kscans

Chapter 139 - What was Born from a Barrel 3. Wine Again

Having finished the distillation, first and second runs, and storage of the brandy, Yuri turned his eyes to the remaining wine barrels. The portion remaining here was the amount he had purchased under the pretext of being a condiment and for drinking. It was high in sweetness, and its alcohol content was, by Yuri's standards, somewhat low, but even so, in this country, it was in the category of a fine liquor. However, Yuri did not intend to drink all of it as it was.

"Yeah, it's definitely high in sugar. ...Which means, if I let it sit in the barrel for a year, I wonder if the yeast will use the remaining sugar to advance the fermentation?"

If the yeast had been killed by pasteurization, he couldn't have such expectations, but when he checked with Appraisal, it seemed that it had not been pasteurized. That was probably why the alcohol didn't keep for long, but for the current Yuri, it was convenient.

"For now, I'll let one barrel sit as it is for about a year... and for the rest, I'll try to set some aside for bottle aging."

The shape of wine bottles had changed with the times, and had eventually settled on the shape he had seen in his past life. In short, that shape was the optimal one. So Yuri crisply created wine bottles in the familiar shape. He had become completely accustomed to making things using magic. Rather, he was concerned that his magic was becoming specialized in a strange direction. Cork stoppers were indispensable for the wine bottles of his past life, but fortunately, Yuri had collected a cork-like bark in the forest. He hadn't had much opportunity to use it until now, but if it was going to be used as a wine stopper, the bark itself would surely be happy. He hadn't seen a corkscrew for opening them in Laurenzen either, but he knew what it looked like, and if it became necessary, he could just make one himself.

"Alright. Now I just have to bottle it."

Yuri, with a skill that was hard to believe for a twelve-year-old beginner, deftly went about bottling the wine. He proceeded with the bottling work with single-minded focus, and when he came to, there were about fifty bottles lined up.

"...Did I overdo it? ...Well, it's bad for my body to drink so much so often... and the amount that's left will surely be enough..."

It seemed he was more concerned about whether the remaining amount would last until next spring. This was not something a twelve-year-old should be thinking about. In any case, he decided to just open a bottled one if he ran out.

"Ah... and before that... I have to sterilize the bottled portion to kill the yeast..."

If left as it was, there was a risk that the microorganisms such as yeast remaining in the bottle would proceed with their reactions on their own, and the quality would deteriorate. Therefore, it was necessary to perform a pasteurization treatment such as heating... but this time, he dealt with it by throwing it into Storage without setting it to chilled. It was a bit of a trick that took advantage of the fact that living things cannot be stored in Storage, but this time it seemed he disliked the change in quality due to heat treatment more than the trouble.

"And now to store this... in a wine cellar or something, they line the bottles up on a shelf slightly tilted so the mouth of the bottle is facing down, right..."

There was no such shelf.

Since there wasn't one, he had no choice but to make one, but...

"The problem is, I don't have much spare wood either."

Even though he had purchased a considerable amount in Laurenzen, a fair amount was also consumed in repairing the houses. In addition, it was used for this and that, various small things, and as a result, the amount remaining was by no means large. If he considered preparing for an emergency, it would be better not to touch the remaining wood.

"...In that case... I guess I have no choice but to make it out of particle board this time..."

Fortunately, he had a decent stock of particle board made from Kenfa heartwood. Since it was particle board, it couldn't be used for structural members, but it should have been usable for something like a bookshelf.

"I'd rather not have an ending where the shelf breaks, the bottles fall, they break, and the contents are ruined... but there's no other way... at worst, it can just be a stopgap until I buy wood in Laurenzen next spring..."

And so, the adoption of particle board was decided. If he cut it with a normal saw, he felt that it would crumble from the cut surface, so the production was all done with wood magic. With Wood Deformation, it was over in an instant.

"In exchange, the finish is something I can't show in public... but, oh well."

He would probably never be guiding others into his cellar or the like. In that case, this was sufficient.

"...Just in case, I'll reinforce the board. Can I use Wood Strengthening... yes, it's fine."

He confirmed that the appraisal result was "Reinforced Particle Board," and was relieved to see in its description a note that said "...has a rigidity comparable to hardwood...." With this, it would be able to support fifty or a hundred wine bottles with ease. Whether it was okay to be relieved about having made such a thing was doubtful, however.

"I've placed support boards in the middle of the shelves, so I don't think I have to worry about the boards sagging. I'll be coming to check on the aging process from time to time anyway, so I'll just check the condition of the shelves then."

Thus, a section of the basement of Yuri's house had its job changed to that of a wine cellar.