Patent ID: 8460733

Claim:
A process for production of flavored hot-fill beverages comprising: providing a continuous stream of a pasteurized or commercially sterilized base hot-fill beverage flowing through a transfer conduit, wherein the base hot-fill beverage flows into a balance tank disposed in-line with the transfer conduit between a base hot-fill beverage supply tank and a heater; adding a first flavoring material directly to the base hot-fill beverage in the transfer conduit using a mixing station, wherein the mixing station includes a first doser to add the first flavoring material to the base hot-fill beverage in the transfer conduit; directing the first flavored hot-fill beverage to a pasteurized hot-fill beverage storage facility for storing the hot-fill beverage; following the directing of the first flavored hot-fill beverage, diverting the base hot-fill beverage to flow only through a diverting loop to maintain the base hot-fill beverage in the diverting loop in a ready state for further processing, wherein the diverting loop provides fluid communication from a section of the transfer conduit to the balance tank, and further wherein the diverting loop isolates the balance tank and heater from the mixing station and the pasteurized hot-fill beverage storage facility; cleaning the transfer conduit of any residual mixture including the first flavoring material; rediverting the transfer of the base hot-fill beverage to flow only through the transfer conduit following the diverting of the base hot-fill beverage and the cleaning of the transfer conduit; following the rediverting of the base hot-fill beverage, adding a second flavoring material directly to the base hot-fill beverage in the transfer conduit using the mixing station, wherein the mixing station includes a second doser to add the second flavoring material to the base hot-fill beverage in the transfer conduit, and wherein adding the second flavoring material is performed following the adding of the first flavoring material; and directing the second flavored hot-fill beverage to the pasteurized hot-fill beverage storage facility for storing the hot-fill beverage.