Residual air in the neck of the bottle is fatal to the quality of the beer.
Because the bottleneck air promotes the growth of oxygen-producing microorganisms in beer, it mainly accelerates the aging process.
Beer contains a variety of compounds that are easily oxidized. The oxidized aged carbonyl (Alterungscarbonyle) has a very low taste threshold and can be detected by odor almost at the molecular level, thus negatively affecting the odor and taste of beer. This process can be slowed but not stopped. Therefore, people are interested in how to provide the freshest beer possible.
The aging carbonyl group and its prophase are mainly due to oxidation of unsaturated acids, Maillard reaction, oxidation of higher alcohols and other oxidation processes.
The more dissolved oxygen in the beer and the more oxygen absorbed during the filling process or the more air left in the bottleneck, the faster the aging and taste destruction. Therefore, measures must be taken to reduce the amount of bottleneck air as much as possible during the filling stage. High pressure bubble is one of the most common means.
The high pressure foam is sprayed continuously in the direction of extremely fine high pressure water jet (up to 4000kPa), and each bottle filled by this device will be hit by the 80℃ jet and bubble, thereby removing the bottleneck air. Only a few milliliters of water were injected. However, note:
High-pressure jet water needs to be degassed, otherwise it may bring air into;
Foaming should not be excessive, otherwise it will lead to increased wine damage.
For best results, modern irrigation machines are equipped with computer-supported proportional control systems to control the jet flow. The necessary injection pressure and the position of the injection point can be automatically adjusted according to the speed of the wine filling machine. The consistency of process parameters at bottlenecks can be ensured even in deceleration and acceleration sections.
Under normal circumstances, the necessary injection pressure automatically increases with the increase of the speed of the wine filling machine, but when the machine is faster, the pressure tends to decrease after reaching the maximum value. The optimal injection pressure of the machine at different speeds is a one-to-one relationship (curve), which can be preset by the brewery and can be modified at any time.
After filling, the bottle is sent to the capping machine.