In ancient times, how people made wine

In ancient times, there were several main ways to brew liquor:

1.Dough liquor: After steaming the glutinous rice, mix the dough with salt, brine, rice juice, etc., shake it and put it in a suitable environment to ferment into wine in about 7 days. Among them, black glutinous rice noodles can be used to make a sweeter black wine.

2.Rice wine: The glutinous rice is soaked in glutinous rice and steamed, and then fermented agents such as koji powder, Jiuqu, and moldy bran are added, and the turbid rice wine can be drunk the next day.

If the shelf life is short, you can also add ingredients such as ginger juice and sugar to extend the shelf life. Among them, rice wine made from koji powder was extremely popular in ancient times.

3.Liquor koji: Ancient koji is generally made by fermenting malt, wheat, yellow rice, and various beans, and then drying and drying. In daily life, cloudy sake can be brewed by adding koji to cooked glutinous rice or corn, and adjusting the water temperature appropriately.

4.Sour horn wine: Sour horn is a fruit that was used to make sour horn wine in ancient times.

First of all, the sour horn is washed, dried and soaked in hot boiled water to ferment, and then cold boiled water, sugar and salt are added. This sour liquor was quite popular in the southern regions of ancient times.

It is important to note that these ancient methods of making wine may not be hygienic and do not guarantee the quality of the resulting wine, so they are not recommended for modern wine making.

Winemaking is the process of using microbial fermentation to produce alcoholic beverages with a certain concentration.

Depending on the raw materials used in sake brewing, the microorganisms used and the brewing process are also different.

Liquor: mostly made of starch-containing substances such as sorghum, corn, barley, wheat, rice, bowl beans, etc., the brewing process is roughly divided into two steps: first, the starch is decomposed into sugars with Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, etc., which is called saccharification process; Step 2: Glucose is then fermented by yeast to produce alcohol.

The strong aroma in the liquor is mainly due to the fact that Huidanxiang also produces more esters, higher esters, volatile free acids, acetaldehyde and furfural during the fermentation process. The alcohol content of liquor is generally above 60 degrees.

Beer: Made with barley as raw material and hops as spice, maltosaccharification and alcoholic fermentation of brewer's yeast. It is rich in CO2 and has a small amount of alcohol.

Since the fermentation process is different from general alcohol production, a portion of the unbroken nutrients are retained in the beer, which increases the flavor of the beer. The alcohol content in beer is generally 15 proof, or less.

Rice wine is one of the oldest liquors in the world, originating from China, and only in China, and is known as the world's three ancient liquors along with beer and wine. About 3,000 years ago, in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Chinese created the original double fermentation method of koji and began to make rice wine in large quantities. Rice wine has a wide range of origins and many varieties, including Shandong Jimo old wine, Jiangxi Ji'an Gujiang winter wine, Wuxi Huiquan wine, Shaoxing Zhuangyuan red, Shaoxing daughter red, Zhangjiagang's Shazhou Youhuang, Wujiang's Wugong old wine, Baihuayang and other Taoyuan rice wine; Shanghai Old Wine, Hebi Yuhe Shuanghuang, Fujian Min'an Old Wine, Jiangxi Jiujiang Sealed Jar Wine, Jiangsu Baipu Yellow Wine (Shuiming Building), Jiangsu Jintan and Danyang Sealed Jar Wine, Henan Double Yellow Wine, Guangdong Hakka Niang Wine, Zhangjiakou Beizong Rice Wine and Shaoxing Jiafan Wine (Huadiao Wine, etc.), Guangdong Pearl Red Wine, etc.

Rice wine is made of rice, millet and millet as raw materials, and the general alcohol content is 14%-20%, which is a low-degree brewed wine. Rice wine is rich in nutrients, containing 21 kinds of amino acids, including several unknown amino acids, and the human body cannot synthesize 8 essential amino acids that must rely on food to ingest, so it is known as "liquid cake".

Rice wine is a specialty of the Han nationality in China and belongs to brewed wine. It occupies an important place in the world's four major brewed liquors (liquor, rice wine, wine and beer). The winemaking technology is unique and has become a typical representative and model of the oriental brewing industry.

As early as more than 3,000 years ago, the ancient Chinese made a raw material called koji, and the wine made from it is sweet and aromatic, with a long aftertaste. For thousands of years, koji has been the secret of Chinese liquor brewing. Today, not many people really understand how our ancestors made great wine.

Xiao 7 is also a lover of wine, and he always has a cup of sorrel before going to bed every day, and Xiao 7's family is also accompanied by wine every day, and grandma is a loyal fan of rice wine.

In March 1999, the archaeological excavation of Shuijingfang gave people a clear view of the whole process of ancient Chinese winemaking for the first time.

Cooking grain, is the first procedure of Chinese winemaking, grain mixed into koji, after steaming, more conducive to fermentation, in the traditional process, half-cooked grain out of the pot, to spread on the ground, this is the second process of winemaking, that is, stirring, batching, accumulation and pre-fermentation process. The ground where the grain is dried has a special name, called the drying hall. A total of 3 drying halls have been excavated at the Shuijingfang site, which overlap in turn.

The earthen pit next to the dry hall is the ruins of a wine cellar, like a huge wine vat sunk into the ground. Eight cellars have been excavated in Shuijingfang, and the inner walls and bottoms are coated with pure yellow clay, and the thickness of the cellar mud varies from 8 cm to 25 cm.

In the cellar is the third stage of winemaking, where the raw materials are fermented.

After fermentation in the cellar, the alcohol concentration is still very low, and it needs to be further distilled and condensed to obtain a higher alcohol concentration of liquor, and the traditional process is completed by a distiller commonly known as Tianguo.

A strange circular remains have been found at the Qing level, which, at first glance, resemble a well. Archaeologists have concluded that this is the earliest physical object that can be identified as producing distilled spirits in China. At that time, there was a huge heavenly cauldron on the pedestal, the heavenly cauldron was divided into two layers, the lower pot was filled with the sake mother, the upper pot was filled with cold water, the firewood on the pedestal was vigorous, the wine mother was steamed, and the gas containing alcohol was cooled by the cold water above, condensed into a liquid, and flowed out of the pipe, which was the distilled spirit.

It is inferred that in the Qing Dynasty, distilled spirits were produced here, and the technology was very close to modern winemaking technology. Experts tested the microorganisms in several old cellar pools in Shuijingfang and isolated red yeast rice and rhizopus. The archaeology of Shuijingfang confirms that China has a very mature distilled liquor brewing technology at the latest in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties.

China's distilled liquor is divided into strong flavor type, light fragrance type and sauce flavor type, etc., the liquor brewed by Shuijingfang belongs to the strong aroma type liquor, which is the most widely distributed one of China's distilled spirits, and its biggest feature in brewing technology is to use mud cellar to make wine, which has become a special category in China's liquor making process. Its birthplace is the Chengdu Plain and the Sichuan Basin, and only here can it produce very good aromatic wines.

Due to the limited area of the current excavation, the third level and below the third level have not been excavated deeply, so it is likely that there are artifacts and ruins from earlier ages buried under the site, and the truth about the abandonment and activation of different historical levels may give us a more reasonable explanation in the future further excavations.

In the "Book of Rites: Month Order", Bai mentions six precautions for making wine with koji: "Qin zhi

Rice must be qi, qu su must be dao

When the version is blazing, the water spring must be fragrant, the pottery power must be good, and the fire must be obtained. "The grains used in sake brewing must be ripe, the koji must be cast in a timely manner, and the maceration must be kept clean.

The water quality used to make wine must be good, the utensils must be made of excellent pottery, and the heat must be suitable, which is actually a scientific summary of China's ancient winemaking technology. In the Han Dynasty, due to the development of koji-making technology, different grains could be used to make koji, which increased the variety of liquor.

The Northern Wei Dynasty's "Qi Min Yaoshu" specifically talks about the method of making koji and making wine, and among the 12 methods of making koji, two are broken pieces of loose koji, and 10 are cake-shaped koji, which are still the most commonly used koji for brewing sorghum wine. During the Tang and Song dynasties, koji-making technology was further developed, and there were more varieties of liquor. During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was also a monograph on wine-making - "Beishan Wine Classic".

China has a long history of wine-making, with a wide variety of varieties and famous wines, which are well-known at home and abroad. Rice wine is one of the oldest liquors in the world, about 3,000 years ago, in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Chinese created the double fermentation method of koji and began to make rice wine in large quantities. About 1,000 years ago in the Song Dynasty, the Chinese invented the distillation method, and since then, liquor has become the main type of alcohol consumed by Chinese.

Wine has permeated the entire 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization, and has occupied an important position in Chinese's life in all aspects, from literary and artistic creation, cultural entertainment, food and cooking, health care and so on.

Du Kang's saying that Du Kang makes wine is that Du Kang "has endless rice, is empty and mulberry, stagnant into a flavor, and has been accumulating for a long time. It is said that Du Kang placed the uneaten leftovers in the tree hole of the mulberry garden, and after the leftovers were fermented in the cave, a fragrant smell came out. This is how wine works, and there is no such thing as a strange way.

It is very consistent with the laws of some inventions and creations that this record has been passed down in later generations, and Du Kang has become an inventor who can pay attention to the little things around him and start his creative inspiration in time.

According to the archaeological excavation of more than 5,000 years ago brewing utensils, it shows that the legendary Yellow Emperor period and Xia Yu era existed in the wine-making industry, and the origin of wine-making was before that. In ancient times, people may have been exposed to certain naturally fermented liquors and then imitated them.

Domestic scholars generally believe that winemaking was a relatively developed industry during the Longshan culture period.

Depending on the raw material, the microorganisms used and the brewing process are also different. Koji brewing is the essence of Chinese winemaking. The method of making koji recorded in the "Qi Min Yaoshu" has been used to this day, and there have been a few improvements in later generations.

China's winemaking culture is broad and profound, and the history of winemaking is also long, as early as thousands of years ago. Modern high-tech brewing technology and craftsmanship also originate from ancient brewing technology, and how the ancients used koji to make wine is very worthy of our study and learning. Everyone knows that koji is a saccharification starter agent, which was used as an primer for grain fermentation in ancient times. The most important thing in ancient winemaking was to make koji into such primers, and the quality of koji directly determines the quality of the wine.

Then the ancient koji is natural, do not think that some chemical elements are added to it, because it is natural, it is very easy to be contaminated by bacteria, so ancient winemaking and antibacterial is also a very important winemaking link.

Speaking of koji, we have to say that the production of koji existed as early as the Northern Wei Dynasty in the book "Qi Min Yaoshu", and it was systematically and comprehensively introduced, in the Song Dynasty, the koji production process has reached a very high level. Modern koji is mainly used in rice wine and baijiu, which are mainly made from koji, but there are also some that are manually blended according to the recipe.

Rice wine, also known as mash, the ancients called "Li". It is a common traditional local snack in the south. The main ingredient is Jiangmi, so it is also called Jiangmi wine.

In the north, it is generally called "rice wine" or "sweet wine". Shandong Jimo old wine is a typical representative of corn rice wine in the north; Fujian Longyan sinking tank answering wine and Fujian old wine are typical representatives of red yeast rice rice wine. Liquor is:

It is a variety of liquor made from koji and liquor mother as saccharification starter agents, using starch plate (sugar) raw materials, through cooking, saccharification, fermentation, distillation, aging and blending.