I Became The Chief Of A Primitive Village-Chapter 411: Perfect Substitute

Yu Ying blinked her pink eyes, and her soft, adorable voice sounded, "Is Wheat porridge new food?"

"Yes, the one I mentioned to you before. You’ll be able to taste it tonight." Su Bai nodded.

"Yay, I can finally taste Wheat." Yu Ying was both excited and a bit curious. [How would Wheat taste? What would its texture be like?]

"Sort through it and remove any impurities. I’m going to start brewing alcohol." Su Bai instructed.

"Okay." Yu Ying nodded and crouched down to clean the grains.

Su Bai took a cleaned ceramic jar and used the alcohol spray that had previously come from the System to disinfect it.

He next began preparing the steps for brewing. The preparations were not particularly extensive, just the Wheat grains and water, followed by the starter culture (these are the microorganisms).

He naturally did not have any starter culture, because making a starter culture required many other raw materials – like cassia leaves, tangerine leaves – in this era that had not been found. These raw materials would then be mixed together, and finally water would be added to knead them into a ball, among a series of other tasks to make it.

Fortunately, in the brewing book, there was something that could substitute for the starter culture. A kind of berry from the Tribe.

The book was about how Primitive Tribes could brew alcohol, and among the raw materials, apart from Wheat, everything else could be found in Primitive Tribes.

[Oh? So the juice of a relatively rare berry could be used as a substitute.]

"The first step is to soak the Wheat grains…" Su Bai muttered to himself as he began preparing.

He took out a basin, put some grain into it, and filled the basin with water.

The reason for doing this was to allow the grains to fully absorb water so it could swell up.

After soaking, Su Bai began washing the grain to prevent them from not being thoroughly dehulled. After washing, he examined it once more and set it aside to drain.

"Shaman, is this good enough?" Yu Ying crouched beside the basin and asked doubtfully.

"Not yet, this is just the beginning," Su Bai smiled. Brewing alcohol was a profound art.

Yu Ying wagged her pink fox tail. She did not understand much, so she just returned to separating the Wheat that had not been sorted yet.

After the Wheat had been drained, Su Bai prepared for the next step, which was cooking the grain.

This was an essential part of brewing; without cooking it properly, brewing would be impossible.

Su Bai added water to the iron pot and placed the drained grains on a plate.

Then, he put a wooden board in the iron pot as a separator and afterward placed the plate with the grains in the iron pot.

"Shaman, do you need me to start the fire?" Yu Ying ran in excitedly.

"Yes, but don’t add too much firewood. After the water boils, we need it to be at low heat for thirty minutes." Su Bai instructed.

Since the invention of the sundial and the water clock for night use, the Tribe had developed the concept of time. However, it was a simple concept, just simple time intervals like ten minutes, twenty minutes, an hour, and so on. Not to the minute or the second.

"Okay, right away," Yu Ying immediately responded, twitching her pink fox ears before starting the fire.

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*Crackling…* Forty minutes later, the grains had been completely steamed. Su Bai took out the steamed grains.

He took out a clean Animal Hide and spread all the steamed grains on it to cool.

"Shaman, is the brewing done?" Yu Ying could not help but ask.

"Not yet. We’ll proceed to the next step after it cools down. It’s still a bit hot now." Su Bai said.

While the Wheat was cooling, he began sterilizing some utensils that would be used for brewing.

Su Bai picked up the ceramic jar, poured the cooled Wheat grains into it, stirred them, and then squeezed some berry juice into it.

This berry juice was the substitute for the starter culture, so it was essential to add it.

The reason the Wheat grains had to be cooled was because there would be yeast, and if it was still very hot, it would kill the yeast.

After the grains were placed inside, the surface was flattened, a hole was dug in the middle, and then a layer of Smooth Skin Lizard Hide was used to seal it.

"Shaman, is it done now?" Yu Ying could not help but ask from the side, as she had seen everything being placed in the jar.

"It’s almost done. We just wait for it to ferment, and after some time, we’ll be able to drink alcohol." Su Bai smiled.

Among the final two steps of brewing alcohol, one was to preserve and ferment it, keeping it in a warm place.

Depending on the temperature, it generally took about 36 to 48 hours to start fermenting. In winter, wrap it with towels or blankets to keep it warm and appropriately extend the fermentation time.

"Shaman, how do we know when it’s done brewing?" Yu Ying tilted her head and asked.

"When we open it and see alcohol in the small pit in the middle. That will determine whether it’s successful or not," Su Bai explained.

Yu Ying swayed her pink fox tail and asked, "Then can we drink it directly?"

"Not yet. The final step requires distillation. After the fermented mash is ready, it can be distilled, and what comes out is white liquor," Su Bai said with confidence. If the brewing book had not been so detailed, he might have missed some steps.

After reading the brewing book, he discovered that brewing alcohol was not an easy task. There were many things to pay attention to, which was different from what he had imagined.

However, the brewing book described many methods of brewing, such as grape wine, orange wine, white liquor, Wheat beer, and many others.

Su Bai had chosen to make white liquor.

"Distillation? Shaman, what does that mean?"

"It’s a process. You’ll understand when the time comes." Su Bai wanted to demonstrate it to them personally. Explaining too much was meaningless.

He had already learnt his lesson. Instead of saying too much, it was better to do it once and show them. The experience itself would allow them to understand more thoroughly.

Just like Co Co, who now remained hidden in her room, immersed in studying chemistry experiments written up a few days ago.

Those chemistry experiments were all very simple, such as what happens when baking soda meets vinegar.

Both the baking soda and vinegar came from the System. This small experiment was not difficult; many elementary school students on Earth would learn it.

"Okay," Yu Ying nodded firmly.