Bottle closure for collecting and trapping sediment

摘要

A bottle closure for collecting and removing solid sediment particles from a liquid being fermented in situ in a bottle to form an alcoholic beverage. The closure has a skirt portion which is adapted to be removably fastened to the neck of the bottle and terminates at its top end in an inwardly directed annular flange defining a central opening, a tubular trap portion which is closed at its top end and communicates at its open bottom end with the central opening in the skirt flange, and a correspondingly tubular liquid- and gas-tight liner of a sealing material which is disposed in the trap portion and has at its bottom end an outwardly directed annular flange which underlies the skirt flange and is adapted to be pressed by the latter, when the closure is fastened to the neck of the bottle, against the annular sealing surface located at the top end of the bottle. In use, the sealed bottle is inverted so that any sediment settles unobstructedly into the closed end region of the trap portion. When the fermentation is completed, the trap portion is crimped inwardly in its mid-region above the accumulated sediment until the correspondingly crimped liner seals off the section of the trap portion containing the sediment. The bottle can then be turned upright preparatory to being opened without risk of the sediment flowing back into the finished alcoholic beverage in the bottle.