JP6199031B2 - Beer-flavored alcoholic beverage with good hop bitterness and aroma - Google Patents

Description

Background of the Invention

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a beer-flavored alcoholic beverage with improved hop bitterness and aroma.

BACKGROUND ART Hops, one of the main ingredients of beer, happoshu and miscellaneous sake, impart a unique aroma and bitterness to beer. In recent years, beer products that focus on the hop flavor and emphasize the characteristic scent and bitterness are commercially available.

  In the beer production process, hops are generally added during boiling of wort. Production methods called “kettle hopping production method” and “late hopping production method” correspond to this. Further, as a production method for emphasizing the hop aroma, there is also a method of adding hops to a low temperature young beer known as a “dry hopping production method”. The beer produced by this dry hopping process has an extremely emphasized hop flavor, while the beer produced by the kettle hopping process has a stronger stimulating and rough impression on sensory evaluation. Giving, partly leading to difficulty in drinking.

  The α acid, which is the precursor of the iso α acid, which is the main body of the bitter taste of beer, is present in lupulin grains in hops. For this reason, pellets concentrated by increasing the proportion of lupurin grains in the total weight by sieving or the like are commercially available, and these pellets are called “type 45 pellets”. According to Hops and Hop Products (ISBN 3-418-00758-9) (Non-Patent Document 1), by using type 45 pellets, it is possible to mainly correct the variation in α-acid content for each hop lot, Although there is a description that the advantage of reducing the transfer cost can be obtained, there is no mention of the flavor of the type 45 pellet, which is related to the flavor characteristics of the hop form and the addition method.

  In addition, as a technique for controlling or adjusting the balance between the bitterness and aroma of a beer-like beverage, a method for improving or enhancing the flavor by adding a hop aroma component or a hop extract component from the outside as an additive composition (Patent Document 1: JP 2012-34659 A; Patent Document 2: International Publication No. 2009/050905 Pamphlet; Patent Document 3: JP 2005-519971 A; Patent Document 4: JP 2004-502413 A; Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-163969; Patent Document 6: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-240288; Patent Document 7: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-83574), a method of controlling or adjusting the quality of bitterness by improving the hop boiling process (Patent Document 8: JP-A-2011-139671), a method of adjusting bitterness by stopping the use of hops (Patent Document 9) JP, 2010-148371, A) The method of adjusting a flavor by using the hop which processed beforehand (patent document 10: Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2008-263838; patent document 11: Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2008-212041; Patent Document 12: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-081113), Method of imparting bitterness using hop substitute raw materials (Patent Document 13: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-171958; Patent Document 14: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-029060) Etc. However, by using hops that have been separated into lupulin and other parts as raw materials, and adjusting the amount of these ingredients to an appropriate range, a mild bitter taste is given and a favorable aroma is emphasized. There has been no report on how to make beverages.

  In Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2011-125291 (patent document 15), it is the turbidity at the time of stationary wort in manufacture of fermented alcoholic beverage by using combining a non-lupulin fraction, a lupulin fraction, and / or a hop. Methods have been presented for improving the drop and / or the formation of the trub. However, this document aims at clarifying the wort when using the non-lupulin fraction in the wort stationary process, and does not mention any flavor when the ratio of the lupulin fraction is increased.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-77671 (Patent Document 16) proposes a method for improving a flavor by removing a misty astringency component by using a residue extracted from water from hops. However, no consideration has been given to the removal of miscellaneous and astringent ingredients at the stage of processing hops. Moreover, in the method of this literature, the aroma component in a hop is lost to a considerable amount with astringency by water extraction, and removal of astringency and provision of aroma cannot be performed simultaneously.

JP 2012-34659 A International Publication No. 2009/050905 Pamphlet JP 2005-519971 A JP 2004-502413 A JP-A-9-163969 JP-A-6-240288 JP-A-60-83574 JP 2011-139671 A JP 2010-148371 A JP 2008-263838 A JP 2008-212041 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-081113 JP 2002-171958 A JP 2001-029060 A JP 2011-125291 A JP 2009-77671 A

Hops and Hop Products (ISBN 3-418-00758-9)

  The inventors are in the dry hopping process while emphasizing the flavor of hops, such as the dry hopping process, by using the lupulin fraction in hops or a hop preparation rich in lupulin as a raw material. It was found that a beer-flavored alcoholic beverage with little astringency and after-bitterness can be obtained. The present invention is based on this finding.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a beer-flavored alcoholic beverage that has little astringency and after-bitterness, has a mild bitterness, and emphasizes a preferred hop aroma.

The present invention includes the following inventions:
(1) A beer-flavored alcoholic beverage made from a hop preparation, the beer-flavored alcoholic beverage, the hop preparation containing an abundance of lupulin fraction;
(2) The content of the lupurin fraction so that the hop preparation rich in the lupurin fraction has a concentration of α-acid contained in the hop preparation of 1.5 times or more compared to the original hop. (1) beer-flavored alcoholic beverage, which is a hop material with increased
(3) In the production of beer-flavored alcoholic beverages, the hop preparation is added to the raw material mixture after all steps involving the heating operation included in the production method are completed and the heated raw material mixture is cooled. The beer-flavored alcoholic beverage of (1) or (2) above;
(4) The beer-flavored alcoholic beverage according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the content of linalool is 21 ppb or more;
(5) A method for producing a beer-flavored alcoholic beverage, wherein a hop preparation rich in lupulin fraction is used as a raw material.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the beer flavor alcoholic beverage with few astringency and after-bitter taste, the mild bitterness was provided, and the preferable hop flavor was emphasized.

Detailed description of the invention

  In the present invention, the “beer-flavored alcoholic beverage” refers to an alcoholic beverage having a beer flavor, which is a beverage fermented with yeast using a carbon source, a nitrogen source, water, and the like as raw materials. “Beer-flavored alcoholic beverages” include beer-flavored fermented beverages that do not use wheat or malt as raw materials (for example, beverages classified as “other brewed liquors (effervescent) (1)”) and raw materials Beer, malt liquor, and liqueur (for example, beverages classified as “liqueur (effervescent) (1)” under the liquor tax law).

  In the present invention, in the production of the above-mentioned beer-flavored alcoholic beverage, a hop preparation rich in the lupulin fraction is used as a raw material.

  In the present invention, the “lupulin fraction” means a fraction containing more lupulin grains than a complete hop among fractions obtained from hops. A person skilled in the art can fractionate the lupulin fraction as appropriate, and for example, it can be obtained by crushing hop spikelets and selecting them with a sieve.

  In the present invention, the hop preparation rich in the lupulin fraction is a preparation obtained by increasing the content of the lupurin fraction using hops as a raw material. Such a preparation can be prepared, for example, by fractionating a hop pulverized under the condition of −20 ° C. to −35 ° C. with a 0.15-0.5 mm sieve. The fraction passed through is the desired hop preparation. The concentration of lupulin granules contained in the hop preparation can be adjusted by adjusting the sieve opening. Alternatively, after the fractionation, the concentration of lupulin grains can be lowered by adding a part of the fraction that has not passed through the sieve to the fraction that has passed through the sieve. Further, in order to lower the concentration of lupulin grains, all hops or a pulverized product thereof can be added instead of the fraction not passing through the sieve.

  The concentration of lupulin grains in the hop preparation can be expressed using the concentration of α-acid as an index. Analysis of the alpha acid concentration in the hop preparation can be performed according to the EBC (Europian Brewery Convenyion) method (ANALYTICA-EBC). According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the alpha acid concentration in the hop preparation used in the present invention is 1.5 times or more, more preferably 2.0 times or more, even more preferably compared to the original total hops. Is more than 2.0 times, more preferably 2.4 times or more. The upper limit of the magnification is not particularly limited, but is, for example, 5.0 times, preferably 4.0 times, and more preferably 3.0 times.

  Hops (Humulus lupulus L.) used in the production of hop preparations are perennials belonging to the family Mulberry. There are many types of hops, such as Bullion, Brewers Gold, Cascade, Chinook, Cluster, East Kent Golding, Fuggles , Hallertau, Mount Hood, Northan Brewer, Perle, Saaz, Styrian, Tettnanger, Willamette, Healthbrucker ) And the like.

  As the hop used in the present invention, any of the above varieties can be preferably used. Moreover, you may use these hop varieties in mixture of 2 or more types. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the hops are of the health brooker, Haratautradish or chocolate zarts.

  In the present invention, the above-mentioned hop preparation is not limited, but in the production of beer-flavored alcoholic beverages, all steps involving heating operations included in the production method are completed, and the heated raw material mixture is After cooling, it can be added to the raw material mixture. As used herein, the term “heating operation” means not a natural temperature change, but an artificial operation for the purpose of heating. For example, fever due to the physiological action of yeast in the fermentation process Not included. Thus, for example, the process involving the above heating operation includes a boiling process but does not include a fermentation process. In addition, “after the heated raw material mixture has been cooled” means that the heated raw material mixture (for example, wort) is left to stand or is subjected to active cooling means, and the temperature of the fermentation process by yeast. Or after cooling to a lower temperature.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the production of a beer-flavored alcoholic beverage includes a boiling step, a stationary step, a cooling step, and a fermentation step of a raw material liquid (for example, wort). In this embodiment, the hop preparation described above is preferably added after the cooling step, more preferably after the cooling step and before the fermentation step.

  The addition amount of the hop preparation may be adjusted so that a beer-flavored alcoholic beverage having a good hop flavor is obtained, and is not particularly limited. Whether or not the obtained beverage has a good hop aroma can be objectively determined by quantifying the aroma component of hops. As such an aromatic component, for example, linalool is suitably used. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the content of linalool in the beer-flavored alcoholic beverage according to the present invention is 21 ppb or more, more preferably 30 ppb or more, and even more preferably 31 ppb or more. The upper limit of the linalool content is not particularly limited, but is, for example, 500 ppb, preferably 400 ppb, and more preferably 300 ppb.

  Content of the said aromatic component in the beer flavor alcoholic beverage by this invention can be measured by the gas chromatography with a mass spectrometer (GC / MS). Specifically, this GC / MS analysis can be carried out as follows. First, the aroma component in the beer-flavored alcoholic beverage is extracted with a C18 solid phase column, and the fraction eluted with dichloromethane is used as the sample for analysis. Quantification is performed by an internal standard method. Borneol is used as the internal standard substance and added to 25 ppb in the sample for analysis. The analysis conditions of the hop aroma component in GC / MS can follow Table 3 as described in an Example below.

  Manufacture of the drink by this invention can be implemented according to the well-known manufacturing method of a beer flavor alcoholic beverage except using said hop preparation. For example, a beer-flavored alcoholic beverage can be produced by fermenting at least water and a pre-fermentation solution prepared from wheat, malt, liquid sugar and the like. In other words, fermenting beer yeast is added to the pre-fermentation liquid (feeding liquid) to perform fermentation, and the obtained fermentation liquid (drinking liquor) is stored at a low temperature if desired, and then the yeast is removed by a filtration step. By doing, a beer flavor alcoholic beverage can be manufactured.

  In the present invention, it is possible to reduce astringency and miscellaneous taste with respect to the intensity of the fragrance by using the lupulin fraction, but in order to impart a certain degree of astringency and miscellaneous taste, You may use a hop together.

  In the production of the beer-flavored alcoholic beverage according to the present invention, other additives such as a fragrance, a pigment, a foaming / foaming improver, a water quality adjusting agent and a fermentation aid can be added as necessary.

  The beer-flavored alcoholic beverage according to the present invention has a refreshing hop flavor with little astringency and a bitter taste. The present invention can also be applied to beer-taste non-alcoholic beverages.

Example 1: The storage sample used for the examination test of the hop processing method which can reduce astringency was produced using the apparatus of 1.5L scale. The prepared wort (sugar malt use ratio 60%, liquid sugar use ratio 40% at the time of preparation) whose sugar content was adjusted to 12 ° P was used in the boiling test. Boil the wort with an electric heater, control the boiling rate to be 6.7% at a constant boiling intensity for 60 minutes without adding hops, and after boiling, sample the same amount of water as the amount of evaporation Then, the filter paper was filtered and the filtrate was ice-cooled. Beer yeast was added to the cooled wort and main fermentation was performed for 7 days. A sample subjected to post-fermentation at 10 ° C. for 4 days after the end of the main fermentation was used as a tasting and analytical storage sample.

  Hop addition conditions differed depending on the sample, and were added according to the description in Table 2 below after cooling the wort before yeast addition or at the end of the main fermentation.

  As for the lupulin fraction, the hop camellia was pulverized under the condition of −30 ° C., and the fraction passed through the sieve was defined as the lupulin fraction using a 0.15 mm sieve. In addition, the preparation containing a large amount of the lupurin fraction uses the residue generated by the fractionation, is mixed with the lupulin fraction at a certain ratio, and is described in Table 2 with respect to the α acid concentration before fractionation. It was obtained by adjusting the mixing ratio to obtain a magnification. The hop alpha acid concentration was measured according to the EBC (Europian Brewery Convenyion) method (ANALYTICA-EBC).

  Each sample obtained was subjected to sensory evaluation of astringency, astringency and hop aroma by four trained panelists, and each item was evaluated as strong, medium and weak. Moreover, based on these results, overall evaluation was performed according to the criteria described in Table 1 below.

Table 2 shows the amount of hop used, the timing of addition, and the results of sensory evaluation for each sample.

  As described above, the hop flavor with a strong hop aroma and a greatly reduced astringency is adjusted to a concentration of the lupulin fraction so that it is about 1.5 times or more the α acid concentration of all hops. It was recognized in the elevated test sections # 3, # 4, # 5, # 8, # 9 and # 10. Therefore, it was found that a strong hop aroma and a drastic reduction in astringency can be achieved at the same time by increasing the concentration of lupulin fraction above a predetermined concentration in hop addition. Moreover, the whole evaluation showed the same tendency both in the yeast addition after the wort cooling and at the end of the main fermentation.

Example 2: Examination of Appropriate Conditions for Maintaining Astringency Reduction Effect and Intensity of Hop Hops In Example 1, it was revealed that the ratio of lupulin fraction in hops greatly contributes to reduction of astringency. Then, in order to investigate the suitable addition conditions which maintain the intensity | strength of a hop fragrance, reducing astringency next, the kind and addition amount were examined.

  The storage sample used for the test was prepared using a 1.5 L scale apparatus. The prepared wort (sugar malt use ratio 60%, liquid sugar use ratio 40% at the time of preparation) whose sugar content was adjusted to 12 ° P was used in the boiling test. Boil the wort with an electric heater, control the boiling rate to be 6.7% at a constant boiling intensity for 60 minutes without adding hops, and after boiling, sample the same amount of water as the amount of evaporation Then, the filter paper was filtered and the filtrate was ice-cooled. Beer yeast was added to the cooled wort and main fermentation was performed for 7 days. After completion of the main fermentation, all the hops of German health brooker species (purchased from Steiner, Germany) at the levels shown in Table 3 and the lupulin fraction prepared by the method described in Example 1 were added, at 10 ° C for 4 days. Samples subjected to post-fermentation were used as tasting and analytical storage samples.

  Each sample obtained was subjected to sensory evaluation of astringency, astringency and hop aroma by four trained panelists, and each item was evaluated as strong, medium and weak. From these results, overall evaluation was performed according to the criteria described in Table 1.

  Further, the linalool concentration in the sample was measured by the following procedure. First, the aromatic component in the sample was extracted with a C18 solid phase column, and the dichloromethane elution fraction was subjected to GC / MS. The internal standard method was used for quantification. Borneol was used as an internal standard substance, and added to 25 ppb in the sample. The analysis conditions for linalool in GC / MS are as follows.

For each sample, the amount of lupurin fraction or hop added, linalool concentration, and the results of sensory evaluation are shown in Table 4.

  From the above results, linalool, which is a hop-derived aroma component, is 21 or more (preferably 31 or more), and the sample using the lupulin fraction has a characteristic that hop aroma is emphasized and astringency is low. I understood.

Example 3: Verification of effect when using hops of other varieties It was examined whether the results shown in Examples 1 and 2 are commonly applicable to hops of other varieties.

  The storage sample used for the test was prepared using a 200 L scale test brewing facility. The prepared wort (sugar malt use ratio 60%, liquid sugar use ratio 40% at the time of preparation) whose sugar content was adjusted to 15 ° P was used for the boiling test. In the wort boiling step, hops were not added, and the mixture was cooled to 10 ° C. after boiling. Beer yeast was added to the cooled wort and main fermentation was carried out at 11 ° C. for 7 days. After completion of the main fermentation, all hops of German health brooker, Haratautradish or Czechzart (purchased from Steiner, Germany) at the levels shown in Table 5 and the lupulin fraction prepared by the method of Example 1 were added. After post-fermentation at 10 ° C. for 5 days, low-temperature storage at 0 ° C. was performed for 10 days, and filtration and filling were performed while diluting with gas water so that the original extract was 14 ° P. In any of the varieties, as in Examples 1 and 2, using a product whose concentration of the lupurin fraction was increased so as to be about 1.5 times or more of the α acid concentration before fractionation, Added before yeast addition. The results are shown in Table 5.

  According to Table 5, in any of the varieties, as in Examples 1 and 2, a product whose concentration of the lupurin fraction was increased so as to be about 1.5 times or more the α acid concentration before fractionation was used. It was confirmed that good results could be obtained if the wort was cooled and added before yeast addition, and linalool had a high concentration (preferably 30 ppb or more).

Claims (3)

A beer-flavored alcoholic beverage made from a hop preparation,
The hop preparation is a hop material in which the content of lupulin fraction is increased so that the concentration of α-acid contained in the hop preparation is 2.0 times or more compared to the original hop ,
In the production of a beer-flavored alcoholic beverage, the hop preparation is completed after all steps involving the heating operation included in the production method are completed and the heated raw material mixture is cooled, and before the fermentation step, or A beer-flavored alcoholic beverage which is added to the raw material mixture after the end of the main fermentation and before the post-fermentation .   The beer-flavored alcoholic beverage according to claim 1, wherein the content of linalool is 21 ppb or more. A method for producing a beer-flavored alcoholic beverage, using a hop preparation rich in lupulin fraction as a raw material,
The hop preparation is a hop material in which the content of lupulin fraction is increased so that the concentration of α-acid contained in the hop preparation is 2.0 times or more compared to the original hop,
In the production of a beer-flavored alcoholic beverage, the hop preparation is completed after all steps involving the heating operation included in the production method are completed and the heated raw material mixture is cooled, and before the fermentation step, or A method that is added to the raw material mixture after the end of the main fermentation and before the post-fermentation .