As long as it is the food and beverage industry, raw materials can be said to be the lifeblood.

Qi Zheng doesn't know much about the winemaking process, that's the winemaker's task, and he doesn't plan to steal people's jobs.

When it comes to improving the quality of his beer, he likes the simplest and most brutal way to do it – to improve the quality of the raw materials.

Barley malt, yeast, water and hops are the four elements that make up a real beer.

The yeast catalyzes the conversion of sugars into alcohol and develops part of the aroma, the environment created by water changes, and hops are responsible for giving the beer a different aroma and a slight bitterness, while also contributing to the preservation of quality and preservation.

The yeast and water of Qingyuan Beer have been "magically changed" by Qi Zheng, and the quality is already extraordinary.

And barley and hops are areas that Jiagu has not taken care of before.

Coincidentally, the best production areas of these two in China are in the same place - Su Province in the northwest.

Suzhou Province is currently the largest hop planting base in the country, with a planting area of 450,000 mu. The total hop production in the country is about 120,000 tons, and the output in Su Province is 9,000 tons, accounting for 75% of the country. The hop price in Suzhou Province determines the price of domestic hops.

From the perspective of supply and demand, the current domestic hop market is in short supply.

The domestic beer industry is developing rapidly, and the demand for raw materials has increased sharply.

The rapid growth of beer market demand has strongly stimulated the development of the domestic beer raw material industry, and the hop market has also risen all the way.

But as far as national agriculture is concerned, hops is still an out-and-out small variety of crops.

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The western part of Su Province, Qu County.

Prolonged periods of intense sunshine, very little rainfall and a large temperature difference between day and night make for an excellent environment for hop growing, which is also conducive to organic hop cultivation. Look at 'Mao's line, Chinese, and net

If Jiagu's various industries are affected by SARS, it will not be solved for a while; if it is not affected, it will be developed step by step, and Qi Zheng will be idle for a while.

Just mentioned the improvement of beer raw materials, I simply went to the production area of Quxian County to inspect in person.

Probably because the area is vast and sparsely populated, the epidemic does not seem to have caused much impact here.

Zhuang Lun, the owner of the hop plantation, received Qi Zheng.

Zhuang Lun has a hop plantation covering an area of 1,200 acres, and is one of the domestic hop suppliers of Qingyuan Brewery.

To Qi Zheng's surprise, Zhuang Lun felt that hop cultivation could no longer be done, and he was considering whether to stop hop production.

It stands to reason that the domestic hops market is in a good situation now, why would Zhuang Lun choose to go against the market trend?

He took Qi Zheng to visit the plantation and communicate at the same time.

Rows of hops grow neatly along the tall pergolas, with plenty of space between the pergolas to allow the hops to receive plenty of sunlight.

"Hops usually start growing in March and start climbing in May, but hops don't climb upwards on their own, you have to build a pergola in advance, and then manually wrap around the vines every day to make them grow taller and have plenty of sunlight so that you can harvest a rich flavor in August and September. Zhuang Lun introduced.

The pergolas built for the growth of hops are quite tall and require the use of specific machines for harvesting.

"My plantation is small, so I have a long ladder for manual harvesting. He said.

Hops that have successfully passed the growing season and reached maturity need to be harvested within 3 days, otherwise the flavor will be lost.

"But each of your breweries has a different style and has different requirements for the maturity of the hops, so we have to do things at the behest of the brewery. Once the harvest is due, we work 24-hour shifts to ensure that the harvested hops are ready for your needs and are used in the brewery. ”

Qi Zheng asked casually, "Doesn't it sound like it's difficult to grow hops?"

Zhuang Lun smiled bitterly, "It's not difficult to say, but it's not easy to say." But a lot of the time it's hard money. ”

Qi Zheng asked, "I don't understand very well, isn't there a shortage of hops in China now?

Zhuang Lun smiled even more wryly, "If there is no competition from imported hops, maybe we can really live a more nourishing life." ”

He then further explained that the ecological environment of domestic hops is not perfect, there is a lack of competitive varieties, and the economic value of the hop products grown is not high.

"American hops are all over the world, take the United States as an example. ”

"In addition to the outstanding objective conditions of soil and climate, the integrity of the ecological environment is the foundation of its success. ”

"From the Department of Agriculture, to the American Hop Growers Association, the American Brewers Association, to hop companies, craft breweries, and hop growers, they work closely together to negotiate and discuss in the process of breeding, planting, production and processing, and will also cooperate with some scientific research institutions to provide research support. ”

"And when buying hops in the United States, it is common to choose to sign long-term contracts, such as signing a one-time contract for several years. It will be difficult to buy directly in stock, especially those special, in-demand hops, which are difficult to buy in stock. Long-term contracts have emboldened American farmers to grow hops in large quantities, and the market as a whole is getting bigger and better. ”

"Ensuring the interests of hop growers allows hop companies to produce hops and have enough energy to research new varieties to meet the needs of individual wineries. ”

Speaking of this, Zhuang Lun sighed, "In contrast, domestic brewers and hop producers only stay at the level of buying and selling, and most of them are based on short-term contracts, which not only exacerbates the volatility of the hop market, but also determines the status quo of a single hop variety in China." ”

"In fact, in the final analysis, the single variety and lack of competitiveness of domestic hops are the core problems!"

Qi Zheng is clear.

At present, 90 hops in China are bitter type, and the traditional variety "Qingdao big flower" is the main one.

In addition, in the hop production base, farmers contract planting is also a way, but the farmers' planting expertise is insufficient, and the quality of hops is inevitable.

The competition among several giants in the domestic beer industry is becoming increasingly fierce, and the quality of products has a great impact on the results of competition. The low quality of domestic hops will force brewers to choose high-quality imported hops, creating a vicious circle.

In fact, this is also the choice of the market.

The market for hops is so small that the state does not pay attention to this small variety of crop on a large scale, let alone invest in scientific research - the staple food cannot be studied, how can it have the energy to care for this small market economic crop?

Generally speaking, beer manufacturers must play a guiding and supporting role in order to establish a complete ecological environment.

But now the domestic beer manufacturers, hehe......

The fierce competition has played out the dog's brain, and in the case of imported hops to replace, everyone has chosen to turn a blind eye.

And the ultimate consequences will be borne by the entire industry.

Qi Zheng opened his mouth at this time and said, "If I can get a new hop variety, are you interested in cooperating?"

"Hmm, can you introduce foreign varieties?" Zhuang Lun's eyes widened.

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