The development of brewing technology in China can be divided into two stages. The first stage is natural fermentation, which has gone through thousands of years, and the traditional fermentation technology has evolved from gestation, development and even maturity. Even in modern times, natural fermentation technology has not completely disappeared. Some of these mysteries still need to be solved. People mainly make wine by experience, and the production scale is generally small, which is basically manual operation. The quality of wine is not guaranteed by a set of reliable detection indicators.
The second stage began in the Republic of China. Due to the introduction of western scientific and technological knowledge, especially microbiology, biochemistry and engineering knowledge, great changes have taken place in traditional wine-making technology. People understand the mystery of the micro-world of wine-making, the labor intensity in production is greatly reduced, the level of mechanization is improved, and the quality of wine is more guaranteed.
China's yellow ricewine, also known as rice wine, belongs to brewing wine, and occupies an important place in the world's three major brewing wines (yellow rice wine, wine and beer). Brewing technology is unique and has become a typical representative and model of the oriental brewing industry.
First, yellow rice wine brewing raw materials:
Yellow rice wine is a kind of brewed wine made from grains and wheat koji or Xiaoqu as saccharifying starter. Historically, the raw material for the production of yellow rice wine was millet (scientific name: Setaria italica, in ancient times, it was the general name of glutinous rice, sorghum, millet, and millet, sometimes called liang, and now it is also called millet, and millet after shell removal). In the south, rice (especially glutinous rice) is widely used as raw material to brew yellow rice wine. Since the Song Dynasty, the political, cultural and economic centers moved southward, and the production of yellow wine was limited to several southern provinces. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the production of soju began, and the Yuan Dynasty began to gain popularity in the north. The production of yellow wine in the north gradually shrank, and the people in the south who drank soju were not as common as those in the north. In the south, the production of yellow wine was preserved. During the Qing Dynasty, the yellow wine in Shaoxing in the south dominated both at home and abroad. At present, the production of yellow rice wine is mainly concentrated in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Anhui and other places, with a small amount of production in Shandong, Shaanxi and Dalian. Second, the name of yellow rice wine
Yellow rice wine belongs to brewing wine, and its alcohol content is generally about 15.
Yellow rice wine, as its name implies, is yellow wine. So some people translate the name yellow wine into "yellow wine". In fact, this is not appropriate. The color of yellow rice wine is not always yellow. In ancient times, when the filtration technology of wine was not mature, the wine was turbid, which was called "white wine" or turbid wine at that time. The color of yellow rice wine is black and red even now, so it can't be understood literally. The essence of rice wine should be made from grains, and it is more appropriate to call it "rice wine" because it can represent grains. Now it is common to use "rice wine" to represent yellow rice wine.
In modern times, yellow rice wine is a general term for grain-brewed wine. Brewed wine with grain as raw material (excluding distilled shochu) can be classified as yellow rice wine. Although yellow rice wine is a general term for grain-brewed wine, some folk areas still retain some traditional names for wines brewed locally and sold locally, such as water wine in Jiangxi, thick wine in Shaanxi and highland barley wine in Tibet. If they insist that they are yellow rice wine, the locals may not accept it.
In ancient times, "wine" was a general term for all wines. In the historical period before distilled liquor appeared, "wine" was brewing wine. After the emergence of distilled shochu, it is more complicated. The name "wine" is not only the general name of all wines, but also the general name of grain brewing wine on some occasions, such as Li Shizhen? lt; < Compendium of materia medica > > The wine at that time was divided into three categories: liquor, shochu and wine. Among them, the "wine" section is all grain-brewed wine. Since wine is both a general term for all wines and a general term for grain-brewed wine, after all, there should be a general term that only includes grain-brewed wine. Therefore, the emergence of yellow rice wine as a special name for grain brewing wine is not accidental.
"Yellow rice wine" in the Ming Dynasty may specifically refer to rice wine with long brewing time and deep color, which is different from "white wine". The "white wine" in the Ming Dynasty is not distilled shochu now. For example, there is "Sanjiu Liquor" in the Ming Dynasty, which is made of white rice, white koji and white water and has a short brewing time. The wine is turbid and white. The formation of yellow (or dark brown) of wine is mainly due to the Maillard reaction between sugar and amino acids in wine during cooking or storage, resulting in pigment. There are also some pigments made of caramel (called "sugar color") to deepen its color. Edited by Dai Xi in Ming Dynasty <: < Order to raise a surplus moon > > In Volume 11, there is: "Where yellow rice wine and white wine are added with less soju, it will not be sour after the night". From this formulation, we can clearly see the difference between yellow wine, white wine and soju. Yellow wine refers to old wine that has been brewed for a long time, while white wine refers to rice wine that has been brewed for a short time (generally, white koji, that is, rice koji, is used as saccharifying starter). In the Ming Dynasty, the specificity of the name yellow rice wine was not very strict. Although it could not contain all the grain-brewed wines, at least the wines with large brewing scale in southern China could be included in the brewing process. In the Qing Dynasty, although the production of brewed wine was preserved in various places, Shaoxing's old wine and rice wine were popular all over the country. This kind of wine, which was sold all over the country, was of high quality and dark color, which may have a certain relationship with the final establishment of the name "Yellow Rice Wine". Because the Qing emperor had a special interest in Shaoxing wine. Has it been in the Qing dynasty? quot; No shochu but yellow rice wine ". By the Republic of China, yellow rice wine as a general term for grain brewing wine had been basically determined. Yellow rice wine belongs to local wine (domestic wine is called local wine to show that it corresponds to foreign wine in Borapin).
The development of brewing technology in China can be divided into two stages. The first stage is natural fermentation, which has gone through thousands of years, and the traditional fermentation technology has evolved from gestation, development and even maturity. Even in modern times, natural fermentation technology has not completely disappeared. Some of these mysteries still need to be solved. People mainly make wine by experience, and the production scale is generally small, which is basically manual operation. The quality of wine is not guaranteed by a set of reliable detection indicators. The second stage began in the Republic of China. Due to the introduction of western scientific and technological knowledge, especially microbiology, biochemistry and engineering knowledge, great changes have taken place in traditional wine-making technology. People understand the mystery of the micro-world of wine-making, the labor intensity in production is greatly reduced, the level of mechanization is improved, and the quality of wine is more guaranteed.
Brewing technology before Han dynasty
Due to the remote age, it is difficult to tell the true face of how the wine-making technology developed before the Han Dynasty, and we can only speculate from sporadic written materials and archaeological materials.
First, look at wine-making from ancient wine-making instruments:
The brewing technology before written records can only be analyzed from its brewing apparatus. Fortunately, in 1979, Chinese archaeologists discovered a complete set of wine-making instruments dating back to 5,000 years in Dawenkou cultural tomb of Lingyin River in Juxian County, Shandong Province, which provided extremely valuable information for uncovering the mystery of wine-making technology at that time. This set of wine-making utensils includes a pottery tripod for cooking, a big mouth for fermentation, a leaky jar for filtering wine, and a pottery urn for storing wine. In the same place, drinking utensils, such as single-ear cups, clamshell cups, high-handle cups, etc., are also found, with more than 0/00 pieces per kloc. According to the analysis of archaeologists, the tomb owner may have been a professional brewer before his death. (Wang Shuming: "Brewing in the Late Dawenkou Culture", < < Cooking in China > > , 1987 No.9).
1974 and 1985, archaeologists discovered a complete brewing workshop in the middle of Shang Dynasty in Taixi, Gaocheng, Hebei Province. The facilities are similar to Dawenkou culture period.
Judging from the configuration of wine-making utensils, in ancient times, the basic processes of wine-making included cooking, fermentation, filtration and wine storage of grains. Steamed raw materials are convenient for microorganisms to make koji, and are also easy to be decomposed by enzymes, fermented into wine, and then filtered to remove distiller's grains to get wine liquid (it is not excluded that the made wine mash can be eaten directly). These processes and these simple utensils are the most basic elements of wine making. It is basically the same as the type of utensils depicted on the murals in the tomb of the king of the fifth dynasty in ancient Egypt. Because there are cooking utensils (pottery tripod or general helmet) in the combination of brewing utensils, it shows that the brewing raw materials are cooked before brewing, and it can be further speculated that brewing with distiller's yeast may be one of the ways of brewing five thousand years ago. Because the boiled raw materials basically no longer germinate, it is completely possible to cultivate them into koji. According to the combination of brewing equipment, of course, the method of brewing grains by tillering cannot be ruled out. < < Huangdi Neijing Lingshu > > There is a passage in the book, which also shows that cooking raw materials is one of the steps in ancient times. Its text is: "The drinker, ……, the liquid of cooked grain is also." At < < Huangdi Neijing Su Wen > > In the "Theory of Soup and Fermented Grains", "The Yellow Emperor asked,' What can we do for the soup and fermented grains of five grains?' "Qi Bo said to him,' Rice must be paid for cooking, but rice will be finished, and rice salary will be firm'. This also shows that in brewing glutinous rice, rice should be cooked with rice salary. In a word, brewing wine with cooked raw materials shows that koji is very common. Qu liquor-making was later one of the main ways of liquor-making in China. Of course <; < Huangdi Neijing > > It was written by later generations, and it is still difficult to confirm whether some of these statements can really reflect the situation in ancient times.
2. Brewing in Shang and Zhou Dynasties:
1, Shang Dynasty
The drinking of nobles in Shang Dynasty was very popular, which can be confirmed by a large number of bronze wine vessels that have been excavated. At that time, alcoholic beverages included wine, beer and beer.
Brewing beer by tillering may also be one of the brewing technologies in China in ancient times. Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty recorded grains and tillers. This content can refer to the first chapter of the origin of wine.
2、< < Zhou Li > > "Five Qi" and "Three Liquor" in China, the Western Zhou Dynasty established a set of institutions to strictly manage the brewing and wine use. First of all, in this institution, there are specialized technical talents, fixed wine-making methods and wine quality standards. Just like <: < Zhou Li Tian Guan > > It is recorded in the book: "Jiu Zheng, four sergeants, eight corporal, two prefects and eight historians". "Wine is in charge of the decree of wine, and the wine materials are awarded by the method of type ....., the name of five qi is distinguished, one is Pan Qi, the other is Qi Qi, the third is Angqi, the fourth is Qi Qi, and the fifth is Shen Qi. "Distinguish between three kinds of wine, one is wine, the other is old wine, and the third is sake." "Five Qi" can be understood as five stages in the brewing process, and in some cases, it can also be understood as five different specifications of wine.
"Three wines", that is, things wine, past wine and sake. Probably the classification of wine in the palace during the Western Zhou Dynasty. Event wine is specially prepared for sacrifice. It is brewed temporarily when something happens, so the brewing period is short. After the wine is brewed, it can be used immediately without storage. Yesterday's wine was stored wine. Sake is probably the highest-grade wine, and it probably goes through the steps of filtration and clarification. This shows that the brewing technology is relatively perfect. Because for a long time in ancient times, wine and distiller's grains were eaten directly without separation.
3、< < Book of Rites > > "six musts" in the book.
The Book of Rites, which reflects various etiquette systems before the Qin and Han Dynasties, was written in the Western Han Dynasty, and there is an annotation of Zheng Xuan in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It records a passage that is still regarded as the essence of wine-making technology: "The mid-winter moon is a big chieftain, and the rice must be neat, the tillering must be timely, the Zhan Chi must be clean, the water spring must be fragrant, the pottery must be good, the fire must be won, and the six things can be used simultaneously. The big chieftain supervises it, and there is no difference (<: < Book of Rites and Monthly Order > > ）。" Although the number of words of "Six Musts" is small, the contents involved are quite extensive and comprehensive, and they are indispensable, which are the six principles to be mastered in brewing. From now on, these six principles still have guiding significance.
4. Jiujiu in ancient times
"Jiu" is a kind of high-grade wine in ancient times. < < Book of Rites and Monthly Order > > Among them: "The Moon in Meng Qiu, the son of heaven drinks wine". Press <; < Explaining Chinese characters > > The explanation is that the wine is triple wine. Does triple wine mean adding secondary rice koji to the wine mash or adding secondary brewed wine? There is no clear explanation in the records, but one of the characteristics of fermented wine is that it is more mellow than ordinary wine, so there are two possibilities. But from the pre-Qin era <: < Health prescription > > According to the brewing method in Chinese, adding good wine into the fermented mash three times is probably the brewing method of fermented glutinous rice.
Third, the oldest wine-making process records
Although there are many words about wine in Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Shang Dynasty, it is difficult to find a complete record of the wine-making process. As for the brewing technology of the Zhou Dynasty, we can only speculate based on a few words.
Silk Books Unearthed from the Western Han Tomb in Mawangdui, Changsha <: < Health prescription > > And <: < Miscellaneous therapy prescription > > We can see the earliest record of wine-making technology found in China so far.
Among them, there is an example of the method of making "Lao Li Zhong", which includes ten processes.
Because this is the earliest complete written record of brewing technology in China, and everything reflected in the book is in the pre-Qin period, it has high research value. The general process is as follows:
Medicinal materials → chopping → soaking (boiling) to get juice → soaking in koji ← (water)
│ ↓
│ Mixed/cooked/cooked rice
└─→↓
ferment
↓
Wine mash/medicinal materials
↓
Good wine → Continue fermentation.
↓
medicinal liquor
From the above, we can find that the brewing in the pre-Qin period has the following characteristics: two kinds of koji were used, the koji was soaked first and the koji juice was used for brewing. In the late stage of fermentation, good wine was added to the mash three times. Is this what the ancient saying goes? quot; Triple alcohol liquor ",that is, the unique technology of" fermented liquor ".
Brewing technology from Han Dynasty to Sui Dynasty
First, the brewing technology in Han Dynasty
Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, due to the political unity, social productive forces have developed rapidly, and the level of agricultural production has been greatly improved, providing a material basis for the prosperity of the wine industry.
A Han Dynasty stone relief unearthed from a balcony in Zhucheng, Shandong Province, has a picture of a kitchen. Part of the picture depicts the situation of wine making, showing the whole process of wine making at that time. One person is kneeling and mashing the koji, and there is a pottery jar next to it for soaking the koji. One person is cooking with firewood, one person is chopping firewood, one person is fiddling with the rice beside the retort, and one person is responsible for filtering the koji juice into the rice and mixing the fermented mash evenly. There are two people in charge of filtering the wine, and one person is holding a spoon, probably to put the wine into the bottle. Below are the large wine vats for fermentation, all of which are placed in the wine cellar. There was probably a man who drank the wine secretly and was being beaten after being found. The wine is probably filtered in a silk bag and squeezed dry by hand. The filtered wine is put into a small bottle for further aging.
According to this picture, we can sort out the wine-making process route in the Eastern Han Dynasty:
Liquor-making raw materials of koji blocks
↓ ↓
Mashed and steamed
↓ ↓
Immersion cooling
↓ ↓
Filter the koji juice-→ put it into a large vat for fermentation (wine pit)
↓
filter
↓
Bottle with small mouth
This wine-making process route can be said to be the main operation method of wine-making in the Han Dynasty and a long historical period before it.
Wang Mang came to power in the New Han Dynasty and resumed the monopoly of wine in the Western Han Dynasty. For this reason, a detailed proportion of brewing raw materials was worked out, that is, two kinds of coarse rice were used for one brewing, and one kind of yeast was used to make six kinds of wine. The wine yield is 220%, which is close to the present one. It can also be seen that the amount of distiller's yeast is very large (accounting for 50% of the rice used for brewing), which shows that the saccharification and fermentation ability of distiller's yeast is not high.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao found that the home brewing method of the late county magistrate in his hometown (Jiuyun Spring Wine Method) was novel and unique, and the brewed wine was extremely mellow. Dedicate this side to Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty. This method is an important fed-batch fermentation method in the history of brewing and even fermentation. This method, modern said? quot; Feeding method " In fermentation engineering, it is classified as "Feed-batch fermentation". Fed-batch fermentation later became the most important feeding method for yellow rice wine brewing in China. This method is widely used in winemaking in Qi Min Yao Shu.
"Jiuyun Spring Wine Method" means that in a fermentation cycle, the raw materials are not all added at once, but are divided into nine inputs. This method is included in Qi Min Yao Shu. This method first immerses Qu, adding a stone rice for the first time, and then adding a stone rice every three days for nine times. Cao Cao claimed that the wine made by this method was of good quality. Therefore, this method was recommended to the emperor at that time.
In addition to the above, the supplementary method in Qi Min Yao Shu? quot; Besides the decreasing feeding method, there is also the increasing feeding method. For example, the "_ _ rice wine method" of the "French wine 67th" country, for the first time, 3 buckets and 3 liters were added, for the second time, 6 buckets and 6 liters were added, for the third time, 2 buckets and 2 liters were added, and for the fourth time, 2 buckets and 6 liters were added. The most important thing is to determine the feeding amount according to the strength of Qu heat.
The feeding method was adopted in Han Dynasty. From the function of koji, the quality of koji was improved. This may be related to the widespread use of block music at that time. The number of Rhizopus and Yeast in block koji is relatively more than that in Sanqu. Because these two kinds of microorganisms can reproduce in the fermentation broth, there is no need to use too much koji, just expand the culture step by step. In essence, the feeding method also has the function of expanding culture step by step. The usage of Divine Comedy in Qi Min Yao Shu is very small, which just illustrates this point.
According to Miscellanies of Xijing: Han system: the ancestral temple drinks wine in August, and it is too fast to use nine grains. The emperor waits on the shrine, and makes wine in the first month, and it is made in August. It is called wine, and it is called nine grains, and it is an alcoholic wine. "
Second, the brewing technology in Qi Min Yao Shu
Jia Sixie in the Northern Wei Dynasty wrote the immortal masterpiece Qi Min Yao Shu, which is a monograph on agricultural technology. As one of the agricultural and sideline products, the production technology of wine occupies a certain space. Among them, there are eight cases of koji making and more than forty cases of wine making. In fact, the wine-making methods collected in various regions (mainly in the north) since the Han Dynasty are the first systematic summary of wine-making technology in Chinese history. The technical route of wine-making is roughly the same as that of the Han Dynasty summarized above. But what is more valuable is that Qi Min Yao Shu summarizes many principles of brewing technology, which still play a guiding role in modern times. 1, using qu method
It is a characteristic of our country to make wine with koji, and how the ancients used koji is worth studying. Qu is a saccharifying starter. In ancient times, it was regarded as a primer for fermentation. In ancient times, one of the key steps in wine-making was to make koji into this primer first, and the proper use of koji often decided the success or failure of wine-making. Because ancient koji was naturally inoculated with microorganisms, it was easy to pollute miscellaneous bacteria.
In ancient times, there were two ways to use koji. First, the koji was soaked in water, and after the koji was started (that is, after the enzyme preparations in the koji were dissolved and activated), the koji juice was filtered, and then the rice was put into it to start fermentation, which was called the dipping koji method. The other is that after the koji is mashed into fine powder, it is directly mixed with rice, which may be called "the method of bibimbap at the end of koji". The soaking method may be older than the bibimbap method at the end of koji. The soaking koji method is probably transformed from the soaking saccharification and fermentation of tillers (grain buds). Immersion in Qu was the most commonly used method in the Han Dynasty and even in the Northern Wei Dynasty, which can be concluded from the extensive use of immersion in Qi Min Yao Shu.
In ancient times, it was learned that the water of koji soaking should be treated separately according to different seasons. The water from winter brewing can be directly soaked in koji; After spring, when the temperature is high and the water is not clean, it is necessary to boil the water, and the boiling water can't directly soak the koji, and it needs to be cooled before soaking the koji (boiling water will burn the microorganisms in the koji and inactivate the enzyme).
Soaking koji, but also pay attention to, should be based on the season, water temperature to determine the soaking time. To ensure the effect of dipping koji.
2, the use of acid pulp
Saccharomyces cerevisiae likes to grow in acid environment, and its optimum pH value is between 4.2 and 5.0. Some microorganisms, such as bacteria, are easy to grow in a neutral pH environment. It will be inhibited in a lower pH environment. After adding water to rice, its pH is often not in the range of 4.2-5.0. In order to overcome this contradiction, the ancients not only chose to make wine in winter with low temperature, but also adopted a bold and wise strategy of "treating acid with acid": sour pulp method. Originally, the taboo of brewing was that the wine turned sour. However, the ancients skillfully used the strategy of acidification first and then brewing, which made the acidic environment in wine mash beneficial to the growth of beneficial yeast, not conducive to the growth of spoilage bacteria (bacteria), but could inhibit the rancidity of wine. The earliest record of this method is Qi Min Yao Shu. In Qi Min Yao Shu, there are three cases of brewing method using acid pulp method.
3. Solid and Semi-solid Fermentation One of the important characteristics of Chinese yellow rice wine brewing is the high concentration of solid substances in the fermented mash. Compared with foreign wine fermentation and beer fermentation, this feature is more obvious. Beer also uses grain as raw material, and the ratio of malt to water in its mash is about 1:4.3. The mash of whisky is about 1:5.
A biography of Han Ping Dang, such as Chun's note: "A bucket of rice and a bucket of wine are the most important, a bucket of millet and a bucket of wine are the most important, and a bucket of millet and a bucket of wine are the most important". A bucket of rice produces a bucket of wine, which shows that the concentration of raw rice in fermented mash is definitely high when brewing.
The ratio of brewing rice koji was 2: 1:6.6 during the period of Wang Mang in the New Han Dynasty. This ratio is relatively common in China. The concentration of solid matter in fermented mash is also much higher than that in beer fermented mash.
The solid concentration of fermented mash in Qi Min Yao Shu can be roughly divided into three types: one is extremely high concentration, such as _ _ rice wine and _ _ rice wine. The ratio of solid matter to water is 1:0.7-0.8, and the middle is about 1: 1. The rarest is Xiajiming wine, which is about 1:3. The fermentation time of this wine is less than 24 hours. It is relatively indifferent when it is brewed at night and sold the next morning. But anyway, most wines are stronger than beer.
According to the records of Qi Min Yao Shu, the wine with the least water consumption is "_ _ _ _ rice wine" (a kind of French wine), but in fact, the amount of water added is the least, and the highest concentration should be several kinds of fermented wine. The characteristic of fermented rice wine is that it does not adopt the common dip koji method, and the raw materials do not adopt the common cooking method, but are first ground into powder and then steamed. Mix the koji powder with steamed rice flour, and put it into the tank for fermentation, which is almost solid-state fermentation. Another feature of the fermented wine method is that the brewing time is as long as seven or eight months, and the fermentation is basically carried out under closed conditions, that is, when the rice flour is mixed with a small amount of water, it is put into an urn, which is more sealed and does not leak. Because it is basically isolated from the entry of foreign oxygen, fermentation is always in an anaerobic state. Conducive to alcohol fermentation. The color of the wine brewed by this method is as strong as sesame oil. Those who can drink a bucket of good wine first will only be forbidden to drink half a liter, and if they don't drink three liters, they will die. Ordinary people will be as drunk as a fiddler, and twenty people will be drunk in a bucket of wine. The winners are all paid. "
5, temperature control
The ancient people and modern people are nothing more than different expressions on the physical quantity of temperature. To be exact, the ancient people did not use numerical values, but used human body temperature or boiling water temperature as a reference to roughly determine what temperature range should be controlled during brewing. Chinese people have mastered the key points of temperature control in each key link in the process of brewing, which has been fully reflected in Qi Min Yao Shu. This is the temperature control during dipping; Temperature control during rice spreading; Maintain proper fermentation temperature. 6. Post-processing technology of brewing
By the Northern Wei Dynasty, the post-processing technology of brewing was still relatively simple. As can be seen from the "Kitchen Map" on the stone reliefs in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the wine is naturally filtered by silk bags and then squeezed by hand.
"Qi Min Yao Shu" mentioned the method of "pledging wine". But how to "pledge" is not clear. For example, in the "japonica rice wine", it is done like this: "Those who make it clear will be covered with pots and sealed with dense mud. After seven days, it will be extremely clear, and those who make it clear will be taken, and then pledged? quot; . First of all, let the liquor clarify naturally, and after taking sake liquor, the following distiller's grains will be further taken by pawn. In ancient Chinese characters, "pressing" means pressing from top to bottom with heavy objects. To press the distiller's grains dry. It is possible to use a pressure plate and some kind of filter medium as a match to press down the distiller's grains, and the slightly clear liquor will be displayed again. I wonder if there was a special wooden pressing tool at that time.
Brewing technology in Tang and Song Dynasties
First, a brief introduction to the literature
Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty are the most brilliant development periods of yellow rice wine brewing technology in China. After thousands of years of practice, the traditional brewing experience has been sublimated, and the traditional brewing theory has been formed. The traditional yellow wine brewing process, technical measures and main technological equipment have been basically finalized at the latest in the Song Dynasty. There are few complete brewing technical documents left over from the Tang Dynasty, but scattered information in other historical books is extremely rich. The literature of brewing technology in Song Dynasty is not only abundant, but also rich in content and has a high theoretical level.
In the history of Chinese ancient brewing, the academic level is the highest, which can fully reflect the essence of Chinese yellow wine brewing technology, and the most instructive monograph in brewing practice is Beishan Jiujing, which was written at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Beishan Jiujing is divided into three volumes, the first volume is Jing, which summarizes the important theories of winemaking in past dynasties, and outlines the winemaking and koji-making in the whole book. The middle volume discusses the koji-making technology, and includes the formula and preparation method of more than ten kinds of koji. The second volume discusses brewing technology. Compared with the contents about koji-making and wine-making in Qi Min Yao Shu, Beishan Jiujing obviously goes a step further. It not only lists the methods of koji-making and wine-making, but also analyzes the truth. Therefore, it has more theoretical guidance.
If Beishan Jiujing is a model to explain the brewing technology of a large-scale brewing workshop, then Su Shi's Jiujing at the same time as Zhu's arm is a masterpiece to describe family brewing. Su Shi's "The Classic of Wine" is concise and frightening, which fully embodies the winemaking methods he has learned in hundreds of words of "The Classic of Wine". Su Shi also has many poems about wine making, such as "honey wine song", "true wine" and "cinnamon wine".
Qu Ben Cao, written by Tian Xi in the Northern Song Dynasty, contains a large number of materials about distiller's yeast and medicinal liquor, especially the record of the shochu in Siam (where Thailand is now located) at that time, which provides valuable historical materials for studying the origin of distilled shochu.
Probably because of the special status of wine in the Song Dynasty, there is an urgent need for an encyclopedia book on wine in the society. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Dou Ping wrote a book "The Book of Wine", which quoted a large number of historical materials related to wine, from the origin of wine, the name of wine, the matter of wine, the merits of wine, Wenke (referring to drinking moderately), disorderly morality (referring to excessive drinking), and abstinence (abstinence from wine).
The Book of Wine Names, probably written in the Southern Song Dynasty, comprehensively records more than 100 famous wine names all over the country during the Northern Song Dynasty. Some of these wines were brewed by royalty, some by famous officials, some from famous hotels, wine depots and some from the people. What is particularly interesting is that most of these wine names are extremely elegant.
Second, the brewing theory in Beishan Jiujing
Beishan Jiujing borrows the theory of "Five Elements" to explain the process of transforming grain into wine.
"Five elements" refers to five substances: fire, water, wood, gold and soil. Ancient thinkers in China tried to explain the origin and diversity of all things in the world with the above five substances that are used in daily life. In the "Beishan Jiujing", Zhu Jun used the theory of "Five Elements" to explain the process of transforming grain into wine. Zhu Mian thinks: "The name of wine is based on sweetness, Jin Mu interval, soil as the medium, sweetness from sourness, sweetness from sweetness, and wine becomes what it is (rice is sour, so it is sweet). "As the saying goes, taking the sweetness of soil, combining water as acid, combining water with soil as pungent, and then knowing who will vote, it is also pungent."
"Soil" is the place where grains grow. "Taking soil as the medium" can be understood as producing grains with soil as the medium, and here "soil" can also refer to grains. "Gan" represents a sweet substance, and the sweetness of the earth means changing from grain to sugar. "Xin" stands for substances with wine flavor, and "acid" stands for acid pulp, which is one of the substances that must be added in the process of brewing. By sorting out Zhu's point of view, we can find that the process of brewing at that time can be represented by the following schematic diagram: soil → grain → sweet → spicy.
↓ ↑ ↑
Water-→ acid-
In this process, it can be clearly seen that wine-making can be divided into two stages, that is, first the grain becomes sugar (sweet), and then the sugar becomes wine. (Sweet becomes bitter).
Modern brewing theory clarifies the mechanism and detailed steps of grain brewing process. Generally speaking, it is also divided into two stages, one is the stage of transforming starch into sugar, which is completed by amylase, glucoamylase and so on; The second stage is the fermentation of sugar into alcohol (ethanol), which is completed by a series of enzymes (also known as alcoholizing enzymes).
Modern theory and ancient theory are interlinked, but the former is expounded from the molecular level and the mechanism of enzyme action, while the latter is inferred from the taste of wine.