Fining and increasing the chill haze stability of fermented alcoholic beverages

Claim 1

The method of claim 1 wherein said beverage is beer.

Claim 8

A method of fining and increasing the chill haze stability of a fermented alcoholic beverage, which comprises, the following steps in the order indicated: a. adding to the beverage separately and in any order a nitrogeneous carbonyl containing organic material which is water soluble or colloidially dispersible in water selected from the group consisting of gelatin, N-vinylpyrrolidone, and polymers of N-vinylpyrrolidone and a polysilicic acid coagulant in the form of a stabilized polysilicic acid hydrosol obtained by (1) forming a silicic acid hydrosol by placing an aqueous solution of sodium silicate into intimate contact with a cation exchange resin in its hydrogen form whereby sodium ions in the silicate solution are removed by the resin and replaced with hydrogen ions from the resin, (2) aging the silicic acid hydrosol for a period of time which is sufficient to produce a polysilicic acid hydrosol and insufficient to produce a gelatinous semi-solid hydrogel, and (3) adjusting the silica to alkali oxide ratio of the polysilicic acid hydrosol to a value within the range from 10:1 to 500:1 with sodium hydroxide; b. aging the treated beverage for a period of time sufficient to allow the nitrogeneous carbonyl containing organic material and the polysilicic acid to coagulate and simultaneously fine and remove chill haze precursor substances from the beverage; and c. separating the coagulated substances from the beverage.