Pre-mixing and batching system

A dry ingredient pre-mix station for use with an ingredient preparation and batching system operable to supply a batch of a liquid product from a batch tank to a bottling line, the dry ingredient pre-mix station comprising:

• a first hopper configured to store a first ingredient in dry form;
• a first unloader operably coupled to the first hopper and configured to receive a first package containing the first ingredient and unload the first time constrained ingredient from the first package into the hopper;
• a second hopper configured to store a second ingredient in dry form;
• and
• a mixer fluidly coupled to the first hopper and the second hopper, the mixer configured to receive and mix the first ingredient and the second ingredient to form an ingredient mix;
• wherein the first ingredient is a time constrained ingredient.

A method of preparing a batch of a liquid product for a bottling line, the method comprising:

• conveying a first ingredient in dry form from a first hopper to a mixer;
• conveying a second ingredient in dry form from a second hopper to a mixer;
• mixing the first ingredient and the second ingredient to form an ingredient mix;
• conveying the ingredient mix from the mixer to a batch tank;
• and
• combining the ingredient mix with a hydrated ingredient within the batch tank to produce a batch;
• wherein the first ingredient is a time constrained ingredient.