Unfortunately, it started raining right after the autumn harvest.
During this autumn harvest season, the weather has been incredibly cooperative, with many sunny days in a row. The harvest has just finished, and the family is planning to take a good rest.
By the afternoon, the sky had gradually turned overcast, and it started to rain heavily that night.
The heavy rain lasted for two days. After the rain stopped, everyone went out to the mountains to pick mushrooms again.
After another busy period, the group rested for a few days before starting to harvest sweet potatoes again.
We planted a lot of sweet potatoes this time, so we can harvest them in two batches. We'll dig up the first batch first, and the rest can wait until later to harvest them.
The first batch of sweet potatoes was quite large, and it took the group three or four days to harvest them all.
All the harvested sweet potatoes were piled up in a shady spot near the base of the wall in the backyard.
Let the sweet potatoes dry in the sun for a while. This will help them release sugar, making them sweeter and tastier.
Moreover, sun-dried sweet potatoes are easier to store, making them less likely to spoil and rot.
Of course, when drying sweet potatoes, you can't expose them to the blazing sun for too long, otherwise they will easily dry out and become shriveled.
There are just too many sweet potatoes at home, and there's absolutely no place to put them. The newly built woodshed in the backyard is full of corn cobs, so there's no room to put sweet potatoes.
So Xu Han piled all the dried sweet potatoes into the cellar, and also stored some in other warehouses.
As for the freshly harvested soybeans and rice, Xu Han stored them all in her space.
After the sweet potato harvest, not only do many sweet potatoes need to be stored, but many sweet potato vines also cannot be discarded.
These are all winter rations for donkeys and cattle. With these sweet potato vines, corn stalks, and soybean stalks, Xu Han won't need to store any additional hay in the fall.
All of these, plus the peanut vines and corn husks harvested later, are more than enough for the livestock to eat during the winter.
That evening, the Taoist priest casually remarked, "It's not a good idea to just pile all these sweet potatoes in the cellar. We need to get rid of some of them as soon as possible, otherwise we won't have anywhere to put the rest of the harvest."
Upon hearing this, Xu Han naturally understood the Taoist priest's meaning, but now was not the time; the winter wheat planting was about to begin, and that was the most important thing.
So he continued, "There's no time to make sweet potato wine yet. We're about to start planting winter wheat. The fields are still being plowed, and the peanuts and sweet potatoes haven't been harvested yet."
"Haha, Xiaohan is right. The straw drying outside is piled up, otherwise it will definitely get moldy after being soaked by several heavy rains."
Xu Han chuckled and said, "Don't worry, Daoist, I'll definitely make this sweet potato wine for you. Let's finish the autumn harvest and planting first, then we'll have plenty of time later."
Xu Han always felt both helpless and doting towards the Taoist priest. This Taoist priest was really like a child, especially greedy. He would keep staring at whatever he wanted, and she couldn't refuse him.
What can we do? We can only spoil him, since we still need his help with chores.
"Okay, okay, you can't forget that."
"I can't forget it, I can't forget it. Don't worry, I promise you'll be able to drink sweet potato wine."
Xu Han thought for a moment and then continued, "How about this, I'll make some rice wine first, so you can have a taste."
"Rice wine? What kind of wine is rice wine? Is it good?"
"It tastes good, sweet. But it's also quite easy to get drunk on it."
Although rice wine tastes sweet, it has a strong aftereffect.
In modern times, Xu Han often heard that one should never underestimate those who claim that their homemade wine has a low alcohol content. Often, those who believe such claims end up drinking too much and getting drunk.
Homemade wine has an unknown alcohol content, especially rice wine, which tastes sweet and makes you want to drink more without realizing it, but after a while you will get so drunk that you will be unconscious.
"Alright, then brew more. All the wines in the warehouse are gone. I haven't been able to drink any of them lately."
"It's good that you brewed a lot of rice wine; we can have a good drink after the autumn harvest."
Seeing that Lu Chuan and Grandpa Zhao were also looking at her expectantly, Xu Han 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 catties of glutinous rice.
Then pour it into a large wooden basin and wash it repeatedly four or five times until the water no longer turns white. Then fill the basin with water and let it soak in the room for half a night.
The temperature is still quite high now, and if it soaks for too long, it will easily spoil and turn sour.
The wine brewed from properly washed glutinous rice will be clearer; if the glutinous rice is not properly washed, the resulting rice wine will be yellow and cloudy.
After finishing all that, Xu Han started searching for the wine yeast in her space.
However, there wasn't much yeast in the space. It was leftover yeast from when I made rice wine before.
It seems I need to find some time to make more yeast. The yeast in my space can only be used to make rice wine three more times at most, and then it will be gone.
Fortunately, Xu Han had searched for recipes for yeast beforehand, and she could gather all the necessary materials at home, so she could try making some herself.
This way, when we run out of yeast, we can make our own and won't have to worry about running out of yeast in the future.
Furthermore, the later stage involves making sweet potato wine, which requires a large amount of yeast, and this small amount of yeast is definitely not enough.
After preparing everything, Xu Han went to sleep.
The next morning, the Taoist priest and the others went outside and piled up all the straw and other materials, then covered them with an oilcloth.
This way, it won't get wet in the rain, and it also extends the shelf life.
Xu Han started steaming glutinous rice early in the morning. During the process of making rice wine, it is essential to ensure that the rice wine does not come into contact with any oil or raw water. Otherwise, the rice wine will easily spoil and may even cause mold growth and unsuccessful fermentation.
Xu Han had already prepared these tools, so they can be used directly 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 it from being undercooked during steaming.
After the glutinous rice is steamed, it is placed on a winnowing basket to cool.
Once the rice has cooled to around 30 degrees Celsius, you can evenly sprinkle the cooled boiled water into the glutinous rice in a certain proportion, and then mix it well by hand.
Before the glutinous rice absorbs the cooled boiled water, sprinkle the crushed yeast on top.
At this stage, the glutinous rice has not yet clumped together. Because of the addition of cooled boiled water, each grain is distinct and can be fully coated with yeast.
After mixing it thoroughly again, put the glutinous rice into a small jar on the side.
Then press it down firmly with your hands, and then use a rolling pin to poke a hole in the middle. This makes it easier to observe the wine extraction process later.
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