Our Family Has Fallen

The problem is that the warehouses of this era are built with earth and wood, making it difficult to prevent rodents and insects, let alone maintain constant temperature and humidity.

This means that the time for storing grains is limited, and as the autumn harvest approaches, many grains have been stored for nearly a year.

As they prepare for the autumn harvest, new grains will need to be stored. Instead of letting this batch of grains mold, rot, and be eaten by rats and insects, it’s better to use them and retain their value through brewing.

So the brewery that was shut down is now reopened.

You don’t even need to go inside; just getting close, you can see the smoke from the brewery chimney and a faint alcoholic smell permeating the surrounding air.

That’s also why the brewery was moved here; who could tolerate it in a crowded place?

When Lance walked in, the smell was several times stronger, as if a few more breaths could make one feel tipsy, and the workers’ faces were unusually flushed, almost like they’d been drinking.

No young girls stomping here; it’s mostly men, as brewing is a laborious job.

Although not very familiar with the improvement of firearms and such, he had genuinely learned about the brewing process and understood it very well.

It’s not because he’s a drinker; Lance’s knowledge on this dates back to his high school biology, a relic of his past life impacting him again.

Brewing involves using the principle of fermentation to convert sugar into alcohol. Alcohol fermentation is an anaerobic process where yeast or other microorganisms decompose glucose or fructose, producing alcohol, carbon dioxide, and releasing a small amount of energy.

The raw materials for brewing are not limited to grains; in fact, anything with high starch content will do, such as the roots and tubers of some plants, like potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, and corn.

Materials rich in sugar, such as sugarcane, grapes, and various fruits, are also raw materials for brewing.

But now, even grains are scarce, not to mention other alternative materials.

In this era, the brewing process is quite basic. Many types of alcohols are popular in the Empire, but most are fermented wines; distilled spirits, on the other hand, are unheard of.

Fermented wines are those like wine, beer, and honey mead, with relatively low alcohol content.

Distilled spirits, naturally, are strong liquors.

Currently, Hamlet doesn’t even have a vineyard, let alone raw materials for brewing.

So the main focus is still brewing beer, primarily using malt as the main ingredient, adding hops, and fermenting with yeast.

Unlike wine, an upscale drink mostly for the nobility, beer is the common alcoholic beverage for the ordinary people.

The process of brewing beer can roughly be divided into malt crushing → wort preparation → wort fermentation → beer bottling.

In modern times, processes from malt selection to water source to production techniques could be highly boasted, and various flavors would be made.

But such refinements aren’t feasible in Hamlet; Lance used the most ordinary old grains to brew the most ordinary beer; ultimately, the conditions in Hamlet just don’t support anything fancy.

Moreover, beer’s audience is the common people whose demands are cheap; they only seek the refreshing taste to relieve bodily fatigue, the slight tipsiness allowing them to temporarily escape the hardships of reality.

But this was never the real reason Lance restarted the brewery.

Because, at all times, ensuring food supply is crucial, and such indulgences must come after survival.

Actually, dealing with those grains that had deteriorated and molded due to improper storage was his real core need.

Lance didn’t dare to consume grain contaminated by rodent and insect infestations; a plague could potentially collapse the fragile Hamlet.

But these can’t be dealt with by brewing beer but require using the process of making distilled spirits to prevent secondary harm.

Meanwhile, alcohol can be used as fuel, for disinfecting wounds, and finally, for blending alcoholic drinks.

The core of brewing spirits is using the enzymes in fermentation starters to saccharify and ferment the grain ingredients into alcohol, then distill and purify it.

The most crucial aspect is this ”fermentation starter,” as back then, families would almost be embarrassed not to have a centuries-old starter.

This fermentation starter is actually made from moldy grain, essentially a type of fungal fermentation byproduct.

It was Grendel who solved this technology; her means of controlling fungi meant the Witch’s legacy was nurturing Hamlet.

The other key step, the core technology of distillation, was solved by Lance. By standing on modern knowledge, he knew that alcohol, or ethanol, has a boiling point of 78.3°C, indicating that the distillation temperature should be between 78.3°C and 95°C.

Additionally, removing the heads and tails of the distillation is necessary to eliminate impurities like methanol.

It’s clear that education works, at least finding sources for the three great transmigration artifacts — salt-making, brewing, and soap — but unfortunately, it doesn’t involve blacksmithing, firearms, or explosives.

This distillation process should involve ageing and blending.

But Lance’s purpose in creating this was not for drinking; instead, it was repeatedly distilled to continuously increase purity, ultimately becoming high-purity ethanol.

Currently, the brewing process is somewhat rough due to technical and tool limitations; there’s no concept of standardized production, relying entirely on craftsmen’s experience and techniques.

The only improvement Lance could make was to try standardizing the production process as much as possible, ensuring the quality of the output liquor was stable.

It has to be admitted that the brewers who’ve worked in this industry for so many years do have some skills. Once Lance and Grendel jointly solved the key technologies and explained the process, they could complete production and even improve some steps based on their experience.

It only shows that the wisdom of the working people and their acceptance of new technology were not as stubborn as Lance imagined, at least better than Lawrence.

The person in charge here is a man in his forties, though appearing almost fifty or sixty. He was one of the refugees Lance brought back from Totnes.

His skills in brewing naturally got him selected at his age; according to him, he’s from generations who brewed wine for the local nobility in wineries.

It was only when drought struck and chaos swept that he was forced into exile.

After bringing him back, Lance began allocating resources to rebuild the brewery, and the first batch of brewed beer was indeed well-received, at least better than the kind that genuinely looked like urine.

For him, beer was just basic skills; his true strength lied in winemaking. He was a good card drawn from the refugees.

The brewery manager escorted Lance out of the workshop to the adjacent storage area, pulled out a bottle of wine, and handed it over.

”Master, this is the sample we produced.”

Although both beer and distilled spirits had already begun production, they were not the reason for Lance’s visit today.

This was.

Lance received the glass bottle from the craftsman’s hand, and as soon as it opened with a ”pop,” the characteristic release of gases from a fermentation bottle burst out.

Without needing to lean in, Lance’s nose immediately detected the familiar scent of alcohol, mixed with a complex aroma.

Pouring it into a glass, the fragrance intensified. The foam wasn’t thick, just a light layer, and the wine’s color was a blush pink, swaying the glass as if petals danced with the wind.

Lance didn’t bother with many rituals, simply raising the glass to take a sip. At first, there was a beer-like kick, but it quickly faded, leaving a lingering sweet fruity aroma in the mouth, and after swallowing, a trace of honey sweetness returned, without the astringency of wine.

Hamlet had no grapes, but there were plenty of berries, with fresh produce each day under large-scale development. These berries perished within two or three days, making use of them most reasonable.

This blended fruit wine is the new product Hamlet plans to release.