The next day, Chen Xu got up early as usual to discuss politics in the court, and after the dispersal of the court, he went to the offices of Zhongshu Province to inspect it, and after listening to the reports of the heads of various departments, he asked the housekeeper to inquire about where there was a relatively large brewery in the city.

Winemaking has been very common in Daqin, in addition to grain winemaking, there are now wine, mulberry wine and even some other fruit wine, but the common feature is that the alcohol content is very low, mainly because the fermentation and brewing process is not good, and the prohibition from the Western Zhou Dynasty also inhibited the development of wine-making technology, coupled with the shortage of food in the Qin State every year, the prohibition is more strict, and the folk wine-making will be killed, so at present, only officially recognized wine merchants can make wine for sale, which also leads to the fact that although the wine in Daqin is not good, But it sells for a thief.

Even if it is turbid wine that is as unpleasant as horse urine in Chen Xu's opinion, ordinary people can't afford to drink it, and a pound is more than ten yuan, and if a small official goes to visit the garden, he will drink a few catties of wine and his salary for a month will be almost gone.

If Chen Xu wants to make wine, he naturally wants to make high-purity distilled spirits.

As the most commonly used industrial preparation, alcohol has a wide range of uses, especially in medicine and chemistry.

With high-purity alcohol, many basic chemical experiments can be carried out slowly, the smoke released by the combustion of oil candles and pine ming is too large, Chen Xu can't imagine what kind of state a chemical laboratory with thick smoke is, especially those glass instruments, it is estimated that they will soon be smoked and they will not be able to see anything clearly.

Less than half an hour after the housekeeper left, he brought back a slightly chubby merchant in a fancy dress.

"Xiangye, this is Du Zhong, the owner of the largest winery in Xianyang City, a winemaker licensed by Shaofu, almost half of the wine in Xianyang is from Du's winery." Butler introduction.

"Du Zhong greets Master Hou!"

After entering the door, the wine merchant Du Zhong was so excited that he couldn't help himself, knelt on the ground and respectfully kowtowed to Chen Xu, and he was used to calling the title of Marquis of Qinghe.

"No courtesy, show the tea to the owner of Du Fang!" Chen Xu smiled and waved his hand to order the maid to serve tea, and after sitting down, he asked about some of the situation of the Du's winery, and then decided to go to the winery to see the winemaking process in person!

"Why is Eungong suddenly interested in brewing?" After hearing this, Yu Wuya also carried a sword on his back and straddled a handcuff and went out with him.

"When I was in Xiaohe Village, I told you that there is still a kind of wine in the world......"

"Could it be a second pot head?" Yu Wuya was pleasantly surprised.

"Hehe, exactly, I used to be busy with all kinds of affairs, and the winemaking process is also very complicated, I have to be free recently, I will go to the winery to see if I can get some Erguotou to taste!" Chen Xu nodded.

"Engong, you finally remembered, when you seduced me to say that you have a second pot and a belly, the world is in your chest, Wuya has been hungry for several years, go quickly, Wuya can't wait!" Yu Wuya licked his mouth and felt his saliva begin to fall.

Half an hour later, Chen Xu followed the wine merchant Du Zhong to a huge mansion in the west of the city, and he could smell the smell of sake lees floating in the air from a long distance, and after entering the courtyard of the wine shop, the smell was even stronger, and the violent smell of sake lees could make people rush to their heads.

There are two huge wooden sheds in the courtyard.

Countless helpers in one shed are sifting corn and mixing sake lees, and dozens of large clay jars in another shed are full of sake lees, many of which are fermenting, exuding a strong sweet and sour smell, and the smell is almost no different from the rice wine made in the countryside in later generations, the only thing is that the sanitary conditions are completely unsightly, all the helpers have no hygienic habits, and they are stirring around in the lees while wiping their noses and buttocks, and Chen Xu's face twitches.

"Master Hou, our Dushi Distillery can make more than 2,000 catties of wine every day, and it has always been in short supply, but in the past two years, the grain output has increased, and the Shaofu has allowed us to increase some production, but the space is limited, and it has not been expanded yet, Master Hou, you are a master winemaker, and you have passed down the skills of making wine, and now we can only sell these turbid wines to those ordinary people......"

Du Zhong accompanied Chen Xu to watch and introduce, and at the same time did not forget to take pictures of Chen Xu's horses by the way.

As a wine merchant, there is hardly any chance to get involved with Chen Xu on weekdays, this kind of turbid wine made by traditional technology and the taste and taste of wine are completely incomparable, so now the high-end liquor of the entire Daqin is occupied by wine, and the turbid wine they make has not been able to reach the elegant hall, can only be sold to ordinary officials and people who can't afford to drink wine, although the price is not cheap, but always feel inferior, because the wine banquet must be called grape wine, and can't afford to drink Qinghe wine, But to open a slightly high-end banquet, the red wine of Fan's Winery must also have a few bottles to fill the face.

Therefore, when I heard that the housekeeper of the Qinghe Hou Mansion had come today, I immediately made Du Zhong's excited walk almost planted and fighting.

The winery is indeed not big, covering an area of only seven or eight acres, Chen Xu finished reading it in twenty minutes, in order to understand the wine-making process in more detail, Chen Xu also went to the room where the koji was made to check it.

Looking at the moldy koji piled up all over the ground, Chen Xu frowned slightly, he remembered seeing the process of making koji in the distillery on TV, it seemed to be all large pieces of koji bricks like bricks, just like moldy tofu, but at the moment, this kind of koji piled up together looks unclean and unhygienic, and the ground is damp, these koji are likely to deteriorate and produce some toxic mold.

Chen Xu squatted down and grabbed a handful of koji to take a look, and found that the particles were very rough, and they had changed color and couldn't tell what it was.

"What do you make this koji from?" Chen Xu clapped his hands and stood up.

"Back to the Hou Ye, the koji is mixed with ground wheat mushrooms, mixed with water, stacked, and when the koji is full, it is moved to a cool and ventilated wooden shed to dry and set aside...... "Du Zhong briefly introduced the process of preparing koji.

Chen Xu thought about it for a while, it seems that he has never heard of soybeans to make koji, it is estimated that this is an ancient method handed down, and the current wine-making method of Daqin is actually the rice wine of later generations, after fermentation, it is filtered to be wine, and it does not go through the two steps of steaming and brewing, and the production method of wine is also like this, it is easy to deteriorate if the storage and sealing are not good, so the wine in the winery is basically made and sold, and after it is made, there are wine merchants who directly use the wine jar to sell, and the wine is in short supply, and there is no backlog.

"I know a way to make koji, it may cost more and take longer, but the quality of the koji is much better, you can try it later!" After coming out of the room with his nose covered, Chen Xu said to Du Zhong.

Du Zhong was pleasantly surprised and hurriedly gave his hand: "Hou Ye's guidance must be a good way, Du Zhong will definitely do it!" ”

"Well, you've seen how to make mud bricks!" Chen Xu asked.

"I've seen it, I've seen it!" Du Zhong nodded repeatedly.

"In the future, all the koji is made of wheat, the wheat is ground into flour, and the dry well water is stirred to expand into a dough brick weighing ten catties, and then placed in a closed room to produce mold, this time may take different times according to the temperature of the four seasons, and then move to a cool and ventilated room to dry on a wooden frame after the dough brick completely grows thick koji, so that the koji made is not easy to produce miscellaneous mold, and the mycelium in it can also be more sufficient, and it is more convenient to store, When you use it, crush the koji bricks and mix them into the sake lees! ”

"Yes, Du Zhong will definitely make music according to Hou Ye's method in the future!" Du Zhong didn't care whether Chen Xu was right or not, and nodded busily.

"Also, try to use only one kind of raw material for winemaking, either corn or millet, which is not easy to mix with other grains, otherwise the fermentation process will be uneven, and the wine will taste bad, some bitter and some sour!"

"Master Hou, can Shu millet still be used for winemaking?" Du Zhong was amazed.

"Naturally, the five grains can be used to make wine, the wine made by Shu millet is clear and transparent, the wine taste is mellow, although it is not as mellow and sweet as that made from millet rice, but the taste is more pure, you can arrange someone to verify it!"

"Hou Ye rest assured, although Shu millet is the staple food in the northwest, but the taste is bitter and not delicious, and the planting is more convenient and easy than corn, among the grains, Shu millet is the cheapest one, if it can be used to make wine, it will inevitably save a lot of money, and later I will order to buy some Shu millet back and try to brew it, and then Hou Ye will be free to come and give some advice!" Du Zhong hurriedly gave up his hand again.

"Well, you are a master of winemaking, Ben Hou can only mention it, whether it can be successful or whether the effect is good depends on your own continuous summing up experience, Ben Hou came today to ask you to help prepare a few jars of good sake lees for backup, and I will have someone send a set of wine-making utensils in a few days, and build a steaming room next to it, build a stove in it, with a diameter of five feet, and then install a steamer and a steaming barrel......"

Chen Xu carefully explained Du Zhong and left the winery, although Yu Wuya had been following him without speaking, but after coming out, he was a little disapproving, "Engong, if you want to talk about winemaking, we Yucheng people are ancestors, Shaokang started to make wine in Luncheng, Luncheng is our Yucheng, when it was still in the Wei Kingdom, there were wineries everywhere, Engong wants to make fine wine, why not let people go to Yucheng to find some craftsmen who make wine?" ”

"I asked just now, this Du Zhong ancestor is your Yucheng people's family, and his surname is Du, to be able to run such a large winery in Xianyang, there must still be a few brushes, maybe it is the descendant of Du Kang, and this winery looks very mature in making wine, and it doesn't need too much improvement to make high-purity liquor!" Chen Xu said with a smile.

"What is liquor? We also make white mash in Yucheng, what does this have to do with the two pots of the Xianjia that Engong wants to do? Yu Wuya asked curiously.

"The second pot head is actually steamed and brewed through mash, it can't be said to be a fairy thing, I just lied to you to move bricks at the beginning!" Chen Xu laughed dryly.

Yu Wuya's face turned black in an instant, and he couldn't help but complain: "It turns out that Engong has been lying to me. ”

"Hehe, Brother Yu, don't be angry, in fact, it's not a lie, wait for a few days when the steaming utensils are ready, and after you taste the steamed liquor, you will naturally know that with liquor, wine and turbid wine are not considered wine, and you will be in a sip to keep your spirit!"

"Eun Gong, don't lie to me again this time!" Yu Wuya remembered the scene of moving bricks in Xiaohe Village that day