Nine Steaming Sessions
The production process involves one round of steaming with clear water and freshly milled grain (“xia sha”), followed by one round of mixed steaming with coarse grain. The fermented grain (pei liao) from the mixed steaming is then loaded into the pot still for the third steaming. After the third steaming, the fermented grain becomes “shu zao” (fully cooked grain), which is then spread out to cool, sprinkled with starter culture (qu), piled for pre-fermentation, put into the pit, sealed for fermentation, opened for retrieving the fermented grain, and reloaded into the pot still for distillation. This cycle of six rounds of fermentation and distillation involves six additional steamings, making a total of nine steamings in the entire process.