Method for production of a flavorless malt base

#This invention relates to methods for the production of a flavorless malt based solution and more particularly, to methods for the production of highly purified flavorless, colorless and odorless malt based solutions which can be used in the formulation of flavored malt beverages.

#Malt beverages are commonly known as beers. There are many variations in the types of beer which may be produced from a malt base and in general, each beer has its own flavor. As is well known, beers are made from malts through a fermentation process with yeast, the details of which are well known to those skilled in the art. The present invention is concerned with an alcohol containing beer which is a flavorless, colorless and odorless malt base that can be used in the formulation of malt beverages of varying flavors and colors.

#It is one object of the present invention to provide a novel method for the production of a flavorless malt base.

#Reference is now made to the drawings accompanying the application wherein the FIGURE is a flow sheet illustrating the method of fermentation and purification of the invention.

#As noted above, the invention is concerned with a flavorless malt base which can subsequently be converted to a flavored malt beverage wherein the flavor can be varied and optimized as desired. In the method of the invention, a flavorless malt base is produced which is eminently suitable as a stock base for such flavored malt beverages since substantially all of the flavors, odors and colors have been removed from the solution.

#In one aspect, the invention is based on the discovery that when an absorbent such as activated carbon is introduced into the fermentable carbohydrate mixture, the absorbent will be effective to substantially remove the flavors, odors and colors normally found in a fermented beer. The absorbent can be added before or after fermentation. After removal of the yeast and absorbents, the resulting fermented intermediate beer can then be subjected to treatment with one or more food grade ion exchange resins and/or food grade adsorption resins to further decharacterize the beer by decolorizing, deodorizing and deflavoring the fermented solution. This results in a malt base which has substantially no flavor, substantially no odor and substantially no color, and which makes the base eminently suitable for preparation of a wide variety of malt beverages which can have various flavors and colors.

#In the method of the invention, a fermented malt base is prepared using carbohydrates which may be derived from malt grain and adjunct sweeteners. In general, preferred malted grains comprise malted barley and rye and mixtures thereof, and mixtures with adjuncts. Preferably, the malt base should contain at least about 25 wt. % of fermentable carbohydrates derived from malted barley and can contain from 25 wt. % to 100 wt. % of such malted barley fermentable carbohydrates. Preferably, however, a ratio of about 25 wt. % of fermentable carbohydrates derived from malted barley and about 75 wt. % by weight of fermentable carbohydrates derived from adjunct materials are used. Adjunct materials are typically high fructose corn syrup mixtures of commercially available syrup extracts, but can be any material which can be fermented in the process of the invention to yield the product. Various types of malt premixes or mixtures of whole grains, ground grain extracts or prepared extracts and adjuncts are available for use as the fermentable carbohydrate mixture to be fermented.