Fresh water Roasted wheat Uncooked wheat Steamed wheat
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all ingredients are mixed thorougly
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shaped
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transfered to incubation rooms
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spread the Jiuqu onto the ground
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turn over the Jiuqu
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stack of the Jiuqu
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seal the Jiuqu in the jar or vats
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sun-dried
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Jiuqu ready for rice wine brewing
It was noticed in ancient times that the control of temperature
and moisture during the development of Jiuqu is important to the
preparation of good Jiuqu. We could not know exactly what temperature
was controlled in ancient times, but the temperature pattern during
the period of Jiuqu-making was obviously well understood by ancient
people. People checked the Jiuqu temperature at the first several days
regularly. When the temperature rose rapidly, the windows were opened,
straw covers were removed. When room temperature below normal
conditions, the Jiuqu were heaped together. A rather high moisture
content is required at the begining of the approximate 3- day
incubation period when mycelial growth occurs followed by a lower
moisture content in later stages when spores are being formed. The
incubation period usually was 7 weeks to promote adequate production
and accumulation of enzymes.Matured koij is clear yellow to yellowish
-green in color.The preparation process of Ben qu is similar to that of Shen qu, but the main differences is that the all the raw material©¤©¤wheat ©¤©¤ is roasted, and the dimension of the Jiuqu is bigger than Shen qu.
It was described by <
Wheat Jiuqu-making techniques in ancient times developed slowly.
They could be subdivided into several forms:
Straw-weapped wheat Jiuqu: the Jiuqu is wrapped in straw, allowed to
be incubated for a month, and then sun-dried.
Hanged over wheat Jiuqu: To prepare "Hanged over wheat Jiuqu", wheat
is mashed, mixed with suitable amounts of water, and shaped into
retangular parallelepiped, roughly wrapped in rice straw, and hung
under the rafters until each block is covered with a white bloom of
natural mold and be dried by wind.
There are three forms wheat Jiuqu prepared by the pure culture
method.
(1) Incubation on ground in incubation rooms
The flowchart of this wheat Jiuqu is given below.
The equipment for wheat Jiuqu preparation is like the germinating
compartments used in malting. The wheat grists are innoculated with
pure cultured mold spores, then heaped up for 3 hours. The materials
are spreaded onto the perforated plate mounted at the bottom of
the compartment with the wheat grist bed thickness of 30 cm. The aerobic
filamentous fungi are cultured by passing temperature- and moisture
-controlled air through the wheat grist bed. Heat removal from large
-scale operation is no longer a major problem, as it can be
facilitated by increasing the aeration rate or the frequency of
aeration for systems that are not continuosly aerated.
(3) Incubation in tray
The uncooked wheat grists are mixed with water and stirred evenly.
After innoculating with mold spores, the materials are filled into
tray, and each tray contains about 2.5 kg of material. The tray are
carried to the incubation room where they are arranged in "bricklap
stack". The temperature of the incubation room is maintained at about
26-28 ¡æ. After 24 hour's incubation, the temperature of the Jiuqu in
the middle stacks reached to above 30 ¡æ, it is needed to change the
positions of the tray, especially, the tray in the middle should be
placed on top or at bottom. In this way, one makes the Jiuqu's
temperature evenly.
For the mycelial fungi to take oxygen, the next step is to turn
the tray upside down to another empty tray. The Jiuqu which remains
unbrokend for the Jiuqu being winded by growing mycelial fungi is
transfered to the empty tray. This step is repeated three times.
The temperature and humidity control is important to make good
high quality "Da Qu". Incubation times usually last 4 weeks.
Although the temperature in summer is high, each distillery
prefers to make their Da Qu in summer because the high temperature
is favourable to the thermophilic microbes, and discourages the
cryophilic bacteriua which usually are spoilage bacteria.
The Da Qu could be roughly divided into 2 types according to the
incubation temperature. The "moderate temperature Da qu" is incubated
with the maximum temperature usually below 50 ¡æ, and the "high
temperature Da Qu" is incubated with the maximum temperature above 55
¡æ, sometime,the maximum temperature of the Da qu may be reached to 65
¡æ. It is believed that the production of distilled spirits by using
high temperature Da qu enhances the arama and flavour of the distilled
spirits, although the complicated mechanisms are still not clear.
During the cultivation of the Da Qu, the temperature pattern
and humidity pattern are usually have three distinct phases ( moderate
temperature Da Qu as an eaxmple):
First phase: this phase lasts about 9 days, and is charactered by
rapidly increasing of temperature, and the humidity in the incubation
romm is high. The spores of mycelial fungus begin to sprout, and mycelioid
colonies appeared on the surfaces of the Da Qu. Due to the fermentation
caused by the mycelial fungus, the Da qu blocks expand, and become soft.
The temperature of the Da qu rises, water vapor evolves, humidity in
the incubation room is very high. It is the first time to open the
windows and doors to disperse the humidity, and turn over the Da qu
block. To obtain uniformity, the location place of the Da qu blocks
should be arranged again so that the block located in the centre be
placed in the edge, and it is the same the other way around. In the
first phase, usually, turning over the Da qu repeated six times. The
major effort was directed towords obtaining good growth of mycelia and
spores by culturing them at 30- 45 ¡æ, the Da qu blocks sometimes
became heated to about 56 ¡æ. The details of the whole operating are
difficult to discribe here.
Second phase: This phase lasts from the 10th day to 17th day. The
temperature of the Da qu gradually rises. by turning over the Da qu,
the temperature is controlled within 30-46 ¡æ . It is needed that
temperature change be smooth, and the water vapor inside the Da qu
volatilize greatly. Turning over the Da qu and changing the position
of each Da qu is done as that described before.
Third phase: Now the weight of the Da qu becomes light, and the Da
qu is dry. It is better to allow the room temperature decrease smoothly.
Turning over the Da qu is done as the usual method. In the
traditional process, when the Da qu is dried, and temperature of the Da
qu dose not rise, all the Da qu are heaped up in a corner of the
incubation room, and are covered with straws. In this way, the
temperature of the Da qu will rise again and the water content inside
of the Da qu will evaporate further.
Every distillery persists in their own particular traditional
methods in preparation of Da qu. For eaxmple, in Maitai distillery, the
manufacturer of the most famous Chinese spirit, Da qu used is belong to
high temperature Da qu, so the maximum temeprature during the Da qu
cultivation may be over 65 ¡æ; and in Feng Jiu Distillery, during the
cultivation of the moderate temperature Da qu, the maximum temperature
of the Da qu is rearly beyond 46 ¡æ.
Good Da Qu is yellowish- to greyish- white color and has a
good growth of mold mycylium throughout the mass. The Da qu should
contain approximately 12 % moisture.
The primitive methods were very simple. The leftover ( remained
steamed rice ) was a suitable substrate for microbial growth.
Traditional preparation procedures are described below:
First the rice was ground into powder, then the powder was mixed
with special liquid made by steeping herbs or hop with water. the
ingredients were kneaded like a dough, then filled into a box, press
the rice dough firmly into corners of box, and smooth the surface. cut
the rice dough into pieces with a knif, make the pieces be shaped like
a round ball. The most important thing is to select old Jiuqu, which
should be as good as possible, as seed Jiuqu. The seed Jiuqu was used to
inoculate the rice dough ball. Usually, the old seed Jiuqu is selected
on the basis of rice wine quality made in last batch fermentation.
Due to successive screen and isolation of the Rhizopus spp. from
generation to generation, high quality strains were preserved and
maintained and handed down from ancient times. The primitive screening
and isolating methods invented in Song Dynasty had contributed a lot
to modern microbiology.
This is the first discription on artificial inoculating Jiuqu
medium although the seed Jiuqu was not strictly a pure culture.
Chinese herbs and perfumes (spice) are also added to the rice flour to
make the Xiao Qu which is called "YAO Qu"
The famous Xiao Qu was produced in Shaoxing and Ning Bo,
Zhejiang Province. Rice Jiuqu production using indigenous microbial
flora is best illustrated with the Shaoxing rice Jiuqu process. The
flowchart of production process is briefly outlined below.
We will take the Xiao Qu made by using Rhizupos sp. and yeasts
as an example for illustrating the preparation procedures for the mixed
cultured Xiao Qu. RHizupos sp. is grown in the medium based on rice
meal or wheat bran, and yeast is cultured in Xiao Qu extracts and
harvested by sedimentation. Cultured Rhizupos sp. and yeasts are mixed
in a ratio of 50:1. The mixed culture can be used for making seed mash
for rice wine. It was reported that using rice Jiuqu made with the
mixed culture method has the advantages of easy of mass cultivation of
moulds and yeasts, and the speed at which they grow. It is also
possible to shorten the time required for rice wine fermentation due to
the strong power of the saccharifying and fermenting agents. It
is obvious that high yield and concentration of ethanol in the
fermenting mash can realized by using the mixed culture Xiao Qu.
The traditional producing areas of ang-kak was centered in South
China, such as Fujian Province, Zhejiang province, Jiangsu Province,
Jiangxi Province, and Taiwan Province. Gutian in Fujian Province has
been the most famous red rice production center.
Application of the red rice
Red rice (ang-kak, ankak, anka, angquac, beni-Jiuqu, aga-Jiuqu) has
been used in the fermentation industry for preparation of red rice
wines and foods such as sufu ( or Dou- fu- ru in Chinese, a mold
-fermented soybean curd product;), fish sauce, fish paste, and red
soybean curd ( a cheese-like product used as a spice).Because Large
quantities of hydrolytic enzymes shch as ¦Á - amylase, ¦Â - amylase,
glucoamylase, protease, and lipase are produced by Monascus spp. which
break down the rice constituents during growth and penetration of
mycelium into the kernels. Pigments produced by Monascus purpureus and
M. anka on rice have been used as household and industrial food
colorants. The main pigments produced by Monascus spp. are
monascorubin (red),rubropunctatin, monascin (yellow) , anka- flavin,
rubropunctamine, and monascorubramine.
In addition to its value as a colorant, ang-kak may also possess
therapeutic properties. Ailments and diseases purportedly cured by ang
-kak included indigestion, bruise of muscle, dysentery and anthrax.
Ku Qu is mainly used for making rice wine, Among the four types of
red rice, Ku Qu is most heavy.
Qing Qu may be used for making rice wine or as colorant for food.
Se Qu is mainly used as colorant for food, and its weight per unit
volumn is the lightest, due to the longest fermentation time.
Wu Yi Hong Qu is a mixed culture of Monascus sp. with Aspergillus
niger.
Traditional methods for manufacturing of red rice were very
complicated and time-consuming, and through the ages, these techniques
had acquired an element of mystery and wonder. Before making red rice,
it was needed to get "seed red rice" as a starter. The techniques for
seed red rice were kept secretly by masters. The seed red rice was
supposed to have sexual distinction. The so called "father seed" and
"mother seed" were manufactured in different ways.
The traditional techniques of making red rice were recorded in
ancient books mainly published in Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 A. D. ) and
Ming Dynasty ( 1368-1644).
The "fermented rice wine mash" or red rice itsself were used as a
starter (seed). Non-glutinous varieties of rice are most suitable for
preparing ang-kak, since kernels of glutinous varieties tend to stick
together and thus reduce the surface to volume ratio of solid material
which is so critical to pigment production. The best raw material was
long-shaped non glutinous rice. It was first washed, soaked in water
for about 1 day or more, and drained thoroughly. The moist rice was
then cooked. Upon cooling, the steamed rice was mixed with diluted
vinegar solution or solution of alum to acidify the raw material
(because the Monascus spp. are acidophilic), then was inoculated with
"fermented red rice wine mash". The inoculated rice is thoroughly
mixed and then incubated at appropriate temperature.During the first
severals days, the rice will have taken on a red color and should be
stirred and shaken to redistribute the moisture and kernels with
respect to depth from the surface of the fermenting mass which should
be spread out and piled up in turn. It may be necessary to add some
water to replenish moisture lost during incubation. Within about 2
weeks, the rice would take on a deep purplish red color and kerneals
should not stick together.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, scientists
have isolated a number of microorganisms from traditional Jiuqu.
Aspergillus spp. are used widely. Pure culture or mixed culture of
molds became a popular operating procedure. The raw materials may be
sterilized by steaming, and this wheat Jiuqu is called "cooked wheat
Jiuqu"; The raw materials may also be subjected no heat treatment, and
this is called " uncooked wheat Jiuqu".
wheat ¡úcrush to croase grists¡úadding water, and mixing ¡ústeaming
¡úcooling¡úinnoculation with mold spores¡úheap¡úspreading on ground ¡ú
1st turning over¡ú2ed truning over¡úfinished wheat Jiuqu
(2) Incubation in the through-flow system
"Da Qu", meaning the dimension of the Jiuqu is big than "Xiao Qu",
is made from mixture of wheat flour and pea flour. "Da Qu" which is
used in manufacture of Chinese spirits is a variant derived from wheat
Jiuqu for rice wine making. It is a hard work but interesting, and
needs sophiscated techniques and strict operating procedures. The
wheat or larley and pea is ground to powder separately, and mixed
together in a special proportion varied from place to place.Let's take
the Da qu produced by Yanghe distillery as an example, wheat, barley
and pea are (all in powder ) are mixed in the proportion of 50:40: 10.
After adding suitable amounts of water to the mixed flour, A moisture
content of about 40% is necessary to maintain good texture of the dough.
the dough should be kneaded very evenly. Someone transfer the kneaded
dough into a wooden mould. The wooden mould has the dimension of 195 ¡Á
138¡Á75 cm. The next step is to tread the dough into the four corners
of the mould firmly, then, the mould containing the dough is passed
down to about 10 persons which is lined one by one. The body weight of
each person should be different, ao as the dough is treaded not too
firmly, not too loosely. After being removed from the mould, the
rectangularly shaped dough is transfered to a incubation room, where
the shaped doughs are placed on the straw with two layers, bamboo rods
are used to separate the up and down layers. There is a space of 2 cm
between each rows of Da qu blocks at the same layer. The Da qu block
is covered with straw.
Xiao Qu has been used in rice wine brewing from ancient times to
present, mainly in Southeast China. It was used mainly for rice
wine brewing in ancient times. With the development of distilled spirits,
the Xiao Qu also found its uses in this industry.
dried Laliao ( a kind of Chinese plant) rice water
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Pound the Laliao in a mortar ground (50 mesh) ©¦
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sun-dried screening ©¦
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mixing and
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transfered to Jiuqu tray
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Treading underfoot
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cutting to cuboid shape
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rolling to make it shaped like a round ball
add old koj powder, let it adhere to the
surface of the ball
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incubation in vats, and covered with straw
¡ý Trun over intermittently,
sun-dried
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Xiao Qu (Shaoxing Xiao Qu)
The microorganisms grown in the Xiao Qu are mainly Rhizopus spp.
(Rhizopus oryzae, R.chinensis), Aspergillus spp. and yeasts. During
the period from 1940's to 1950's, scientists isolated as many as 828
strains from Xiao Qu around the country, in which 643 strains belong
to the Rhizopus genera. Rhizopus spp. have the ability to excrete not
only amylase and glucoamylase, but also zymase. This illustrates why
the rice wine makers use only Xiao Qu as both a sacharafying and
fermenting agent.
Red rice and its use in alcoholic drinks and food industry were
first mentioned in the literatures of Song Dynasty,and the traditional
techniques of making red rice were recorded in Li Shizhen's <
Red rice could be classified into four types, Ku Qu, Qing Qu,
Se Qu and Wu Yi Hong Qu, Due to the differences in their raw materials
and production methods.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, 11 strains
of Monascus spp. had been isolated by the Institute of Microbiology,
Academia Sinica. Pure cultivation of red rice was spreaded, and
traditional operating procedures were also popular. Large- scale
production of red rice with the "through-flow system" ( thick-layer bed
aerated cultivation ) had been recently developed in Zhejiang Province.
Besides as saccharifying and fermenting agents used in rice wine brewing,
the red rice is used as a colorant mainly for food and as medicines.
Large-scale production of colorant by extraction methods has developed
quickly recently, and most products are exported to foriegn countries,
for the red rice is considered as a safe food additive.