coobybook Chapter 366 Making Rice Wine
Chapter 366 Making Rice Wine
As luck would have it, it started raining just after the autumn harvest.
During this period of autumn harvest, the weather was very favorable and it was sunny for many days in a row. The autumn harvest has just been completed and the family is planning to take a good rest.
By the afternoon, the sky gradually became cloudy, and it rained heavily that night.
It rained heavily for two days in a row. After two days, the rain stopped and the group went out to pick mushrooms in the mountains again.
After another busy period, the group rested for a few days and then started harvesting sweet potatoes.
This time, we planted a lot of sweet potatoes, which can be harvested in two batches. First, dig out the first batch of sweet potatoes, and the rest can be put on hold and harvested later.
There were quite a lot of sweet potatoes planted in the first batch, and it took several people three or four days to harvest them all.
All the harvested sweet potatoes were piled in the shade near the wall in the backyard.
Let the sweet potatoes bask in the sun for a while first. This will help the sweet potatoes to recover their sugar content. After the sugar content has recovered, the sweet potatoes will be sweeter and more delicious.
Moreover, sweet potatoes that have been dried in the sun are easier to store and are less likely to go bad and rot.
Of course, when drying sweet potatoes, you cannot always expose them to strong sunlight, otherwise the sweet potatoes will easily become dry due to lack of moisture.
There are so many sweet potatoes at home that there is no place to put them. The newly built firewood shed in the backyard is used to store corn cobs and there is no room for the sweet potatoes.
So Xu Han piled all the dried sweet potatoes in the cellar, and some were also piled in other warehouses.
As for the freshly harvested soybeans and rice, Xu Han stored them all in the space.
After harvesting the sweet potato field, there are not only a lot of sweet potatoes that need to be stored, but also a lot of sweet potato vines that cannot be thrown away.
These are the winter rations for donkeys and cows. With these sweet potato vines, corn stalks and soybean stalks, Xu Han no longer needs to store hay separately in the autumn.
Adding all these together, plus the peanut vines and corn husks grown later, is enough to feed the livestock during the winter.
That night, the Taoist priest said, "It's not a good idea to pile all these sweet potatoes in the cellar. We should get rid of some of them as soon as possible, otherwise there will be no place to store the harvest later."
When Xu Han heard this, she naturally understood what the Taoist priest meant, but now was not the right time. They had to start planting winter wheat soon, and this was the most important thing.
So he continued, "There is no time to make sweet potato wine now. We are about to start planting winter wheat. The fields have yet to be plowed, and the peanuts and sweet potatoes have not been harvested yet."
"Hahaha, Xiaohan is right. There are still piles of straw drying outside. Otherwise, it will definitely get moldy after being soaked by a few heavy rains."
Xu Han also said with a smile, "Master, don't worry. I will definitely make this sweet potato wine for you. Let's finish the autumn harvest and autumn planting first, and there will be plenty of time later."
Xu Han always felt helpless and doting towards the Taoist priest. This Taoist priest was really like a little child, extremely greedy. He would stare at whatever he wanted and would not refuse to do it.
What can I do? I can only spoil him, after all, I still need him to help me with work.
"Okay, okay, you can't forget it."
"I won't forget it. Don't worry. I promise you will be able to drink sweet potato wine."
Xu Han thought for a moment and continued, "How about this, I'll make some rice wine first, so you can satisfy your craving."
"Rice wine? What kind of wine is rice wine? Is it delicious?"
"It's delicious and sweet. But it makes you drunk easily."
Although rice wine tastes sweet, it has a strong aftertaste.
In modern times, Xu Han often heard that one should never underestimate those who claim that their homemade wine is not strong in alcohol. People often believe these words and get drunk.
I don't know the alcohol content of homemade wine, especially rice wine, which tastes sweet and I unconsciously want to drink a little more, but after drinking for a while I will be drunk and pass out.
"Okay, then you can brew more. All the wines in the warehouse are hidden underneath. I haven't been willing to drink any of them during this period.
It's just in time for you to make some more rice wine, so we can have a nice drink after the autumn harvest."
Xu Han saw that Lu Chuan and Grandpa Zhao were also looking at her expectantly, and couldn't help but chuckle, "Okay, I'll go soak some more glutinous rice."
After Xu Han finished speaking, she went to the kitchen and weighed out five kilograms of glutinous rice.
Then pour it into a large wooden tub and scrub it repeatedly four or five times until the water is no longer white. Then fill the tub with water and leave it in the house to soak for half the night.
The temperature is still quite high now, and it will easily go bad and become sour if soaked for a long time.
The rice wine brewed from washed glutinous rice will be clearer. If the glutinous rice is not washed clean, the rice wine will be yellow and turbid.
After finishing all this, Xu Han began to look for the yeast in the space.
However, there are not many koji in the space. These are the koji that I bought before for making rice wine and have not been used up and have been kept in the space.
It seems that I need to find time to make the koji. The koji in the space can only be used to make rice wine three times at most, and it will be gone after it is used up.
Fortunately, Xu Han had searched for the method of making koji before, and the materials for making koji were also available at home, so she could try to make some herself.
In this way, when the koji is used up, you can make it yourself, and you don’t have to worry about running out of koji in the future.
Moreover, we will need to make sweet potato wine later, which also requires a large amount of koji. This little bit of koji is definitely not enough.
After preparing everything, Xu Han went to bed.
The next morning, the Taoist priest and his colleagues went outside to pile up all the straw and other things, and then covered them with oilcloth.
This way you won’t get wet when it rains, and it can also extend the shelf life.
Xu Han starts steaming glutinous rice early in the morning. During the process of making rice wine, she must ensure that the rice wine does not come into contact with any oil or raw water. Otherwise, the rice wine will easily go bad and may directly lead to unsuccessful fermentation.
These tools were all prepared by Xu Han a long time ago, so you can just use them now.
Add water to the pot, then drain the glutinous rice and place it on the steamer. Use chopsticks to poke a few holes in the middle of the glutinous rice to prevent the rice from being undercooked during the steaming process.
After the glutinous rice is steamed, place it on a winnowing basket aside to cool.
When it is cooled to about 30 degrees, you can sprinkle the boiled water that has been cooled in advance evenly into the glutinous rice in a certain proportion, and then mix it evenly with your hands.
Before the glutinous rice absorbs the boiled water, sprinkle the crushed koji on it.
At this time, the glutinous rice has not stuck together yet, but because of the addition of boiled water, each grain is distinct and can be fully coated with the koji.
After mixing evenly again, put the glutinous rice into a small bowl aside.
Then press it firmly with your hands, and use a rolling pin to poke a hole in the middle. This will make it easier to observe the wine later.