Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Inhibiting chemical or physical change of food by contact... – Treating liquid material
Patent
1991-06-06
1992-09-22
Paden, Carolyn
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Inhibiting chemical or physical change of food by contact...
Treating liquid material
426423, C12H 104
Patent
active
051495538
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Compositions comprising silica gel reacted with metal ions provide improved chillproofing and processing of beer and other brewed beverages. The compositions provide processing advantages with most beers but are especially useful in treating the so-called high malt beer and other beers that are known to be difficult to chillproof.
The term "beer," as used in this specification and claims, includes many types of brewed beverages. Such beverages include lager, Pilsner, Dortmund and Munich beers. Other such beverages are ale, porter and stout.
Beer and other beverages brewed from grains are complex solutions containing numerous organic solutes. Some of these compounds undergo reactions depending on how and how long the beverage is stored. One troubling reaction is the development of haze on aging and chilling. This haze is objectionable to consumers of the beverage.
A number of methods and products have been developed to remove sufficient of the haze former to prevent its formation. These methods or products are used before bottling and include the use of various adsorbents such as silica hydrogels and/or xerogels; calcium, aluminum and magnesium silicates; several types of clays or minerals; and mixtures thereof. U.S. Patents that disclose such art include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,163,538; 3,251,693; 3,436,225; 3,617,301; 3,940,498; and 3,958,023. U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,294 discloses a combination of silica gel and magnesium silicate as an effective chillproofer for some beers.
Not all beers are equally easy to stabilize against chill haze formation. Sfat, "MBAA Technical Quarterly" 12, 4,243-248 (1975), teaches that some beers can be stabilized with 1 to 2 pounds of polyvinylpolypyrollidone (PVPP) and 3 to 4 pounds of silica gel for each 100 bbls of beer. More difficult beers require 3 to 4 pounds of PVPP and 3 to 4 pounds of silica hydrogel for each 100 bbls of beer for effective stabilization.
It is an object of this invention to provide a chillproofing agent that is effective in beers that are difficult to treat and that can be used with shorter contact times or in lower doses for beers that are easier to chillproof. It is also an objective of this invention to provide a method and product that do not involve PVPP in chillproofing higher malt beers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The chillproofing composition of our invention is prepared by reacting certain alkaline silica gels with metals. Such compositions are exceptionally effective in chillproofing all beers, but are especially useful for beers which have previously required a combination of silica gel and PVPP to stabilize. The metal ion is reacted with or sorbed on the silica gel to provide a uniform distribution of the metal in the pores and on the surface of the silica.
The composition of our invention is added to the beer before bottling. Contact continues for a time sufficient to adsorb the chill haze components and provide the degree of stabilization required. Use of the composition of our invention allows processing of most beers at lower dosages or at shorter contact times than required when silica hydrogel is used. High malt beers can be processed without the use of PVPP.
The increased chillproofing activity of the product made by our process has not been predicted by the prior art that discloses various siliceous agents that contain metals. The prior art discloses blends of silica gel and magnesium silicate which have only slightly higher chillproofing activity than silica gel alone in difficult to stabilize high malt beers. Our product, which contains sorbed or exchanged multivalent ions, is extremely efficient in chillproofing such beers. Indeed, the metal must be introduced into our products as described, as other ways of providing metal do not provide the desired chillproofing activity. If a silica gel suspended in a solution of metal salt is used for chillproofing, the desirable behavior of our product is not realized. If a metal silicate is introduced into a silica hydrosol, the chillproofing activity of the resulting
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Berg Kenneth A.
Derolf M. Robert
Witt Reinhard H.
Paden Carolyn
Posner Ernest G.
PQ Corporation
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