Chapter 223 Methanol dissipates the fragrance of wine
To make large glassware, the ancient technique of glassblowing has become obsolete.
Large glassware is mainly die-cast, and the molten glass that undergoes such processing also contains a variety of additives in order to prevent the glass from cracking during the die-casting process.
Making glass is inherently a difficult technical task, and Rurik does not dare to expect Klavasen's technology, let alone his own theory. Now, his biggest advantage over his craftsmen is that he has mastered innate knowledge.
With knowledge, all that remains is constant trial and error in order to achieve one's goals within the current technical level.
So Lilia worked hard to make as many as twenty glasses, and they became the raw materials. The girl was a little regretful. She had planned to make a batch of glassware and hand it over to her parents' family. She was young and had a good brain.
I know very well that my products can quickly bring considerable income to the people in my hometown.
Although it is a bit regretful, apart from these ready-made glassware, there are too few surplus raw materials, and it is a waste of time to mine and prepare raw materials.
Rurik was grateful for Lilia's sacrifice.
However, Lilia was more than sorry. If she could help her rather handsome future brother-in-law, she would be very happy.
It is said that Rurik was always willing to clean himself. Since soap began to be widely used, his self-cleaning became more frequent. How could a clean little boy or a sixteen-year-old girl not like him? Not to mention this child
They are already family.
In addition, Lilia also wants to witness new miracles.
Twenty cups melted into a viscous mass of molten glass, which became more plastic due to the addition of lead oxide. The huge clay crucible was originally used to burn bronze water, but now it is occupied by molten glass.
In order to process this, the blacksmith shop completely suspended the blacksmithing work.
Clavarson personally supervised the melting of the glass. Seeing that the time was right, he shouted: "It's about to begin. Kawei, get ready!"
Immediately afterwards, Clavarson, wearing thick leather gloves, hooked the red crucible with a huge fire tong. He carried this bucket of extremely hot stuff and hurried to the die-casting machinery.
The onlookers, Lilia, who was wearing a leather apron, were stunned. Rurik was also surprised, as well as two close friends, Kanuf and Fisk, who insisted on coming here to watch the fun.
Even Rurik has never seen such a scene. He has a theoretical basis in this area, and everything else can only be imagined.
What now? The bronze mortar preheated by Kawei was poured into a large amount of molten glass by Klavasen.
Kawei, who had quick eyesight and quick hands, seized the time. When his father took away the almost empty crucible, he used all his strength to grab the huge lever with both arms and pressed it down with all his strength.
The solid oak levers of shipbuilding draw an arc through the space, and a set of wooden mechanical structures translates them into the vertical force of bronze punches.
Even though the bronze mortar had been preheated, the hot molten glass was still cooling down rapidly. Kawei didn't waste much time. He pressed the steel rod with all his strength, and the punch was completely immersed in the molten glass, so that there was a lot of viscous molten glass.
It has overflowed and even fallen to the ground. The next step is to wait.
Due to the principle of thermal expansion and contraction, Rurik did not wait long. The glass had cooled to the point where it had lost its bright red heat and had become completely transparent. It had enough heat to quickly cook a piece of meat.
When it had cooled to the point that the craftsman wearing leather gloves could touch it, Kawei carefully lowered the heated bronze mortar. Thanks to the anti-adhesion toner applied in advance, the die-cast inside
The glassware was taken out very easily.
In order to prevent it from cracking when it cools, the glassware is deliberately designed to have thicker walls. It still needs some annealing to completely eliminate the stress that causes cracking. Before that, Klavasen still needs to further process it.
By melting twenty ordinary glasses, Rurik preliminarily completed the first large glass vessel.
He needed two large containers, and Lilia had to continue making sacrifices.
However, these sacrifices are worth it.
Next to the stove, Klavason was locally heating the large glassware. The glassware began to be heated and melted again. This time it was Klavason who stretched the mouth of the bottle to make it as per Rurik's requirements.
Strange shape.
It will be processed into a glass bottle. In theory, its walls can be processed very thin. Rurik cannot expect that the Klavasen family can master the superb craftsmanship in an instant. The walls of the two large bottles are very thick, which also makes the bottles thin.
the possibility of further stretching.
Because a lot of lead oxide is added, the whole glass bottle is actually a little black.
It was originally a huge wide mouth, but it was continuously tightened by Klavasen, and finally, it suddenly turned into a narrow mouth bottle.
In other words, the two bottles became something like "vases with big bellies and long necks."
With the bottleneck being deliberately bent, and with the completion of the annealing work, the most critical equipment of the still is completed.
Two bottles were placed on the ground, Klavasen's body was covered with sweat, and his old face was filled with the joy of success.
"Rurik, what should we do now? It seems like you are just going to pour wine into the bottle?"
"Yes."
"Where's the wine?" Klavasen asked breathlessly.
"I have already discussed it with my father, and I have prepared a barrel of finely brewed ale."
"That's fine, I thought I needed to buy the wine myself. Then I just pour the wine into the bottle, and then what?"
The principles and techniques of distillation cannot be explained in a few words.
Rurik carefully inspected the two bottles as usual. In addition to sighing at the level of an old friend, he also secretly lamented that this guy might as well be a professional glassmaker. He was even more regretful, if Klavason did not live in such an ancient and
In the barbaric era, but living more than a thousand years later, such a talented person with strong practical ability must be a national-level engineer who is extremely excellent in theory and practice.
National level engineer?
Klavathon is indeed an engineer of the Ross tribe.
In this way, the distilling bottle and collecting bottle of the still are ready, and the "long neck" that is deliberately bent is the key to the condensation of alcohol vapor.
A special copper pipe was also made by Klavasen, which connected the two bottles, and the gaps between them were filled with leather or linen.
It was not until August 8th that Rurik was sure that the still he requested was ready.
Moreover, Rurik did not come here by himself on this day. Otto, the leader of the Ross tribe, also happily took his wine barrel and ran to Klavassen to observe the wonderful scene.
Otto, he was completely moved by his son's dancing explanation. After all, he heard that there was some "unparalleled wine from Valhalla" that he could enjoy while he was still in the mortal world. Why not be moved?
Presumably this is the "wisdom of God" that the son has gained.
The leader Otto came here, and Klavasen only respected him, but never had any fear of him.
Lilia was different. After all, she had seen the violent side of Chief Ross in her hometown, and she couldn't help but feel in awe.
But when she saw her father-in-law and husband chatting and laughing with the leader in a friendly manner, her nervousness also faded away.
Otto placed the wine barrel he was holding on the ground, habitually pulled his son to his side, and rubbed Rurik's little head.
However, what shocked the senior leader the most were the two large bottles connected by a copper pipe.
Otto! He had never thought that such a huge, completely transparent container could exist in the world. He was so excited that he couldn't help but pinch his son's face with both hands, causing Rurik's whole body to deform.
Already.
"Rurik, this is your...your new baby? Made of pure crystal?"
"Dad...let it go! My face is already..."
Otto hurriedly stopped his hand and immediately asked Klavasen, who was about to laugh out loud: "My friend, you made these according to my son's request? That's how it should be."
"Of course." Klavason covered his heart with his right hand and bowed slightly, "Big Chief, this is a miracle brought by Rurik. I am just a craftsman."
"Oh, you are so humble."
"No." Klavason shook his head: "If it weren't for Rurik, how would we have seen such a huge transparent container that is as clean as water?"
Are you starting to brag about business again? Rurik is a little unhappy: "Blacksmith, stop talking nonsense. The good wine is here, let's get started quickly."
"Okay!" Klavasen approached Otto: "Rurik is determined to start, what about us next?"
"Let's begin!" As the leader, Otto impatiently issued the most critical order.
The reason why craft beer is craft beer is that its alcohol content is higher. In order to achieve a higher alcohol content, in addition to continuous fermentation, local residents unexpectedly found a unique way.
According to traditional Nordic brewing techniques, oats or rye can generally brew ale with five degrees of alcohol. If you want to brew a higher alcohol content, there is an effective but demanding method.
Northern Europe is often very cold in winter. Even if it is adjacent to the Baltic Sea, the temperature can drop to minus 20 degrees at night in winter.
Some families who are addicted to winemaking accidentally put the wooden barrels for storing wine outdoors. When they planned to drink, they found a lump of ice in the barrel.
This ice lump has no alcoholic taste at all. It is just like a piece of ice, separate from the snow that can be seen everywhere.
People drank the unfrozen portion and experienced a distinctly spicy taste.
Because the freezing point of alcohol is much lower than that of water, it became the earliest antifreeze that humans could come into contact with and use.
Even if it is only five-degree ale, its overall freezing point is lowered a lot because of the presence of this alcohol. Even if it freezes, the water inside freezes first, which results in the passive and continuous concentration of alcohol.
One way to make craft ale is to freeze it, thereby passively concentrating the alcohol, but the technical conditions for operating this method are really harsh.
Anyway, we are trying to get rid of the water in the wine. The freezing method is not as smooth as the distillation method.
In fact, it’s just that the effective distillation technology has not spread to Northern Europe. Now times have changed!
The first still in Northern Europe built for distilling liquor was born, and it is about to be put into production. Its first appearance is amazing, because the core body of this set of stills is still two large glass bottles!
Rurik even believed that these two glass bottles were the largest glassware in the human world in this time and space.
Otto himself poured the turbid and yellow ale through a funnel into the first glass bottle.
The actual volume of the so-called "large glass bottle" is not large, only about four liters. To make such a glass bottle, does it cost Lilia the twenty glasses she worked so hard to make? The problem lies in the inadequacy of glass processing technology.
To mature, the walls of the bottle must be very thick. It has been annealed and Rurik has no worries about it cracking.
The distillation process was still directed by Rurik himself.
On the gravel floor inside the blacksmith shop, a brand new small stove was suddenly built.
The stones built a platform, and the glass bottle containing the ale was placed on it, and the slow-burning charcoal was placed under the bottle.
Currently, the bottle filled with ale is open, and this is Rurik's intention.
The early distillation equipment was like this, but no one would use glass containers for distillation. It wasn't that they didn't want to do it, it was just that they simply couldn't make a container with a volume of up to four liters using only the traditional technique of glass blowing.
Glass bottles. Besides, the craft of glassblowing has been lost in Western Europe, and only Eastern Rome still retains it.
Distilling ordinary ale strives to produce high-purity alcohol. It is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process, in which the control of temperature is the most critical.
If he had a reliable thermometer, Rurik felt that his work would go more smoothly.
Although he does not have this magical equipment, he still has his own advantage - knowledge.
"The evaporation temperature of methanol is low, only about 75°C? I touched this temperature a little with my hand. The evaporation temperature of ethanol is higher. The only thing I can determine now is the evaporation temperature of water..."
The toxicity of methanol is too strong, and distillation cannot be done well. If there is too much methanol left, and if you drink it, you will burn too much, and you may not die. It can be said that fake wine is harmful to people.
Rurik had already thought of a trick, and he had already started trying it.
The burning charcoal began to heat the large bottle filled with ale. Through the basically transparent glass wall, everyone could clearly see the changes in the contents inside.
Initially, the bottle is simply heated.
Its narrow curved bottleneck is always open. As the heating continues, the aroma of wine overflows in the blacksmith shop!
"Ah! I never thought of this. If I just smell this aroma, I am very happy." Otto sighed to himself. If the aroma of wine was not intoxicating, who would be so happy to drink ale?
Rurik looked calm, and his big eyes continued to observe the situation at the mouth of the bottle and even the changes in the ale inside the bottle.
Until the wine in the bottle starts to bubble.
Klavasen has been looking at it with his hands behind his back for a long time. Didn't we agree to distill it? It seems that Rurik is still just cooking wine.
He couldn't help frowning and asked: "Is it time? Rurik, when will the other bottle be activated?"
"hold on."
"How long will it take?" Otto asked impatiently.
Rurik looked at the people around him. Since everyone had no idea about distilled liquor, they had no choice but to be spectators. He also saw the heated bottle. The bottom of the bottle had been blackened by charcoal fire. He was looking at the wine inside.
There are really more and more bubbles.
At this moment, the aroma of wine was already overflowing in the room. When he put his nose close to the curved but open mouth of the bottle, all he smelled was the intoxicating aroma.
The wall of the bottle was already covered with fumes, and there was also the deliberately curved bottle mouth, which was deliberately bent into a very small chamber for storing liquid. Rurik took a closer look, and it seemed that the chamber had already stored liquid.
A little liquid.
He put his index finger into the mouth of the bottle, and a continuous stream of enthusiasm surged out. It must be said that the gas was extremely hot and humid. It seemed that as long as he left his finger for a while, a large number of water droplets would adhere to his fingertips. But the heat was really strong.
, if your fingers are left for a longer time, it will cause terrible burns.
His fingertips touched the chamber, and his fingers hurriedly scratched the inside of the bottleneck.
Then, take out your fingers and suck them with your mouth.
The moment his tongue touched his finger, his whole expression changed completely.
"Rurik, are you like this?!" Otto keenly noticed the change in his son's expression, and his whole body became tense.
"Is there something abnormal again?" Klavason also asked.
Rurik didn't speak for a moment. He changed another finger and continued to poke into the neck of the bottle, rubbing the moist "breath" and then licking it with the tip of his tongue.
After trying it twice in a row, he felt that the spicy feeling in his mouth was not an illusion.
It's wine! And it's a wine that's obviously spicy.
And that narrow chamber, the little stuff stored in it is simply a high degree of wine!
Unexpectedly, my first experiment based on the theory I had was successful?!
More than that! Rurik felt that he had allowed the bottle to continue to pour out the alcohol smell. The bad methanol in the ale had probably evaporated away, and even his action was full. Due to the huge water content of the ale, there were more and more bubbles.
The entire bottle of ale is getting closer and closer to the boiling point, and the alcohol you need is actually evaporating quickly.
Because of his hesitation, part of the precious alcohol has filled the entire room. Everyone was full of praise for the stronger aroma of wine than before, and even Kawei's mother, who was sewing leather in the living room, was attracted to come out and act as a substitute.
Spectators.
Rurik stamped his feet vigorously and ordered loudly: "Now, let's close the stopper. The rest of the time is to wait for the copper pipe to condense! We still have charcoal, and continue to burn the bottle."
After Rurik finished speaking, he personally inserted the cork with the copper tube into the twisted mouth of the bottle.
In this way, the heated bottle was sealed. In order to ensure the sealing, Rurik also stuffed a piece of soft leather. After this operation, the increasingly hot alcohol vapor was mixed with some water vapor, and the mixed vapor entered the heat dissipation system.
Rapid condensation began in the excellent copper tube.
The good heat dissipation and heat absorption of copper tubes also make it an important component of air conditioners. It may not be the best condenser tube, but it is undoubtedly the most cost-effective. People a thousand years later will need it more and more in order to
In the scorching summer heat, use condensate to save your life.
The condensation process of the mixed vapor of alcohol and water in the copper tube is almost instantaneous. No, when the distillation bottle assembly was completed in Rurik's hands, after a while, the outlet of the copper tube was already ticking crystal "water drops"
”.
Is it really a drop of water?
Of course not. Rurik had already felt the magical spicy sensation just now. It seemed that it was not the fragility of his body that made him less tolerant to stimulation such as spicy sensations.
The source of spiciness is alcohol, and its spiciness gives Rurik the same feeling he once had.
To put it figuratively, it’s like taking a sip of Jiutou wine with a temperature of 72°, which is even more powerful than Erguotou!
Maybe, you should collect the vaporous wine and light a fire. As long as it can burn, it will be a real success.