Abstract:
A beer recovery system which uses CO 2  to blow unused beer backwards through the beer lines and back into a beer keg is disclosed.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application asserts priority from provisional application 61/501,374 filed on Jun. 27, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for recovering potentially wasted draft beer prior to cleaning beer lines. Using the inventive apparatus and process, beer which is contained in the lines at the beginning of the cleaning process is recovered instead of being discarded. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Beer lines are tubes used to connect beer kegs to the taps at the bar where the beer is dispensed. These beer lines develop deposits of various sorts over time which can affect the flavor of the beer dispensed at the tap. In order to assure proper flavor, beer lines should be cleaned regularly sometimes as frequently as once every week or two. To do this cleaning the beer lines must be disconnected from the keg and a cleaning solution has to be run through the lines. The lines are then flushed with water to remove the cleaning solution from the lines. Various types of pumps and valves are available to pump and control the flow of the cleaning solution and the rinse water. US patent publication 2007/0204884 relates to an apparatus which creates a pulsed flow in the beer lines to help dislodge sediment. U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,907 relates to a system of solenoid valves which can be used to control the cleaning solution and the water flush. 
         [0004]    The known methods all discard the beer which is in the lines when the cleaning process begins. The loss of beer is roughly 0.5 fluid ounces per foot of beer line depending on the inner diameter of the beer line installed. In commercial establishments beer lines can be quite long since the keg cooler may be located some distance from the tap at the bar. This is especially true at large bars offering many kinds of beer on tap and multiple tap locations, necessitating large keg coolers which must be located some distance from the bar. Longer beer lines are larger in diameter to decrease flow resistance, therefore the loss of beer per foot of line is greater. Such bars can lose several hundred dollars in lost beer sales every time the lines are cleaned. Accordingly, there is a need for a device and method of cleaning beer lines which recovers the beer in the lines prior to cleaning them. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    The present invention provides an apparatus and process for recovering draft beer from dispensing lines prior to industry standard line cleaning methods. One advantage of the invention is that it allows the recovery of usable beer that is otherwise wasted. The process may be used with little disruption to current industry standard line cleaning methods and does not affect the efficacy of these methods. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]      FIG. 1  shows an overview of the present invention; 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  shows the draft line recovery lever coupler of the present invention; 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  shows the air hose apparatus used with the draft line recovery coupler; 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  shows another embodiment of the present invention, allowing for both dispensing and recovery; 
           [0010]      FIG. 5  shows another embodiment of the present invention, shown as a retro-fit to existing lever couplers; 
           [0011]      FIG. 6  shows a view of an embodiment in which beer is recovered from multiple lines at once. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0012]      FIG. 1  shows a gas tank  16 , a draft tower  18 , a faucet  20 , a gas line  51  with a faucet coupler  49 , a clamp  50 , a beer line  22 , an establishment&#39;s existing keg lever coupler  12 , the inventive coupler  10 , and a keg  14 . Optionally, the faucet coupler  49  may be a quick connect coupler instead of a screw connect coupler. The gas used in the tank may be any gas which is inert to beer, such as helium, argon, carbon dioxide, or nitrogen. Only food grade gasses should be used in order to avoid contamination of the beer lines. Carbon dioxide is the most commonly used gas. The faucet  20  is removed, and the gas line  51  is attached in its place. The standard lever coupler  12 , which is normally used, is replaced by the inventive lever coupler  10 . The beer line  22  is removed from the standard lever coupler  12  to the inventive lever coupler  10 . 
         [0013]      FIG. 2  shows the components of lever coupler  10  attachable to a keg  14 , a shut off valve  40 , a probe  41 , a seal  42 , o-rings  43 , a lever  44 , a lever securing pin  45 , a washer  46 , a pressure relief valve  47 , and the body of coupler  48 . Optionally, the pressure relief valve  47  may allow for manual or automatic pressure release valve to avoid over pressurizing the keg. The lever coupler  10  does not have a back flow prevention device (check valve) at the beer inlet/outlet side of the coupler  10  in the probe  41 , which is typically found in a standard lever coupler for beer kegs, so that when pressure is released from the keg, using pressure relief valve  47 , the gas pressure from the gas tank allows for the beer from beer line to flow back into the keg. The lever coupler  10  does not have a gas inlet port on the body of the coupler, which is typically found in a standard lever coupler for a beer keg. Optionally, a connector containing a screen or filter assembly  52  may be placed between shut off valve  40  and beer line  22  shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0014]      FIG. 3  shows a gas line  51  having clamp  50  which clamps it to a faucet coupler  49  which is attachable to a standard shank in an establishment&#39;s draft tower. Optionally, the faucet coupler  49  may be a quick connect coupler instead of a screw connect coupler. 
         [0015]    The gas line  51  may be of varying materials as to accommodate food grade CO2, and lengths as needed to accommodate the expected distance from the standard shank in the establishment&#39;s draft tower to a standard food grade CO2 tank. A five foot, 5/16″ ID, food grade gas line  51  is generally sufficient for the embodiments of this invention. However longer or shorter lengths may be used as necessary in the particular environment. 
         [0016]      FIG. 4  shows a lever coupler which may be permanently placed on the keg  14 . This coupler allows for cleaning, recovery and dispensing to be done by the same coupler, eliminating the need to swap couplers for the cleaning and recovery process. This embodiment found in  FIG. 4 , is similar to the invention in  FIG. 2 , and as such includes a shut off valve  40 , a probe  41 , a seal  42 , o-rings  43 , a lever  44 , a lever securing pin  45 , a washer  46 , a pressure relief valve  47 , and the body of the coupler  48 . Optionally, the pressure relief valve  47  may allow for manual or automatic pressure release to avoid over pressurizing the keg. The probe  41  does not have a back flow prevention device at the beer inlet/outlet side of the coupler, which is typically found in a standard lever coupler for kegs  14 . However, in addition it has a gas inlet port  72 , including a check valve  64 , a hose nipple  65  and a hex nut  66 . Further this embodiment includes a two-way valve with a lock out mechanism  60  used for the prevention of back flow during normal dispensing mode. 
         [0017]      FIG. 5  shows retrofit of an industry standard lever coupler, including a probe  41 , a seal  42 , o-rings  43 , a lever  44 , a lever securing pin  45 , a washer  46 , a pressure relief valve  47 , and the body of the coupler  48 . Optionally, the pressure relief valve  47  may allow for manual or automatic pressure release valve to avoid over pressurizing the keg. The probe  41  does not have a back flow prevention device at the beer inlet/outlet side of the coupler, which is typically found in a standard lever coupler for kegs  14 . Further the retrofit has a gas inlet valve  85  which is capped with a cap  86  and a shut off valve  40  attached to the probe  41 . Optionally, a connector containing a screen or filter assembly  52  may be placed between shut off valve  40  and beer line  22  shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0018]      FIG. 6  shows a multi-port embodiment which allows the operator to recover beer from multiple lines more efficiently. There is a multi-port gas distribution manifold  102 , attached to the gas tank  16  on the inlet, and multiple gas hoses  24 . The gas hoses  24  are then attached via the clamped  50  faucet coupler ends  49  to the draft towers  18 , after the existing faucet  20  has been removed. Optionally, the faucet coupler  49  may be a quick connect coupler instead of a screw connect coupler. 
         [0019]    In using the embodiments shown in  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3 , and  FIG. 5 , to return beer to the keg  14  before cleaning the lines, the beer line  22  to be drained is removed from the establishment&#39;s existing coupler  12  and optionally may be clamped if beer is dripping. In practice it may not be necessary to clamp the beer line  22  because little beer drains from the beer line  22  in the short time it takes to transfer the beer line  22  from one coupler to another. The beer line  22  is then attached to the inventive lever coupler  10 . The shut off valve  40  is in the off position. Optionally, a connector containing a screen or filter assembly  52  may be placed between shut off valve  40  and beer line  22  shown in  FIG. 1 . The existing coupler  12  on the beer keg  14  is then uncoupled and removed. The inventive lever coupler  10  is then attached to the beer keg  14 . The beer line  22  is then unclamped if needed. The existing faucet  20  is removed from draft tower  18  and faucet coupler  49  is attached. Optionally, the faucet coupler  49  may be a quick connect coupler instead of a screw connect coupler. The gas line  51  is attached to the gas tank  16 . The pressure of the gas from tank  16  is adjusted so that it does not to exceed the head pressure on the beer keg  14 . A small amount of pressure is drained from the beer keg using the pressure relief valve  47 . Optionally, the pressure relief valve  47  may allow for manual or automatic pressure release valve to avoid over pressurizing the keg. The straight shut off valve  40  is then opened and the higher gas pressure from the gas tank  16  pushes the recoverable beer backwards through the line and into the beer keg  14 . As the beer flows back, more pressure may be released from the beer keg  14  as needed using the pressure relief valve  47 . Once the beer in the existing beer line  22  has flowed back into the beer keg  14 , the straight shut off valve  40  is closed. The gas is shut off, and the beer line  22  is removed from the inventive lever coupler  10 . The inventive lever coupler  10  is then replaced with the establishment&#39;s standard lever coupler  12 . The beer line  22  is now cleaned in the industry standard manner. 
         [0020]    In the multi-port embodiment shown in  FIG. 6  the procedure described above for the mono-port embodiment is repeated for each port of the multi-port design utilizing a plurality of gas lines  51  attached to a multi-port gas manifold  102  allowing the operator to recover beer from several beer lines  22  at the same time. 
         [0021]    The advantages of the invention, without limitation, allow the establishment owners to recover otherwise wasted product during the standard draft line cleaning process. The standard process typically involves opening the tap in the bar and dumping all of the beer in the lines into buckets to be disposed of. The present invention recaptures the beer and saves it safely in the beer keg until the line cleaning process is completed. Once the lines are cleaned the beer is reintroduced into the lines using standard beverage dispensing methods. Further, the advantages are that the owner of the establishment can now sell the recovered product versus realizing revenue loss. 
         [0022]    Many embodiments of this invention will occur to those skilled in the art. One embodiment includes removing the beer into a second set of lines, completing the line cleaning in the industry standard way and then reintroducing the beer into the original lines. Another embodiment includes using various styled couplers specific to various countries, referring specifically to the inlet/outlet port on the coupler body  48  for attachment to various types of beer kegs  14 . Another embodiment includes having the establishment replace their standard lever coupler  12  with a different design such as that found in  FIG. 4 , which allows for cleaning, recovery and dispensing. Another embodiment includes taking an industry standard lever coupler  12  and retrofitting it such as that found in  FIG. 5 . Another embodiment includes minor changes to the process outlined in this invention which account for establishments having keg-in-series dispensing or beer pumps for long distance dispensing. All such embodiments are intended to be within the scope and spirit of the invention. 
         [0023]    Although some embodiments are shown to include certain features, the applicants specifically contemplate that any feature disclosed herein may be used together or in combination with any other feature on any embodiment of the invention. 
         [0024]    While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be the best mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of embodiments, combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiment, method, and examples herein. The invention should therefore not be limited by the above described embodiment, method, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the invention.