Traveling through 70's wine

Chapter 206 Spring Brew

Today happened to be the day when wine cellars No. 80 and No. 90 were digging up the pits to steam wine. More than a dozen workers went into the cellars to shovel the mash to get the yellow water and moisten the grains. Several people were cleaning the drying beds. The preparations were going on in an orderly manner.

Wen Qing grabbed a handful of mash and smelled it, then watched the wine flow out from between her fingers. She went to the wine steamer and asked Wang Guozhang who was steaming the wine, "Master Wang, how is the wine this time?"

Wang Guozhang picked up the test tube, collected the dripping wine, put the alcohol measuring agent in it, and the alcohol content was over 90 degrees. After pinching the head of the wine, he changed the container and began to collect the wine. He carefully smelled the aroma of the wine in the tube before answering Wen Qing: "Director Wen, I feel that although these wine cellars are distilling wine for the first time, the overall situation should be good."

Everyone was very happy to see the wine flowing from the faucet stirring up foam in the earthenware jar. They all took cups to catch the wine and taste it. After two jars of wine, the dripping foam gradually disappeared, and Wang Guozhang changed the container again to catch the rest of the wine.

Wen Qing took the wine scoop and scooped out a glass of wine. She took a sip and it tasted spicy, but the wine aroma was clear and rich.

After a while, the liquor became less, so the workers turned off the fire, poured the steamed lees into the cooling bed, and added koji while Chang Yingshan started the blower and said, "Director Wen, the koji we are using now is peach blossom koji made in spring. We are mixing koji and fermenting at low temperature now, and we strive to make the fermentation time longer and the aroma more layered."

Wen Qing went to watch other workers steaming wine, and was relieved to see that everyone was following the new process requirements.

There are 1000 mud cellars in the new factory, of which only 200 are in use now, and the other 800 need to be gradually maintained. They are now accelerating the cellar maintenance work in units of 100. Wang Jianguo also arranged for workers to pour the unwanted dregs, yellow water, wine heads, rice husks, etc. from steamed wine and a small amount of grain into the new cellars for fermentation and ripening. When the soil on the walls and bottom of the mud cellar changes from yellow to black, and then from black to grayish white, and the texture changes from soft and sticky to hard and brittle, then you can start formally making wine. The maintenance time of the wine cellar is generally half a year to nine months, so it will take four to five years for the new factory to reach full production.

Even if all of them reach full production capacity, for a while now, the quality of the wine brewed in the new factory will still not be as good as that of the old winery. Only with the passage of time will the quality of the liquor produced by the wine cellars on both sides gradually improve. The wine participating in the evaluation this time is produced by the old winery.

Wen Qing also admitted that the wine produced in the new factory cannot catch up with the old winery, but there is nothing he can do about it. This is how it is with liquor. "Geographical advantage" is very important. Otherwise, why can Wuliangye, Meizhou Laojiao Tequ and Gutan Liquor stand firm? It is because they have wine cellars that are hundreds of years old. The base wine brewed in these wine cellars is of better quality than that brewed in other wine cellars.

The age of the wine cellars in the old winery of Changxia Winery is not very long. Wen Qing sometimes exchanges the cellar mud in the wine cellar here with the cellar mud in the space wine cellar, and ferments the wine in the space for further aging, but this process itself takes time and there is no shortcut at all.

Fortunately, she has a relatively calm mentality. She opened the winery to make money, but not entirely for the sake of making money.

Wen Qing discussed with Wang Jianguo and Wang Guozhang whether they should launch a batch of low-alcohol liquors, targeting the young customer market. Low-alcohol liquors have lower requirements for aroma, and more requirements for being mellow and refreshing on the palate, so that even if you drink too much occasionally, you won't have a headache the next day. They are developing new varieties towards this goal.

The aroma does not need to be too complex, so it does not need a very long cellar age. If you want a clean and refreshing taste, there must be no foreign bacteria. As for the sweet and mellow taste, on the one hand, the proportion of glutinous rice and corn is increased, and on the other hand, glutinous sorghum is used as the main ingredient. By soaking away some tannins, the bitter substances in the wine are reduced without affecting the starch content.

Low-alcohol liquor is not simply about reducing the alcohol content. It cannot taste bland just because the alcohol content is low. This is a common problem with many low-alcohol liquors. They conducted repeated experiments and finally found the process for brewing low-alcohol liquor.

Wine cellars No. 31 to No. 100 in workshop 6 have been maintained for 90 months. The content and proportion of wine-making microorganisms in the cellar mud have basically reached the requirements. Wen Qing decided to take out ten wine cellars to brew low-alcohol wine. She named this series "Long Summer Spring Brew". All of them are fermented with medium and high temperature "Peach Blossom Spring Qu" and a new raw material ratio is adopted. In order to improve the flavor of the wine, the fermentation period is extended from 110 days to days, making the wine taste more mellow.

After this plan was finalized, Wang Jianguo, Tang Lin and Chang Yingshan used ten wine cellars to adopt different methods of standing slag and continuing dregs to lower the ambient temperature during fermentation. They also made various attempts on the temperature of water and koji mixing.

Wen Qing is very concerned about this and basically checks the fermentation status of this batch of low-alcohol wine every other day. Since the fermentation time is relatively long, she is very worried whether there will be any problems in the winemaking process.

By the end of September, this batch of wine could finally be removed from the cellar and steamed. On that day, Wen Qing arrived at the winery early in the morning. After finishing her desk work, she went to the second workshop. Wang Jianguo had already led the workers to shovel open the mud sealing the cellar and take out the dregs.

As soon as Wen Qing walked into the wine cellar, she smelled the scent of lees, which had the aroma of wine and sourness.

She did not disturb Wang Jianguo and went to check the grain moistening first. Grain would be replenished for distilling wine this time. The raw grain had been soaked and crushed according to the rules of their winery. Since the proportion of corn has increased, the requirements for removing the germ are higher. Corn germ will cause impurities in the wine.

The workers were very skilled in making the wine. As the clear yellowish wine dripped down, Wen Qing could not wait to take a small cup to taste it. The alcohol content of the newly distilled wine was very high, but it already had a sweet and mellow quality. Wen Qing asked Wang Jianguo and Wang Guozhang to taste it. After drinking it, Wang Jianguo said, "Sister Wen, I think it basically meets our expectations."

Wang Guozhang also said: "Director Wen, after blending, we should be able to make a good wine."

Wen Qing said, "Okay, let's steam these ten wine cellars and compare them to see which wine cellar has the best wine."

It took them three consecutive days to steam all the ten wine cellars, producing a total of 4.6 tons of base wine, with a wine yield of about 40%. Wen Qing organized the technical department to conduct tests and tastings, and selected the optimal winemaking process, which was accurate to the time for steaming grains, temperature control in each link, and the ratio of koji to dregs.

Of course, the alcohol content of the base wine is still very high, and it will need to be lowered during blending in the future. This also tests the winemaker's level, as he must reduce the alcohol content while retaining the flavor of the wine.

After the base wine brewed in Changxiachun came out, Wen Qing put forward a request that Liuquan be responsible for conducting market research, analyzing the preferences of young people, and analyzing the demand of the elderly for medicinal materials for wine soaking; Wang and Wang were responsible for technology and determined the formula for blending using this batch of base wine.

Liu Quan was in Songjiang, and Wen Qing called him and told him to go to the local market to investigate. She also notified the managers of the three stores in Beijing, especially the Wukesong store, to understand customer needs.