Every year after the Dragon Boat Festival, wine makers begin to make koji medicine. Daqu medicine takes wheat as raw material. First, crush the wheat, mix it with water and "mother song" and put it in a wooden box. The worker stood in the box and kept stomping on it. "The new workers can't stand this job. If they step on their legs for two days, they can't go downstairs. " A worker in Maotai koji-making workshop told me.
The koji-making time is in summer, and the temperature in the koji-making workshop is often as high as 40 degrees Celsius. High temperature is beneficial to the growth of microorganisms. When these microorganisms are mixed into koji, they will secrete a lot of enzymes, which can accelerate the conversion of starch and protein into sugar. Every summer, the door of the koji-making workshop is covered with a layer of insects called "Qu Mosquito", and people can even take a few breaths with their mouths open. It is such a microbial environment that koji-making needs.
Wheat is made into "Qukuai" by "stepping on Ququ", wrapped with straw and "packaged". After about 10 days, "turning the warehouse" means turning the block up and down, so that each side can be fully exposed to microorganisms. Generally, you need to turn the warehouse back and forth twice. In another 30 ~ 40 days, the block can be put into storage, but it needs to be stored for more than 40 days if it is to be used. Before using, you should "chop" these pieces, the more broken the better. After this process, it will take at least 3 to 5 months to produce qualified koji.
The time of making koji changed from early summer to Mid-Autumn Festival, and the second key step-"Chongyang Xiasha" began at this time. When we visited the brewing technology of Maotai Factory, we found that "sand" is the core concept of Maotai-flavor liquor, but many misunderstandings and misunderstandings come from the incomprehension of "sand", even including the gourmet Tang.
"Sand" means red sorghum. Because the local sorghum is small and red, it is called "sand". "Xiasha" refers to the release of sorghum, the main component of wine making. In wine brewing, different wines will be produced because of the different integrity of "sand". The input is relatively complete sorghum, and the wine is "Kun (local dialect) sand wine"; The wine made by grinding sorghum is called "broken sand wine"; A wine made of distiller's grains discarded after the last nine digestions and some new sorghum and new koji medicines is called "Fansha wine". Maotai's most famous "sand-returning" process refers to cooking sorghum for many times, rather than squeezing out all the wine at once. However, it cannot be literally explained that Moutai should be filtered in the sand.
Maotai-flavor wine is very particular about materials, so local sorghum must be used. This kind of sorghum is called waxy sorghum, which has small particles, thin skin and high starch content and can withstand repeated cooking. Generally, foreign sorghum is drained after the fifth time, and only local sorghum can finish the seventh time.
The key to Maotai-flavor liquor is to choose a relatively complete sorghum that can withstand repeated cooking. In the interview, I learned that early brewing also needed a certain crushing rate, about 20% ~ 30%, and now it basically does not exceed 10%. The first step is to "moisten the sand", that is, rinse it with boiling water at about 100 degrees Celsius for several times. On the one hand, it can wash away the dregs, on the other hand, it can make sorghum absorb water.
Then steam the sorghum for about two hours. Then spread it on the ground to "cool", and the winemaker kept turning it over with a shovel. When the temperature dropped to about 35 degrees Celsius, it began to add music. Fill one retort with 1500 kg of sorghum, and add about 220 kg of koji for the first time. The overall ratio of sorghum to distiller's yeast is 1: 1, but distiller's yeast should be added in 9 times, and the amount added each time is different, with an average of 10% of sorghum.
After adding koji and stirring for the first time, it is necessary to carry out "stacking" fermentation, that is, pile the distiller's grains into a cone more than two meters high. The fermentation time needs the winemaker to master flexibly according to the temperature. First, the temperature in the pile begins to rise, and then it is transferred to the outside. During this period, distiller's grains fully absorbed microorganisms in the surrounding air. Maotai-flavor liquor pays attention to high temperature fermentation. Generally, before the end of this link, the outside temperature reaches 50 or 60 degrees Celsius. The winemaker put his hand into the pile and judged by the degree of scalding.
After the first fermentation, the koji was shoveled into the cellar for storage-entering the "cellar period". The pit is 3 ~ 4m deep and can hold 15 ~ 20 retort distiller's grains. Different from Luzhou-flavor liquor, the pit of Maotai-flavor liquor is made of stone instead of mud, otherwise the sauce will not be very strong. The pit should be sealed with local yellow mud and can't breathe. Check and sprinkle water frequently during the pit period to prevent dry cracking and air intake.
About a month later, the pit was opened and "secondary feeding" began, that is, new sorghum was added according to the ratio of 1: 1, and cooking continued. After spreading and cooling, add distiller's yeast, collect and ferment, and then enter the cellar. The first two cooking materials do not take wine, just to increase fermentation time and intercept more microorganisms.
After another month or so, the third cooking began. It was 65438+ from February to October, and the first wine collection began. After that, the distiller's grains are spread to cool, added with koji, piled up and cellar. This cycle, once a month, until the seventh time after taking the wine, the time has arrived in August of the following year, and the winery began to "lose bad". The wine from the third time to the fifth time is the best, which is called "big return wine", the wine from the sixth time is "small return wine" and the wine from the seventh time is "chasing rotten wine".
Among them, the wine produced three times, four times and five times is the best, the first and second times are sour and spicy, and the last time is bitter and bitter. But it works every time, and the factory must blend between different batches of wine. The master bartenders of Maotai summarized and distinguished different batches of wine with three kinds of wine bodies: maotai flavor, mellow flavor and cellar bottom. The theory of three kinds of liquor bodies has revolutionary value to ensure the stability of Maotai liquor quality and provides a basis for blending.
After the new wine is produced, it should be put into a pottery jar and sealed to form a "base wine". In the first year, the "dish hook" is to combine similar items according to the three flavors of sauce flavor, mellow flavor and cellar bottom, and then store them for another three years. After three years, "blending" was carried out according to the requirements of wine body, that is, several base wines or even dozens of base wines were blended in different proportions to form a wine with certain taste, taste and aroma effects. Blending has always been a mysterious process in the brewing process. Master Goujiu matches his own taste, just like the five elements, blending different rounds of wine to find the balance and layering between tastes.
"In principle, blending is to adjust the acid ester balance in wine, but no instrument can replace the human tongue to find the answer. The final taste depends on a few mouths of the jury. " Li, the blender, said to me.
After blending, the final task is "seasoning", and "flavoring wine" should be added when seasoning. The production of flavoring wine is produced by wineries with special technology, which is the core secret of every winery. Seasoning wine has a special taste, only a small amount is added at a time.
After blending and seasoning, it will continue to be stored for half a year to one year, waiting for alcoholization and aging before entering the market. A bottle of authentic Maotai-flavor liquor has been produced for at least 5 years. The production of mead is very simple. Dilute honey with cold boiled water until it is still a little greasy and sweet, and leave it for a few days. The container should be sealed, but explosion should be prevented. I use a plastic bucket, so it can expand. Open it regularly to release the pressure, and the generated carbon dioxide even dissolves into the liquid to form carbonated honey wine, which tastes even more magical.