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**LBussy** · 02-16-2013, 11:49 PM

Went looking for the yeast today - struck out but I found a "Red Rice Ale". Posted pics here in the beer forum: What the Heck is This?

trbig · 02-17-2013, 12:06 AM

Opened up one of the packages of yeast balls I have, and even with the other added ingredients, all I smell is yeast. We shall see. I'll keep you informed on the smell, since I won't be popping the top to look.

nhamilto40 · 02-17-2013, 01:59 AM

For those having difficulty finding yeast balls locally I recommend ImportFood. My nearest asian store is a 200 mile round trip.

They ship small items via Priority Mail even though their site shows Fedex. Here is my invoice (3*10 balls).

Qty Name SKU Each Sub Total
------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 Dried Yeast Balls, 4 oz nrhf0401 $4.50 $13.50
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub Total $13.50
Shipping: Fedex Ground $6.75
Grand Total $20.25

trbig · 02-17-2013, 03:04 AM

Well, after pulverizing the yeast balls in the coffee grinder.. I'm confident that there is NOW WAY that those things were meant to be eaten. Not a nice smelling yeast, but yeast it is.

For those that don't have a steamer, my method seemed to work nicely. Again:

6 cups Jasmine rice
6 cups sweet Glutinous rice
12 yeast balls

In a 12 qt stainless steel pot, I initially soaked the rice for 8 hours in 14 cups of water after rinsing. As I began heating the water/rice, stirring constantly, and the rice began swelling, I would eat a little bit of the rice to test for a soft center. I ended up using 22 cups of water, and when it became tough to stir due to little water left and the water getting hot, I turned off the heat and covered with a lid. Nearly two hours later, it was still too hot to pitch the yeast. So.. the pot went into a cool water bath for @ 15 minutes, and that did the trick to cool it down. Probably should have stopped the process sooner with the water bath. I had a nice pot full of sticky gooey white stuff with nice kernels of jasmine rice embedded in it. I filled my brewing bucket with a layer, then would sprinkle yeast all over the top, then stab with a spatula over and over all over to incorporate the yeast into the rice. Then another layer, etc.. Seems like a rice ball for every cup of rice is WAY overkill on the yeast, but maybe it will help it get going quicker. Total of all the rice filled @ 2/3 of a 3 1/2 gallon brewing bucket.

Stuck a lid and an air lock on it and will check it again in 21 days. The house stays about 68 degrees, do you recommend 21 days or the full 28? Once I pull the lid off, I won't put it back on, so what's the general consensus? I'd like some wine, preferably on the sweet side, not dry.

**Leadgolem** · 02-17-2013, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trbig

...Also.. the red yeast rice. The oriental store didn't have any, but the local Health Food store says they carry it. I plan on getting some just pulverizing it and the yeast balls in a coffee grinder...

Quote:

Originally Posted by trbig

...I went to the health food store and the red yeast rice is a no-go. What they had was pills of it in capsules. The lady said, "You could just break the caplets open and use them?" But the bottle of caplets was $34.. so I decided to pass on that. I guess I'll just try to use what I have and if it doesn't work, I'm out a whole $6 between the yeast balls and the rice...

I believe the red yeast rice that is available as a dietary supplement has been deliberately sterilized, so it probably wouldn't work.

Friedclutch · 02-17-2013, 07:38 AM

I just got my yeast balls in the mail from import food.com. They had the yeast to my door in a few days here in Sacramento. Check out this link that import food.com has.

http://importfood.com/recipes/khaomahk.html

I had already made my batch before I saw the link. I used 4 cups of sushi rice boiled like the bag says. Used 2 whole yeast balls smashed up in a 1 gallon jar. We shall see what happens!

Edit.. Note that they say to only use half a yeast ball per 4 cups of rice. I used 2 whole balls. I will report my findings. For now my batch is 1 day old and in my fermenter chamber set to 65 deg f.

**LBussy** · 02-17-2013, 02:05 PM

So ... I realize one of the compelling things about sonofgrok's OP was the ease with which this is created. As a Homebrewer I am very likely to make that more difficult.

To that end I have been thinking:

Assumption:

The molds are responsible for breaking up the solids to allow the enzymes to work on the starches.
Once liberated from the solid matrix, the sugars will be fermented in a "normal" manner by the yeast
Yeast will flow from the solid pile with the liquid and be held in suspension
Separation from solids seems to be the part which most folks in this thread have some divergent beliefs
Too much moisture seems anecdotally to be a bad thing, supporting "bad" mold growth
If one eliminates the need to separate the liquor from solids, this whole thing would be "easier"

Hypothesis:
If the initial rice ball is held suspended over a false bottom, or even in the strainer bag from the beginning, it will facilitate later extraction and provide a more beneficial habitat for the critters: just damp for the good mold and suspended in liquid for the yeast. The liquid will continuously drop out of the solid mass, to be fermented in teh bottom area.

Of course I've not tried this yet but this sort of thread gets a guy (or gal) thinking.

Ostomo517 · 02-17-2013, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LBussy

So ... I realize one of the compelling things about sonofgrok's OP was the ease with which this is created. As a Homebrewer I am very likely to make that more difficult.

To that end I have been thinking:

Assumption:
[*]The molds are responsible for breaking up the solids to allow the enzymes to work on the starches.[*]Once liberated from the solid matrix, the sugars will be fermented in a "normal" manner by the yeast[*]Yeast will flow from the solid pile with the liquid and be held in suspension[*]Separation from solids seems to be the part which most folks in this thread have some divergent beliefs[*]Too much moisture seems anecdotally to be a bad thing, supporting "bad" mold growth[*]If one eliminates the need to separate the liquor from solids, this whole thing would be "easier"

Hypothesis:
If the initial rice ball is held suspended over a false bottom, or even in the strainer bag from the beginning, it will facilitate later extraction and provide a more beneficial habitat for the critters: just damp for the good mold and suspended in liquid for the yeast. The liquid will continuously drop out of the solid mass, to be fermented in teh bottom area.

Of course I've not tried this yet but this sort of thread gets a guy (or gal) thinking.

Sounds to me like way more of a PITA than it should be

**LBussy** · 02-17-2013, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ostomo517

Sounds to me like way more of a PITA than it should be

Right, because making beer and wine is easier than buying it.

**WesleyS** · 02-17-2013, 04:05 PM

It's interesting to watch how this stuff progresses. After two days, the top of the rice was coated in a white fluffy fuzz with tiny black dots in the fuzz around a few bigger chunks of yeast ball that didn't crush up all the way to powder. I'm assuming this is from the fungus/enzymes that are responsible for liquifying the rice and converting to sugar. Te liquifying continued and the only smell coming from the jars was a pleasing sweet rice, vanilla smell. There was a little sign of C02 production, but not much. Today is day 10. I checked on it and now the fuzz is gone and there are a lot of bubbles coming from the liquid in the bottom. I would say the yeast has taken over now. For the first time, now, I can smell alcohol from the jars as well. I haven't sampled any yet because I don't want to open up the jars needlessly. I'm really looking forward to trying this stuff.