TheDemonSlick
Well-Known Member
Hey all. I live near Boston, so we have a banging Chinatown. I went there to try and find some Koji rice or Koji-kin... I was going to make Sake. Here's where my adventure begins...
Wandering through aisle after aisle of things, no English, even the workers can't understand you...
But you know it's here... somewhere...
Eventually, I was able to find an extremely old dude and his English speaking daughter.
He gave me this recipe. I never did get my Koji rice or Koji-kin.... but I did get this crazy recipe. And I discovered Chinese Red Yeast Rice, aka Beni Koji... Red Koji.
.
Anyways, the old Chinese guy told me to do this:
For 2 Gallons Akaisake
Take 7 lbs short grain white rice.
Rinse it until the rinse water runs clear. Work it with your hands, stir, rinse.
After, put it into your bucket. Add enough water to cover it, with about 2 inches above the rice.
Soak for two hours.
Drain, rinse well again.
Wrap the rice up in a clean white cotton towel, or a cheesecloth, or a tshirt. Steam the rice, the water can't touch the rice... use a colander inside a pot or whatever you have to work it out. If you can't swing it, just make the damn rice however you want. Make sure to rinse and soak it as best you can. Steaming makes the best booze, but you can still do it however.
Put the drained rice into your sterilized bucket.
Add Distilled Water, 2 gallons... add slowly, take the temp... when you get it to 100 F, add 1 lb red yeast rice and 1 packet yeast.
Mix well.
Cap it and airlock it.
Let ferment for 2 weeks
Strain out the solids, and rack it into glass bottles. You could drink this right now if you want, it will be cloudy, but good. Chilled is best. If you plan on stopping here, make sure you keep it chilled, it can go bad if you don't.
If you want to continue on....
Set aside somewhere cool (65ish) for another two weeks. Secondary Fermentation is occurring, so leave some way for gas to get out... glass carboys with airlocks are ideal, but a non lubed rubber with a pinhole does the trick... use what you have.
Strain off of the remaining sediment, bottle, pasteurize. Boil it in a water bath until the liquid reaches about 140F, then cap it and it's done.
Drink or Age.
Don't drink it warm... that's for the crappy stuff, not this.
You will have a red wine finished product.
If you want, run through a still and make Schochu. Or keep it this way and enjoy!
*****************************
.
# Frequently asked questions:
1 - Slick, seriously, WTF?
Well, I'm glad you asked that!
Apparently, the mold used in traditional Japanese Sake, for Koji rice or Koji-kin, is Aspergillus Oryzae. This mold acts on the starches of the rice, and produces an amylase enzyme (Hah! You've heard of amylase before!) Anyways, the mold produces the amylase, converting the rice starches to sugar. The yeast produces ethanol from the converted sugars.
***************************
Enter...Evil Merck! - Apparently, the Koji mold having been in use for thousands of years, was still somehow able to be patented by Merck Pharmaceuticals.
Wait, What?
I know, Right?
But it's true. They bribed the government and got a patent on Aspergillus Oryzae, a naturally occurring mold.
But why would they do that?
Well, Koji kin produces a statin that boosts your good cholesterol, and lowers your bad cholesterol.
Wallah... Levitra! Huge moneymaker. (EDIT - Levitra makes your wood go wood, it's actually lovostatin. Doh!)
So naturally, Merck is out to stomp on red yeast rice, aka beni-koji.
Fortunately for us all, Chinese shopkeepers pay no attention to such nonsense.
*****************************************
But Slick, Beni-Koji doesn't contain Aspergillus Oryzae... why does Merck hate it so much???
.
You're absolutely right! Beni-Koji is inoculated with an entirely different mold, monascus purpureas. This is where the red color comes from. Monascus purpureas does the same thing aspergillus oryzae does... it produces an amylase enzyme that converts the rice starches to sugar. The yeast then converts the sugars into sweet sweet booze. This sends the yeast and the mold into a crazy feedback loop where they go into a symbiosis and start cranking out the ethanol... this symbiosis allows the yeast to continue to function in alcohol levels that would normally kill them...it's normal to get 15-20% out of Bakers Yeast!
****************************************8
.
But Slick, you still haven't told us why Merck hates Beni-Koji so much!
.
Well, as it turns out, monascus purpureas produces the exact same statin as aspergillus oryzae does. Identical down to the atomic and molecular structure. That means you can buy 300$ worth of Levitra for 4$ at any Chinese Grocery! Google takes loot to suppress this.
***********************************************
Anyways, don't worry about the details... follow the instructions for a sweet delicious red wine made from white rice. And it will lower your cholesterol.
What's not to love?
*********
Edit to say, this my first time, so I'm not going to be sure it worked until it finishes. Also, maybe the cholesterol drug is a different Merck one, not sure, but the statin info is solid.
*************************************************************
EDIT 6/20/13 - I have done several batches now, that recipe works, but is not ideal....
Here is "The best method in my opinion"* See SonOfGroks thread in my sig, or read this whole thread. Many Mighty Seekers Of Truth And Ethanol have contributed Mightily. I thank Them All.
No Added Water, Distilled or otherwise. The Ancient Chinese Dude even said to add water, but my experience has been that it makes it less sweet and more dry to add water. I have also found that Booze Levels stay pretty much the same... a 1.5% increase in ethanol isn't worth the difference in taste, again, that's just my opinion.
Steam the rice or just cook it, it doesn't seem to matter that much. Buy the shortest grain rice available, that's important, shorter carb chains. Let it cool, make sure there are no spots above 100f.
7 lbs dry rice before cooking
2 pounds Red Yeast Rice
113.5 grams chinese yeast balls, crushed. {Put them in a bag and smack them with the round side of a ladle or spoon.)
Cooked rice should be around three gallons by volume in the bucket.
Pitch the Red Yeast Rice and Yeast Balls crushed just like yeast, in a big bowl, warm water (80-90F) let it soak about ten minutes, then add it in and stir. Or just mix it in dry by hand. Whatever.
Cap, airlock, wait three weeks, 21 days. No need to open or stir. You should get around 13% ethanol, waiting longer results in a dryer, more alcoholic and less sweet wine with higher content, about 16% max.
Open, strain, drain, will be cloudy, filter or let settle and rack, or both.
The solids can be used again with fresh rice.
The liquids will continue to ferment and will be cloudy, beware bottle bombs. Cold crashing will not completely eliminate this. Pastuerize at about 160f for a few minutes and it should stop. Don't heat to 174 or alcohol will be lost!
You can drink it "raw", unpastuerized, it's cloudy and fresh and delicous. You can bottle it pastuerize it and age it. Whatever you want. Leave some in a small bottle open to the air and it will turn to red rice wine vinegar, great for cooking.
These are my thoughts, there has been Tremendous creativity in the other thread in my sig, it's a long read but well worth it, and interesting as hell.
Special Mention to LeadGolem and SonOfGrok and EVERYBODY in this thread and the rice wine thread.
All the Best.
Wandering through aisle after aisle of things, no English, even the workers can't understand you...
But you know it's here... somewhere...
Eventually, I was able to find an extremely old dude and his English speaking daughter.
He gave me this recipe. I never did get my Koji rice or Koji-kin.... but I did get this crazy recipe. And I discovered Chinese Red Yeast Rice, aka Beni Koji... Red Koji.
.
Anyways, the old Chinese guy told me to do this:
For 2 Gallons Akaisake
Take 7 lbs short grain white rice.
Rinse it until the rinse water runs clear. Work it with your hands, stir, rinse.
After, put it into your bucket. Add enough water to cover it, with about 2 inches above the rice.
Soak for two hours.
Drain, rinse well again.
Wrap the rice up in a clean white cotton towel, or a cheesecloth, or a tshirt. Steam the rice, the water can't touch the rice... use a colander inside a pot or whatever you have to work it out. If you can't swing it, just make the damn rice however you want. Make sure to rinse and soak it as best you can. Steaming makes the best booze, but you can still do it however.
Put the drained rice into your sterilized bucket.
Add Distilled Water, 2 gallons... add slowly, take the temp... when you get it to 100 F, add 1 lb red yeast rice and 1 packet yeast.
Mix well.
Cap it and airlock it.
Let ferment for 2 weeks
Strain out the solids, and rack it into glass bottles. You could drink this right now if you want, it will be cloudy, but good. Chilled is best. If you plan on stopping here, make sure you keep it chilled, it can go bad if you don't.
If you want to continue on....
Set aside somewhere cool (65ish) for another two weeks. Secondary Fermentation is occurring, so leave some way for gas to get out... glass carboys with airlocks are ideal, but a non lubed rubber with a pinhole does the trick... use what you have.
Strain off of the remaining sediment, bottle, pasteurize. Boil it in a water bath until the liquid reaches about 140F, then cap it and it's done.
Drink or Age.
Don't drink it warm... that's for the crappy stuff, not this.
You will have a red wine finished product.
If you want, run through a still and make Schochu. Or keep it this way and enjoy!
*****************************
.
# Frequently asked questions:
1 - Slick, seriously, WTF?
Well, I'm glad you asked that!
Apparently, the mold used in traditional Japanese Sake, for Koji rice or Koji-kin, is Aspergillus Oryzae. This mold acts on the starches of the rice, and produces an amylase enzyme (Hah! You've heard of amylase before!) Anyways, the mold produces the amylase, converting the rice starches to sugar. The yeast produces ethanol from the converted sugars.
***************************
Enter...Evil Merck! - Apparently, the Koji mold having been in use for thousands of years, was still somehow able to be patented by Merck Pharmaceuticals.
Wait, What?
I know, Right?
But it's true. They bribed the government and got a patent on Aspergillus Oryzae, a naturally occurring mold.
But why would they do that?
Well, Koji kin produces a statin that boosts your good cholesterol, and lowers your bad cholesterol.
Wallah... Levitra! Huge moneymaker. (EDIT - Levitra makes your wood go wood, it's actually lovostatin. Doh!)
So naturally, Merck is out to stomp on red yeast rice, aka beni-koji.
Fortunately for us all, Chinese shopkeepers pay no attention to such nonsense.
*****************************************
But Slick, Beni-Koji doesn't contain Aspergillus Oryzae... why does Merck hate it so much???
.
You're absolutely right! Beni-Koji is inoculated with an entirely different mold, monascus purpureas. This is where the red color comes from. Monascus purpureas does the same thing aspergillus oryzae does... it produces an amylase enzyme that converts the rice starches to sugar. The yeast then converts the sugars into sweet sweet booze. This sends the yeast and the mold into a crazy feedback loop where they go into a symbiosis and start cranking out the ethanol... this symbiosis allows the yeast to continue to function in alcohol levels that would normally kill them...it's normal to get 15-20% out of Bakers Yeast!
****************************************8
.
But Slick, you still haven't told us why Merck hates Beni-Koji so much!
.
Well, as it turns out, monascus purpureas produces the exact same statin as aspergillus oryzae does. Identical down to the atomic and molecular structure. That means you can buy 300$ worth of Levitra for 4$ at any Chinese Grocery! Google takes loot to suppress this.
***********************************************
Anyways, don't worry about the details... follow the instructions for a sweet delicious red wine made from white rice. And it will lower your cholesterol.
What's not to love?
*********
Edit to say, this my first time, so I'm not going to be sure it worked until it finishes. Also, maybe the cholesterol drug is a different Merck one, not sure, but the statin info is solid.
*************************************************************
EDIT 6/20/13 - I have done several batches now, that recipe works, but is not ideal....
Here is "The best method in my opinion"* See SonOfGroks thread in my sig, or read this whole thread. Many Mighty Seekers Of Truth And Ethanol have contributed Mightily. I thank Them All.
No Added Water, Distilled or otherwise. The Ancient Chinese Dude even said to add water, but my experience has been that it makes it less sweet and more dry to add water. I have also found that Booze Levels stay pretty much the same... a 1.5% increase in ethanol isn't worth the difference in taste, again, that's just my opinion.
Steam the rice or just cook it, it doesn't seem to matter that much. Buy the shortest grain rice available, that's important, shorter carb chains. Let it cool, make sure there are no spots above 100f.
7 lbs dry rice before cooking
2 pounds Red Yeast Rice
113.5 grams chinese yeast balls, crushed. {Put them in a bag and smack them with the round side of a ladle or spoon.)
Cooked rice should be around three gallons by volume in the bucket.
Pitch the Red Yeast Rice and Yeast Balls crushed just like yeast, in a big bowl, warm water (80-90F) let it soak about ten minutes, then add it in and stir. Or just mix it in dry by hand. Whatever.
Cap, airlock, wait three weeks, 21 days. No need to open or stir. You should get around 13% ethanol, waiting longer results in a dryer, more alcoholic and less sweet wine with higher content, about 16% max.
Open, strain, drain, will be cloudy, filter or let settle and rack, or both.
The solids can be used again with fresh rice.
The liquids will continue to ferment and will be cloudy, beware bottle bombs. Cold crashing will not completely eliminate this. Pastuerize at about 160f for a few minutes and it should stop. Don't heat to 174 or alcohol will be lost!
You can drink it "raw", unpastuerized, it's cloudy and fresh and delicous. You can bottle it pastuerize it and age it. Whatever you want. Leave some in a small bottle open to the air and it will turn to red rice wine vinegar, great for cooking.
These are my thoughts, there has been Tremendous creativity in the other thread in my sig, it's a long read but well worth it, and interesting as hell.
Special Mention to LeadGolem and SonOfGrok and EVERYBODY in this thread and the rice wine thread.
All the Best.
