Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

I used a 1.5:1 after a 3 hour soak. it was all absorbed by the rice

jadedev said:

my first batch is an utter failure. Not much alcohol flavour at all and very yeasty smell. Not sure where I went wrong.

Perhaps I should not have so much water when I cook the rice. I used almost 3 to 1 ratio, coz the rice was very dry, so I added more water.

What sort of water to rice ratio did you guys use?

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I always put the dry rice in the cooker then rinse (I stopped soaking) and fill the water level to the first knuckle (closest to the nail) on my middle finger with my finger tip at the top of the rice level. So whatever that works out to.

We made this back on 1-20-13, only two weeks ago. it liquified for a few days, then seems to have stopped. the rice is beginning to drop to the bottom now. does this mean it is done already? should we go ahead and harvest it, or should we wait another week or two?

there is not near the ammount of liquid i was expecting. maybe it will come out when we squeeze the rice? hoping that we did this right. my son is coming over tonight, if it is time to go ahead and take it, i'd like to let him do it, if not, he won't be back for almost two weeks.

reccomendations?

Jnco_hippie said:

We made this back on 1-20-13, only two weeks ago. it liquified for a few days, then seems to have stopped. the rice is beginning to drop to the bottom now. does this mean it is done already? should we go ahead and harvest it, or should we wait another week or two?

there is not near the ammount of liquid i was expecting. maybe it will come out when we squeeze the rice? hoping that we did this right. my son is coming over tonight, if it is time to go ahead and take it, i'd like to let him do it, if not, he won't be back for almost two weeks.

reccomendations?

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Hard to call. For me, I would say it is too early and would give it another week then do it ( I know this doesn't coincide with your sons visit unfortunately). Do you have a pic? That might help gauge liquid amount etc. Also what rice did you use?

Used sweet glutinous rice.

Jnco_hippie said:

Used sweet glutinous rice.

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Oh yeah, you will end up with more liquid than you think. I would still leave it another week though...

sonofgrok said:

So whatever that works out to.

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how do you get rid off the extra strong yeasty smell?

I like the tin-foil hat it's wearing, keeps the government from reading the yeasts' thoughts!

I couldn't find the lids to the jars I used so foil has become my "airlock".

Today I finished making my own Dry yeast balls so see if I can mimic the results you all are getting. Here is a pick of the layered yeast ball to rice mixture. I used Calrose rice and 90 grams of dry yeast balls powdered up. The rice was soaked and I decided to heat the rice on a stove with water rather than steam rice like I do for Japanese Sake. It will be fun to see where this goes.

jadedev said:

how do you get rid off the extra strong yeasty smell?

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I put mine in the fridge for a couple of days. Then drank the cleared liquid. I also lost the plum aroma, but that may be due to the temperature. I'm going to try heating some a little for the next tasting.

EDIT: I just tasted some the the cleared stuff at room temperature. Still tastes and smells like good button mushrooms to me. More so when it's a little warmer like this. No plum aroma or flavor. The tangy flavor stays the same at room temperature, but the sweetness is much stronger. The overall flavor balance is much improved when it's a little warmer. I also get an nice tingly sensation on the tip of my tongue.

I'm really glad I started a big batch of this stuff right after the little one.

Arpolis said:

Today I finished making my own Dry yeast balls so see if I can mimic the results you all are getting. Here is a pick of the layered yeast ball to rice mixture. I used Calrose rice and 90 grams of dry yeast balls powdered up. The rice was soaked and I decided to heat the rice on a stove with water rather than steam rice like I do for Japanese Sake. It will be fun to see where this goes.

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I will be interested to know what changes you get in the flavor profile from using wheat.

Though I wonder if it is going to be possible to separate that flavor addition from the differences in fungus cocktails.

I do have some wheat berries. Maybe I should cook some and add them in with another batch for comparisons sake.

jadedev said:

how do you get rid off the extra strong yeasty smell?

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I don't get that smell at all. Just a real rich sweet alcohol smell.

jadedev said:

how do you get rid off the extra strong yeasty smell?

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J...I have not gone back thru your posts, but didn't you ferment this in the 90s due to where you live? If so, the high temp may have cobtributed to yeasty aroma and/or any weird tastes. If you repeat have you given any thought to trying to lower the temp? I have used 20 oz PET bottles filled 3/4 way with water and then frozen, dropped bottles(s) as needed into the must. Have even treated fermenter like ice cream maker and surrounded by ice and salt. Just a thought.

jadedev said:

Perhaps I should not have so much water when I cook the rice. I used almost 3 to 1 ratio, coz the rice was very dry, so I added more water.

What sort of water to rice ratio did you guys use?

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I have settled upon this method, and it works well with all the rice I have tried. Sticky, sweet, sushi and Thai Hom Mali Jasmine rice, fermenting for 25 days at 70F, yield from four cups dry rice is typically 1.75-2 quarts of wine:
1. Rinse dry rice until water runs clear
2. Soak rice in water until volume of rice increases by one third, then rinse until water runs clear
3. For my rice cooker(Wolfgang Puck), I use 1.5 cups water to the now soaked rice and process for 20 minutes. I found when I did not soak I had to use more water and more time. I also steam in a traditional bamboo steamer, but my rice cooker will deal with more rice. I have not noticed a difference with either cooking method of the rice, as each method always results in individual rice grains which are soft on the outside and firm on the inside. But not all rice cookers are the same, so you have to adapt for your device.

Ok, well I intended to harvest my big batch of rice wine today. Unfortunately it's not ready. When I actually handled the rice goop by hand I was sure. It still has hard lumps of unsaccharified rice in it. That was disappointing, but here are some pictures anyway.

This batch has been fermenting for 26 days, but not in the same location as the original. I think there is a slight difference in temperature, which would account for the additional time the batch is going to need. I will be checking on it again in another week.

This is the first time I have had anything growing in my airlock. I actually broke that airlock accidentally while trying to clean it thoroughly.

I put everything back in the bucket and installed a new airlock. Here are the rest of the pictures.

so mine has been going for a few days and there is definately liquid there, but i have fuzzy white mould on top of the rice, with black spots on the tips. should i skim it off? is this normal koji spores? it smells like there is alchohol production going on...

matteroftaste said:

so mine has been going for a few days and there is definately liquid there, but i have fuzzy white mould on top of the rice, with black spots on the tips. should i skim it off? is this normal koji spores? it smells like there is alchohol production going on...

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I almost always get white fuzzies but have not gotten the black though I think others have mentioned it previously in the thread. I'd say you are ok but no guarantee. Only one way to find out! Run with it!

Almost 1 week in. Thanks for this thread, SonofGrok.

I have another batch of rice wine I forgot about. This one is only about 1/2 quart I made with some leftover rice from dinner. I'm going to let it go to rice wine vinegar.

sonofgrok said:

I almost always get white fuzzies but have not gotten the black though I think others have mentioned it previously in the thread. I'd say you are ok but no guarantee. Only one way to find out Run with it!

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Thanks for the reassurance, I will.

I have 4 batches going, two in a 1 gallon with an airlock, and two in a 5 gallon with an airlock (filled 3.5 gallons, and the other is filled with 4.5 gallons of rice). I over clean everything and have never had any mould or white fuzz. I made a sample jar or it to test, stirred it several times that day with my unclean finger and of had white mould by the next morning...
Though my large batches have only been going for 13 days, they have spent the last 7 days in a heated blanket. In that time the gravity has gone from 1.070 to 1.018 and I imagine will be ready to bottle in about 3-6 days. I won't even make of to 3 weeks.
As of right now its all liquid from what I can see other than a few rice mesh conglomerates floating around.

My home made yeast ball is doing something! The rice was at the top of the gallon jar but now is about 2 inches from the top and there is liquid in there. Tried to smell it but could not really make out any alcohol smell yet. That may start to come in the next few days. We shall see.

I filled my jar 2/3 the way with rice. Everyone seems to have a lot more headspace than that. Will I run into trouble?

I talked to the rice guy at the market near my house and he said if my goal was an unfiltered milky white rice wine then glutinious rice was the way to go. He said the best and most famous unfiltered rice wine is from xian and they use glutinious rice. Something to do with starch levels or something. I dont know, my chinese isnt amazing, and he may be an idiot.

Anywho, i bought the most expensive thai sticky rice. Maybe im a sucker, maybe hes right. Just thought id pass that info on.

The volume of rice decreases as the the rice is saccharified. You can fill your container to the brim and it will not cause you any issues.

I've now gotten the mold on top, and this is lactobaccilus I am 95% sure. I remember someone mentioned awhile back that they stirred theirs periodically. Definitely not a good idea if you've got this, the dryer rice at the top is a good barrier to keep this stuff out of the wine.

bottlebomber said:

I've now gotten the mold on top, and this is lactobaccilus I am 95% sure. I remember someone mentioned awhile back that they stirred theirs periodically. Definitely not a good idea if you've got this, the dryer rice at the top is a good barrier to keep this stuff out of the wine.

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So when you drain the rice with the cheesecloth does this go into the bundle too?

bottlebomber said:

I've now gotten the mold on top, and this is lactobaccilus I am 95% sure. I remember someone mentioned awhile back that they stirred theirs periodically. Definitely not a good idea if you've got this, the dryer rice at the top is a good barrier to keep this stuff out of the wine.

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Ostomo517 said:

So when you drain the rice with the cheesecloth does this go into the bundle too?

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That is what mine usually looks like. I don't stir but it does get drained with the cheese cloth. I always end up with good product. So if it is lacto then its delicious. :rockin: lol That or you are 5% off or I am blind.

Someone here has to be able to confirm this for me...

Did I get the right characters?

EDIT:
ezzellca says it's correct. So, here's the 2 inch by 3 inch label:

Punx Clever said:

Someone here has to be able to confirm this for me...
Did I get the right characters?

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Couldn't tell you if you have the right characters but the labels look awesome!

Well, I found it here: 江米酒

And copy/pasted the text into Photoshop. Gotta ask one of my friends if that's actually what it means I guess.

I like those lables a lot. Even the jagen edges and all make it look cool IMO but have no idea what it says.

Punx Clever said:

Someone here has to be able to confirm this for me...

Did I get the right characters?

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I almost wouldnt care lol, those are totally bad ass! \\m//

Holy smokes...

I just exracted my sake last night....the whole kitchen smelled like alcohol...
I strained it many times to try and get out as many of the finest particles I could. I have somewhere near 1/2 gallon and it is sitting in the refer cold crashing. I probably could have extracted more - but my strainer kept getting clogged with thick particles that I had to keep washing out.

This stuff smelled STRONG! I was still pretty hung over from going to the Waste Management Phoenix Open so I really didnt want to try any yet... I am going to pick up some fruit after work tomorrow and add to 2-3 batches.

Has anyone tried to further clear theirs up? I am not sure if I would need a filter or something to do that?

ND

Punx Clever said:

Well, I found it here: 江米酒

And copy/pasted the text into Photoshop. Gotta ask one of my friends if that's actually what it means I guess.

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Yup, jiang mi jiu. Glutinious rice wine, i cant pull up your picture im at starbucks and the internet is slow. Those characters are right though.

Edit: double post because of ****ty starbucks interwebs. sorry.

natedoggaz said:

Holy smokes...

I just exracted my sake last night....the whole kitchen smelled like alcohol...
I strained it many times to try and get out as many of the finest particles I could. I have somewhere near 1/2 gallon and it is sitting in the refer cold crashing. I probably could have extracted more - but my strainer kept getting clogged with thick particles that I had to keep washing out.

This stuff smelled STRONG! I was still pretty hung over from going to the Waste Management Phoenix Open so I really didnt want to try any yet... I am going to pick up some fruit after work tomorrow and add to 2-3 batches.

Has anyone tried to further clear theirs up? I am not sure if I would need a filter or something to do that?

ND

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I left mine undisturbed in the fridge for a couple days. It cleared really well. I think if you don't really want to do that unless the rice you used is really cheap though. Otherwise it adds to the flavor and aroma to have the suspended solids.

This is my post with the pictures.

I pasteurized my batch right after bottling, then let it chill for a couple hours.

Holy **** Batman, this is good. Kinda like coconut vodka...

Has anyone drunk enough of this to get a tremendous buzz yet?

I found this on a webpage for anyone interested in the abv of their wine.
I haven't tried it myself, but it said take a gravity reading, take 250ml of your final product, boil it until its 125ml, then add 125ml of water to bring it back to 250ml, take another reading and use this equation.
AbV=((SGfinal-SGorig)/2.11)*1000