METHOD OF PROCESSING GRAPES AND GRAPES PROCESSING LINE Russian patent published in 2010 - IPC C12G1/02 

FIELD: food industry.

SUBSTANCE: grapes from vehicle 1 are unloaded into receiving hopper 2 with a metering feeding screw conveyor supplying the grapes into crusher-stemmer 3. The stemmed grapes are crushed and pump 4 supplies the fibre into pneumatic press 5 where it is pressed to obtain must collected in storage tank 6. Pump 7 pumps over the must into continuous cooler 8 cooling the must to 10-12°C after which the must goes to sedimentation tank 9. After sedimentation for 10-24 hours, the sediment is separated and removed, the must is cooled in cooler 11 to fermentation temperature, a pure culture of wine yeast is added and the must is fermented in fermentation tanks 12 until complete fermentation of sugars. The obtained wine material is pumped over by means of a pump 13 into the wine storage reservoir. In the course of active fermentation, the wine fumes and carbon dioxide produced are discharged from the fermentation tanks 12 through the lid of the upper hatch into the fumes condenser 15 where the fumes are condensed resulting in carbon dioxide and condensed aqueous-alcoholic mixture. The carbon dioxide undergoes a two-stage compression in compressor 17, 19 to reach pressure of 10-12 bars along with cooling in intercooler and final cooler 18, 20 and the condensed carbon dioxide is filtered in filter 21 in three stages, the first of which removes residue of water vapour and alcohol fumes by means of a depth filter having 1 um pores, the second stage sorbs smells and the third one refines it through the membranes with size of pores 0.2 mcm. The purified carbon dioxide is directed to the must to sedimentation tank 9, to the fibre for pressing to pneumatic press 5, to the liquefaction station, to the wine storage reservoir to be stored in the carbon dioxide medium and to the pressure and take-up unit of the wine material tramping device 27 and 28 for pumping the wine material from the wine storage reservoir. The condensed aqueous-alcoholic mixture is divided into some parts, one of which is accumulated and drawn in the accumulating reservoir 24 as flavoured alcohol, the second part is used for a partial condensation of the fumes and reduction in foaming on the surface of the fermenting medium by means of return and spraying over the fermenting surface of the fermentation tanks, and the third part is returned to the fumes condenser 15 through the condensate sprayer 14 for cooling of the wine fumes and carbon dioxide by means of spraying to a fog-like condition. The flavoured alcohols from the accumulating reservoir 24 are supplied by means of pump 25 for improving the flavour of table, strong, dessert and semisweet wines. The condensed aqueous-alcoholic mixture is used for a partial condensation of the fumes and reduction in foaming on the fermenting medium surface by means of return and spraying over the fermenting surface. The carbon dioxide undergoes a two-stage compression to reach pressure of 10-12 bars and cooling by means of non-oil carbon dioxide compressor 17, 19 equipped with intercooler and final cooler 18 and 20. The compressed carbon dioxide is filtered in three stages, the first stage performs depth filtration through the pores of 1 mcm, the second stage uses activated carbon, and the third stage performs filtration through the pores of 0.2 mcm. The purified carbon dioxide goes to the carbon dioxide liquefaction station.

EFFECT: complete and efficient extraction of the fermentation products, reduced losses and high quality of the finished product.

2 cl, 1 dwg, 2 ex