Rise of Rurik

To make oversized glassware, the ancient technique of blowing glass has become obsolete.

Large-scale glassware is mainly die-casting, and the molten glass subjected to such processing also has various additives in order to prevent the glass from cracking during the die-casting process.

Making glass is inherently difficult technical work, and Rurik dared not expect Clavasson's technology, let alone his own theories. Now his biggest advantage over his craftsmen is his innate knowledge. With knowledge, what remains is constant trial and error in order to achieve your goals at the current state of the art.

So as many as twenty glasses, which Lilia laboriously made, became the raw material. The girl has some regrets. She planned to make a batch of glassware and hand it over to her family. She is very smart at a young age. She knows that her creations can quickly bring a considerable amount of income to the people in her hometown.

Although it is a pity, in addition to these ready-made finished glassware, there are too few surplus raw materials, and it is a waste of time to mine and deploy raw materials.

Rurik was grateful for Lilia's sacrifice.

However, Lilia is regretful. If she can help her handsome future brother-in-law, she is very happy.

In a word, Rurik had always been devoted to cleaning himself, and since soap became widely available, his self-cleaning became more frequent. A clean little boy, how could a sixteen-year-old girl not like him? Besides, the child is already a family member.

In addition, Lilia also wanted to witness a new miracle.

Twenty cups melted into a viscous molten glass, which became more plastic because of 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 work of blacksmithing.

Clavason, who oversaw the melting of the glass himself, shouted when the time was right, "It's about to begin. Kavey, get ready!"

Immediately afterwards, Kravassen, wearing thick leather gloves, hooked the red cauldron with huge tongs. He carried this extremely hot bucket and hurried to the die-casting machine.

Lilia, who was wearing a leather apron, was dumbfounded by the onlookers. Also surprised were Rurik, 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 for this, and everything else can only be made up by his brain.

now what? The bronze mortar preheated by Kawei was poured into a large amount of molten glass by Kravason.

The fast-eyed Kawei hurry up,

When his father took the basically empty crucible away, he grabbed the huge lever with both arms and pressed it down with all his strength.

Solid shipbuilding oak levers draw an arc in the space, a set of wooden mechanical structures that translates into the vertical force of bronze punches.

Even though the bronze mortar has been preheated, the hot glass liquid is still rapidly cooling down. Kawei didn't waste much time. He pressed the steel rod with all his strength, and the punch was completely immersed in the glass liquid, so that a lot of the viscous glass liquid had overflowed and even fell to the ground. The next step was to wait.

Due to the principle of thermal expansion and contraction, Rurik didn't wait long. The glass had cooled to the point where it lost its bright red heat, and it had become transparent throughout, that is, its heat was enough to quickly cook a piece of meat.

When it had cooled to the point where a craftsman wearing leather gloves could touch it, Kawei carefully put down the hot bronze mortar. The glassware was taken out very easily.

To prevent it from cracking as it cools, the glassware is deliberately designed with thicker walls. It still needs an annealing treatment to completely remove the stress that causes cracking. Until then, Kravassen still has to work on it further.

Melting twenty ordinary glasses, Rurik initially completed the first large glassware.

He needed two large containers, and Lilia had to keep making sacrifices.

However, these sacrifices are all worth it.

Beside the fire, Kravassen locally heats the large glassware. The glass began to heat up again, and this time it was Kravassen who stretched the mouth of the bottle to give it the strange shape that Rurik wanted.

It will be machined into glass bottles, which theoretically can be machined very thinly. Rurik couldn't expect the Kravassen family to master the superb craftsmanship in an instant. The thick walls of the two large bottles also made it possible for the bottles to be stretched further.

Because of the addition of a lot of lead oxide, the glass bottle is actually a little black.

Originally a huge wide mouth, it was processed by Cravatson's constant mouth, and finally, it turned into a narrow mouth bottle.

In other words, the two bottles have become something like a "pot-bellied and long-necked vase".

With the bottle neck being deliberately bent and the annealing completed, the most critical equipment of the still is finished.

The two bottles were on the ground, and Clavasson was covered in sweat, and his old face was filled with the joy of success.

"Rurik, what do you do now? You seem to be pouring wine into the bottle?"

"correct."

"Where's the wine?" asked Clavason breathlessly.

"I have discussed it with my father, and I have prepared a barrel of craft ale."

"That's fine, I thought I'd need to buy the wine myself. Then just pour the wine into the bottle, and then what?"

The principles and techniques of distillation cannot be explained in a few words.

Rurik inspected the two bottles as usual. In addition to lamenting the level of an old friend, he also sighed that this guy might as well be a professional glass craftsman. He is even more regretful. If Kravassen did not live in such an ancient and wild era, but lived more than a thousand years later, such a talented person with strong hands-on ability must be a person with extreme theoretical and practical skills. Excellent national engineer.

National engineer?

Clavatson is indeed an engineer of the Roth clan.

In this way, the stills and collection bottles of the distiller are ready, and the "long neck" that is deliberately bent is the key to the condensation of alcohol vapor.

A special copper tube was also made by Kravassen, which connected the two bottles, and the gap between them was filled with leather or linen.

The time was until August 8th, and on this day, Rurik was sure that the still he requested was ready.

And on this day, Rurik didn't come by himself. Otto, the big leader of the Ross tribe, also took his own wine barrel with great interest and went to Kravasen to watch the wonders.

Otto, he was completely moved when he heard his son's dancing explanation. After all, he heard that there is some "peerless wine from Valhalla" that can be enjoyed by himself who is still in the world. Why not?

Presumably this is the "wisdom of God" that the son has acquired.

The leader Otto came to visit, and Kravason only respected him, but never had any fear of him.

Lilia was different. After all, she had seen the violent side of the Ross leader in her hometown, and she couldn't help feeling awe.

But when she saw her father-in-law and husband, who could chat and laugh with the leader in a friendly manner, her nervousness also faded.

Otto put the wine barrel he was holding on the ground, and habitually pulled his son to his side, rubbing Rurik's little head.

However, what shocked the senior leader the most was the two large bottles connected by a copper pipe.

Otto! He had never imagined that such a huge and completely transparent container could exist in the world. In addition to being excited, he could not help pinching his son's small face with both hands, causing Rurik to deform.

"Rurik, this is your... your new baby? Made of pure crystal?"

"Dad...you let go! My face is already..."

Otto hurriedly put his hand away, and immediately asked Kravason, who was about to laugh: "My friend, you made these according to my son's request? It should be like this."

"Of course." Clavasson covered his heart with his right hand and bowed slightly, "Boss, this is a miracle brought by Rurik, I'm just a craftsman."

"Oh, you are humble."

"No." Clavasson shook his head: "If it weren't for Rurik, how would we have seen such a huge transparent container as clean as water?"

Started business blowing each other again? Rurik was a little unhappy: "Blacksmith, don't talk nonsense. The good wine is here, let's start quickly."

"Good Le!" Clavasson approached Otto: "Rurik is determined to start, next us?"

"Let's start!" Otto, the leader, impatiently issued the most crucial order.

Craft ale, the reason why it is craft brew, is that it has a higher alcohol content. For the higher content, in addition to continuous fermentation, local residents have unexpectedly found a unique way. .

According to traditional Nordic brewing techniques, oats or rye can generally be brewed with 5% alcohol. If you want to brew higher alcohol, there is an effective but harsh method.

Northern Europe is often very cold in winter, even if it is adjacent to the Baltic Sea, it is possible for the temperature to drop to minus 20 degrees at night in winter.

Some families who are addicted to winemaking accidentally put their wine barrels outdoors, but when they plan to drink, they find a lump of ice in the wine barrel.

This ice lump has no alcohol smell at all, it is like a piece of ice, and it does not come with the snow that can be seen everywhere.

People drank the leftover unfrozen portion, and as a result experienced a distinctly spicy taste.

Because the freezing point of alcohol is much lower than that of water, it has become the earliest antifreeze that humans can touch and use.

Even if it's only a fifth-degree ale, because of the presence of this alcohol, its overall freezing point has dropped a lot. Even if it freezes, the water in it freezes first, resulting in the continuous concentration of alcohol passively.

One way to make craft ale is to freeze, so as to passively achieve concentrated alcohol, but the technical conditions to operate this are really harsh.

Anyway, they are trying to get rid of the water in the wine, how can the freezing method be as smooth as the distillation method.

In fact, it's just that the effective distillation technology has not spread to northern Europe, and now the times have changed!

The first Nordic still for distilling spirits is born, and it is about to go into production. Its debut is amazing, because the core body of this distiller 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 cloudy 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 in a mere amount of time, does it cost Lilia twenty glasses to make? The problem is the immaturity of glass processing technology, the walls of the bottle must be very thick. It had been annealed, and Rurik had no fear of cracking.

The process of distillation was still directed by Rurik himself.

Just in the sandy ground inside the blacksmith shop, a brand new small stove was built by surprise.

The stones formed a platform on which the glass bottles of ale were placed, and below the bottles were placed slow-burning charcoal blocks.

Currently, the bottle of ale is left open, which Rurik intends to do.

This was the case with the early distilling equipment, except that no one would use glass containers for distillation. In fact, it's not that they don't want to do it, it's just that they can't make a glass bottle with a volume of up to four liters using only the traditional technique of blowing glass. Besides, the craft of glass blowing is now lost in Western Europe, and only Eastern Rome still retains it.

Distilling ordinary ale to produce high-purity alcohol is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process, in which temperature is the most critical.

With a reliable thermometer, Rurik felt that his work would be smoother.

Nai He doesn't have this magical device, but he still has his own advantage - knowledge.

"The evaporation temperature of methanol is low, about 75°C? This temperature is slightly touched by my hand. The evaporation temperature of ethanol is higher. The only thing I can be sure of now is the evaporation temperature of water..."

The toxicity of methanol is too strong, and the distillation of soil burning is not good. If there is too much methanol residue and drinking too much soil burning, I am afraid that it will not die. It can be said that fake wine is harmful.

Rurik had already thought of a routine, and he had already started to try it.

The burning charcoal began to heat the large bottle filled with ale, and through the largely transparent glass walls, everyone could see the changes in the contents.

Once opened, the bottle is simply heated.

Its narrow, curved neck is always open, and as the heat continues, the blacksmith shop smells of wine!

"Ah! I never thought of this, if I just smell this aroma, I'm very happy." Otto sighed to himself, if it weren't for the intoxicating aroma of the wine, who would be so loyal to drinking ale?

Rurik's face was calm, and his big eyes continued to observe the situation at the mouth of the bottle, and even the changes in the ale in the bottle.

Until the wine in the bottle starts to bubble.

Clavason has been watching for a long time with his hands behind his back, didn't he say good distillation? It seemed that Rurik was still simply cooking wine.

He frowned and asked, "Is it time? Rurik, when will the other bottle be activated?"

"hold on."

"When will you wait?" Otto asked impatiently.

Rurik looked at the people around him. Because everyone had no concept of distilled spirits, they had to be a spectator at the moment. He saw the heated bottle again. The bottom of the bottle had been blackened by charcoal fire. Looking at the wine inside, the bubbles were really increasing.

At this moment, the room was already full of wine aroma, and when he put his nose close to the twisted but open mouth of the bottle, all he could smell were intoxicating aromas.

The walls of the bottle are already full of breath, and there is this deliberately curved bottle mouth, which is deliberately bent to have a very small chamber for storing liquid. Rurik took a closer look and saw that a little liquid had been stored in the chamber.

He put his index finger into the mouth of the bottle, and a continuous enthusiasm spurted out. I have to say that the gas is really hot and humid. It seems that as long as the finger is placed for a while, a lot of water droplets will adhere to the fingertips. It's just that the heat is really strong, and if the fingers are placed for a longer time, that is a terrible burn.

His fingertips touched the chamber, and his fingers hurriedly scratched the inside of the bottle neck.

Then, pull out your fingers and suck in your mouth.

The moment his tongue touched his finger, his expression changed completely.

"Rurik, are you like this?!" Otto keenly noticed the change in his son's expression, and his whole body was also tense.

"Is there something unusual?" Klavathon also asked.

Rurik didn't speak for a while, he changed another finger, and continued to poke into the neck of the bottle, licking 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 clearly spicy wine.

And that narrow chamber, the little thing stored in it is simply a high-level liquor!

Can't imagine that your first experiment based on the theory you have will be successful? !

More than that! Rurik felt that he allowed the bottle to keep gushing out the alcohol, and the bad methanol in the ale was estimated to have evaporated long ago, and even his actions were full. Getting closer and closer to the boiling point, the alcohol he needs is actually evaporating quickly.

Because of his own hesitation, a part of the precious alcohol has permeated the whole room. Everyone was full of praise for the wine, which was far stronger than ever, and even attracted Kavey's mother, who was sewing leather in the living room, as a spectator.

Rurik stomped his feet vigorously, and ordered loudly: "Right now, we will close the stopper. The rest of the time is to wait for the copper tube to condense! And the charcoal, continue to boil the bottle."

After Rurik finished speaking, it was he who personally shoved the cork with the copper tube into the twisting mouth of the bottle.

In this way, the heated bottle was sealed, and Rurik stuffed it with a piece of soft leather to ensure the seal. After this operation, the increasingly hot alcohol vapor mixed with part of the water vapor, and the mixed vapor entered the copper tube with excellent heat dissipation and began to condense rapidly.

The good heat dissipation and heat absorption properties of copper pipes also make it an important construction of air conditioners. It may not be the best condenser tube, but it is undoubtedly the most cost-effective. After a thousand years, people need it more and more to save their lives with condensate in the hot summer.

The condensation process of the mixed steam 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 with crystal "water droplets". ".

Is it really water droplets?

of course not. Rurik had already felt the magical spicy body sensation just now, and it seemed that it was not his own body at all, which made him have a poor tolerance for stimuli such as spicy sensations.

The source of spiciness is alcohol, and its spiciness makes Rurik feel that way.

Figuratively speaking, it is like taking a sip of 72° wine head wine, which is more powerful than the feeling of Erguotou!

Perhaps, I should collect the wine in the steam state and light a fire. As long as it can burn, that is the real success.