Claims:WE CLAIM:
1. A smart wort kettle system used in a brewery for heating and evaporating crude mash wort or like comprising:
(a) a wort boiling vessel for holding said crude mash wort;
(b) an external heating device for heating said crude mash wort to desired temperature for its evaporation;
(c) a mechanism for circulating said crude mash wort through said wort boiling vessel and said external heating device;
(d) a rectification column attached on the top of said wort boiling vessel;
(e) a mechanism for circulating said crude mash wort upon heating from said wort boiling vessel through said rectification column; and
(f) a mechanism for recovery of refined wort for the brewing purpose.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said wort boiling vessel is made of stainless-steel material.
3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rectification column is made of stainless-steel material.
4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rectification column comprises between 4 and 12 distillation trays.
5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rectification column comprises distillation trays made of stainless-steel or copper material.
6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said external heating device is a shell and tube type reboiler.
7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said crude mash wort is heated to a temperature between 96 and 99 °C for evaporation.
8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said wort boiling vessel is operated at the atmospheric pressure.
9. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said wort boiling vessel when used with said rectifier column provides a reduction in evaporation by up to 50 percent.
10. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said wort boiling vessel when used with said rectification column providing energy savings by up to 50 percent.
11. An apparatus as substantially described in FIGURE 2 comprising a wort boiling vessel [W] connected with a rectification column [R] for the control of evaporation of the crude mash wort boiling inside it forming a smart wort kettle system and comprising a means for supplying a wort reflux stream [7] to the top of said rectification column for the preparation of refined wort form crude mash wort.
12. An apparatus as substantially described in FIGURE 3 comprising a wort boiling vessel [W] connected with an external rectification column [R] for the control of evaporation of the crude mash wort boiling inside it forming a smart wort kettle system and comprising a means for supplying a wort reflux stream [7] to the top of said rectification column for the preparation of refined wort form crude mash wort.
, Description:FIELD
The invention disclosed related to a design of a smart wort kettle system that requires substantial less energy compared to the conventional wort kettle systems used in the brewery industry. It particularly relates to the using of a new device in the construction of said smart wort kettle system for the efficient operation of said wort kettle system reducing its energy requirement substantially.

BACKGROUND
An essential step in the brewing process is the production of good quality wort for the fermenting the beer or other alcoholic products. The mash wort produced in the lauter tun or mash filter unit must be boiled before fermentation to remove the undesired volatile components and to coagulate the proteinaceous matters from it which are incorporated during the process of mash cooking. The crude mash wort is refined by boiling and evaporating it, which is carried out in a wort kettle system (also called wort copper in the art). In the wort kettle with an external reboiler, the wort is heated by a reboiler arranged outside of said kettle. The wort is drawn off from the lower portion of the kettle tank and is pumped through the external reboiler and resupplied to the wort kettle and further circulated for several cycles. During return to the kettle, the wort stabilizes and strong evaporation takes place with vapours formation, which are removed from said kettle through a pipe located on the top of said wort kettle. In this process the evaporation of between 6 and 12 % of the volume of the mash wort supplied to said wort kettle is achieved for effective removal of undesired volatile components and for coagulation of proteinaceous matters from said mash wort, making it suitable for the beer fermentation step. However, this process of mash wort preparation or treatment in the conventional wort kettle is an energy intensive process. The invention disclosed herein provides a solution to the problem of higher energy consumption in conventional wort kettle heating technique by means of technical device that reduces the energy consumption by up to 50 percent.

DRAWINGS
A particular embodiment of a smart wort kettle in accordance with this invention will now be described with reference to accompanying drawing, in which:
FIGURE 1 is a sketch of conventional wort kettle known in the art, wherein a hot mash wort stream [1] is supplied to a wort boiling vessel [W] and circulated through a wort reboiler [B] increasing its temperature to a desired level forming a heated stream [2]. A vapours stream [4] formed in the kettle escapes from the pipe [P] connected above the wort boiling vessel and is collected for condensation and heat recovery. A treated stream [3] after boiling in wort boiling vessel is send to whirlpool for further processing. The stream lines [5] and [6] provide means for the effective management of the circulating hot mash wort during the process of pre-heating and boiling of it in said conventional wort kettle system.
FIGURE 2 is an exemplary scheme of the invention showing several features of the disclosed invention. As illustrated, a rectification column [R] is connected on the top of a wort boiling vessel [W] replacing the pipe used in the conventional wort kettle system. This invented wort kettle with a rectification column is called the smart wort kettle. Herein a hot mash wort stream [1] is supplied to said wort boiling vessel [W] and circulated through a wort reboiler [B] increasing its temperature to a desired level forming a heated stream [2]. A vapours stream [4] formed in the kettle pass through said rectification column [R] and finally condensed to recover the heat energy from it, if desired. A treated stream [3] after boiling in said wort boiling vessel is send to whirlpool for further processing. This stream [3] recovered from an outlet present on the wort circulation mechanism and subjected to whirlpool forming the refined wort. A wort reflux stream [7] is supplied to the top of said rectification column, while a wort outlet stream from the bottom tray of the column is taken back to said wort boiling vessel and recirculated through said reboiler, if desired. The stream lines [5] and [6] provide means for the effective management of the circulating hot mash wort during the process of preheating and boiling of it in said smart wort kettle system.
FIGURE 3 is an exemplary scheme of the invention showing several alterative features of the disclosed invention. As illustrated, in this alternative arrangement said rectification column [R] is externally connected to said wort boiling vessel [W] using by-pass pipe lines in an existing wort kettle system, which essentially functions as depicted in FIGURE 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FIGURE 1 illustrates the mechanism of operation of a conventional wort kettle known in the art. Said conventional wort kettle is operated by supplying it with a desired amount of crude mash wort solution coming from the lauter tun or mash filter unit after of the process of mash cooking is completed. In this wort kettle said crude mash wort is boiled so that the aromatic components from hops added to it are developed. This process also stabilised the sugar formation process by deactivation of enzymes activated during the mash cooking step. Then the crude mash wort is boiled in the kettle for about 60 min at boiling temperature of about 99 °C while circulating through the external reboiler, achieving between 6 and 8 % evaporation of the total volume of the crude mash wort. This process effectively removes the undesired volatile components from the boiling wort along with coagulation of proteins, which are removed by a whirlpool. This conventional process requires about 1726 Kg/h of steam consumption at a steam pressure of about 1.5 bar(g), to achieve about 6 % of evaporation in 250 HL of said crude mash wort in a cold-cast brew house. The evaporation vapours stream generated in said conventional wort kettles is expelled from the top of kettle’s tank through an exhaust pipe connected to it and is condensed to recover heat energy, if desired. The said exhaust pipe is a hollow structure without any thermodynamic function.
In an embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated in FIGURE 2, the mechanism of operation of a smart wort kettle as disclosed herein is shown. The smart wort kettle is operated by supplying it with a desired amount of crude mash wort solution coming from the lauter tun or mash filter unit after of the process of mash cooking is completed. In the smart wort kettle said crude mash wort is boiled so that the aromatic components from hops added to it are developed. This process also stabilised the sugar formation process by deactivation of enzymes activated during the mash cooking process. Here the crude wort is boiled in the kettle for about 60 min at boiling temperature from 96 to 99 °C while circulating through the external reboiler, achieving between 3 and 6 % evaporation of the total volume of the crude mash wort. This process effectively removes the undesired volatile components from the boiling mash wort along with coagulation of proteins, which are removed by a whirlpool. This improved process requires about 836 Kg/h of steam consumption at a steam pressure of about 1.5 bar(g), to achieve about 3 % of evaporation of said crude mash wort in 250 HL cold-cast brew house. While it requires about 1726 Kg/h of steam consumption at a steam pressure of about 1.5 bar(g), to achieve about 6 % of evaporation of said crude mash wort in 250 HL cold-cast brew house. Similarly, said improved process requires about 852 Kg/h of steam consumption at a steam pressure of about 3 bar(g), to achieve about 3 % of evaporation of said crude mash wort in 250 HL cold-cast brew house. While it requires about 1760 Kg/h of steam consumption at a steam pressure of about 3 bar(g), to achieve about 6 % of evaporation of said crude mash wort in 250 HL cold-cast brew house. Herein, the evaporation vapours stream generated in said smart wort kettle’s boiling vessel is expelled from the top of the tank through a rectification column that substantially reducing the heating requirement of said smart wort kettle system up to 50 % when compared to the convention wort kettle system without compromising the quality of the refined wort formed. Said vapours stream is then further condensed to recover heat energy from it, if desired.
In another embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated in FIGURE 2 said smart wort kettle system comprises a rectification column replacing the exhaust pipe on the wort boiling vessel [W]. Said rectification column comprises distillation trays between 4 and 12 to achieve the effective distillation of the vapours stream generated in said wort boiling vessel such that the desired quality of refined wort is achieved by evaporation between 3 and 6 % of crude mash wort volume, which is about 50 % less than that required in the conventional wort kettle. This innovative arrangement of said rectification column on the wort boiling vessel forming said smart wort kettle system is the essential element of the invention disclosed, which achieves about 50 % savings in the heating energy requirements in the process of mash wort refining. Further said wort boiling vessel is operated at the atmospheric pressure, while the temperature of mash wort boiling in it is kept between 96 and 99 °C.
In another embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated in FIGURE 2, a rectification column [R] is attached on the top of wort boiling vessel [W] replacing the pipe used in the conventional wort kettle. This wort kettle with a rectification column is called smart wort kettle system. Herein the hot crude mash wort stream [1] is supplied to the wort boiling vessel [W] and circulated through a wort reboiler [B] increasing its temperature to a desired level forming a heated stream [2]. The vapours stream [4] formed in a wort boiling vessel [W] is then passed through said rectification column [R] and then further collected for condensation and heat recovery. The treated stream [3] after boiling in the wort boiling vessel is send to a whirlpool for further processing. This stream [3] is recovered from an outlet present on the wort circulation mechanism described below froing the refiled wort. The wort reflux stream [7] is supplied to the top of said rectification column, while a wort outlet stream from the bottom tray of the column is taken back to said wort kettle and recirculated through said reboiler, if desired. The stream lines [5] and [6] provided means for the effective management of the circulating hot crude mash wort during the process of pre-heating and boiling of it in the wort boiling vessel.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the distillation trays used in said rectification column attached to the top of said wort boiling vessel are made up of stainless steel or copper materials. The number of said trays in said column is between 4 and 12 as per the size of the said wort boiling vessel. These materials allow the manipulation of the quality of mash wort as per the requirements of the process and the quality of the beer produced at the end. Further said reboiler, also called an external hearing device, used in said smart wort kettle system is a shell and tube type boiler unit. Further a mechanism for circulating said crude mash wort through said wort boiling vessel and said external heating device is provided by means of stainless-steel flow regulated pipes. Further a mechanism for circulating said crude mash wort upon heating from said wort boiling vessel through said rectification column is provided by means of stainless-steel flow regulated pipes.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated in FIGURE 3, said rectification column [R] is connected to a wort boiling vessel by means of by-pass pipe lines such that the flow of said vapours stream passes through it and the energy saving rectification effect is achieved as disclosed herein above. This external arrangement of said rectification column on an existing wort kettle system is provided to avoid the structural changes required in the wort boiling vessel if said rectification column is connect on the top of said vessel replacing the pipe carrying said vapours stream.
Embodiments provided above give wider utility of the invention without any limitations as to the variations that may be appreciated by a person skilled in the art. A non-limiting summary of various embodiments is given above, which demonstrate the advantageous and novel aspects of said smart wort kettle system disclosed herein.