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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Jimo District, Qingdao, Shandong, China

Jimo laojiu (Jimo huangjiu, millet huangjiu)即墨老酒

Jimo laojiu is a northern Chinese huangjiu brewed from broomcorn millet instead of rice. The soaked millet is cooked for 90 minutes until it scorches without burning, then saccharified with wheat qu and fermented with yeast for 5 to 10 days. Its burnt, smoky aroma comes mainly from pyrazines and phenols. Made in 8 steps over 37 days – 42 days. The longest step, age in tanks or pottery jars, takes at least 30 days (China National Intellectual Property Administ…). Aspergillus and Rhizopus moulds in Jimo wheat qu and Saccharomyces yeast do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysSet[cnipa494]Age in tanks or pottery jars
Temperature35–40 °CSet[cnipa494]Soak the millet
AciditypH 3.5–4.5Set[cnipa494]Blend, filter, pasteurise and fill
Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks37 days – 42 daysChinese geographical indication product, Jimo huangjiu (CNIPA announcement No. 494, 2022)Family: Shaoxing huangjiu, Yuanhong (dry); base flow for Shaoxing winesMore alcoholic drinksMore from China

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe Jimo huangjiu GI specification sets the materials and the process, not the amounts.
Broomcorn millet (黍米) · Grown in the production area or in China's northern cold-temperate zone, grade 2 or better under GB/T 13356[cnipa494]
Water · Deep well water from the north foot of Mount Lao, wells at least 30 m deep, hardness 240–400 mg/L[cnipa494]
Wheat qu · Made from the same year's wheat by crushing, shaping and fermenting[cnipa494]
Yeast · Added for the fermentation[cnipa494]
Starter: koji/qu/mold-starter (wheat qu) plus yeast

Total time across the recorded steps: 37 days – 42 days

Start
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Close-up: water moving into a grain35–40 °C

What changes: Broomcorn millet soaks in warm water for a day

Step 1 of 8
Soak the millet
Time
at least 24 h
Set
Temperature
35–40 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Yeasts
Aspergillus
Rhizopus
Saccharomyces

The millet is rinsed afterwards until the water runs clear of starch. Output: soaked millet.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Jimo laojiu is brewed from broomcorn millet instead of glutinous rice, and the millet is cooked for 90 minutes until it scorches. Pyrazines and phenols are the key odorants behind the burnt, smoky aroma that sets it apart from the rice wines of Shaoxing, and the pyrazines are thought to form during that long, hot cooking.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Semi-sweet typeGolden or yellow-brown, total sugar 40.1–100.0 g/L, fermented 8–10 days at 25–28 °C.
  • Sweet typeRed-brown, total sugar over 100.0 g/L, fermented 5–7 days at 28–34 °C.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Jimo huangjiu was approved as a geographical indication product by China's national intellectual property office on 20 July 2022.

  1. [cnipa494] China National Intellectual Property Administration 2022, Announcement No. 494, annex 2, Protection requirements for the geographical indication product Jimo huangjiu (即墨黄酒地理标志产品保护要求)gov
  2. [yu2026] Yu H., Zheng S., Chen L. et al. 2026, Characterization of key odorants in Jimo Huangjiu using a characteristic aroma-directed screening strategy, Foods 15:1111paper
  3. [cao2022] Cao Y., Xia Q., Chen J., Jin Z., Aniya 2022, Understanding of microbial diversity in three representative Qu in China and characterization of the volatile compounds in the corresponding Chinese rice wine, LWT 164 (abstract)paper