Declassify 12987 sauce-flavored liquor process

Why is miso wine especially precious? One of the important reasons is that its brewing process is more complex than other flavor baijiu, commonly known as the "12987" process. Among them, Maotai Town of China produces Maotai sauce wine especially authentic, let us decrypt the pure Maotai liquor process - 12987.

Adhering to the ancient method and inheriting the originality, the traditional solid-state fermentation process of pure grain is adopted for production, following the principle of "three high and three long", namely, high temperature koji making, high temperature accumulation fermentation and high temperature distillation; Long time of making, long production cycle and long storage time. The whole production process includes koji making, wine making, storage, blending and so on. People call this traditional craft collectively "12987".

"12987 Winemaking process" is a complex process, long cycle, high cost, low wine production rate, excellent wine, known as the world's most complex winemaking process, has been entered into the national intangible cultural heritage. These five numbers seem simple, but the production process involved is far more complex than people often think.

Analysis of "12987"

Every drop of fermented bean sauce wine from the factory, from the raw material into the factory to the product market after at least five years, during this period is divided into two feeding, nine cooking, eight fermentation, and add high temperature Daqu, high temperature accumulation, into the tank fermentation, wine, storage, hook and other technical treatment.

After a long, special and mysterious biochemical reaction, under the joint action of the huge microbial community in the cellar and the air, all kinds of beneficial microorganisms participate in the fermentation effect, so that Guifu soy sauce wine presents a unique taste.

The characteristics of its brewing process are summarized as: "12987" and "three high and three long".

Among them, "12987" is a condensed summary of the basic brewing process of Maotai-flavor liquor: 1 production cycle a year, 2 feeding times, 9 cooking times, 8 fermentation times, 7 take-up times.

"1" refers to the 1-year production cycle

The production cycle of Maotai-flavor liquor is the longest among all baijiu, from the sand down of raw materials to the end of the last time to take wine, it takes one year before and after, that is, one production cycle a year.

In the meantime, the grain is only thrown twice, the wine is not taken in the process of throwing grain, and the grain is no longer thrown in the process of taking wine, which is like "saving the whole and taking the small."

The grain used in soy sauce wine is very particular, and high-quality glutinous sorghum must be selected, which has the characteristics of small grain, thick skin, high tannin content, high amylopectin content, turning 耖 and can withstand multiple steaming.

"Grain is the base of wine, Qu is the bone of wine", the quality of grain is fundamentally determined by the quality of soy sauce wine.

"2" means 2 feeds

The first grain is called Xia Sha (" sand "refers to sorghum), which is around the Double Ninth Festival. The feeding volume of Xiasha usually accounts for 50% of the total feeding volume.

The second time to throw grain is called 耖 sand (耖 sand, Renhuai local language, pronounced chao sand, "耖" and "under" are the same, are verbs, under is to cast, 耖 is to stir evenly), the time is generally one month after the first sand. The feeding volume accounts for 50% of the total feeding volume.

After the production of grain in Xiasha and 耖, sorghum will not be added in the wine taking process except adding koji powder. This is called "secondary feeding".

"9" refers to nine digesters

Nine times cooking means that sorghum from the beginning of Xiasha to the end of seven times to go through nine times cooking (steamed grain gelatinization) process, that is, feed grain cooking twice, take wine cooking seven times.

Maotai-flavor liquor is mixed once in the Xiasha (feeding) and 耖 sha (second feeding) stages, and after the third steaming to get the cooked grains, it goes through six cycles of cooling → mixing koji → stacking → down the cellar → sealing the cellar for fermentation → opening the cellar to take the fermented grains → upper oven to roast the wine. Each cycle has one steaming, and the whole process has nine steaming times.

"8" means 8 ferments

Eight fermentation refers to the eight fermentation processes of sorghum from the beginning of Xiasha to the end of seven times of taking wine, and each time after cooking corresponds to one fermentation. Because the fermented grains after seven times of taking wine are not fermented directly, there is only eight fermentation.

During the brewing period, no new grain was added from the third round, but due to the crushing or coarse raw materials, the starch content in the fermented grains was high. With the increase of fermentation rounds, the starch would be gradually consumed. Until the end of the eighth fermentation, the starch content in the fermented grains was still about 10%.

"7" means seven take-ups of wine

Seven times to take wine, the entire production cycle to take seven times of wine, that is, one wine, two wine to seven wine. Because three times wine, four times wine, five times wine is the best quality, we call it "big back wine", and six times wine is called "small back wine".

In the brewing process, the real wine is taken in the third time after cooking, to December and January of each year, the first time to take wine, after the completion of the wine, the lees are cooled, curdled, stacked, cellar, cellar fermentation and other processes, so the cycle is repeated, once a month, a total of seven times to take wine.