Methods for chill treating non-distilled malted barley beverages

USRE36897E · kind E · reissue

Assignee

• Labatt Brewing Company Limited · CA

Inventors

• Cameron R. Murray · London, CA
• William John Van der Meer · London, CA

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 31, 1999
• Grant date: Oct 3, 2000
• Expiry date: Mar 31, 2019

Classification

• Technology area (CPC —): General

Abstract

A process for chill-treating, which is exemplified by a process for preparing a fermented malt beverage wherein brewing materials are mashed with water and the resulting mash is heated and wort separated therefrom. The wort is boiled cooled and fermented and the beer is subjected to a finishing stage, which includes aging, to produce the final beverage. The improvement comprises subjecting the beer to a cold stage comprising rapidly cooling the beer to a temperature of about its freezing point in such a manner that ice crystals are formed therein in only minimal amounts. The resulting cooled beer is then mixed for a short period of time with a beer slurry containing ice crystals, without any appreciable collateral increase in the amount of ice crystals in the resulting mixture. Finally, the so-treated beer is extracted from the mixture.