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ARL Vs Small Vietnamese Yeast

So here is my side by side of the above yeast. I used Mahatma jasmine rice I purchased from the local supermarket. Both were cooked using 6 cups of rice to 9 cups of water on the stove, or 1:1.5 ratio rice:water. I allowed them to cool overnight on a sheet pan in my oven and pitched 1 full packet of ARL and then pitched 12 small VM yeast balls or one full packet on the other batch. Both were fermented in 2 gallon white food grade buckets and covered with a towel to minimize light. The were placed at room temp, average 74°F.

As you can see from the pics, the ARL batches rice did not seem as liquefied. There was more solid mass and unbroken down rice in the ARL batch. The VM batch was much more soupy and the rice was broken down to a near porridge.

The smell from both was different. The ARL batch had a somewhat fruity smell. It lacked the heavy alcohol smell, but you could tell there was some there. I would call the smell of this batch pleasant. The smell of the VM batch smelled noticeably hotter. It wasn't quite rocket fuel, but damn near. Neither batch had a hint of a sour note to them.

The yield from the ARL batch was 60oz while the yield from the VM batch was 56oz. Both looked identical. I put 72 oz of water in to start with.

The taste of the ARL was similar to the smell. It tasted sweet and somewhat fruity, almost apple or pear like. It was very pleasant, but lacked the hotness I have grown accustomed to with some of these batches of rice wine. The flavor of the VM batch was exactly like it smelled. It was hot, and needs some time to mellow. It was drinkable, but a little age after pasteurization will do this one well. It was slightly sweet, but lacked much character.

Overall, the ARL made a much nicer and smoother rice wine. It did not produce near the alcohol level the VM did, but that's would made it much more drinkable. The ARL batch is drinkable now, while the VM batch may be used to mix and make my favorite apple pie rice wine.

I do have another batch working with arborio rice and the VM yeast balls. That was my best previous batch but the rice was aged. Guess we will see how this upcoming batch turns out.

Jak, thanks for ARL. If anybody is having a hard time finding it, he is on ebay. Good stuff!

IMG_20130830_224140_117.jpg


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IMG_20130830_231230_821.jpg
 
The one on the left looks like it's showing a layer of liquid at the bottom.
It's crazy how the bottom seems to drop out of the rice. That was 14 hours after I checked them and neither had dropped yet. 20 hours later they both have a liquid layer on the bottom.
 
...As you can see from the pics, the ARL batches rice did not seem as liquefied. There was more solid mass and unbroken down rice in the ARL batch. The VM batch was much more soupy and the rice was broken down to a near porridge...The yield from the ARL batch was 60oz while the yield from the VM batch was 56oz. Both looked identical. I put 72 oz of water in to start with...
Interesting that the ARL batch yielded higher, even though the apparent degree of saccharification was lower. It makes me wonder if the ARL has a tendency to work from the inside out, while the yeast balls tend to work from the outside in.
 
Interesting that the ARL batch yielded higher, even though the apparent degree of saccharification was lower. It makes me wonder if the ARL has a tendency to work from the inside out, while the yeast balls tend to work from the outside in.

That's very possible. I was surprised when I opened the lid for the ARL batch and saw what appeared to be solid rice. I thought that the batches yield would be somewhat reduced. I do think it has less alcohol. I think the ARL batch could have benefited with going longer, maybe 30 days or so. Might have picked up some more alcohol.
 
It is amazing to see how quickly this stuff separates and settles out after only 7hrs at room temperature.
 
I've brewed a few and fermented a few in the past but when I saw your post on making rice wine I thought...never---too simple. Well today was day 28 and my wife helped me empty 1 of my 2, 1 gallon batches of rice wine. After reading every post in this thread I can honestly say...EXCELLENT. Jasmine rice with the Chinese rice balls for 28 days and we both felt the burn, flavor was amazing. I have done wine before, and beer, but none of the yeasts I have used would yield this potent of an alcohol content, no I didn't measure it, I/we can feel it.

5 dry US cups Jasmine Rice
6 1/2 Cups water
Stove Top Rice Cooking Method
4 Chinese Rice Balls/Batch when Rice is Cool
1 Gallon Glass Anchor Jug with Cheese Cloth under Tight Lid
Left Alone in a Dark Cabinet @70-80 Deg F-Whatever PA Temps Were
28 Days
=AMAZING

Yield was 2-375 ml wine bottles plus a little for sampling from 1 batch. Currently in Fridge Cold Crashing...Warm was Excellent.

Tomorrow I'll be getting more Jasmine Rice from Wally World to start my next batches!

Thank you, Sonofgrok
 
I wonder what I am doing different than everybody else. My Chinese yeast with the jasmine rice is just too hot for me. Wish I could make it more drinkable. Wonder if the yeast differ.
 
I wonder what I am doing different than everybody else. My Chinese yeast with the jasmine rice is just too hot for me. Wish I could make it more drinkable. Wonder if the yeast differ.
Maybe you're just a little more sensitive to the more volatile alcohols? Have you tried aging any yet? Even a couple of months really takes the edge off the apparent alcohol.
 
Maybe you're just a little more sensitive to the more volatile alcohols? Have you tried aging any yet? Even a couple of months really takes the edge off the apparent alcohol.

That is very possible. Yes, I have 2 bottles that are going on 3 months after pasteurization. They have cleared and I racked them off of the sediment. The flavors are starting to round out and become more smooth.
 
ARL Vs Small Vietnamese Yeast

So here is my side by side of the above yeast. I used Mahatma jasmine rice I purchased from the local supermarket. Both were cooked using 6 cups of rice to 9 cups of water on the stove, or 1:1.5 ratio rice:water. I allowed them to cool overnight on a sheet pan in my oven and pitched 1 full packet of ARL and then pitched 12 small VM yeast balls or one full packet on the other batch. Both were fermented in 2 gallon white food grade buckets and covered with a towel to minimize light. The were placed at room temp, average 74°F.

As you can see from the pics, the ARL batches rice did not seem as liquefied. There was more solid mass and unbroken down rice in the ARL batch. The VM batch was much more soupy and the rice was broken down to a near porridge.

The smell from both was different. The ARL batch had a somewhat fruity smell. It lacked the heavy alcohol smell, but you could tell there was some there. I would call the smell of this batch pleasant. The smell of the VM batch smelled noticeably hotter. It wasn't quite rocket fuel, but damn near. Neither batch had a hint of a sour note to them.

The yield from the ARL batch was 60oz while the yield from the VM batch was 56oz. Both looked identical. I put 72 oz of water in to start with.

The taste of the ARL was similar to the smell. It tasted sweet and somewhat fruity, almost apple or pear like. It was very pleasant, but lacked the hotness I have grown accustomed to with some of these batches of rice wine. The flavor of the VM batch was exactly like it smelled. It was hot, and needs some time to mellow. It was drinkable, but a little age after pasteurization will do this one well. It was slightly sweet, but lacked much character.

Overall, the ARL made a much nicer and smoother rice wine. It did not produce near the alcohol level the VM did, but that's would made it much more drinkable. The ARL batch is drinkable now, while the VM batch may be used to mix and make my favorite apple pie rice wine.

I do have another batch working with arborio rice and the VM yeast balls. That was my best previous batch but the rice was aged. Guess we will see how this upcoming batch turns out.

Jak, thanks for ARL. If anybody is having a hard time finding it, he is on ebay. Good stuff!

Thanks for posting your experience. I consider home brewing to be an addiction and when it comes to experiments and their results, it just supercharges that addiction for me.

I've noticed that as well that the breakdown of the rice is less than other yeasts. I haven't let it go longer than 21 days though. 28-35 days will be my next experiment.
 
I wonder what I am doing different than everybody else. My Chinese yeast with the jasmine rice is just too hot for me. Wish I could make it more drinkable. Wonder if the yeast differ.

I had the same experience. I have 2 different packages of yeast balls (haven't found the VM yet) but so far both have proven to give me different results. What I mean is, when I experiment and find a result I like, I can't seem to get the same result when I try to replicate it. There are batches that come out tangy and some way too tart and some just right. I use the same ingredients, same amounts, same time and try to maintain the temps but, the end results are too unstable.

For me, that's one of the major advantages of using ARL. I've been able to replicate batches with consistent results.

TBB, what's your routine for apple pie rice wine? I seen and done an apple pie version with ever clear. Is it similar to that?
 
I had the same experience. I have 2 different packages of yeast balls (haven't found the VM yet) but so far both have proven to give me different results. What I mean is, when I experiment and find a result I like, I can't seem to get the same result when I try to replicate it. There are batches that come out tangy and some way too tart and some just right. I use the same ingredients, same amounts, same time and try to maintain the temps but, the end results are too unstable.

For me, that's one of the major advantages of using ARL. I've been able to replicate batches with consistent results.

TBB, what's your routine for apple pie rice wine? I seen and done an apple pie version with ever clear. Is it similar to that?

Interesting on the trouble duplicating a recipe. I have been able to duplicate my recipes and results for the most part. Wonder what causes your variance.

Apple pie rice wine was just getting some apple juice concentrate adding a few tablespoons to a 16oz bottle along with cinnamon and boubon extracted vanilla. Just shake it up and enjoy. It has been a huge hit at parties. People have offered to pay for large quantities. I just give them the bottle and make some more for them later.
 
I already forgot half of what I read in the first hundred pages.. But I still managed to end up with a jar filled with rice and yeast balls. It's so different from anything I have fermented before so I'm stoked and I'm going to be struggling for a few weeks anxious to taste it... Thanks to all of you for sharing!
 
At first I thought it was my methods or volumes. I do a lot of experiments with brewing so, I started taking very good notes.

I'm starting to think it may be my taste buds. I know you can pickle your liver drinking too much...I wonder if you can fry your taste buds?
 
At first I thought it was my methods or volumes. I do a lot of experiments with brewing so, I started taking very good notes.

I'm starting to think it may be my taste buds. I know you can pickle your liver drinking too much...I wonder if you can fry your taste buds?
I think you can only do that short term. Taste buds usually grow back fairly quickly.
 
Back on 7/25, I put on a 12 cup batch of Jasmine rice, used a small bit of yeast energizer, 1 1/2 cups RYR pulverized up and 4 Chinese yeast balls. So it has been 5 1/2 weeks. I pulled the lid on it tonight to strain it, but saw that it's still bubbling up CO2 fairly vigorously.


Popped the top back on and will wait a bit longer I guess...
 
Here's the 2 week checkup on the ARL experiment.

In my last post I reversed the order of the jars, sorry. Here's what's in them:

1. 0.5 grams ARL: Jar weight 802 grams
2. 1 gram ARL: Jar weight 785 grams
3. 2 grams ARL: Jar weight 784 grams
4. Rice yeast ball: Jar weight 682 grams


1. About 1" of liquid in the bottom of the jar. Moderate rice and alcohol aroma.
2. About 1 1/4" of liquid in the bottom of the jar. Moderate alcohol aroma, no other aroma seems to be present.
3. About 1 1/4" of liquid in the bottom of the jar. Strong alcohol aroma, no other aroma seems to be present.
4. About 1 1/2" of liquid in the bottom of the jar. This liquid has less visible particulates then any of the ARL batches. Mild alcohol aroma, moderate citrus aroma.

DSC_0054.jpg
 
It's been two weeks and it smells awfully interesting in the fermenter but no sign visually of fermentation or any liquid :( In fact you can still see small balls of yeast in there. Is it possible the rice wasnt cooked enough (it felt kind of dry and rubbery and not moist like freshly cooked rice) and thus fermentation didn't take off? I got too nervous and poured a half bottle of water to moisten all the rice and get the yeast in better contact but I'm pretty upset about this given my success with homebrewed beer. Do we know how wet the rice should be or if the degree of cooking will keep ferm from happening? Thanks for all the advice.
 
It's been two weeks and it smells awfully interesting in the fermenter but no sign visually of fermentation or any liquid :( In fact you can still see small balls of yeast in there. Is it possible the rice wasnt cooked enough (it felt kind of dry and rubbery and not moist like freshly cooked rice) and thus fermentation didn't take off? I got too nervous and poured a half bottle of water to moisten all the rice and get the yeast in better contact but I'm pretty upset about this given my success with homebrewed beer. Do we know how wet the rice should be or if the degree of cooking will keep ferm from happening? Thanks for all the advice.
Did you wait for the rice to fully cool before adding the yeast? Virtually all of the failed batches I've had I can attribute to impatience in letting the rice cool.

That took a long time to type. I guess I'm more then a little :tank::tank:.
 
milsman
I just threw a batch into the fermenter but I have a couple of questions for those who have already made this. I used Tamaki Gold - Signature Quality California Koshihikari Short Grain Rice and only soaked it about 45 minutes per the instructions on the bag. I did this in a fairly shallow bowl and then used a fairly small rice steamer. Most of the rice looked done after thirty minutes but by the time it was cool enough to pitch the yeast balls the rice seemed fairly firm although rubbery. There was no water to speak of that went into my fermenter.

As of today (<24 hours) I see zero activity. When should I start worrying about there being no signs of liquification if my fermenter is currently at 72F with plenty of yeast mixed in?

What was cool enough to pitch the yeast balls? You did powder them right? Rubbery is just about perfect for steamed sushi rice. When you soaked your rice, it turned white. When you steamed it, it should have turned somewhat translucent. If it was uncooked, there would have been a white core that would have been chalky had you eaten it.

Two weeks with ZERO activity seems extraordinary. This is a mold and bacteria buffet. I find it suspicious that you don't have a rainbow of infection going on which would suggest that whatever went into the fermenter was close to sterile.
 
It's been two weeks and it smells awfully interesting in the fermenter but no sign visually of fermentation or any liquid :( In fact you can still see small balls of yeast in there. Is it possible the rice wasnt cooked enough (it felt kind of dry and rubbery and not moist like freshly cooked rice) and thus fermentation didn't take off? I got too nervous and poured a half bottle of water to moisten all the rice and get the yeast in better contact but I'm pretty upset about this given my success with homebrewed beer. Do we know how wet the rice should be or if the degree of cooking will keep ferm from happening? Thanks for all the advice.

Can you post pictures of what you have? dgr is right about the environment and that there should be some signs of growth (even if its not the kind you wanted) and then the production of liquid.

I can't recall the results but a few people have tried different grains and sizes. If my memory is right, there was a defined difference in the volumes produced.

In any case, I'd wait it out another 7-10 days and then pitch a few more yeast balls to this batch just to see what happens and, I'd start another fresh batch to have as a backup.
 
This is the best rice wine making thread I have came across.

I am curious why nobody talks about age the wine (I have read up to 90 pages so far, still progressing, sorry if I miss it).

Apart from drinking it fresh, it is also quite common to age the wine in China. That's how we do it. But it is only applicable to glutinous/sticky rice.

After harvesting, let the sentiment settle down and siphoned out the clear wine. The clear wine is bottled 90% full, seal it and let it age in dark. It can be done by wrapping with newspaper. The oxidation will turn the color to golden yellow and brown if longer.

Aging time is at least 1 year, the longer the better. That's how we derive yellow wine or close to Shao Xing family wine.

If you're adventure enough, you can follow the traditional peasant's practice. Buried the wine into ground (3 feet at least) and let it aged naturally. Usually 3 years or more. You will get the famous wine, Nu Er Hong. Popular in southern China.

It is also common to mix and match batches of different age wine. Usually very old i.e 8 years match with young, i.e less than 2 years, to get the best texture because very old rice wine is too thick for some people.

Good luck.

once again, this is a very good thread rice wine, very informative.
 
durianpicker,
Great first post! Read around page 265 or newer. One member aged some for a few months. Everyone seems to be really concerned about the wine going sour. What is the flavor on the aged wines? Is anything done to them besides bottling and aging?
 
Here's what's left of a bottle harvested in May so it's about 4 months old. Almost a caramel color. Taste is sweeter than before with less alcohol burn.

The taste is good but given a choice, I prefer the freshly harvested batches over the aged one.

ForumRunner_20130904_170742.jpg
 
Update: After tossing my yeast/non-fermenting rice/bottled water mix around there is activity in the airlock! I don't know if the rice wasn't moist enough during the initial pitch or what but there appears to be more liquid as well and I'm hoping it all goes through for the rest of the month.
 
durianpicker,
Great first post! Read around page 265 or newer. One member aged some for a few months. Everyone seems to be really concerned about the wine going sour. What is the flavor on the aged wines? Is anything done to them besides bottling and aging?
Thanks.

To get the clear wine and age in dark are very important. The sentiment could be the cause of sour taste. That's maybe why the Chinese use clay pot or anything opaque to age. I missed it in the previous post, after the harvest process, the wine should be heated up a little bit to kill off the remaining yeast.

Aged wine taste? Hard to describe in words but shouldn't be sour at all. Relatively to the freshly brewed, aged wine is not yeasty, has more 'kick' and thicker. When it becomes very old, i.e >8 years, it is dry, neither sweet nor sour and taste a little like soy sauce for me, but very smooth.

I think the sour taste could also come from the type of rice used. I never heard of making aged wine other than using glutinous rice. I think because of the higher sugar concentration. And the aging time should be more than 12 months.

Just to share, in Chinese society, freshly brewed rice wine is normally consumed by woman after giving birth, cooked with chicken, black fungus and ginger. Contrary, aged wine or yellow wine is more commonly drank socially and with meal, just like red wine with steak, yellow wine blended very well with crab or stewed pork.
 
Just thinking about it, I think this wine is a bit like mead. If you've got a yeast that can only handle 15% alcohol, then any honey you add above that is going to make a sweet mead.

When talking to my Chinese friend, when they make rice wine, after everything is done.. the rice cooked/cooled and yeast balls added, they add a large amount of water before the ferment starts. I let him try some of mine, and he didn't like it at all.. too sweet. I tried his and it tasted a bit like a watery booze, but you had a rice aftertaste. Same wonderful smell of mine, but no sweetness at all. It was that golden color.

So what I'm imagining that's happening is the molds are breaking down the starches into sugars, and the yeast eat all these sugars they can up to maybe 20% alcohol, then they go dormant from too high alcohol, while the mold continues munching away and making sugars.

So, I think if you add (X) amount of water, you're going to get a much higher yield of alcohol, but it will be less sweet the more you add, though at some point you'll dilute it to where you'll begin decreasing the alcohol.
 
...I am curious why nobody talks about age the wine (I have read up to 90 pages so far, still progressing, sorry if I miss it).

Apart from drinking it fresh, it is also quite common to age the wine in China. That's how we do it. But it is only applicable to glutinous/sticky rice.

After harvesting, let the sentiment settle down and siphoned out the clear wine. The clear wine is bottled 90% full, seal it and let it age in dark. It can be done by wrapping with newspaper. The oxidation will turn the color to golden yellow and brown if longer.

Aging time is at least 1 year, the longer the better. That's how we derive yellow wine or close to Shao Xing family wine. ...
I think you just haven't gotten to it yet. This is a very long thread. :)


Thanks.

To get the clear wine and age in dark are very important. The sentiment could be the cause of sour taste. That's maybe why the Chinese use clay pot or anything opaque to age. I missed it in the previous post, after the harvest process, the wine should be heated up a little bit to kill off the remaining yeast...
I have 3 bottles of pasteurized rice wine from April first. Not joking, that's the day I pitched the batch. One made with basmati, one with jasmine, and the last with Japanese sweet rice.

I was planning on giving one of them a try around October first.

...So, I think if you add (X) amount of water, you're going to get a much higher yield of alcohol, but it will be less sweet the more you add, though at some point you'll dilute it to where you'll begin decreasing the alcohol.
This is an interesting speculation. I've got a couple of quarts of a sweet red rice wine I wouldn't mind trying out the idea with. They've been in the fridge for a couple of months, so I'll be adding some yeast to get them started. Care to speculate on a gravity, ratio, for the dilution?

I'm kicking around with the idea of using DADY, but I've got a few other things too. Does anyone care to provide a suggestion for the yeast? Here's what I've got laying around right now:

DADY
Rice Yeast Balls
ARL
RYR
Pasteur Champagne
Premier Cuvee
Montrachet
Pasteur Red
Cote des Blancs
Danstar Munich Wheat Beer yeast, no idea what strain this is.
Safbrew wb-06
 
Just thinking about it, I think this wine is a bit like mead. If you've got a yeast that can only handle 15% alcohol, then any honey you add above that is going to make a sweet mead.

When talking to my Chinese friend, when they make rice wine, after everything is done.. the rice cooked/cooled and yeast balls added, they add a large amount of water before the ferment starts. I let him try some of mine, and he didn't like it at all.. too sweet. I tried his and it tasted a bit like a watery booze, but you had a rice aftertaste. Same wonderful smell of mine, but no sweetness at all. It was that golden color.

So what I'm imagining that's happening is the molds are breaking down the starches into sugars, and the yeast eat all these sugars they can up to maybe 20% alcohol, then they go dormant from too high alcohol, while the mold continues munching away and making sugars.

So, I think if you add (X) amount of water, you're going to get a much higher yield of alcohol, but it will be less sweet the more you add, though at some point you'll dilute it to where you'll begin decreasing the alcohol.

I think you're definitely on to something. With the volume of water and rice added and what's left over when the yeast reach their maximum alcohol tolerance, it makes perfect sense that there would be an effect on the end result and taste.

This makes me wonder would could happen if we use the yeast balls and, rather than pitching and leaving it alone for 3 weeks, do stepped additions of more rice and water throughout the 3 weeks. Similar to sake making. Maybe adding yeast nutrients in staggered stages like when making mead.

Oh boy, I feel many more experiments coming...
 
Care to speculate on a gravity, ratio, for the dilution?


Way back on 3/23 on page 127, I posted this, with a recipe and pic of my friend's rice wine. It calls for 10 lbs of rice to be cooked and cooled, then tossed in a bucket, then add 13 pounds of water, so a little over a gallon and a half of water (He said to make sure it was good filtered water.) So... 1.3 lbs of water per pound of rice? Shouldn't be too hard to calculate at 8lbs per gallon of water.




https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f243/m...un-different-361095/index127.html#post5035040
 
Way back on 3/23 on page 127, I posted this, with a recipe and pic of my friend's rice wine. It calls for 10 lbs of rice to be cooked and cooled, then tossed in a bucket, then add 13 pounds of water, so a little over a gallon and a half of water (He said to make sure it was good filtered water.) So... 1.3 lbs of water per pound of rice? Shouldn't be too hard to calculate at 8lbs per gallon of water.




https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f243/m...un-different-361095/index127.html#post5035040
Lots of about signs, as I'm rounding the numbers a bit for the sake of sanity. Ok, here goes the annoying math part.

One pound of dry rice should be ~453 grams. I weighed 1 cup of dry rice at 212 grams. So, ~2.13 cups per lb, based on my previous weighing of dry rice. That batch of red rice wine was 22.5 cups of dry rice, or ~10.56 lbs. It yielded ~4500 milliliters. That would be ~426 ml per lb of dry rice. 2 quarts of liquid is 1892.71ml. Therefore, I have the equivalent of ~4.44 lbs of rice in harvested wine. That would mean adding ~5.77 lbs of water, or ~0.65 gallons, or 2.6 quarts of water. To 2 quarts of red rice wine. That seems a little on the high side to me.

Hmm. I could take a gravity sample first, assume I'm at 15% ABV and estimate a dilution ratio so that the wine ferments dry with DADY in it. The DADY has an alcohol tolerance of 23%.

I'll have to think about this a bit.

EDIT: After doing the ridiculous amount of math, I realized that it still breaks down to a 1:1.3 ratio by volume...Huh.
 
Thanks.

...the wine should be heated up a little bit to kill off the remaining yeast.
It sounds like pasteurizing to kill all microbes.

I think because of the higher sugar concentration. And the aging time should be more than 12 months.
This is what I have been using and it makes some outstanding rice wine. I think I'll have to hide some from myself and see how it ages.

Just to share, in Chinese society, freshly brewed rice wine is normally consumed by woman after giving birth, cooked with chicken, black fungus and ginger. Contrary, aged wine or yellow wine is more commonly drank socially and with meal, just like red wine with steak, yellow wine blended very well with crab or stewed pork.
I did find a Chinese site that claimed it made women's breasts bigger. It really is a great drink.

If you can share, how is the fermenting done? As you've read, most on here have been cooking the rice, cooling it and mixing in the powdered yeast. But I and others have found references to adding water to the mixture. Do you have any information on that?
 
Hmm, I was going to dilute the red rice wine I had in my fridge for refermentation. The thing is, I don't think I need to. I took a gravity reading and it came out to 1.031 after temperature correction. That means that if it ferments to 1.0 I'm looking at an increase in the alcohol content of 4.1%. If we assume that the original rice wine had an ABV of 15-17% then the distillers yeast should have a high enough alcohol tolerance to consume the rest of the sugar without any extra water.

The distillers yeast is supposed to be alcohol tolerant up to 23%, though in practical terms it doesn't usually go over 20%. On the other hand, if it's already around 19%, it's not going to do much. I can always add water later though.

So, what I did instead was add 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient, 1/4 tsp yeast energizer, and 1/2 tsp of dry distillers yeast. I mixed that in the the three quarts of leftover red rice wine I had in the fridge. I had another quart I didn't see shoved into the back of the fridge. We shall see how things go with it now.
 
Hmm, I was going to dilute the red rice wine I had in my fridge for refermentation. The thing is, I don't think I need to. I took a gravity reading and it came out to 1.031 after temperature correction. That means that if it ferments to 1.0 I'm looking at an increase in the alcohol content of 4.1%. If we assume that the original rice wine had an ABV of 15-17% then the distillers yeast should have a high enough alcohol tolerance to consume the rest of the sugar without any extra water.

The distillers yeast is supposed to be alcohol tolerant up to 23%, though in practical terms it doesn't usually go over 20%. On the other hand, if it's already around 19%, it's not going to do much. I can always add water later though.

So, what I did instead was add 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient, 1/4 tsp yeast energizer, and 1/2 tsp of dry distillers yeast. I mixed that in the the three quarts of leftover red rice wine I had in the fridge. I had another quart I didn't see shoved into the back of the fridge. We shall see how things go with it now.

LG: was your rice wine all clear or did it have any visible rice solids in it? Did you make a yeast starter or just pitch it right in?

I've got a 2lb bag of Crosby Baker distillers yeast that I'm dying to break open and use.
 
LG: was your rice wine all clear or did it have any visible rice solids in it? Did you make a yeast starter or just pitch it right in?

I've got a 2lb bag of Crosby Baker distillers yeast that I'm dying to break open and use.
It was crystal clear, I just pitched it in. Everything was a little cold, so it will probably be a couple days before I know if it's doing anything.

EDIT: That's the same distillers yeast I've got. I've found that the only real care it needs is in the nutrients. Most yeasts can go skunky if they are short on nutrients. This one most certainly will. That's really it though. You can do a starter if you want, or rehydrate in hot water etc.. If you want to, but I haven't found that it makes much of a difference with this distillers yeast.
 
I wonder if there are names or titles for mixes when it comes to rice wine...

For example honey, water and yeast gets you mead, add fruit and you get a melomel, use grape juice and you get a pyment, add apple juice and you get a cyser. You see where I'm going...

What could we add to rice and yeast that would fabricate something new? Is this something already out there?
 
I wonder if there are names or titles for mixes when it comes to rice wine...

For example honey, water and yeast gets you mead, add fruit and you get a melomel, use grape juice and you get a pyment, add apple juice and you get a cyser. You see where I'm going...

What could we add to rice and yeast that would fabricate something new? Is this something already out there?
Most likely yes, but I can't pronounce most of the names... :D

It's always just a little bit funny to me to see brewers trying to find exactly the right obscure technical term to describe a process or product. I worked in tech support for a few years, and was actually specifically trained not to do this. If I got monitored on a call and did that, I'd get docked points for using "jargon".
 
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