Rome tech now used at Pennsylvania winery
Mount Hope plans to use the ShockWave Xtractor in its brewery and distillery as well.
Mount Hope also plans to use the ShockWave Xtractor in its brewery and a distillery.
Proprietary technology first developed by Rome-based Hydro Dynamic Inc., now marketed through HDI’s wholly-owned subsidiary XtractMor, is now being used in the production of wine at a brewery in Pennsylvania. The ShockWave Xtractor system has been marketed to breweries, and executives have talked with a number of distilleries in the past couple of years. Now the Mount Hope Estate in Manheim, Pennsylvania, appears to be on the cusp of using the system for beer, wine, cider and liquor.
Mount Hope Estate is a year-round entertainment venue which includes the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. “It kind of strikes me like Chateau Elan,” Mancosky said, comparing Mount Hope to the winery and tourist destination in Northeast Georgia.
“Mount Hope is an ideal location to demonstrate every aspect of the trademarked ShockWave Xtractor housing a brewery, winery and upcoming distillery at the same beautiful and historic location,” said Doug Mancosky, CEO of XtractMor. Mount Hope already has a brewery and cidery on site and is in the process of constructing a distillery.
The technology involves use of a process called cavitation. The process
involves the formation of an air bubble within a fluid. When the bubbles are vigorously shaken via shock waves, the bubbles implode to do great things with the mixing process.
Hydro Dynamics Inc. CEO Kelly Hudson said
use of the technology in the alcoholic beverage industry was “one of the many uses we never thought of.” Hudson said that five or six years ago he thought the technology, which had previously been used for everything
from pharmaceuticals to biodiesel development, could potentially be used in the beverage industry. “The brewing industry was not even close to where it is today and as that developed, all of a sudden it was like, ‘We can do this,’” Hudson said.
Mancosky said part of the big issue was finding barrel-like material to run through the unit with the wine that would provide great flavor without mechanical issues like clogging or plugging the pumps. “We actually found a supplier in Pennsylvania that makes many different flavors and different toast levels of the chips,” Mancosky said. During his early research and development phases, he actually took old barrels and used blenders and coffee grinders to manually chip them up to where the wood could pass through the equipment.
Mancosky met Mount Hope executives at a craft brewers’ conference that we attended back in April in Washington, D.C.
“The proprietor of that company came and saw our booth and was intrigued. We spent about an hour with him,” Mancosky said.
“Mount Hope decided it would do some sort of trial run with the ShockWave Xtractor after their summer season ended. I went up there about two weeks ago to run a trial and we ran a pumpkin cider,” added Mancosky. “It had a pumpkin puree in it and we extracted much more flavor out of the pumpkin. We made it a much more vibrant, brilliant cider.”
They also ran a red wine, which Mancosky said was somewhat plain without a lot of depth to it. “We added some oak wood chips, ran that through our device and really livened up that wine and just created more depth and complexity to the flavor.”
He said even the staff of Mount Hope said the ShockWave Xtractor made it a much more salable wine.
“For our production, the ShockWave Xtractor is a great triple threat. Our wine maker can add natural flavors to our wines and ciders, our brewer can accurately dry hop beer products and, as we introduce our distillery, the technology will allow us to add deep flavor profiles to our spirits,” said Scott Bowser, owner of Mount Hope. “It is revolutionary equipment and, within 15 minutes of the demonstration, we knew we were sold on it.”
The ShockWave Xtractor allowed for a more intense flavor of natural pumpkin using the same amount of flavoring puree. For the red wine the technology provided accelerated aging in just minutes, which added depth and increased flavor to the wine. The technology will also allow for efficiencies and flavor enhancements in Mount Hope’s other brands including the brewery and the upcoming distillery.
The technology can allow companies to produce the same product using fewer hops, fruits, oak, coffee and other flavors while using all natural ingredients rather than extracts. It can also
increase production through faster extraction with increased yield and less waste. Using the force of cavitation, the ShockWave Xtractor can significantly speed up liquor aging, allowing flavor transitions — which often take years to develop — to happen in minutes to days. This allows companies to sell aged, flavor liquors almost immediately after production runs.
Mount Hope makes more than 20 different varieties of wines opening a window of extended opportunity for the Rome-based technology to enhance flavors on a much broader scale.
Blackberry Merlot, Honey Mead, Winter Mint Chocolate and Pennsylvania Dutch Spiced Apple wines are among the specialty wines crafted at Mount Hope.