NATURAL FALLING TYPE SAFE FERMENTATION LOCK

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a fermentation lock, and more particularly, to a natural falling type safe fermentation lock that is capable of easily discharging carbonic acid gas generated during fermentation to the outside and preventing air from entering a fermentation vessel even when a pressure in the fermentation vessel is lower than that at the outside, thereby keeping acetic acid fermentation from occurring in the fermentation vessel .

Background Art

Generally, alcoholic beverage is divided into fermented (brewed) wine and compound wine according to a making method. The fermented wine is made at a turbid state by fermenting grains, sweet potatoes, fruit juices and the like or made at a clear state by filtering the materials.

If wine is made by adding sugar to fruits like grapes or wild grapes in a jar or a glass bottle at general homes, both acetic acid fermentation and alcohol fermentation are generated during the fermentation process. As a result, the wine tastes so sour. To suppress the acetic acid fermentation, fruits are mixed together with distilled

spirits as well as sugar. In this case, however, the wine tastes so sweet and after drinking, causes a drinker to have a headache. This reason is that as sugar and alcohol contents are high, yeasts as alcohol fermentation bacteria are not cultivated and instead, other bacteria are cultivated, which makes abnormal fermentation occur, keeping the alcohol fermentation from happening, which results in the formation of foreign substances.

The yeasts that conduct the alcohol fermentation are cultured even when oxygen is not supplied, but the bacteria that conduct the acetic acid fermentation are cultured only when oxygen is necessarily supplied. Therefore, if the acetic acid fermentation that makes the wine taste sour is not made, a fermentation vessel should be completely sealed such that air with oxygen does not enter the fermentation vessel from the outside during the alcohol fermentation.

For example, however, during the fermentation a large quantity of carbonic acid gas of 300L per sugar of lkg is generated, which causes a pressure at the inside of the fermentation vessel to be high, such that the sealed portion of the fermentation vessel may be torn off or the fermentation vessel itself may be broken. Thus, the fermentation vessel could not be completely sealed.

To solve these problems, a fermentation lock for

discharging carbonic acid gas to the outside and preventing air from entering the inside of the fermentation vessel is fixed onto the fermentation vessel. FIGS . Ia and Ib show a conventional fermentation lock 1. As shown, the end of a duct 2 is placed under water such that before a reverse- flow pressure is acted, external air does not enter the inside of a fermentation vessel 100 and carbon dioxide generated during fermentation is discharged to the outside. However, if a quantity of carbon dioxide generated during fermentation and maturation is drastically decreased, or if a temperature difference between day and night is high, the internal pressure of the fermentation vessel 100 becomes lower than the external pressure thereof, which results in the generation of the reverse-flow pressure. As a result, as shown in FIG. Ib, the water that is filled at the end of the duct 2 flows reversely and moves up toward a reversed water tank 3 where the reversed water is stored, such that the end of the duct 2 is not submerged into water, but communicates with air, which enables air to gently flow into the fermentation vessel 100. In this case, the acetic acid bacteria as aerobic bacteria are cultivated during the fermentation and maturation, thereby generating acetic acid that makes a quality of wine greatly deteriorated.

Therefore, the conventional fermentation lock 1 has the

following problems in that when the internal pressure of the fermentation vessel 100 becomes lower than the external pressure thereof, water that prevents air from entering the fermentation vessel 100 flows reversely to open the duct 2 such that the air may easily flow to the inside of the fermentation vessel 100 and as the air enters the inside of the fermentation vessel 100, acetic acid fermentation occurs to produce acetic acid in the wine in the fermentation vessel 100, which makes a quality of wine greatly deteriorated.

Disclosure of the Invention Technical Problem

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide to a natural falling type safe fermentation lock that is capable of preventing water from entering the inside of a fermentation vessel when the internal pressure of the fermentation vessel is higher than the external pressure thereof during fermentation and maturation thus to form a reverse-flow pressure, making the end of a passageway kept submerged into the water such that air entering the inside of the fermentation vessel does not

exist or exists in extremely small quantities, thereby making alcohol fermentation and maturation normally conducted to obtain a better quality of wine.

Technical Solution

To accomplish the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided to a natural falling type safe fermentation lock including a water tank having a ventilating hole extended outwardly from the outer peripheral surface thereof to communicate with the outside of the fermentation lock and adapted to contain water therein, and a passageway having both ends opened, one end communicating with the water tank and the other end communicating with a fermentation vessel, wherein the water tank has the ventilating hole formed higher by a given distance than a boundary opened between the water tank and the passageway and is adapted to move water therein from one end of the passageway communicating with the water tank to the other end of the passageway communicating with the fermentation vessel only when a pressure in the fermentation vessel is lower than a pressure of external air, and the passageway is shaped at a given portion thereof to have a gradually enlarged horizontal section of inner space thereof toward the top from the bottom thereof,

such that the water being moving upwardly through an inlet portion formed at the lower side of the given portion of the passageway from one end of the passageway communicating with the water tank to the other end of the passageway communicating with the fermentation vessel falls by its own weight, thereby preventing the water from being passed through the given portion of the passageway and returning the whole of water being fallen by its own weight to one end of the passageway communicating with the water tank. According to the present invention, at this time, the given portion of the passageway becomes gradually enlarged, but the passageway may be drastically enlarged in the sectional area thereof at a specific position.

Furthermore, the water tank constitutes the lower portion of the fermentation lock, and the passageway includes a vertical through-pipe and a funnel-shaped chamber constituting the upper portion of the fermentation lock. The funnel-shaped chamber of the passageway has a hole communicating with the water tank at the bottom end thereof, and the vertical through-pipe of the passageway is extended vertically through the water chamber and a portion of the hole formed at the bottom end of the funnel-shaped chamber from the outside of the bottom end of the fermentation lock to a position higher by a given distance

than a position of the hole formed at the bottom end of the funnel-shaped chamber, provided with a top end communicating with the inner space of the funnel-shaped chamber of the passageway. Preferably, the funnel-shaped chamber of the passageway has an enlarged horizontal section of inner space thereof at the lower portion thereof toward .the top from the- bottom thereof, and the ventilating hole of the water tank is formed higher by a given distance than the hole formed at the bottom end of the funnel-shaped chamber.

Preferably, the water tank and the vertical through- pipe of the passageway are formed integrally with each other and the funnel-shaped chamber is separately molded in such a manner as to be detachably coupled to the integrated water tank and vertical through-pipe, a sealing member being adapted to be fit along a coupled portion between the integrated water tank and vertical through-pipe and the funnel-shaped chamber.

Brier Description of Drawings

Further objects and advantages of the invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGS. Ia and Ib are sectional views showing a fermentation lock according to a conventional practice;

FIGS.2a and 2b are sectional views showing a fermentation lock according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG.3 is a sectional view showing a fermentation lock according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG.4 is a sectional view showing a fermentation lock according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Now, an explanation on a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be in detail given with reference to attached drawings .

FIGS.2a and 2b show the basic principle of a natural falling type safe fermentation lock 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.2a shows the fermentation lock 11 of this invention when the internal pressure of a fermentation vessel 100 is equal to the external pressure of the fermentation vessel 100. The fermentation lock 11 of this invention includes a passageway 12 and a water tank 21 having a ventilating hole

22 formed thereon, wherein one end 14 of the passageway 12 is connected to the central portion of the top end of the fermentation vessel 100 in such a manner as to communicate with the inside of the fermentation vessel 100 and the other end 13 of the passageway 12 communicating with the water tank 21 is submerged into water 101 filled in the water tank 21.

If a pressure in the fermentation vessel 100 is high by means of the generation of carbon dioxide during alcohol fermentation, the carbon dioxide is discharged through the passageway 12 to the water 101 in the water tank 21. Then, the carbon dioxide is discharged through the ventilating hole 22 on the water tank 21 from the water 101 to the outside of the fermentation lock 11. FIG.2b shows the fermentation lock 11 of this invention when the internal pressure of the fermentation vessel 100 is lower than the external pressure of the fermentation vessel 100.

When a temperature difference between day and night is high after almost finishing the fermentation, a quantity of carbon dioxide generation is drastically reduced, and the air in the fermentation vessel 100 and the volume of materials therein are decreased such that the internal pressure of the fermentation vessel 100 is lower than the

external pressure, that is, the atmospheric pressure of the fermentation vessel 100. As a result, the water filled at the lower end of the passageway 12 rises along the passageway 12 by way of a reverse-flow pressure. However, since the passageway 12 formed vertically upwardly from the boundary 31 opened between the passageway 12 and the water tank 21 has a gradually enlarged horizontal section toward the top from the bottom thereof, the water 101 in the water tank 21 is not passed through the enlarged portion of the passageway 12 and returned to the water tank 21.

If the water that is rising by the reverse-flow pressure enters the enlarged portion of the passageway 12 , it naturally falls by its own weight and does not enter the enlarged portion of the passageway 12. The enlarged portion of the passageway 12 is formed in such a manner as to be gradually increased, but it can be drastically increased as shown in FIG.3 according to another embodiment of the present invention, which of course gives the same effect as in FIGS.2a and 2b. The above-mentioned process is repeated during the fermentation and maturation, and at a moment when water naturally falls, air may flow into the passageway. However, a quantity of air flowing is extremely small, and thus, the air does not give any influence on the change in a quality

of wine that may be caused by the action of aerobic bacteria.

FIG.4 shows a fermentation lock constructed most preferably according to the present invention. ^' The fermentation lock as shown in FIG.4 is constructed in a more compact manner when compared with that as shown in FIGS.2a and 2b.

According to the present invention, the water tank 21 constitutes the lower portion of the fermentation lock 11, and a passageway 12 includes a vertical through-pipe 16 and a funnel-shaped chamber 17. The water tank 2 and the vertical through-pipe 16 of the passageway 12 are formed integrally to each other, and the funnel-shaped chamber 17 is separately formed in such a manner as to be detachably coupled to the integrated water tank and vertical through- pipe. An 0-ring 41 is fit along the outer circumference of a coupled portion between the integrated water tank and vertical through-pipe and the funnel-shaped chamber 17 for sealing the gap formed after the coupling. The water in the water tank 21 is refilled or removed after the funnel- shaped chamber 17 is separated from the water tank 21.

The lower end portion of the vertical through-pipe 16 is protruded downwardly from the bottom end portion of the water tank 21, and it has a male screw formed on the outer

peripheral surface thereof in such a manner as to be coupled to a hole having a female screw formed on the inner peripheral surface thereof formed at the central portion of a cap of the fermentation vessel 100. The funnel-shaped chamber 17 of the passageway 12 is provided with a cover 51 that is made of rubber and is opened and closed, at the top surface thereof, and is provided with a given diameter of hole 18 formed in the middle portion of the bottom surface thereof. The size of the hole 18 formed at the bottom end of the funnel-shaped chamber 17 is necessarily larger than the diameter of the through-pipe 16. This is the reason that the through-pipe 16 is passed through the hole 18 formed at the bottom end of the funnel-shaped chamber 17 and the boundary 31 opened between the water tank 21 and the funnel-shaped chamber 17 becomes the inside area of the hole 18 formed at the bottom end of the funnel-shaped chamber 17 except the inside area of the through-pipe 16.

The through-pipe 16 is extended vertically upwardly from the bottom end formed at the outside of the fermentation lock 11 to a given height at the inside of the funnel-shaped chamber 17 through the hole 18 formed at the bottom end of the funnel-shaped chamber 17. If the through-pipe 16 is extended to a substantially low height,

water may flow into the through-pipe 16 before it naturally falls, and therefore, the top end of the through-pipe 16 is preferably extended to a height being almost adjacent to the top surface of the funnel-shaped chamber 17. As a result, the hole formed at the top end of the through-pipe 16 should not be closed by means of the top surface of the funnel-shaped chamber 17, such that the top end of the through-pipe 16 communicates with the inner space of the funnel-shaped chamber 17. On the other hand, the ventilating hole 22 of the water tank 21 is preferably formed higher by a given distance than the hole 18 formed at the bottom end of the funnel- shaped chamber 17, thereby preventing water from flowing through the ventilating hole 22 to the outside. Through the fermentation vessel with the fermentation lock of this invention, fruit wine is made with grapes, wild grapes, peaches, pears, apples, cherries, and the like, unstrained rice wine, clear strained rice wine, and so on are made with rice, barley, wheat, corn, and the like, and leaching wine is made with ginsengs, phellinus linteus mushrooms, and the like.

Effects of the Invention

According to the natural falling type safe fermentation

lock of this invention, water is charged into the fermentation lock to prevent external air from entering a fermentation vessel and to permit the carbon acid gas generated during fermentation to be discharged to the outside, wherein when the internal pressure of a fermentation vessel is lower than the external pressure, water is not sucked to the fermentation vessel, continuously keeping external air from entering the fermentation vessel, thereby preventing acetic acid fermentation from happening, which enables a good quality of fermented wine to be produced. With the safe fermentation lock of this invention, an excellent quality of wine can be made at general homes, and as fruits are much consumed, the earnings of fruit-growers are increased. Also, the wine can be used as educational materials for tests and practices.

While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by the embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.