To kick off fermentation, baijiu makers grind their chosen grains and soak them in hot water. As the grains expand, rupture, and gelatinize under high temperature, makers add crushed jiuqu into the mixture. Then, the fermentation happens in a pit or a pottery jar for one to three months.
The Baijiu – Chinese White Wine or Alcohol – Taste Review
Imagine discomfort. It’s 3 a.m., and you’re sitting in the back row of a long-distance bus. The man sitting next to you scratches his whale-sized belly and giggles as he sleeps. The bathroom door keeps slamming open, and the smell of urine tinged with vomit wafts into your nostrils. Bottle that experience and you have the Baijiu, which literally means “white alcohol”. It encompasses a variety of grain-based spirits produced mostly from sorghum and rice.
The Baijiu – Process
Baijiu is made by fermenting cooked sorghum, and occasionally other grains, along with a starter called jiuqu (“jiu” for alcohol and “qu” for koji, a fungus used to make soy sauce, miso, and sake). Jiuqu is a brick of crushed wheat, barley, and sometimes peas, and it is key to the process. It grows microorganisms such as yeast and fungi under certain temperature and humidity conditions. When these organisms come in contact with grains like sorghum, they secrete enzymes that break down macromolecules in the grains. And this produces baijiu’s complex flavor. And of course, the yeast produce ethanol.
During fermentation, microorganisms in the jiuqu get busy. Their enzymes convert starches into sugars, sugars into alcohol, and proteins into amino acids, while also producing flavor compounds such as ethyl hexanoate. Baijiu’s main raw material, sorghum, contains polyphenolic molecules called tannins, which are broken down into simpler aromatic compounds such as syringic acid.
Taste
For anyone who wants to try baijiu for the first time, it’s worth noting that the type of baijiu that smells like soy sauce (reputed to be an acquired taste) is the most expensive, exemplified by a brand called Moutai.
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