Apparatus for obtaining lupulin-rich products from hops
AssigneeAsahi Breweries, Ltd.
InventorsJunjiro Miyata, Yasushi Kikuchi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of obtaining lupulin-rich products from hops, which comprises: subjecting frozen hop cones to coarse crushing by a first crusher equipped with a screen having width of openings in the range of 6 - 15 mm and sieving fragments of crushed hops passing therethrough to obtain a first lot of lupulin-rich product as accumulated beneath the sieve; and then subjecting the portion which passed over the screen of the sieve to recrushing by a second crusher equipped with a screen having narrower openings than that of the first crusher, to wit, a screen having width of openings in the range of 3 - 6 mm, and sieving fragments of recrushed hops passing therethrough to obtain a second lot of lupulin-rich product as accumulated beneath the sieve.
Claims13
An apparatus for obtaining a lupulin-rich product from hop cones, which comprises:
- a storage tank for containing frozen hop cones, said storage tank having a feeder at the lower end thereof for feeding frozen hop cones from said storage tank;
- a first crusher connected for receiving frozen hop cones from said feeder, said first crusher having first crusher screen means whose openings are relatively large;
- a first cold air conveying pipe connected for receiving crushed fragments that pass through the screen means of said first crusher and for conveying said fragments in a cold air stream;
- a first cyclone connected to said first cold air conveying pipe for separating the cold air from the fragments;
- a first sieving device connected to said first cyclone for receiving said fragments that are discharged from said first cyclone, said first sieving device having first sieve screen means for separating the relatively large size fragments from the relatively small size fragments;
- a second crusher connected to said first sieving device for receiving therefrom the relatively large size fragments that are retained on said first sieve screen means and for re-crushing said relatively large size fragments, said second crusher having second crusher screen means whose openings are smaller than the openings of said first crusher screen means;
- a second cold air conveying pipe connected for receiving re-crushed fragments that pass through said screen means of said second crusher and for conveying said re-crushed fragments in a second cold air stream;
- a second cyclone connected to said second cold air conveying pipe for separating the cold air from the re-crushed fragments;
- and a second sieving device connected to said second cyclone for receiving said re-crushed fragments that are discharged from said second cyclone and having second seive screen means for separating the relatively large size re-crushed fragments from the relatively small size re-crushed fragments;
- said first and second cold air conveying pipes being part of a closed, cold air conveying system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.