Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional festivals - What is the whole production process of liquor?

What is the whole production process of liquor?

1, alcohol fermentation

Alcohol fermentation is the main stage of wine making. Sugar raw materials such as fruit and molasses are rich in glucose, fructose, sucrose and maltose, which can be directly converted into alcohol by microorganisms such as yeast or bacteria.

2. Starch saccharification

Sugar raw materials can only be fermented by using a starter containing microorganisms such as yeast; As for starchy grain raw materials, because yeast itself does not contain glucoamylase, starch is composed of many glucose molecules, so when making wine with starchy grain, starch needs to be gelatinized to make it a saccharifying agent for dextrin, oligosaccharide and fermentable sugar.

3. Shenshuqu.

Daqu, also known as yeast, is mainly made of starchy grains (barley, wheat, bran), beans, potatoes and fruits containing glucose as raw materials and culture media, which are made into blocks or cakes by crushing and adding water, and cultivated at a certain temperature. The quality of brewing depends on the technological level of koji making. China's long-standing koji-making technology has brought extremely extensive and far-reaching influence to the world wine-making industry.

China's koji-making technology has its own traditions and characteristics. Even in today's highly developed wine-making technology, the traditional workshop-style koji-making technology still maintains its true colors, especially for famous wines, the traditional koji-making technology has laid the good quality of wine.

4, raw material processing

Whether it is brewing wine, distilled wine or their derivatives, the main raw materials used in brewing are sugar raw materials or starch raw materials. In order to make full use of raw materials, improve saccharification ability and wine yield, and form a unique wine style, brewing raw materials must go through a series of specific technological treatments, mainly including the selection and proportion of raw materials and the change of their state. The control of environmental factors is also a key link.

Fruit is the main raw material for sugar production, and the raw material treatment mainly includes selecting varieties according to the characteristics of finished wine, picking and sorting, removing rotten fruit impurities, crushing fruit, juicing and removing stems, clarifying and antioxidant, sterilizing and so on.

Starch raw materials are mainly malt, rice, potatoes and miscellaneous grains. Using compound fermentation method, saccharification, post-fermentation or saccharification fermentation are carried out at the same time. The process and technology of raw material treatment are also different with the variety of raw materials and fermentation methods. In China, distiller's yeast is widely used to make wine. The basic processes and procedures of raw material treatment are fine grinding or crushing, moistening (soaking rice), steaming (steaming rice), spreading and cooling (cooling by spraying water), turning over materials, and fermenting in tanks or pits.

5. Distill wine.

The so-called distillation is the process of concentrating and separating alcohol from the original wine by heating and using the difference of boiling points, and cooling to obtain highly alcoholic liquor.

At normal atmospheric pressure, the boiling point of water is 100℃, and the boiling point of alcohol is 78.3℃. When black liquor is heated between two temperatures, it will produce a lot of alcoholic steam. When this steam is collected in the pipeline and condensed, it will be separated from the original wine, thus forming wine with high alcohol content.

In the distillation process, the alcohol in the original juice liquor is distilled and collected, and the alcohol concentration is controlled. Flavonoids in the original juice wine will also be distilled together, so that the distilled wine has a unique aroma and taste.

6, wine aging and aging

Wine has vitality. The completion of a series of processes such as saccharification, fermentation and distillation does not mean that the whole brewing process is over. The newly brewed wine has not completely completed the material transformation reflecting the wine style, and the wine quality is poor and the wine body lacks fullness, so the new wine must be aged in a specific environment.

After a period of storage, the mellow wine quality was finally formed and deepened. Usually, the process of storing newly brewed wine cellar fragrance is called aging.

Step 7 mix and season

Blending and seasoning is a process of mixing, adjusting and proofreading different kinds, aging and producing areas of semi-finished original wine (brandy, whisky, etc.). ) or choose different grades of semi-finished raw wine (China white wine, yellow wine, etc. ) according to a certain proportion and referring to the wine quality standard of finished wine. Blending adjustment can continuously obtain balanced and coordinated wine with stable quality and traditional and authentic style.

Blending and flavoring of wine is considered as the highest technology in wine making, which creates a spiritual realm in wine making activities. From the technological point of view, there are differences in the types, quality and proportion of brewing raw materials. There are many processes in the brewing process, and many complicated physical and chemical changes will occur in the process.

The transformation produces dozens or even hundreds of organic ingredients, some of which have not been clearly studied so far. The work of bartenders is to skillfully mix different wines according to a certain proportion, and obtain the overall unified market variety standard on the premise of ensuring the overall style of wine.