Gelatinizing rice for rice wine?

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Newton

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If I were to take, say 10 pounds of rice, and cook it in a rice cooker, would this "gelantize" the rice? I was thinking of then adding like 1 pound or so of malted wheat--enzemes for conversion--some water and then lautering. Boil this for a little while, cool and pitch S-05 yeast. Could I make cooking grade rice wine this way? Thanks!
 
I'm just getting started on a sake adventure. It's bad when even the LHBS says "don't do it - everybody I know that's tried to make it has hated their version". The other LHBS said "I don't carry anything for it, because I don't like it. The best I can do is pronounce it."

So ... in light of this ... I'm wondering about making kome-koji. I realize it is needs a tropical type environment, like most molds. Warm, moist, etc. I was thinking of using an aquarium heater to heat the water up to a certain temperature within a ice cooler. The aquarium heater cost ~20 USD, and just has to be submerged in water. This should provide a nice humid, temperature controlled environment, without sacrificing my lagering fridge's temperature control. Granted, it means it is a one purpose tool - and that's always something to be avoided, but it is an option!

Also, I'm not sure if it taboo, but there is a Taylor-made guide for "make sake" ... if your google-fu is weak, I'm sorry. How good is this guide as opposed to the one that posted previously in the thread?
 
OK, so it's not taboo. How do these guides compare? I'd prefer to do it right ... or as right as I can.
 
I ended up doing a cereal mash with 9 pounds of rice. I then added 1 lb of malted wheat, 1 teaspoon of amylase enzyme, and 4 gallons of water. I let that sit for 2 hours at 150. Ended up collecting 5 gallons of "wort" at 1.053. I just brought that to a boil and cooled it, pitched some Coopers ale yeast. I figure this will go down to 1.000, which will give me a cooking grade rice wine at 7%.
 
You need the kome koji, fermenting rice straight up isnt that easy, and actual sake making is much more involved.

No, see, he was proposing to replace the koji culturing with a mash. It won't be sake, but doing a mash with the rice and some malt for enzymes is a perfectly cromulent idea. Though I'm a bit unsure about the ratios proposed in the original post; that doesn't seem like enough malt, even with an extended mash. I'd probably use 6-row barley for the much higher diastatic power and bump up the amount a bit.
 
Yeah I'll let you know. There's no doubt that I extracted a bunch of sugar from the rice...I check this morning and its bubbling like mad. 5 gallons of this stuff cost me about 4 bucks (50 lb Costco bag-o-rice).....
 
I've been producing a batch of good rice wine every few months. My wife's side is from China (Taiwan) and they say my rice wine is better than most available commercially. Here's what I do:

7lbs flaked rice
3 lbs 6 row barley (crushed)
2 lbs cooked rice
2 or 3 tablespoons of amylase enzyme
2 lbs table sugar
yeast nutrient
champaign yeast

I put all of grains and such in a big mesh bag and mash it stovetop (with the enzyme added) in my brew kettle with 4 gallons of water at 150 for 90 minutes or so.

After that I'll "sparge" by putting the bag in a strainer and pouring another couple of gallons over the bag and into the kettle.

I boil with the sugar for 20 minutes or so and then cool. The OG is usually around 1.10 or theresaboots. The champaign yeast will take it down to 15 or 20. I try to get the finished product above 10% to inhibit bacterial growth. I'm sure the recipe and method could be improved on, but everyone seems to be happy with the final product.
 
Oh and I must add that I did try making sake via a kit at my lhbs, and it turned out like vinegar.
 
Oh, y'all ought to check out this thread -- it's a great "how-to" for making "traditional" rice wine. Basically, cook up some short-grain rice (Thai jasmine or sushi rice seems to be the best according to the thread, I've only tried the Thai Jasmine rice and it worked well.) Also, you need to pick up some yeast balls from your local Asian grocery or eBay. Additionally you could use some Red Yeast Rice (no one in my area caries it, so I order it off eBay as well) and/or Angel Rice Leaven (another type of yeast.) It works pretty well. Cook the rice at 1.25:1 water to rice mixture and then mix up the ground yeast balls, RYR, etc with the cooled rice and let it sit in a dark area for 3 weeks, then strain and bottle. :mug:
 
I ended up doing a cereal mash with 9 pounds of rice. I then added 1 lb of malted wheat, 1 teaspoon of amylase enzyme, and 4 gallons of water. I let that sit for 2 hours at 150. Ended up collecting 5 gallons of "wort" at 1.053. I just brought that to a boil and cooled it, pitched some Coopers ale yeast. I figure this will go down to 1.000, which will give me a cooking grade rice wine at 7%.

Newton, this is more similar to a recipe for Shaoxing Chinese rice wine with the wheat addition. Cooking the rice as opposed to steaming it can cause issues with certain fungus breaking down the rice properly, but since you're relying on amylase powder to do that for you, you're probably ok.

The only problem with using amylase powder is it imparts absolutely no flavor to your mash. This is either good or bad depending on what you're trying to accomplish. The ale yeast will also impart a non-traditional flavor. If you wish to go for an authentic flavor profile, next time go to your local Asian market and find some Chinese or Vietnamese yeast balls. Crush those and pitch them on your rice mash. They both contain fungus (aspergillus, rhyzopus, etc.) for breaking down starches AND native yeasts for fermenting the wine.

Since you didn't leave the grains in the mash for the amylase to break down completely, you'll probably wind up with something akin to rice beer instead of a rice wine. Traditional rice wines leave the grains in the mash throughout fermentation and remove them by straining and then pressing through cotton canvas bags (a paint strainer bag works well for this).

Good luck, it should be interesting what your results wind up being.
 
I've been producing a batch of good rice wine every few months. My wife's side is from China (Taiwan) and they say my rice wine is better than most available commercially. Here's what I do:

7lbs flaked rice
3 lbs 6 row barley (crushed)
2 lbs cooked rice
2 or 3 tablespoons of amylase enzyme
2 lbs table sugar
yeast nutrient
champaign yeast

I put all of grains and such in a big mesh bag and mash it stovetop (with the enzyme added) in my brew kettle with 4 gallons of water at 150 for 90 minutes or so.

After that I'll "sparge" by putting the bag in a strainer and pouring another couple of gallons over the bag and into the kettle.

I boil with the sugar for 20 minutes or so and then cool. The OG is usually around 1.10 or theresaboots. The champaign yeast will take it down to 15 or 20. I try to get the finished product above 10% to inhibit bacterial growth. I'm sure the recipe and method could be improved on, but everyone seems to be happy with the final product.

Now this looks interesting. I've been doing the plain "f243 thread" "traditional rice wine" and I love it to death. I'm trying to figure out how to optimize my production/yield. But that's another story.

This looks really interesting. Does anyone have a side-by-side flavor comparison?
 
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