What is a cellar

Cellars are one of the facilities for Baijiu brewing in China. They witness the continuation of ancient brewing techniques and the continuous changes in the modern Baijiu industry. Let's talk about the stories of Baijiu cellars with you, dear readers!

1. What is a cellar? A cellar is a "pit"

If you have no impression of a Baijiu cellar, it's okay to understand it as a "pit" first. Of course, this "pit" is used for brewing Baijiu, and it comes in different shapes, with many considerations.

We all know that Baijiu is brewed from sorghum and other grains. The cellar, or "pit", is the crucial place where grains are transformed into liquor. To put it more colloquially and simply, the process goes like this: grains enter the "pit" — in the "pit", the grains turn into lees (this is the "fermentation" of liquor) — once the lees are removed from the "pit", the liquor can be distilled.

A baijiu cellar is just such a "pit".

Second, there are many different types of "pits" in different cellars

"Cellar pit" is typically constructed using a unique mixture of yellow mud and wine lees. After half a year of construction, the yellow mud will turn from yellow to black; after two years, it will turn to a dark grayish-white color, changing from soft to brittle and hard; after many years, the mud quality will change from brittle and hard to soft, and the mud color will turn from dark grayish-white to black, with the appearance of red, green, and other colors. Cellar mud with a long history will appear colorful under sunlight.

We often hear terms like Luzhou-flavor Baijiu and Maotai-flavor Baijiu, which are ways of classifying Baijiu. Among them, Luzhou-flavor, clear-flavor, and Maotai-flavor are the dominant types in the industry, and they have different requirements for the selection of cellars.

Take Luzhou Laojiao and Wuliangye, representatives of strong aroma Baijiu, as examples. They use mud cellars - the bottom and surrounding areas are covered with yellow mud. As the cellar ages, the mud contains a rich microbial flora, and it is these microbial communities that give Baijiu its distinct aroma and taste.

For sauce-flavored liquor, such as Guizhou Maotai and Langjiu, the cellar is made of stone, with walls built with stone blocks and the bottom paved with yellow mud.

As for fen-flavor Baijiu, represented by Shanxi Fenjiu, the cellar used is quite different from the previous two - the cellar is an earthenware jar.

Wine and distillers' grains: Remove distillers' grains (part of the mother grains, mixed with new grains) from the fermentation pit - distill the wine (while distilling, the grains are cooked) - return the distilled distillers' grains to the "pit" for further fermentation - remove distillers' grains (part of the mother grains, mixed with new grains), and repeat this cycle.

As mentioned earlier, Luzhou-flavor Baijiu is produced in mud cellars, and the cellar mud contains microbial communities; these communities can make Baijiu fragrant. They feed on the leachate from distillers' grains and water, and through continuous generations, they can continuously improve, which in turn enhances the quality of the Baijiu.

Regarding mud cellars, if no grains are added for fermentation for half a year, the microbial flora will have no food and will die off; the cellar will also "die" and become the same as a new cellar - producing first-batch liquor in 10 years, special liquor in over 30 years, and only becoming an old cellar after over 50 years.