

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the vessel comprises a charred barrel.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step following step (b) of cooling the alcoholic beverage in a heat exchanger.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the alcoholic beverage comprises distilled spirits.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the alcoholic beverage comprises beer.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising adding hops to the beer prior to step (b).

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the alcoholic beverage comprises wine.

16. A method of aging an alcoholic beverage to produce an aged alcoholic beverage, the method comprising the steps of: (a) collecting the alcoholic beverage in a reservoir tank; (b) pumping the alcoholic beverage from the reservoir tank to a controlled cavitation reactor having a cavitation zone; (c) passing the alcoholic beverage through the cavitation zone of the controlled cavitation reactor to break down undesirable components in the alcoholic beverage normally broken down by time in an aging vessel to produce an aged alcoholic beverage; (d) moving the aged alcoholic beverage back to the reservoir tank; and (e) optionally repeating steps (b) through (d) to expose the aged alcoholic beverage to cavitation within the cavitation zone a predetermined number of times to age the alcoholic beverage further; and (f) collecting the aged alcoholic beverage.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of introducing additives into the alcoholic beverage prior to step (c).

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the additives comprise wood chips.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of charring the wood chips prior to introducing them into the alcoholic beverage.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step prior to step (a) of partially aging the alcoholic beverage in an aging vessel.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the aging vessel comprises a charred wood barrel.

22. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step following step (f) of storing the collected aged alcoholic beverage in an aging vessel for a predetermined period of time.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the aging vessel comprises a charred wooden barrel.

24. The method of claim 16 wherein the alcoholic beverage comprises a distilled spirit, beer, or wine.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing one embodiment of an apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention.

[0015] FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of the invention used here in conjunction with traditional pre-aging.

[0016] FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing yet another embodiment of the invention used here in conjunction with traditional post-aging.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] The invention will now be described in more detail and this description should be reviewed in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures for enhanced clarity. Mechanically induced and controlled cavitation such as that produced by the controlled cavitation devices disclosed in the incorporated references, is used according to the present invention to obtain artificial aging of alcoholic beverages such as distilled spirits on a high volume commercial scale. In one embodiment, the system includes a reservoir tank for holding an alcoholic beverage during the aging process. A pump circulates the beverage from the reservoir tank, through the controlled cavitation device, and back to the reservoir tank. In this way, the alcoholic beverage being aged can be circulated through the controlled cavitation device for as many cycles as necessary to obtain the desired degree of aging and flavoring.

[0018] In another embodiment, charred wood chips are added to distilled spirits and become entrained in the flow through the controlled cavitation device. The intense cavitation to which the spirits and wood chips are subjected in the cavitation device penetrate the wood chips and extracts color and flavor from them, which is infused into the liquid. This process also drives the liquid spirits into and out of the pores of the chips, which helps filter some undesirable compounds from the mix in much the same way that the charred interior of an oak barrel does over years of traditional aging. In other embodiments, hops and/or other flavors may be added to the alcoholic beverage for the aging of beers for example. Other flavoring and/or aroma sources such as fruits, oils, chocolates, flowers, spices, and other substances may be added for the production of a variety of products from flavored liquors to beer to wine and even to perfumes.

[0019] When used to age distilled spirits, the system of this invention can run for varying periods of time to obtain numerous cycles of a mixture through the controlled cavitation device. Varying amounts of char and various species of wood chips and/or flavoring may be selected to obtain a desired flavor, color, and filtration effect. It has been found that the time required for aging can range from a few minutes to many hours depending upon the composition of the original distilled spirit, the amount of desired color and flavor desired, and the number of years of traditional aging being matched. A heat exchanger may also be incorporated in the loop for longer runs to dissipate heat build-up caused by the cavitation device and any exothermic reactions occurring in the mix.

[0020] Internal clearances within the controlled cavitation device such as the space between the rotor and interior walls of the housing may be adjusted to accommodate different size charred wood chips. This is advantageous since wood chip surface area is an independent variable in the resultant aging process. Wood chips may also be substituted with a replaceable wooden ring insert that is internally concentric to the controlled cavitation device housing. Such a ring can be charred prior to an aging process to obtain the same desirable characteristics as the charred interior walls of a traditional oak barrel. In either event, the spirits are forced into and out of the pores of the charred wood chips or charred ring by the high intensity shock wave induced pressure variations, thereby releasing color and flavor into the mix. The intense pressure fluctuation also functions to remove sulfur species and other contaminants from distilled spirits through a filtration process akin to charcoal filtration. More specifically, the spirits are forced by the pressure variations into and out of the pores and particles of the charred wood, which filters the spirits in much the same way as an activated charcoal filter bed. Advantageously, the flavoring, coloring, and filtering process are accelerated by orders of magnitude over traditional barrel aging processes.

[0021] As mentioned above, ultrasound has been used in the past to obtain somewhat accelerated aging of spirits. The system of the present invention has many advantages over ultrasound treatment. For instance, ultrasound aging systems can work acceptably well on a small or laboratory scale, but such systems are difficult to scale up and replicate laboratory results in commercial volumes. The use of controlled cavitation in the present invention provides similar or near identical results at nearly any commercial volume. Cavitation events in the controlled cavitation device typically produce intense shock waves in a liquid being treated that expose the molecules in the liquid to far higher energies than are possible with ultrasound. This can result in more rapid flavor intensification and more rapid conversion of undesirable alcohols in the mixture into esters and other less objectionable compounds.

[0022] Gasses such as oxygen also may be added to the mix to accelerate the oxidation and conversion of undesirable alcohols and other chemicals. Also, ultrasound liquor aging devices rely on small clearances and mechanical shear to enhance the effects of the ultrasound aging process. These requirements are not conducive to particulates like wood chips being added to the liquor mix. A controlled cavitation device of the present invention can easily accommodate wood chips and other solids because of its inherent low shear and relatively large internal clearances.

[0023] The same principles used to extract flavor and color from charred wood chips in liquor aging can be used to extract sugars, starches, oils, and other substances from woods and other lignocellulosic material in applications such as ethanol and biogas production. Substances such as waste food or algae can experience component extraction in a similar way. In such processes, the intense pressure fluctuations caused by the cavitation induced shock waves force a solvent into a solid to remove entrapped components such as sugars and starches. These intense high energy shock waves are also capable of causing lysis of pressurized bodies like cells. Examples of this include treatment of algae or bacteria with the cavitation induced lysis allowing for oil and carbohydrate extraction or pasteurization. Cavitation can also reverse hornification where the pore structure of a lignocellulosic material dries and bonds to itself limiting future use of its natural capillary system. The pressure fluctuations can force solvent into this structure and reopen it to near its original condition prior to drying.

[0024] FIG. 1 illustrates in simplified schematic form a controlled cavitation reactor suitable for use in carrying out the methodology of the present invention. Such a reactor is described in detail in the incorporated references, and so will be describe only generally here. The reactor 11 comprises a reservoir tank 12 for holding a liquid alcoholic beverage during the aging process. Liquid is drawn from the reservoir tank 12 through conduit 13 by a pump 14 and delivered through a flow meter 16 and conduit 17 to a controlled cavitation reactor 18. The controlled cavitation reactor 18 generally comprises a cylindrical housing having an internally mounted cylindrical rotor. A space is defined between the outer peripheral surface of the rotor and the inner peripheral surface of the housing and this space is referred to as the cavitation zone. Cavitation-inducing structures such as radial bores are formed in or one the outer peripheral surface of the rotor. The rotor is rotated within the housing by an electric motor 19.

[0025] The liquid is pumped through the cavitation reactor within which it flows through the cavitation zone. As the rotor is rotated at a high rate, continuous cavitation events are induced in the liquid within the radial bores. This, in turn, produces highly energetic shock waves caused by continuously collapsing cavitation bubbles to propagate through the liquid in the cavitation zone. These shock waves induce the reactions described above within the alcoholic beverage, thereby duplicating traditional aging processes, but doing so in minutes rather than years. Charred wood chips may be mixed with the liquid, particularly when aging distilled spirits, to infuse the white spirits with color and flavor similar to that resulting from years of aging in charred barrels. After treatment in the reactor 18, the liquid flows through conduit 21 and may flow through a heat exchanger 22 to remove unwanted heat induced by the energy of cavitation. The cooled liquid then flows through conduit 23 and inlet 26 back to the reservoir tank 12. The liquid and entrained chips and/or other flavorings if desired may be circulated through the cavitation reactor as many times as desired to obtain a desired level of aging, flavor, and aroma. Then, it can be extracted as an aged and flavored alcoholic beverage, as indicated by arrow 28.

[0026] FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate hybrid systems for aging distilled spirits that include artificial aging with high energy cavitation in conjunction with traditional aging. Of course, such a hybrid system can be used in the aging of beer and wine in the same way. In FIG. 2, distilled spirits are partially aged in a traditional manner such as being left in a charred oak barrel 27 for a specified period of time. This time preferably is far less than the years required for full barrel aging and results in partial aging, partial filtration, and partial infusion of the desired flavors of the charred oak into the distilled spirits. The partially aged spirits can then be subjected to the cavitation induced aging in the apparatus described above for one or more cycles. Charred wood chips and/or other flavorings can be introduced if desired to obtain additional flavoring, coloring, and filtration during the process. The result is a fully aged liquor having characteristics unique to the charred oak barrel in which it was partially aged, but also having the full robust aging that traditionally only results from years of residence in oak barrels. Again, the total time to obtain the fully aged liquor product is a fraction of the time required to obtain the same benefits with traditional aging.

[0027] FIG. 3 illustrates an alternate hybrid process for obtaining similar results. Here, freshly distilled spirits are delivered from the distiller directly to a controlled cavitation device 11 according to the invention. As described above, the spirits are circulated through the controlled cavitation reactor or cavitator for a predetermined number of cycles, with or without the addition of charred wood chips and other flavoring and filtering media. After treatment for minutes or hours in the cavitation reactor, the distilled spirits are partially aged as if they had resided in traditional charred oak barrels for months or even years. The partially aged spirits may then be delivered to traditional charred oak barrels or other aging vessels for further aging in a more traditional manner. This may be desired, for instance, to infuse the resulting liquor with unique flavors from the barrel or for other reasons. After traditional aging in the barrel for a time far less than the several years usually required, the liquor is fully aged and virtually indistinguishable from its more venerable predecessors. Again, the total time to obtain the desirable flavor and character of liquor aged for years is reduced to a fraction of that time using a combination of the methodology of the present invention and traditional aging techniques.

[0028] The invention has been described herein in terms and within the context of exemplary embodiments and methodologies considered by the inventors to represent the best modes of carrying out the invention. However, the illustrated embodiments are not intended to and should not be construed to limit the scope of the invention. For example, while aging distilled spirits has been used in some instances as an example of the use of this invention, the invention itself is much broader than this. For instance, the methodology of the invention has been found useful in beer manufacturing, where pumping beer through a controlled cavitation reactor with hops and other flavorings can simulate the aging process in a fraction of the time. Wine can also be aged using the methodology of this invention. When aging wine, the wine may be pumped through a controlled cavitation reactor with wood chips and/or other flavorings. Exposure to shock waves in the cavitation zone accelerates many of the chemical reactions that naturally occur slowly with traditional beer and wine aging. Thus, the term spirits as used herein is meant to be construed to encompass beer and wine as well as distilled spirits.

[0029] Any desired flavoring can be included in a stream of spirits, beer, or wine being aged including those mentioned and, for instance, coffee and chocolate (sometimes used to flavor beer) an any other flavoring desired. It will be appreciated by the skilled artisan, therefore, that a wide gamut of additions, deletions, and modifications, both subtle and gross, may be made to the example embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention exemplified by such embodiments.