Jiao Ailan muttered at this time: "Isn't it just winemaking?" What's there to see! Isn't this similar to our sake brewing? ”

Zhao Ze heard what the little girl said, stopped and asked, "What are you talking about?" Your family also makes wine? ”

"Yes! My father and my brother opened a wine-making workshop, specializing in Northeast small roast, and when it came to the Chinese New Year, many people came to us to buy wine. Jiao Ailan said proudly.

Zhao Ze didn't expect that Jiao Ailan's hometown was actually a winemaker, and said with a smile: "It turns out that you are still a winemaker!" Then you must be able to drink! Why haven't I ever seen you drink? ”

Jiao Ailan lowered her head embarrassedly and said, "It's not a good thing to be able to drink!" When I came out of the house, my father told me not to take the initiative to drink with others unless I had to.

That's what my brother told me, saying that you should be more careful outside, don't drink with people you don't know, and don't drink with men you don't know. ”

Jiao Ailan said and spoke, she had already revealed her native accent, although it sounded a little earthy, but Zhao Ze felt that this little girl's father and brother still cared about her very much.

"Well, your father and your brother are right, you are a girl outside, you have to pay more attention to everything, so as not to suffer outside." Zhao Ze said.

Jiao Ailan said at this time: "Master, when I have time, I will take you to my house, and we also have a lot of old wine stored in our house, all of which are the wine that my father has saved over the years."

Many people wanted to get some of his wine from my father, but my father refused. ”

"Oh? Then I'll have to take the time to go to your house, and maybe your father can sell me some old wine for the sake of your face!" Can you? Zhao Ze said jokingly.

"It has to be! My master wants to drink old wine, my father will definitely be able to give you something to drink, don't worry, master, this matter is on me, when I go home, I will bring you a few bottles to taste. Jiao Ailan said very boldly.

Just as the two of them were chatting all the way, the group had already arrived at the steaming workshop.

The narrator of the Moutai Distillery continued to speak to everyone.

The materials used in Moutai liquor are extremely particular, and local sorghum must be used. This type of sorghum is called glutinous sorghum, which has small grains, thin skin, and high starch content, and can withstand multiple steaming.

Foreign sorghum is generally squeezed dry after the fifth time of extraction, and only local sorghum can complete the seven times of wine pouring.

The key to Moutai liquor is to choose relatively intact sorghum, which is the only way to withstand multiple cooking. In the early days, winemaking also required a certain crushing rate, which was about 20%~30%, and now it is basically not more than 10%.

The first step in sand removal is to "moisten the sand", that is, wash it several times with boiling water of about 100 degrees Celsius, on the one hand, it can wash off the dregs, and on the other hand, it can allow the sorghum to absorb water.

The sorghum is then steamed for about two hours.

Then it is scattered on the ground and "spreads to cool", and the winemaker keeps turning it over with a shovel, and the temperature drops to about 35 degrees Celsius and begins to add koji. It takes 1,500 catties of sorghum to fill one retort, and about 220 catties of koji are added for the first time.

The overall ratio of sorghum to koji is 1:1, but the koji is added in 9 times, and the amount added each time is different, with an average of about 10% of sorghum.

After the first stirring, the koji is stirred to carry out a "pile-up" fermentation, that is, the lees are piled into a cone more than two meters high.

The fermentation time needs to be flexibly controlled by the winemaker according to the temperature, and the inside of the pile starts to heat up first, and then it is transmitted to the outside.

During this period, the lees absorb microorganisms from the surrounding air.

Moutai liquor pays attention to high-temperature fermentation, and generally the outer temperature reaches 50 or 60 degrees Celsius before ending this link, and the winemaker puts his hand into the pile and judges according to the degree of hotness.

After the first fermentation is completed, the koji is shoveled into a pit for storage – the "cellar period". The pit is 3~4 meters deep and can hold 15~20 retorts of sake lees.

Unlike strong flavor wines, the pit of soy sauce wine is made of stone walls instead of earth, otherwise the sauce flavor will not be strong. The pit should be sealed with local yellow mud, which can not be breathable, and should be checked frequently during the cellar period, and sprinkled with water from time to time to prevent dry cracking and air intake.

About a month later, the pit was opened and the "secondary feeding" began, that is, according to the ratio of 1:1, new sorghum was added, and the retort was continued to be steamed.

After it is cooled, the koji medicine is added, the pile is collected and fermented, and then it is re-cellared. The first two times of cooking did not take the raw materials, just to increase the fermentation time and envelop more microorganisms.

After a month or so of cellaring, the third steaming begins. It was December ~ January, and the first sake brewing began. After that, the sake lees are cooled, koji, piled, and cellared. This goes on and on, once a month, until the seventh time is finished, and it is already August of the following year, when the distillery begins to "lose its mess".

The wine that comes out of the third to fifth times is the best, which is called "big wine", the wine that is obtained on the sixth time is called "small wine", and the wine that is used for the seventh time is "chasing lees".

Three, four, or five times the wine is the best, one or two times it is sour and spicy, and the last time it is scorching and bitter.

But each one is useful, and the one that leaves the factory must be blended between different batches.

Speaking of this, the narrator has led everyone through the entire steaming workshop, and the taste in the workshop at this time is the feeling of overflowing with the aroma of wine.

Jiao Ailan felt very comfortable here, and said to Zhao Ze: "The taste here is similar to the taste when we made wine at home, but it is not very different.

Maybe our home-brewed liquor is because of the strong aroma type, I don't like to drink sauce-flavored liquor, there is an indescribable taste, in short, I can't accept it. ”

"Moutai also has a strong aroma type of liquor, but it is not Moutai, I will take you around Moutai Town when I go back, buy two bottles and take them home for your father and brother to taste." Zhao Ze said.

"Forget it, just their mouths, it's already good to have a little burn to drink, don't you know, as long as we are in winter, the whole village will become the world of big wine Mengzi.

Drink every day, drink the last meal is the next drink, and if you don't drink it, you won't pull it down at all. So, when I celebrate the New Year, I really don't want to go home, how do you feel when you face two wine Mengzi all day long. Jiao Ailan shook her hand at Zhao Ze, looking unhappy.

Zhao Ze looked at the little girl in front of him and sympathized with her family background. If you think about it, Jiao Ailan grew up in such a family, and no one will be happy if she suffers it.

Also, this is a true portrayal of the rural areas of the Northeast, when winter comes, the people in the village have nothing else to do except drink or gamble.

"I'm so glad you can come out to work, if you were in your hometown, you might have become a firewood girl by now! Hahaha! Zhao Ze said jokingly.

"Master, if you don't bury people like this, who is the firewood girl!"