Bottle closure for collecting and trapping sediment

A bottle closure for collecting and removing solid sediment particles from a liquid being fermented in situ to form an alcoholic beverage in a bottle having a neck which defines a neck opening bounded by an inner surface of said neck and terminates in an annular sealing surface surrounding said neck opening, said closure comprising:

• a skirt portion having an open bottom end and a top end and being adapted to be removably fastened to the bottle neck in exteriorly surrounding relation thereto, said skirt portion terminating at said top end thereof in an inwardly directed annular flange having a radial width approximately corresponding to the radial width of said sealing surface of the bottle neck and defining a central opening generally corresponding in size to said neck opening of the bottle;
• a trap portion extending upwardly from said inwardly directed annular flange of said skirt portion and having a tubular portion with an inner surface, a closed top end, and an open bottom end communicating with said central opening in said inwardly directed annular flange of said skirt portion, said tubular portion of said trap portion being adapted to be transversely crimped inwardly at a location between its top and bottom ends;
• and
• a liquid-tight and gas-tight liner of sealing material located within said trap portion, said liner having a tubular portion with an inner surface which is concentric with said inner surface of said tubular portion of said trap portion, a closed top end which underlies said closed top end of said trap portion, and an open bottom end bounded by an outwardly directed annular flange which underlies said inwardly directed annular flange of said skirt portion, said outwardly directed annular flange of said liner being adapted to be pressed by said inwardly directed annular flange of said skirt portion against said sealing surface of the bottle neck when said closure is fastened to the bottle neck;
• whereby, when a bottle containing a fermenting liquid and sealed by said closure is stored in an upside down position, said inner surface of said tubular portion of said liner and said inner surface of said bottle neck constitute an essentially continuous passageway which is unobstructed by any transverse surface, and sediment particles are able to pass through said passageway without encountering any obstructing surface so as to enter freely and accumulate in the closed end region of said trap portion, and said sediment particles ultimately become trapped in said closed end region of said trap portion when said tubular portion of said trap portion is transversely crimped inwardly to an extent sufficient to cause the simultaneously crimped section of said tubular portion of said liner to form a liquid-impervious and gas-impervious seal across the interior of said trap portion, thereby precluding return of the sediment particles into the liquid in the bottle when the latter is returned to an upright position preparatory to said closure being removed from the bottle for dispensing of the finished alcoholic beverage.