Chapter 42: The Birth of Distilled Spirits
The copper pipe was still short, the alcohol evaporated, and before it had time to cool, it ran away through the copper pipe.
"It smells so good! Lang Jun, I have never smelled such fragrant wine! Zhang Lu sniffed the aroma of wine in the air, swallowed his saliva and said.
"Uncle Lu, the wine you drank is indispensable when you turn around, go get some ice cubes first! Hurry up, or you'll run out of wine! Zhang Junping explained to Zhang Lu, ran into the house, moved a table out, and put it under the copper pipe.
After a while, Zhang Lu ran back with people carrying ice cubes.
"It doesn't take so much!" Zhang Junping picked up five or six ice cubes and stacked them on top of the copper pipe.
With the ice cubes cooling, it was no longer a white mist that came out of the mouth of the copper pipe, but drops of crystal water.
Water drops dripping into the empty jar that had been prepared long ago.
In ancient times, due to the limitations of the production process, the purification of the wine was not enough, and there were many impurities in the wine, so the word turbid wine often appeared in the poems. It's not modesty, it's really muddy.
Even if it's a royal sake, the impurities in it are only a little less than the usual ones.
Zhang Junping's distillation method purifies the liquor, which basically does not contain impurities. It looks crystal clear, like water.
Zhang Junping went to check the place where the pot lid and the copper pipe were connected, whether there was any outgas, and when he turned around, he saw Zhang Gui staring at the exit of the copper pipe, his saliva was about to flow out, he stepped forward and kicked him away, and scolded with a smile: "What are you doing?" You're dripping your fucking saliva into the jar! ”
"Lang Jun, let me see how this wine comes out! Lang Jun, is this an immortal?
The wine came from that side to this side, and it became so fragrant! Zhang Gui spoke, greedily sniffing the aroma of wine in the air.
"It's not immortal, watch the fire well! When the purification is ready, your wine is indispensable! Zhang Junping kicked Zhang Gui again and drove him to look at the fire under the pot.
Zhang Junping stared at the wine dripping from the copper pipe, and swallowed his saliva, he also wanted to drink it.
This is the pure grain wine of the real sect, brewed without a little fake pure grain, and it is not easy to drink such pure wine in later generations.
At this time, the liquor distilled through the copper tube is no longer dripping down drop by drop, but forming a line and flowing downward.
Smelling the pervasive aroma of wine, Zhang Junping couldn't help it, ran into the room, found a teacup, followed it under the copper pipe, and after a while, he took another third of the teacup, picked it up, Zhang Junping tasted it carefully, well, it's really good!
Soft and delicious, the wine is fragrant, about 30 degrees.
This is also because Zhang Junping's stills are relatively rough, and they are directly burned over a large fire, and there is no way to control the temperature, and not only the wine is distilled, but also some water vapor evaporates along with the alcohol.
"Agui, remove the fire, don't burn the fire!" Zhang Junping asked Zhang Gui to remove the fire at the bottom of the pot.
Now the temperature in the pot is estimated to have exceeded 90 degrees, and it is not far from 100 degrees.
In that way, the impurities are removed, but the effect of alcohol purification cannot be achieved.
After an hour or two of busy work, I finally managed to make a jar of purified wine about 30 degrees.
Zhang Junping gave Zhang Lu and Zhang Gui a glass of wine each for them to taste.
Zhang Gui was the most anxious, and poured a teacup of purified wine into his mouth in one sip, "Wow! It's so spicy, what a strong wine! Stronger than shochu in the Northwest! Then he stuck out his tongue and shouted.
Boy! More than 30 degrees of liquor, this teacup has about three or four taels, it's really terrible!
Sure enough, after a while, Zhang Gui's face was as red as a monkey's buttocks.
Sitting there dizzy, tongue sticking out, panting.
"Lang...... Lang Jun, this ...... This wine, good ...... It's delicious, it's delicious! It's not spicy either...... Spicy throat...... Only...... It's just too strong! ”
The liquor of this era, that is, the liquor of about 10 degrees and more than 15 degrees, is considered a spirit.
Zhang Gui is still young, there are few opportunities to drink, and the amount of alcohol is not large, so he suddenly drank a strong liquor with such a high alcohol content, and naturally he couldn't stand it.
"Good wine! This wine is much stronger than the burnt knife I drank in the Northwest! Drinking it is like a line of fire, passing through the throat......" Over there, Zhang Lu also picked up the teacup and took a sip, but it was not as reckless as Zhang Gui, and it was dry.
"Uncle Lu, you said that this wine sells for ten yuan a jar, how about it? Will anyone buy it? ”
"Ten times? Lang Jun, even if you sell a hundred pieces, you are guaranteed to buy it! Those powerful people will definitely rush to buy it! Zhang Lu took another sip before he said loudly.
"The altar I'm talking about is not this jar, it's the kind of small jar with five catties!" Zhang Junping corrected with a smile.
The jar they now hold wine in is a 20-pound jar, and they definitely can't use such a jar for takeout.
"Then there are people who buy, those wealthy businessmen, the rich, and those nobles and magnates, they are not bad for money at all!
Our family used to be the same, the money was piled up all over the house, the rope that stringed the money was rotten, and the big money was scattered all over the ground! Zhang Lu thought about the division of the Zhang family in the past.
"Uncle Lu, let's have a drink, our Zhang family will only be better in the future!
In the future, we will not hide money, only gold and silver! Zhang Junping carried a twenty-pound jar in one hand and filled Zhang Lu with wine.
"That's a good feeling! If that's the case, I'm dead, and when I see the old lady, I have something to say, and I dare to pat my chest and say, I, Zhang Lu, have lived up to the old lady's entrustment! Zhang Lu took the wine glass and drank it dry, already drunk, and his mouth was chattering.
Zhang Junping's face was also red.
It's not that he can't drink enough, just now when he distilled and purified the alcohol, several people surrounded the copper pipe and breathed a lot of alcohol in the air.
This is also the reason why Zhang Lu and Zhang Gui got drunk so quickly.
Zhang Junping called the family and helped Zhang Lu and Zhang Gui to rest.
Zhang Lu's wife and Zhang Fu's wife also live in the Zhang family compound, so they don't have to worry about no one taking care of them.
Zhang Junping returned to the restaurant in the middle courtyard, Zhang Jiahui had not eaten yet, and was waiting for him.
"Big brother!"
"Big brother!"
Seeing Zhang Junping coming in, several people hurriedly stood up and called for someone.
"Let's eat! Didn't I tell you to wait for me? Zhang Junping sat down on the main seat and said with a smile.
"Big brother, we're not hungry!"
"I'm not hungry, wait for the eldest brother to come and eat!" Zhang Junpeng said along the saliva and staring at the dishes on the table.
Zhang Junping smiled and touched Zhang Junpeng's head, "Okay, let's eat now!" ”
Zhang Qi learned very quickly, he just demonstrated it once, and the recipes he gave at home had already made this stir-fry decent.
Vinegared cabbage, stir-fried shredded radish, sweet and sour pork ribs, garlic fried mutton, braised carp, dry-fried small miscellaneous fish, and a big bowl of mutton soup stewed with mutton and cabbage.
Six or seven years old, seventy or eighty years old, it is the age when you can eat and be hungry, and you have long been hungry, just to wait for Zhang Junping, I have been enduring it, and now Zhang Junping is eating, a few little guys, a few pairs of chopsticks are stretched out to sweet and sour pork ribs and cumin mutton.