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I started a new batch today my last one was a failure lol. I think the reason was I did not soak the rice before I steamed it.

This time I soaked 5 cups of Premium Sweet rice for about 8-9 hours steamed it and used 5 yeast balls.

I will let you know how it turns out!
 
Finally getting going on this, and started my rice soaking. The sweet rice the Chinese lady sold me for this is the most polished and shortest grain rice I've ever seen. There are no grooves or traces of where the germ was, an they are almost totally round. I'll post back in 3 weeks.
 
I'm about 1 week now into the fermentation and both batches are a gelatinous mess... they are both very liquidy as well. I take them and swirl the contents around... has anyone experienced this where the liquid does not separate?

So I guess the gelatinous mess I have is a common thing and to be expected in brewing this sake?

I do not have any separation of liquid as of yet like I have seen some others have.

ND
 
So I guess the gelatinous mess I have is a common thing and to be expected in brewing this sake?

I do not have any separation of liquid as of yet like I have seen some others have.

ND

What rice did you use? It seems people using the "sweet rice"es have something similar to what you have. I have only ever used thai jasmine so can't speak knowledgeably to any others.
 
What rice did you use? It seems people using the "sweet rice"es have something similar to what you have. I have only ever used thai jasmine so can't speak knowledgeably to any others.

Hey Sonofgrok,

I used Thai Jasmine rice...GAO THOM SO1 (whatever that means)
Straight from the oriental market.

So if this is normal, I am probably OK.
I cannot believe how much liquid is in there. The rice went in pretty dry...its like white sloppy mud in there now... =)

ND
 
Here's what I got out of mine harvesting from a 1 quart jar on day 26. Minus about 1/2 an ounce from tasting just before I took the picture. I was really astonished at how much of the rice had liquefied. The measuring cup has the remaining solids in it. It is a 1/2 cup measuring cup.

I stuck the starch mass in a dish towel I use for making cheese on a regular basis. I found that I was able to get much more liquid out of the starch mass by first squeezing, then releasing the pressure and breaking up the mass with my fingers. Then squeezing again.

The taste is fruity, with a slight acidic twang. Not unpleasantly acidic, definitely enough to let you know it's there though. The aroma reminds me of bread. There is a slightly bready aftertaste too.

Lots of alcohol. I would suspect this to be around the 20% mark as speculated by others. It isn't a hot flavor though. Really it's very mild and smooth for the power in it.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this batch. I hope the big one comes out as well.

ricewineharvest day 26.JPG
 
From: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/first-home-brew-project-ever-rice-wine-please-help-356978/

>>YOU WANT THE RICE TO FERMENT AT APPROX 90 F.
>>FERMENTATION SHOULD ONLY TAKE ABOUT 7 DAYS.

What do you guys think of this? 7 days???

This is my brew after 9 days, in how 80's and 90's degree climate. Am hoping it would clarify the liquid but doesnt look like it's gonna happen

It is common knowledge that the warmer the temp, typically the faster the ferment. All yeast have an ideal temp range, and most of us that have been making this follow the advice of the people we buy the yeast from. So far, the answer I get from every sales person and customer I have spoken with as I hunt for yeast balls is: "the cooler the better and harvest your wine in 3-4 weeks, use your taste buds to tell you when...but no more than one month". Not to mention the online research of articles, blogs, etc.
If that is the temp you have to work with, or choose to work with....please let us know how that works out for you. I would expect a short ferment would definitely impact the clarity simply because the enzymes have such a short time to do their thing, but if it tastes good--does it matter?
 
well day 26 and i have just harvested my second batch, 1.5 liters of 20% alcohol for a few pounds(£..lol) is well worth it.
 
The sweet rice definitely cooks up into a big rubbery gelatinous mass. I'm not sure this is the best rice to use for this, but we will see. It has an absolutely amazing aroma though, much more aromatics than jasmine or any rice short of Basmati. I am thinking a 50/50 blend of Jasmine/Sweet next time.
 
If I use one of my two gallon ferment buckets for this, it shouldnt be a infection risk using that same cleaned bucket for beer after would it?
 
As long as you sanitize it, you should be more than ok.

Awesome! Thanks for the quick response and great thread. Heading to lhbs tuesday and there so happens to be a awesome asian market next door to it that I always hit up after, looks like a double brew week for me next week!!
 
The sweet rice definitely cooks up into a big rubbery gelatinous mass. I'm not sure this is the best rice to use for this, but we will see. It has an absolutely amazing aroma though, much more aromatics than jasmine or any rice short of Basmati. I am thinking a 50/50 blend of Jasmine/Sweet next time.

The jasmine/sweet blend is nice. Great aromatics. Scrumptiousness in a bottle.
Though I still favor any which has the red yeast rice added. It is all good.
 
saramc said:
The jasmine/sweet blend is nice. Great aromatics. Scrumptiousness in a bottle.
Though I still favor any which has the red yeast rice added. It is all good.

I think I will pick some of that up. I just put the batch together this morning, so it hasn't done anything yet. I know they have that at the health food store, in fact I think I can buy it bulk. I don't want to read back through, could you tell me about how much to use please?
 
Right now I have Sushi, Sweet, and Jasmine rice, 2 bags of yeast balls, 1 bag of red yeast rice, and (4) 1 gallon jars. I hope to pick up Basmati rice tomorrow and do 4 different batches with just the yeast balls, compare, then experiment with the red yeast rice later. Possibly try different combinations of rice as well.
 
saramc said:
I have consistently been using one 10gm yeast ball per cup of dry yeast.

I'm sorry, of the red yeast rice. I could have been more clear. I used 6 yeast balls for 5 cups of rice.
 
I'm trying my first batch of wild rice. For $10 worth of ingredients, I'm not too worried about failure.
 
Found a bag of "sweet rice" recommended by the lady at the Asian market near me. Got the yeast balls there too, but when I asked for red yeast rice she pointed me to dried barley and said "this for red wine" hmmm not sure she knew what I wanted. I found some Wikipedia info on a Thai drink made with dried barley more like an unhopped beer. anyone ever used dried barley in something like this? I wound up just takin the yeast balls and sweet rice and starting a little quart sized batch. Thanks for the great thread and all the info

image-1660593013.jpg


image-3013203615.jpg
 
If that is the temp you have to work with, or choose to work with....please let us know how that works out for you.

Unfortunately, room temp is 90 degrees and more all year around. Gone harvest one batch tonight and see how it goes.

Mainly use it for cooking rather than drinking, the sweet flavour in crucial.

On a more brighter note, bought whole heap of yeast balls this morning for my mega brew. 40 pounds of rice waiting to be cooked.
 
I'm going to try using the starch mass that was left over from my 1 quart batch to start another batch. If it works, it would mean that it isn't necessary to use new rice yeast balls for every batch. Yup, I'm a cheapskate.
 
jadedev said:
Unfortunately, room temp is 90 degrees and more all year around. Gone harvest one batch tonight and see how it goes.

Mainly use it for cooking rather than drinking, the sweet flavour in crucial.

On a more brighter note, bought whole heap of yeast balls this morning for my mega brew. 40 pounds of rice waiting to be cooked.

Man, where do you live, Hell?
 
bottlebomber said:
Man, where do you live, Hell?

That is room temp he said! haha man do you have AC? I can't imagine what it is like outside 150? no need for a HLT just sit a bucket of water outside, no need to insulate a mash tun you won't lose a degree, wait this is starting to sound more like heaven...
 
Man, where do you live, Hell?
No, not hell. The devil comes here for vacation


man do you have AC?

Last time I turned on the the ac, it cost me 1,000 bucks a month. So no, no ac. lol

Just finished cooking the rice. Tip: 40 pounds of sticky rice = one hell of a mess. Bloody hell, sticks to everything and hard to clean up. And you cant cook sticky rice in pot. It burns so easily, so I ended up cooking in batches in the oven.

Next batch, I will just use normal rice. ha ha ha

"no need to insulate a mash tun you won't lose a degree, wait this is starting to sound more like heaven."

No, no insulation required. Hence my question the other day, will my batch be ready in 1 week instead of 3.
 
Excellent thread, assuming I can get hold of the yeast I giving this a try.

I have seen vinegar mentioned as a negative result several times in this thread but what if I wanted to make vinegar? Having a bottle of it in the cupboard would be great as I do loads of SE Asian cooking and always have to sub it for something else. So how to make vinegar on purpose?
 
I'm sorry, of the red yeast rice. I could have been more clear. I used 6 yeast balls for 5 cups of rice.

Oh, I used 1/2 cup RYR (red yeast rice) for every three cups dry white rice, and then I ground it into as fine a powder as possible and incorporated into the rice. I think 1/3 per three cups will be nice also.
If you can, and if you have the room, cook up one more cup of white rice.
 
I'm going to try using the starch mass that was left over from my 1 quart batch to start another batch. If it works, it would mean that it isn't necessary to use new rice yeast balls for every batch. Yup, I'm a cheapskate.

Do you plan to pitch new yeast balls if there is no lift off, or try adding amylase first if things go not as planned?
I came across an article which I cannot find now, of course, that talked about how the starchy mass leftover from this type of project is blended with rice flour and shaped into balls and allowed to air dry and establish a new yeast colony. But they never disclosed how the amylase comes in to play, perhaps it is a chain reaction as the yeast ball dries?
 
Excellent thread, assuming I can get hold of the yeast I giving this a try.

I have seen vinegar mentioned as a negative result several times in this thread but what if I wanted to make vinegar? Having a bottle of it in the cupboard would be great as I do loads of SE Asian cooking and always have to sub it for something else. So how to make vinegar on purpose?

Just leave it in the bottle with lid a bit loose, at room temp, and with time it will turn into rice wine vinegar. It changes colors with time, wait long enough and it turns dark brown/black. You can start cooking with it immediately though, very nice touch...made stir fry the other night and used it to deglaze my wok.
 
Do you plan to pitch new yeast balls if there is no lift off, or try adding amylase first if things go not as planned?
I came across an article which I cannot find now, of course, that talked about how the starchy mass leftover from this type of project is blended with rice flour and shaped into balls and allowed to air dry and establish a new yeast colony. But they never disclosed how the amylase comes in to play, perhaps it is a chain reaction as the yeast ball dries?

Perhaps the amylase spores require dry mass to reproduce. Just speculating...
 
Do you plan to pitch new yeast balls if there is no lift off, or try adding amylase first if things go not as planned?
I came across an article which I cannot find now, of course, that talked about how the starchy mass leftover from this type of project is blended with rice flour and shaped into balls and allowed to air dry and establish a new yeast colony. But they never disclosed how the amylase comes in to play, perhaps it is a chain reaction as the yeast ball dries?
I believe the amylase enzyme is produced by the fungus that is growing in the rice during the fermentation. I used 1 yeast ball to about 3 cups of cooked rice. According to the ratios on here that would have been short on the enzymes if they had all been stored in the dried yeast balls.

If nothing happens I'll just throw the rice out. It's 1 1/2 cups of cheap dry rice. My compost pile won't mind it at all.
Perhaps the amylase spores require dry mass to reproduce. Just speculating...
That had occured to me too. If the amylase producing fungus can be propagated from mycelium instead of spores this should work just fine. I don't think the yeast will mind being treated like this.

If the fungus can only be propagated from spores, then this experiment will probably fail. Most fungus won't produce spores until they think they are reaching the end of there life cycle. IE: They dry out or get cold, depending on the species.
 
I believe the amylase enzyme is produced by the fungus that is growing in the rice during the fermentation. I used 1 yeast ball to about 3 cups of cooked rice. According to the ratios on here that would have been short on the enzymes if they had all been stored in the dried yeast balls.

I don't think all balls are created equal, I just came back from my local Asian market and the ones I picked up are in 100 gram packs and contain 8 balls of varying sizes. Going by the ratio a few pages back of 10 grams ball to 0.55 (~2.5 cups) grams rice means that with my massive balls I would need less than one for 3 cups and still achieve the recommended ratio.

So come on people, weigh your balls and give us some precise numbers on the ratios you have all be using!!!

PS. Cheers for the info on making the vinegar guys.
 
I believe the amylase enzyme is produced by the fungus that is growing in the rice during the fermentation. I used 1 yeast ball to about 3 cups of cooked rice. According to the ratios on here that would have been short on the enzymes if they had all been stored in the dried yeast balls.

If nothing happens I'll just throw the rice out. It's 1 1/2 cups of cheap dry rice. My compost pile won't mind it at all.
That had occured to me too. If the amylase producing fungus can be propagated from mycelium instead of spores this should work just fine. I don't think the yeast will mind being treated like this.

If the fungus can only be propagated from spores, then this experiment will probably fail. Most fungus won't produce spores until they think they are reaching the end of there life cycle. IE: They dry out or get cold, depending on the species.

Not necessarily. As I mentioned before, the ratio I use is way overkill.
 
I don't think all balls are created equal, I just came back from my local Asian market and the ones I picked up are in 100 gram packs and contain 8 balls of varying sizes. Going by the ratio a few pages back of 10 grams ball to 0.55 (~2.5 cups) grams rice means that with my massive balls I would need less than one for 3 cups and still achieve the recommended ratio.

So come on people, weigh your balls and give us some precise numbers on the ratios you have all be using!!!

PS. Cheers for the info on making the vinegar guys.
Mine are 1/3 of an ounce each.

Not necessarily. As I mentioned before, the ratio I use is way overkill.
That is another reason to do the experiment.

If the saccharification was due to a large influx of enzyme at the beginning of the process, I would expect it to have happened a lot faster. A gradual production of the enzyme would seem to be more in line with what is being observed in the jars of yumminess.

That, and the way sake is made, leads me to believe that the enzyme is being produced by the fungus.

In any event, it should be an interesting experiment.
 
Here's my 12 oz bottle of rice wine after 2 days in the fridge. I may not need to use anything to clear it after all. I'll probably decant it when I harvest the large batch next week. I don't want to tip the bottle enough to taste the cleared liquid until I'm ready to pour it off the solids completely.

ricewine2daysfridge.JPG
 
I don't think all balls are created equal, I just came back from my local Asian market and the ones I picked up are in 100 gram packs and contain 8 balls of varying sizes. Going by the ratio a few pages back of 10 grams ball to 0.55 (~2.5 cups) grams rice means that with my massive balls I would need less than one for 3 cups and still achieve the recommended ratio.

So come on people, weigh your balls and give us some precise numbers on the ratios you have all be using!!!

PS. Cheers for the info on making the vinegar guys.

My Balls :)p) are 10grams each, i use 3 in about 3-4 cups of dry rice, i split this rice into 2 containers (each one has 3 balls in) and i get about 1.5 liters of good wine, made two batches now and both have worked out just fine.
 
Here's my 12 oz bottle of rice wine after 2 days in the fridge. I may not need to use anything to clear it after all. I'll probably decant it when I harvest the large batch next week. I don't want to tip the bottle enough to taste the cleared liquid until I'm ready to pour it off the solids completely.
that looks great mate, just what mine looks like after standing, i didn't decant mine as i found even tipping the bottle up to pour a shot disturbs the sediment so i usually drank some with the wine...and im still here!!
 
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