Traditional fermentation techniques for distilled spirits
Throughout the ages, distillers in the traditional winemaking, has a very critical role, that is, the use of different substances in the liquor, its volatile characteristics, can be volatile alcohol (ethanol) distilled out, distilled out of the wine vapor in the alcohol content is higher, the wine vapor after condensation, collection, it becomes a concentration of about 65-70% (v / v) distilled wine. Since yeast cannot continue to ferment under high alcohol concentrations, the resulting alcohol concentration of mash or liquor generally does not exceed 20%. The adoption of distillers is an epoch-making event in the winemaking industry. And distillation technology can also be used in other industries. In particular, the modern petroleum industry widely uses stills, which have made great contributions to modern civilization.
Vital fermentation vessels
Since ancient times, the fermentation of wine has been inseparable from the container, and the diversity of fermentation containers is also one of the main reasons for the different aromas of wine. Traditional fermentation vessels are divided into two types: ceramic pots and cellars. There are also earth cylinders (where most of the cylinder is buried under the ground) and cylinders that are generally placed indoors.
Most of the containers for rice wine fermentation are pottery containers, and some shochu still inherit the tradition of pottery container fermentation. For example, the soju fermentation containers in the south are almost all made of pottery. Even as bad ass shochu, this is true. But since the advent of distilled spirits, this traditional concept has changed, and the special container of the cellar has come into being.
The so-called cellar fermentation is to dig the ground into a cellar, accumulate the raw materials in it, and let it ferment naturally. When this method was created, there is still no accepted answer. In some areas of Sichuan Province, it is said that there are cellars that are five or six hundred years old. If true, the excavation of the cellar was taken at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (this information comes from the archaeological data provided by the Yibin Museum in Sichuan Province). The cellars are divided into mud cellars, gravel cellars and strip stone cellars.
The finishing touch – the fermentation process
The fermentation process of distilled spirits is born from the fermentation process of rice wine. However, due to the characteristics of the distilled spirit itself, a unique fermentation process technology has also been formed.
(1) Rice shochu fermentation process similar to rice wine
Li Shizhen's << Materia Medica compendium of the Ming Dynasty simply records the production method of distilled liquor at that time>> which can be considered to be a fermentation method similar to that of rice wine, except that a distillation process is added. The book records: "Its method is to use strong wine and bad steaming, make the gas on, and use a vessel to take the drip." Any sour wine can be steamed. In recent times, only glutinous rice or japonica rice, or steamed or millet or barley, and koji stuffed urn, seven days, steamed in koji, its clear as water, the taste is very strong, covered with wine dew also. "In short, it is to use some of the commonly used raw materials for fermentation of rice wine, ferment in the urn for 7 days, and then distill it with koshiki. Therefore, this is a fermentation process similar to rice wine.
Written in the << Shen's Agricultural Book >> in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, a barley shochu method is recorded, from which it can be seen that the shochu brewing method in the south at that time was similar to the brewing method of yellow wine. Fermentation takes place in clay pots, using solid fermentation. The fermentation time is seven days, and finally a distillation process is added.
Southern rice shochu, such as the famous Guilin Sanhua wine, until the first half of the 20th century, still basically uses the above method, the early stage is solid, mainly for expanding the cultivation of bacteria and saccharification process, about 1 day after the cylinder, add water for semi-liquid fermentation. The fermentation time is about seven days, and the process flow is:
Water medicinal koji powder
↓ ↓
Rice is → → steamed→ cold → mixed with koji ingredients→ water→ is added to the cylinder, fermented → distilled→ aged → packaged
Now called "slag cleaning method" brewing process directly inherits the above process, slightly different is the use of secondary fermentation, that is, the first time the fermented mature wine mash is dug out of the cylinder, no new grains are added, only a little steaming accessories are added, steamed alone, the distilled lees are cooled, after the bending is added into the cylinder and fermented again, fermented for about 28 days, and then distilled out of the tank, the lees is used as feed. The fermentation vessel is still a clay pot. In the Qing Dynasty, Fenjiu may have adopted this process, and Fenjiu became one of the masters of shochu in the Qing Dynasty.
(2) Fermentation process by mixed steaming and continuous slag method
The continuous slag method can be regarded as a circular fermentation method, which is characterized by the fact that after the distillation of the sake or lees, a part of it is still fermented in the cellar (or urn), while a certain amount of new ingredients and koji are added; Some are discarded and not used. The initial use of this method may be aimed at saving grain, while the quality of the wine that is repeatedly fermented is also better.
The law of continuum was formed later. However, when the continuation method originated is still uncertain. In the aforementioned secret recipe of grains and wines in the Yibin area of Sichuan, the last sentence is "steaming in the day of the mixture of chaff and ingredients". This sentence clearly indicates that distillation and cooking were carried out after mixing three parts of sake lees, bran and raw materials.
This is a typical steaming and sintering method of slag refilling. The main advantage of the use of the slag renewal method is that the raw materials have been fermented many times, which improves the utilization rate of raw materials, and after multiple fermentations, it is also conducive to the accumulation of wine aromatic substances. At the same time as distilling, the raw materials are steamed, and the aromatic components of the fresh raw materials can be brought into the wine. Add and grain bran as a filler, can keep the wine mash loose, conducive to steam circulation, in the fermentation, the grain bran also played a role in diluting starch concentration, diluting acidity, absorbing alcohol, maintaining the role of slurry water.
The practice of adding grain bran as a filler was adopted at least in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and the earliest written records are found in the << Shen's Agricultural Book >>. There is a similar practice in the production process of "bad burning" recorded in the << Tuning Ding ji >>.
(3) Moutai wine craft
The most famous of the shochu is Moutai sake. In 1936, the chronicle of Zunyi Province, which was compiled and revised in <<, recorded in the >>: "Moutai wine ,... ..., out of Moutai Village, Renhuai County, and Qian Province is called the first ... Fa Chun uses sorghum as sand, cooks and wheat koji three points, collects grain cellars, and steames and roasts them through the moon, that is, roasts and re-brews. It must be passed several times and then it will be formed, and the first sand will be born, the three or four rounds will be called flint sand, the six or seven rounds will be known as the great return to the sand, and the second round will be known as the small return to the sand, and finally the wine can be drunk. "
Although the above record is simple, the unique brewing process of Moutai Liquor is on paper. In modern times, the production process of Moutai wine has been sorted out, and its process is described as follows:
Moutai liquor is produced using sorghum as a raw material and is called "sand". Once a year, only two times a year, the first time is called lower sand feeding, the second time is rough sand, each accounting for 50% of the feeding volume.
The first feeding, first after the hot water lubrication, add 5-7% of the mother residue (that is, the last round of fermentation out of the cellar of the high-quality sake without steaming), for mixing steaming (steaming grain steaming wine at the same time), cooling and then stacked fermentation, into the cellar fermentation for one month.
The second raw material is crushed, after the wetting, add the same amount of the above lees for mixing, the first wine obtained after distillation is called "raw sand wine", all poured back into the original wine, after spreading cold, plus a batch of distilled tail wine, and then added to the cellar fermentation for a month.
The fermented and mature sake is distilled to give a second distillation, called "rough sand wine". The head part is stored separately for blending, while the tail is still poured back into the wine sauce for re-fermentation. The wine is spread cold, added with wine tails, koji, stacked and then fermented in the cellar for a month, distilled, and from then on, the cycle begins again, and then fermented separately, distilled. A total of eight fermentations, eight times of distillation, the third distillation of the wine is called "raw sand wine", the fourth, fifth and sixth distillation of the wine is collectively called "big back wine", the seventh distillation is called "small back wine", the eighth distillation is called "chasing lees wine". Among them, the last seven distilled wines are stored separately as products and then blended.
Traditional stills
China's stills have distinct national characteristics. Its main structure can be divided into four parts: the kettle part, which is used for heating and generating steam, and the koshiki part, which is used for the loading of sake. In early distillers, it was possible that the kettle body and the koshiki were connected, which was more suitable for liquid distillation.
The condensing part, called the heavenly pot in ancient times, is used to hold cold water, and the wine vapor is condensed on the other side of the water pot; the wine collection part, located at the bottom of the heavenly pot, is different according to the shape of the heavenly pot, and the collection location of the wine is also different. If the pot is concave, the wine gatherer is below the center of the pot; if the pot is convex (dome-like), the pot is on the inside of the ring-shaped edge of the koji.
Eastern Han Dynasty still: The still is made of bronze, with a height of 53.9 cm, divided into two parts: the koshiki body and the kettle body. The body has a storage chamber and a condensation chamber, as well as a diversion tube. From the point of view of the structure of the vessel, it should belong to the still, and the researchers at the Shanghai Museum also used the distiller to distill the wine with a wine degree of 26.6-20.4.
The basic structural characteristics of China's distillers can be reflected in this bronze still in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It can be roughly divided into kettle body (heating or charging part), retort body (charging or steam volatilization), condenser part, condensate collection part and condensate extraction part. This instrumental structure continues to this day. There are more obvious differences with foreign stills.
Stills of the Song Dynasty: There are three historical sources about the stills of the Song Dynasty, which represent two different shapes.
<< Danfang note>> distiller "mercury pump", the lower part is a furnace for heating, there is a closed container containing drugs, and under the action of the lower heating furnace, the substances in the upper closed container volatilize into steam. There is a bypass tube on this vessel that allows the mercury vapor inside to flow into the condensing tank next to it.
In the Southern Song Dynasty Zhou Qufei's 1178 >> of the << Lingwai Daijie, a kind of guangxi people's "silver Zhu" equipment was recorded. Its structure can be inferred from the transcripts. The basic structure of this distiller is roughly the same as that found in << Danfang Instructions >>, except that a tube is installed on the top.
The Southern Song Dynasty Zhang Shinan's << You Eunuch Jiwen >> Volume V records a case of a still used to distill flower dew, which can be speculated that the flower dew condensed into a liquid state in the vessel. It is explained that there is also a condensate collection device in the koshiki, and the cooling device may be included in this set of devices.
Coincidentally, a kind of distiller described by Wudai Zhu Derun in the >> of the << rolling mill wine, according to our analysis, is exactly the same as the distillation pot structure of the above Jin Dynasty.
The structure of the distiller since the Ming and Qing dynasties can probably get some inspiration from the data of the Republic of China period. The basic structure did not change much from the Song And Jinyuan era, mainly because the volume of the distiller increased, and the distiller suitable for solid state distillation was more perfectly developed.
In Guangxi, the "earthen dumplings" used to distill Xiaoqu liquor, the steam of the wine is introduced out of the distiller and cooled in a separate cooler. This is actually a still composed of a heavenly pot, a koshiki body and a ground pot. The so-called heavenly pot is a pot with cooling water, placed on the top, built into the body of the sake, and filled with water in the pot.
Distillation process technology
(1) Liquid distillation and solid distillation:
The earliest distillation methods may be liquid distillation. It may also be solid state distillation. However, in the Yuan Dynasty, << drinking and eating were about to be >>, and the distillation methods recorded in<< the >> of the << rolling mill wine and the >> of the complete collection of things that must be used at home were liquid methods. The liquid method is the simplest method. In the Yuan Dynasty, grape shochu and mare milk shochu belonged to the type of liquid distillation. The historical evolution of shochu distilled by solid state method is unknown, but the earliest record of solid state distillation flower dew is >> in the Southern Song Dynasty << You Eunuch Chronicle. In addition, according to the analysis of archaeologists, the excavated Jindai copper shochu pot is distilled from solid state.
(2) Cooling and collection of liquor:
When distilling, the cooling of wine vapor and the collection of distilled liquor are important operations. China's traditional stills have two cooling methods. One is to direct the distilled wine steam to the cooler outside the distiller to cool and collect it. Or let the distilled wine vapor cool naturally on the inner wall of the upper part of the still. The oldest method of cooling is found in the "Nanfan Shochu Method" in the complete collection of << household must be used in the Yuan Dynasty>>, and the other is cooled in the condenser (ancient name Tiancao, Tianhu) in the upper part of the distillation pot, and the liquor is collected in the distillation tank inside the distillation pot and discharged. For example, it is recorded in the >> of the << Tuning Ding: "The water of the Heavenly Lake is steamed twice and put three times, depending on the length of the flow of wine, the cold and hot of the time, about the flowers are scattered and the taste is light."
(3) Look at the hops and take the wine in sections:
Our people understood at least in the sixteenth century that the quality of the distilled wine changes with the distillation time during distillation. In the >> of the compendium of << Materia Medica, it is recorded: "Those who have fine flowers on the ,......, side of shochu are true, and those who urinate clearly drink it with their heads, that is, stop."
The "hops" mentioned here are not the spice plant hops used to brew beer, but the foam formed on the surface of the wine during distillation or after the shochu is shaken. The surface tension of wine varies due to different wine levels, or due to the different types of other components in the wine. This manifests itself through differences in foaming performance. By looking at the hops, the ancients could roughly determine the quality of shochu and thus determine the rounding of the distillate.
In business, the characteristics of hops are used to determine the price of wine. Therefore, hops have become an objective criterion for measuring the quality of wine. << The Tune Ding Ji >> summed it up: "Shochu, the biqing pile of fine flowers is high, the flowers are thick and sparse (the name is 'Chaofeng flowers'), and the flowers are not flowers and the ones are muddy." The hops of traditional Moutai wine can be divided into: fish eye flower, pile flower, full flower, broken rice flower, and circle flower.
The hops of Fenjiu are divided into: large flowers, small flowers, cloud flowers, water flowers and oil flowers. The names vary, and some of the content is actually the same. In ancient times, there was no concept of alcohol, and by the time of the Republic of China, due to the fact that science and technology were not developed at that time, the use of alcohol meters was not common, in order to facilitate the standard of folk shochu workshops to unify the look at hops, Mr. Fang Xinfang of the Yellow Sea Chemical Industry Research Society at that time created a method to try to link hops with wine. This method specifies the definition of hops, the test method and the units, and clarifies the standard conditions for measurement, resulting in a calculation formula.
In ancient times, because of the mastery of the method of seeing hops, there was a reliable basis for taking wine in stages. << the "head shochu" mentioned in the >> of the Materia Medica is the first liquor that flows out during distillation. The concept of "head shochu" is slightly different from what is now called "sake head". In ancient times, wine was taken in two stages. The quality of the head shochu is better, and the quality of the wine taken in the second stage is significantly worse. The ratio of the number of head shochu to the second take is 3:1. For example<< barley shochu in Shen's Nongshu >>, the first shochu is 15 kg, and the secondary liquor is 5 kg. Modern times are generally divided into three sections, the part taken in the middle is used as the finished wine, and the head and tail of the wine are not used as the finished wine. The so-called "pinch the head and tail, take the wine in the middle." "The top can be used as a flavoring or re-fermented. The tail is also re-fermented.
4. Distilled spirits in a variety of styles
From the perspective of literary and historical data, ancient distilled liquor is divided into two major types, such as in the Ming Dynasty, distilled liquor is at least divided into two major genres, one is northern shochu, and the other is southern shochu. << the type of shochu in the golden bottle plum word >> in addition to "shochu" (unspecified origin), there is also the name "Southern shochu". However, the actual situation is that in the north, in addition to distilled liquor made from grain raw materials, there are also grape shochu in the northwest and horse milk shochu in Inner Mongolia; in the south, it can also be divided into two types: southwest (centered on Sichuan and Guizhou) and central and southern and southeast (including Guangxi and Guangdong). Such classifications are only rough and there is no uniform classification standard.
Since the main feature of shochu is high alcohol concentration, the concentration of many aromatic components in the wine increases with the degree of alcohol, and the aroma composition of the wine and its thickness have become one of the criteria for judging the quality of shochu. The diverse styles of shochu in China are mainly formed naturally due to the difference of brewing raw materials. The second is factors such as brewing technology.
The north is rich in wheat, sorghum, the south is rich in rice, Guangxi produces rice, Xinjiang is rich in grapes, distilled shochu brewing raw materials according to local conditions, different raw materials are used to brew shochu is a natural thing.
In the early days of distilled spirits, it may not have been clear which ingredients were best suited to brew shochu. After a long period of comparison, people have the opportunity to taste and compare the shochu brewed from various raw materials, and have a more unified view of the characteristics of shochu brewed from different raw materials.
Sorghum wine: In ancient times, sorghum shochu was praised by the mouth. In commenting on shochu in various places>> << Langji, who wrote in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, said: "There is shochu everywhere today, and the brewing of sorghum is the most positive. Northern Pei wine, Lu wine, Fen wine are all made by Gao Liang. "From the middle and late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China period, sorghum wine almost became a special name for shochu. This is due to the characteristics of the raw material of the sorghum.
Mixed grain wine: Shochu in the southwest region in the selection of ingredients probably inherited its dietary characteristics, in order to emphasize the aroma and richness of the wine, the use of a variety of raw materials, according to a certain proportion of fermentation brewing. According to the relevant information of the Sichuan Museum, Wuliangye wine in Yibin, Sichuan, was called "mixed grain wine" in the Ming Dynasty from Longqing to Wanli (1567-1619), and the mixed raw materials used were sorghum, rice, glutinous rice, buckwheat, and corn. In an ancestral secret recipe collected by the local cultural relics department, it is written: "Rice, rice, wine, rice (This information comes from the "Biography of the Chen Family of Wen Defeng Langfang outside the North Gate of Xuzhou Province" in the Yibin Wine History Exhibition in Sichuan Province during the First Wine Culture Seminar in China.
Rice shochu: In the southeast, rice shochu is prevalent, such as the << Shen's Nongshu written in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties>> once mentioned that compared with barley shochu, the latter's taste is "rough" and the quality is not as good as the former.
Lees shochu: Mainly produced in the southern rice wine producing area, using the grains after rice wine pressing as raw materials, further fermented and then distilled. << Shen's Agricultural Book > records the methods used by yellow distillers to make shochu.
After a long period of tasting and comparison, people realize that the shochu brewed by different raw materials has its own characteristics, and concludes that "sorghum aroma, corn sweetness, rice net, barley punch".
Since the Yuan Dynasty, distilled spirits have been clearly documented in the literature. After hundreds of years of development, China's distilled spirits have formed several major genres, such as steamed and roasted two times clear fragrant wine (represented by Fenjiu), there are mixed steamed and burned continuous poor pharaoh cellar fermentation of aromatic wine (represented by Luzhou old cellar), there is a brewing cycle of up to one year, several fermentations, several distillations and obtained sauce-flavored wine (represented by Moutai wine), there are large and small songs, the use of unique string incense process to brew the Dong wine, there are first cultivated bacteria saccharification after fermentation, liquid distillation of Sanhua wine, and rich in Guangdong characteristics of jade ice roast, There is a yellow sake lees that is re-fermented and distilled to obtain the lees shochu.
In addition, there is grape shochu, horse milk liquor shochu. How these unique aromatic distilled spirits formed and developed, from the ancient data currently available, it is difficult to get a comprehensive and accurate answer. The more systematic summary of the traditional distilled spirits in China mainly includes some monographs published during the Republic of China and after the founding of New China.
Modern liquor production technology
China's modern liquor production technology has begun to appear in the Republic of China period, and has been greatly developed after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Its main feature is to carry out a series of reforms around improving the wine production rate, improving the quality of wine, changing high wine to low alcohol, improving the level of mechanized production, and reducing labor intensity.
The kind of modern liquor
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the name baijiu was used instead of the previously used names such as "shochu" or "sorghum wine". Due to the variety of brewing raw materials, brewing methods also have their own characteristics, and the aroma characteristics of liquor have their own advantages, so there are many ways to classify liquor.
According to the latest national standards, distilled spirits are divided into Chinese liquor and other distilled spirits.
The definition of liquor is: all kinds of liquor brewed by cooking, saccharification, fermentation, distillation, aging and blending with koji and mother liquor as saccharification fermentation agent, using starchy (sugar) raw materials.
Other distilled spirits are defined as high alcohol (18 to 40% alcohol) made of grains, potatoes, grapes and other fruits as raw materials, fermented and distilled. Depending on the ingredients used, there are brandy, whiskey, Odeke and other distilled spirits (such as old muted wine).
The following mainly introduces the types of liquor in China. Modern liquor is divided into three categories: solid liquor, solid-liquid combination liquor and liquid liquor.
It is classified according to the koji used and the main process
The main types of liquor in the solid state method are:
(1) Daqu liquor
Daqu wine, with Daqu as the saccharification fermentation agent, the raw materials of Daqu are mainly wheat, barley, plus a certain number of bowls of beans. The big song is divided into medium temperature curve, high temperature curve and ultra-high temperature song. Generally it is solid fermentation, and the quality of the wine made by Daqu wine is better, and most of the famous wines are brewed in Daqu.
(2) Koji wine
Koji is made of rice as raw material, mostly semi-solid fermentation, and most of the liquor in the south is Koji liquor.
(3) Bran koji wine
This is developed on the basis of the Yantai operation method after liberation, respectively, pure culture of Aspergillus and pure culture of the mother wine as saccharification, fermentation time is short, due to the lower production cost, for most wineries to adopt, this type of wine production is the largest. Take the public as the target of consumption.
(4) Mixed liquor
It is mainly a sake made by mixing large and small koji.
(5) Other saccharification agent method liquor
This is a liquor brewed with saccharinases as saccharification agents and fermentation with saccharinous active dry yeast (or chamomilla yeast).
The types of solid-liquid liquor are:
(1) Semi-solid, semi-liquid fermentation method liquor
This kind of liquor is made of rice as raw material, Xiaoqu as a saccharification starter, first saccharification under solid conditions, and then fermented in semi-solid and semi-liquid, and then distilled to make liquor, the typical representative of which is Guilin Sanhua wine.
(2) Skewers of fragrant liquor
This liquor is made by skewering technology, and its representatives are: Sichuan Tuopai liquor and so on.
There is also a liquor steaming method of essence skewers, which is obtained by steaming them by adding essence to the liquor.
(3) Mixed with white wine
This liquor is a liquor that is made by mixing solid liquor (not less than 10%) with liquid liquor or edible alcohol in an appropriate proportion.
Liquid fermentation method liquor
Also known as "one-step" liquor, the production process is similar to alcohol production, but in the process of absorbing some of the traditional processes of liquor, the quality of the wine is generally more indifferent; some processes use raw yeast to make up for it.
There is also a blended liquor, which is based on edible alcohol and is blended with edible flavor and specially prepared liquor.
According to the aroma type of the wine
This method is classified according to the characteristics of the main aroma components of the wine, and in the national evaluation, the wine is often classified according to this method.
(1) Sauce-flavored liquor
Also known as sauce-flavored liquor, it is represented by Moutai liquor. The soft and moist sauce is its main feature. The fermentation process is the most complex. Most of the large koji used are ultra-high temperature koji.
(2) Aromatic liquor
Represented by Luzhou Laojiao Special Qu, Wuliangye, Yanghe Daqu and other wines, characterized by strong aroma and sweetness, the fermentation raw materials are a variety of raw materials, mainly sorghum, and the fermentation adopts the process of mixed steaming and slag. Fermentation uses old cellars, but there are also artificially cultivated old cellars. Among the famous liquors, the production of aromatic liquor is the largest. Wines produced by distilleries in Sichuan, Jiangsu and other places are of this type.
(3) Fragrant liquor
Also known as clear liquor, represented by fenjiu, it is characterized by pure fragrance, using a steamed slag fermentation process, and fermentation using a ground tank.
(4) Rice-flavored liquor
Represented by Guilin Sanhua Wine, it is characterized by pure rice aroma, rice as raw material, and Xiaoqu as saccharification agent.
(5) Other aromatic liquors
The main representatives of this type of wine are Xifeng wine, Dong wine, white sand liquid, etc., the aroma type has its own characteristics, the brewing process of these wines adopts some processes of strong aroma type, sauce type, or Fenxiang type liquor, and some of the distillation process of some wines also adopts the string incense method.
According to the quality of the wine
(1) National liquor
The highest quality liquor rated by the state and the national appraisal of liquor have been conducted 5 times. Moutai wine, Fenjiu, Luzhou Laojiao, Wuliangye and other liquors have been rated as famous wines in previous national wine appraisal meetings.
(2) National quality wine
The evaluation of national quality wines is carried out at the same time as the evaluation of famous wines.
(3) Famous and excellent wines evaluated by provinces and ministries
(4) General liquor General liquor accounts for the majority of liquor production, the price is low, and it is accepted by the people. Some of the quality is also good. Most of this liquor is produced by the liquid method.
According to the level of alcohol
(1) High liquor
This is the liquor formed by the traditional production method in China, the wine degree is more than 41 degrees, mostly above 55 degrees, generally not more than 65 degrees.
(2) Low-grade liquor
The reduction process is adopted, and the wine degree is generally 38 degrees. There are also more than 20 degrees.
Advances in modern liquor brewing technology
1 Microbiology research
One of the foundations of modern winemaking is microbiology and biochemistry, starting from the Republic of China, the study of winemaking microorganisms, screening microorganisms from the big koji and small koji, from the 1930s to the 1970s, the main purpose is to study the starch decomposition capacity of the koji microorganisms, in order to improve the yield rate, such as the summary of the production technology of the daqu in the fifties and sixties; from the eighties onwards, pay attention to the influence of the metabolites of the microorganisms in the wine koji and the cellar mud on the flavor of the wine, in order to improve the quality of the wine. Such as the use of excellent koji and yeast, in the sake of sprinkling caprolic acid bacteria culture solution.
2 Study of fermentation processes
Although China's liquor fermentation technology originated from rice wine, relative to the history of rice wine, the production technology of liquor is still very imperfect, so the modern fermentation process of liquor has been studied a lot, in the fifties and sixties, the most influential reform is a comprehensive summary of the "Yantai operation method", this operation method draws on the alcohol industry bran koji and mother wine production two key technologies, and combined with the traditional liquor process, the formation of a set of more standardized operation methods. At that time, it was summarized that its characteristics were: "bran koji mother, reasonable ingredients, low temperature into the cellar, constant temperature steaming" sixteen words.
Since the production of aromatic liquor is the largest among famous liquors and is loved by consumers, many factories and research institutions have conducted a lot of research on the process of aromatic Daqu liquor. For example, the study of low-temperature fermentation control, the fermentation temperature curve is partially knotted, and the strategy of slow rise in the early stage, firm in the middle period and slow decline in the later stage is proposed.
In addition, it also uses rehobetating fermentation, that is, long-term repeated fermentation of sake, with the addition of new sake, with the old mash with new pickles, fermentation measures. Or use back-to-back fermentation. Some also use back wine fermentation, and the finished wine is divided into first-class wine, second-class wine, and third-class wine. The secondary sake is poured back into the new sake brew, fermented again, and distilled again, turning the secondary sake into the first grade sake.
3 Artificial cultivation of old cellars
Aromatic liquor using mud cellar fermentation, in natural circumstances, a mud cellar from the construction of the cellar to the cellar of maturity, the output of high-quality wine, often after a long time, which is extremely unfavorable to improve the production of famous wine. Therefore, the famous winery has done a lot of work on the cultivation of artificial old cellars.
4 Improvements in distillation technology
The improvement of distillation technology is an important link in improving the quality of wine, and the new technology adopts measures such as slow distillation, quantity and quality wine picking, batch storage, and string incense. At the same time, the distillation pot was reformed and designed.
5 Development of low-grade wines
China's largest export volume of liquor, such as Guangdong's "Yubing yakitori" liquor, the wine degree is 29.5 degrees, very popular with consumers in Southeast Asia. Foreign distilled spirits are generally low, around 40 degrees, and if the alcohol content exceeds 43 degrees, it is regarded as a spirit.
However, China's liquor, due to historical reasons, as well as some of its own characteristics, the wine degree is often above 55 degrees, the aroma of the wine is better. Most liquors have a wine content of around 60 degrees.
What is the impact of high alcohol on people's health? We know that the human liver can secrete an enzyme, called "acetaldehyde dehydrogenase", this enzyme, can break down alcohol (ethanol), alcohol will not accumulate, people will not be alcohol poisoning, people with a large amount of alcohol, often this enzyme secretion is more, people who do not stick to alcohol, often can not secrete this enzyme, so alcohol poisoning.
According to reports, in our population, the proportion of small alcohol is larger, because some people cannot secrete this enzyme in the body, or the amount of this enzyme secreted is small. Therefore, it cannot adapt to high liquor. This is not good for the health of drinkers. The development of low-grade liquor is imperative.
There are two main types of production methods for low-grade liquor: one is to first add water to the selected liquor base to reduce the alcohol level, and after clarification, it is blended, seasoned, stored and filtered according to a certain proportion. Another method is to first blend and season according to the production method of highly alcoholic wine, and then add water precipitation, clarification, storage and filtration.
Due to the low alcohol content of low-grade wine, some aromatic ingredients are more difficult to dissolve, and it is easy to produce turbid precipitation. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out "de-turbidity" treatment to remove the turbid particles. In addition, the water used to reduce the alcohol level is also treated.
6 Advances in post-processing technology
Aging method: storage of old and mature, generally with ceramic altar aging effect is good.
Blending: This is an important part of determining the quality of the wine, and in the past, experienced teachers and teachers used to do this work. At present, the use of computer blending technology is also under research and development.
Research with the addition of mixed coriander (new process liquor): It is now possible to produce mixed corinthanes. This is the artificial combination of alcohol and acetate into ethyl acetate with sulfuric acid as a catalyst, and the corresponding high-grade fatty acid ester is synthesized from alcohol and higher fatty acids. Then distilled fractions, purified, toxicity experiments were carried out to prove that it was non-toxic and edible, so it was further made into a "mixed fragrance ester" mixed with various esters, which was added to the general quality liquor as a perfume. It can improve the quality of liquor.
Study of aroma composition: The aroma components in liquor are extremely complex, containing hundreds of chemical components in addition to alcohol (ethanol). The main ingredients in liquor are divided into four categories: alcohols, esters, acids and aldehydes and ketones. The main aroma composition of different aroma types of liquor is different. For example, in Fenxiang liquor, ethyl acetate is the most important aroma component, and the content of ethyl lactate is about 30% of the content of ethyl acetate, while the content of ethyl caproate is low. In Luxiang type liquor, the main body of the fragrance is ethyl caproate and an appropriate amount of ethyl butyrate. The content of ethyl lactate in rice-flavored liquor is higher than that of ethyl acetate.
7 Mechanized production of liquor
From ancient times to the 1940s, the production of liquor was manually operated, and the labor intensity was very large, such as stepping, turning, crushing, and the cellaring and exit of the wine were all manual. After the founding of New China, a lot of exploration was made in the mechanization of liquor production. Mechanized production has been achieved in many ways, such as replacing livestock grinding with a shredder and changing the "heavenly pot" of the distiller to a condenser, eliminating the need for frequent manual water changes. The tread system of Daqu was changed to a curved blank forming machine, and the feeding of manual carts was changed to belt conveyor or truss grapple. The pottery altar storage was also changed to a large container for wine storage, which reduced the loss of wine and also reduced the labor intensity of workers. The packaging equipment of liquor also generally realizes the assembly line of bottle washing, filling, capping and labeling.
Production technology of aromatic Ōkushi sake
The production technology of liquor varies greatly with different types, which cannot be described here, and only briefly introduces the production technology of China's most distinctive aromatic Daqu liquor.
Aromatic Daqu liquor, also known as Luxiang daqu liquor, is the most productive liquor in Daqu liquor. Most of China's famous wines are aromatic. For example, Many famous Chinese wines produced in Sichuan and Jiangsu Provinces belong to this category.
Aromatic Daqu wine, with sorghum as the main raw material, adopts medium temperature culture of Daqu, which is cultivated with barley, wheat, and a certain proportion of peas. Fermentation uses a mud cellar as a fermentation vessel. The brewing process is extremely complex, characterized by mixing and renewing. The so-called mixed steaming means that the raw materials (sorghum, etc.) and fermented and mature sake are simultaneously loaded into the sake. In this mixture, a certain proportion of steamed bran is added to remove the miscellaneous taste, in order to loosen the wine. After filling the sake, it is heated and distilled while the raw materials are steamed, and the alcohol and other aromatic components in the sake are distilled out.
The so-called continuous material, for example, the total raw materials need 100 kg, the 100 kg of raw materials are not added at one time, but successively added in fractions, the above has said that the use of mixing steaming process, is to mix a part of the raw materials and a part of the wine sauce together for cooking and distillation at the same time, is also the truth. When the fermentation continues, each time a certain proportion of new raw materials are added, after distillation and cooking, a part of the sake that has been fermented and distilled many times is discarded (this part of the sake that will be discarded should be placed in the specified position during fermentation and distillation, so as to facilitate the distinction).
After distillation and cooking, the mixture of pickles is cooled, koji is added and sent back to the mud cellar for fermentation. Distilled wine should be stored separately. Because in the whole distillation process, the first distilled wine and the intermediate process or the last distilled wine, the taste is not the same.
The first distilled wine is called "head wine", and the last distilled wine is called "tail wine". Both parts of the wine have poor taste, but both have their own uses. The wine distilled in the middle process can be stored separately as the original wine. The original wine is tested to determine its grade, and it is necessary to store it for a long time, so that the taste of the wine is softer. It is best to store wine in a pottery altar, and the best effect is to store wine at a lower temperature. The storage time varies from half a year to 3 years. Finally, the blend is formed