Wine cake refers to brewing yeast, which can also be used to make foods such as steamed buns and bread. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the yeast most closely related to humans. It is not only used for the fermentation of noodles in daily life, but also in modern times. It also has great applications in biotechnology. Jiuqu also refers to the material for making wine. After fermentation, it is used as raw sugar like malt to make wine. In the final analysis, both are materials used for winemaking. There is no big difference, just the type of koji. widely.

In modern times, koji is roughly divided into five categories, which are used in different wines. They are:

1. Maiqu, mainly used for the brewing of rice wine;

2. Xiaoqu, mainly used for the brewing of rice wine and Xiaoqu liquor;

3. Red yeast rice, mainly used in the brewing of red yeast wine (monascus wine is a variety of yellow rice wine);

4. Daqu, used in the brewing of distilled wine. It is the general name for liquor that uses Daqu as a saccharification starter, that is, Daqu liquor;

The commonly used qu in the production of wine in my country can be roughly divided into the following categories: Daqu, Xiaoqu and Wuqu. (The commonly used ones are Daqu and Xiaoqu)

1. Daqu

Daqu is made from wheat, barley, peas, etc., which is crushed, mixed with water and pressed into a brick-like shape. The blank is cultivated under artificial digging temperature and humidity. Daqu contains a variety of microorganisms such as molds, yeasts, and bacteria. It is a mixed (enzyme) preparation of multiple bacteria. The type and quantity of microorganisms it contains are affected by factors such as the koji-making raw materials, koji-making temperature, and environment. Since Daqu contains a variety of microorganisms, a wide variety of metabolites are formed during the brewing and fermentation process, which constitute various flavor components. At present, most of my country's various famous and high-quality liquors are brewed using the traditional Daqu method.

2. Xiaoqu

Xiaoqu is also called wine medicine and white medicine. Baiyao, wine cake, etc. are made by using rice flour or rice bran as raw materials, adding a small amount of Chinese medicinal materials or Polygonum vulgaris, inoculating koji mother, and artificially controlling the culture temperature. Because the particles are small, it is customary to call it Xiaoqu. Xiaoqu mainly contains microorganisms such as Rhizopus, Mucor, and yeast. Among them, Rhizopus has a strong saccharifying ability and has certain wine-forming enzyme activity. It is often used as a saccharifying fermentation agent for Xiaoqu Baijiu and rice wine. For example, Qionglai rice koji and Guangdong wine cakes used in the production of Xiaoqu Baijiu are all excellent for rice wine brewing. Use the ditty variety. Since the production method of Xiaoqu has been passed down from generation to generation, the microorganisms in Xiaoqu have been repeatedly screened, allowing Xiaoqu to maintain excellent quality.