Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

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wildozarkwine said:
I started my first batch a couple of weeks ago and the top portion of the rice has turned brown, is this normal? I used Rotary brand rice yeast, the ingredfiants are rice, yeast, ginger, and pepper. This is the only rice yeast I have been able to find in the St. Louis area.
The rice is fermenting and has a very strong alcohol smell but I am concerned with the brown color. Will this be drinkable, if not will it be safe to let ferment and turn to vinagar, or should I pitch it and try again, maybe order some new rice yest off of the net?
Sorry for all the questions, and thanks for any help.
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I don't know about yeast that has ginger and pepper in it....If the alcohol content gets high enough, I doubt there will be anything that is harmful. The taste, all bets are off. Could be terrible or it may be great.

Either way, let us know how it turns out.
 
wildozarkwine said:
I started my first batch a couple of weeks ago and the top portion of the rice has turned brown, is this normal? I used Rotary brand rice yeast, the ingredfiants are rice, yeast, ginger, and pepper. This is the only rice yeast I have been able to find in the St. Louis area.
The rice is fermenting and has a very strong alcohol smell but I am concerned with the brown color. Will this be drinkable, if not will it be safe to let ferment and turn to vinagar, or should I pitch it and try again, maybe order some new rice yest off of the net?
Sorry for all the questions, and thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

Let it ride, I originally thought you added ginger and pepper:D you have nothing to lose at the moment, the top can get a little gnarly looking but nothing will hurt you.
 
So my last batch I made balls then added to the jar and it's fermenting better than the last to batches hopefully it turns out great!
 
Just tried the first batch. Let me start by saying I don't like wine nor straight liquor. This stuff is friggin hot but with a sweet start and no aftertaste very smooth. Gonna start another bigger batch immediately. Thanks for the thread on this one. This may cut into the beer consumption.


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rskelhorn said:
Are folks decanting or just drinking all of liquid leftover the strain?
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It's all up to personal tastes. I prefer to let the solids settle to the bottom of the bottle after straining and bottling and then drink the clear liquid at the top. Others like to shake the solids back into suspension. Try it both ways and see what you like best.


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rskelhorn said:
Are folks decanting or just drinking all of liquid leftover the strain?
Click to expand...

I've only finished one batch so far, but I harvested, bottle pasteurized right away, then let it settle, and refrigerated. The solids settled nicely at the bottom so I drank the clear stuff first, then the solids after.
 
jak1010 said:
I think, instead of scooping the cooked and cooled rice into the fermenter, they rolled the rice into balls and placed them in. I've done this when doing a small batch.
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Did rolling the rice into balls make any difference for you? I've read of people doing this before as well, and some have said it worked better for them. I just layer rice and yeast and it seems to work fine. I think rolling it could introduce a lot more bacteria and risk the whole operation
 
MasterCrook said:
Did rolling the rice into balls make any difference for you? I've read of people doing this before as well, and some have said it worked better for them. I just layer rice and yeast and it seems to work fine. I think rolling it could introduce a lot more bacteria and risk the whole operation
Click to expand...

I did it once. After rolling the rice into a ball, I'd roll the ball into the powdered yeast and let it coat the ball of rice. To be honest, I didn't notice any difference in taste and since then haven't done it again.

I had the same thought about possible contamination. Although, when brewing wine, beer or mead I'm extreme when it comes to sanitization. This stuff, I tend to be less thorough and it always turns out good. Maybe it has to do with the rice or the alcohol or just the yeast itself. Even the plastic packages of the yeast balls are "flimsy" at best and most of them aren't air tight. I doubt they're germ free from the start.
 
MasterCrook said:
Did rolling the rice into balls make any difference for you? I've read of people doing this before as well, and some have said it worked better for them. I just layer rice and yeast and it seems to work fine. I think rolling it could introduce a lot more bacteria and risk the whole operation
Click to expand...

My first few batches I sanitized every thing like I do for beer. Now I soak overnight, cook in the morning, let cool all day covered, add the yeast and mix and in to a clean jar with my hands, haven't had any issues.
I may have to try to contaminate a small batch to see what happens.
 
I've read that some people freeze distill rice wine, has anyone tried this? I wonder if the resulting liquid would be less cloudy? Wonder what it would taste like.
 
jak1010 said:
I did it once. After rolling the rice into a ball, I'd roll the ball into the powdered yeast and let it coat the ball of rice. To be honest, I didn't notice any difference in taste and since then haven't done it again.

I had the same thought about possible contamination. Although, when brewing wine, beer or mead I'm extreme when it comes to sanitization. This stuff, I tend to be less thorough and it always turns out good. Maybe it has to do with the rice or the alcohol or just the yeast itself. Even the plastic packages of the yeast balls are "flimsy" at best and most of them aren't air tight. I doubt they're germ free from the start.
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I see. Yeah, good point about the yeast balls not being germ free to begin with. This stuff is a lot more tolerant than I originally thought
 
ChefRex said:
My first few batches I sanitized every thing like I do for beer. Now I soak overnight, cook in the morning, let cool all day covered, add the yeast and mix and in to a clean jar with my hands, haven't had any issues.
I may have to try to contaminate a small batch to see what happens.
Click to expand...

I've read a lot of horror stories on this forum, but I've never had contaminations either. Have you ever tried layering the yeast and rice? I'm curious which method works better...
 
I layered mine then stirred it after 10 days one time. It came out well. Next time I will layer it then stir it after 4 days..


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I could be totally wrong but, I believe that the infections we've seen so far are from either the rice or the actual yeast balls having a germ in them. Some yeast balls have predisposed bacteria in them that just turn the batch bad from the beginning.
 
MasterCrook said:
I've read a lot of horror stories on this forum, but I've never had contaminations either. Have you ever tried layering the yeast and rice? I'm curious which method works better...
Click to expand...

I have layered and was a little more tedious same results, I do have a couple of alternative batches going at the moment and will post when the time is right.
 
Ok guys im on page 384 and i dont recall anyone trying what im about to ask. has anyone ever seperated the liquid and left that rice/yeast ball/ryr glob in the ferminter to see if it would further break down?maybe leave a little liquid in the ferminter to cover/protectec it? or sanitized water?
 
I have so far only layered one batch the second with the first I mixed the yeast through the rice by hand and the threw it in a jar the third I did the same but rolled it into baseball sizes and stacked in a 1g jar.
 
rskelhorn said:
I've read that some people freeze distill rice wine, has anyone tried this? I wonder if the resulting liquid would be less cloudy? Wonder what it would taste like.
Click to expand...

I always worry about freeze distilling just from the standpoint of concentrating the bad alcohols that you don't want to be drinking concentrated. I am probably just paranoid though... I like things like my eyesight and life. :p
 
I'm kind of the same way on the freeze thing. I guess you could heat to boil off any methanol for safety but I'd imagine you lose a bit of the good that way. If it's like pasteurizing though it doesn't negatively effect the taste all that much fwiw.
 
Gar said:
Ok guys im on page 384 and i dont recall anyone trying what im about to ask. has anyone ever seperated the liquid and left that rice/yeast ball/ryr glob in the ferminter to see if it would further break down?maybe leave a little liquid in the ferminter to cover/protectec it? or sanitized water?
Click to expand...

I haven't done it, but I think after a point of fermentation the yeast would reach it's maximum ability and would stop working. Maybe other mold will take over and create something else. It seems like a good experiment
 
Accidic said:
I'm kind of the same way on the freeze thing. I guess you could heat to boil off any methanol for safety but I'd imagine you lose a bit of the good that way. If it's like pasteurizing though it doesn't negatively effect the taste all that much fwiw.
Click to expand...

Distilling is tricky business, don't do it unless you know what to do.
 
Technically he is talking about concentration. There have been a few debates on here in the cider forum about the process, and the legality of it. I think the overall consensus is that the law allows it, but your hangover might not make it worthwhile.
 
and still haven't seen any change in my rice except for a little bit of "drying out look".
I'm guessing my Asian-mart yeast balls were no good. I have 3 jars (same batch) that all look the same.

Not giving up though. I'll get another bag of the balls to try.

To clarify what I did (so please correct me if you see any errors or omissions)

3 cups of Thai Jasmine rice - rinsed for a few minutes and then steamed.
Once steamed, I spread out on a cookie sheet cool.
Mashed up 2 balls of the yeast until (mostly) powder
Mixed the yeast powder with the cool/warmish rice
Added rice-mix to 32oz Ball Mason Jars
Covered the mouth of each jar with cheese-cloth that had been dipped in starsanz and rinsed
Sealed each jar with lid (ring + top) so the cover went cheesecloth then lid tightened with ring
Placed these in a closed thermos cooler in my pantry which is around 68-72 degrees constant.

Thanks for any feedback
 
WSB-MBC said:
and still haven't seen any change in my rice except for a little bit of "drying out look".
I'm guessing my Asian-mart yeast balls were no good. I have 3 jars (same batch) that all look the same.

Not giving up though. I'll get another bag of the balls to try.

To clarify what I did (so please correct me if you see any errors or omissions)

3 cups of Thai Jasmine rice - rinsed for a few minutes and then steamed.
Once steamed, I spread out on a cookie sheet cool.
Mashed up 2 balls of the yeast until (mostly) powder
Mixed the yeast powder with the cool/warmish rice
Added rice-mix to 32oz Ball Mason Jars
Covered the mouth of each jar with cheese-cloth that had been dipped in starsanz and rinsed
Sealed each jar with lid (ring + top) so the cover went cheesecloth then lid tightened with ring
Placed these in a closed thermos cooler in my pantry which is around 68-72 degrees constant.

Thanks for any feedback
Click to expand...

3 weeks is a long time for no activity. There should be liquid in jar by now. What was the texture of the rice after steaming? Maybe it wasn't steamed enough.
 
WSB-MBC said:
and still haven't seen any change in my rice except for a little bit of "drying out look".
I'm guessing my Asian-mart yeast balls were no good. I have 3 jars (same batch) that all look the same.

Not giving up though. I'll get another bag of the balls to try.

To clarify what I did (so please correct me if you see any errors or omissions)

3 cups of Thai Jasmine rice - rinsed for a few minutes and then steamed.
Once steamed, I spread out on a cookie sheet cool.
Mashed up 2 balls of the yeast until (mostly) powder
Mixed the yeast powder with the cool/warmish rice
Added rice-mix to 32oz Ball Mason Jars
Covered the mouth of each jar with cheese-cloth that had been dipped in starsanz and rinsed
Sealed each jar with lid (ring + top) so the cover went cheesecloth then lid tightened with ring
Placed these in a closed thermos cooler in my pantry which is around 68-72 degrees constant.

Thanks for any feedback
Click to expand...

Your process appears to be right on. Can you post pictures? Also, sometimes it can appear that there's only a small amount of liquid when in fact there's a lot. But, I've never had a batch that produced no appearance of liquid.

2 things come to mind...1) the rice is too hot and 2) the yeast is no good. Normally it's #1 but since you noted that you cooled the rice, it leads me to believe that the yeast is the problem.
 
Accidic said:
I'm kind of the same way on the freeze thing. I guess you could heat to boil off any methanol for safety but I'd imagine you lose a bit of the good that way. If it's like pasteurizing though it doesn't negatively effect the taste all that much fwiw.
Click to expand...

If anyone wants to try distilled rice wine, buy some Awamori. It is a distilled rice wine made from Thai rice and black koji in Okinawa. Or, you could try Shochu that is made from rice (there is also shochu made from sweet potatoes and from barley) for a taste. Distilled is very different from the rice wine flavor, especially the cloudy/nigori flavor rice wine.
 
I'll take some pictures tonight. I cooked the rice in a rice-cooker that I've used dozens of times with no issue. I'm very experienced in the kitchen and I make rice a lot.
Thanks for the suggestions!
 
Finaly got yeast balls might use a growler and airlock to ferment mine brewing beer saturday and hopefully this on sunday...
 
Thought I would add some info on a recent experience I had with my rice wine.
I made several batches just over a year ago and one of them I pasteurized with a canning jar and then left it in the back of my beer fridge for a year.

It was incredibly smooth and quite honestly amazing! After pasteurizing I didn't expect much change but it really did.
If you have some space I would suggest setting some aside in the back of a fridge for a while and seeing how it changes and improves.


ImageUploadedByHome Brew1397689213.856173.jpg



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Ibrewaletx said:
Thought I would add some info on a recent experience I had with my rice wine.
I made several batches just over a year ago and one of them I pasteurized with a canning jar and then left it in the back of my beer fridge for a year.

It was incredibly smooth and quite honestly amazing! After pasteurizing I didn't expect much change but it really did.
If you have some space I would suggest setting some aside in the back of a fridge for a while and seeing how it changes and improves.


View attachment 193723



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
Click to expand...

That's beautiful...

I kept mine in a dark green bottle, gives it a really nice flavour, but I didn't have it more than a week in the fridge.
 
Ibrewaletx said:
Thought I would add some info on a recent experience I had with my rice wine.
I made several batches just over a year ago and one of them I pasteurized with a canning jar and then left it in the back of my beer fridge for a year.

It was incredibly smooth and quite honestly amazing! After pasteurizing I didn't expect much change but it really did.
If you have some space I would suggest setting some aside in the back of a fridge for a while and seeing how it changes and improves.


View attachment 193723



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
Click to expand...

When you say you pasteurized it, what exactly did you do?
 
Bottled some that I cleared tonight, defiantly another beverage without the solids, I like them both, what went in the bottle is unpasteurized but not sealed yet, going to give it some more time.

IMG_2693.jpg
 

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