MeadSake

I'm looking for opinions on the following recipe before I give it a whirl. I've tried experimental recipes that I pulled out of my a$$ before with good results, this one just sort of dawned on me as another high abv drink that would be cheap and easy to produce(perfect for us poor college students).

1 Gal Recipe:
2lbs Corn Syrup
2lbs Uncooked Brown Rice,
1tsp Bread Yeast

Dissolve syrup in warm water, pour on top of uncooked brown rice in fermentation vessel, shake. When temp is right add bread yeast and let sit 'till the cows come home. According to Tastybrew.com, I should achieve somewhere around 16% abv, though that number is based on white rice.

I suppose this is some sort of mead/sake hybrid....comment away.

While that combination of ingredients will ferment, it is neither a mead or a sake as it contains no honey nor the very specific type of mold (Aspergillis, pre-inoculated on a rice base as a product called koji) that is used to make Sake.

Very true on both points, thank you.

The only real question (concern) I have is what effect the rice will have on the resultant "beverage". Because rice is predominantly a starch and provides no enzymes of its own, it will not ferment. As such, I question whether it adds anything beneficial...

When Sake is made, the enzymes that convert the rice starches into fermentable sugars are provided by the aspergillis mold - under very specific and demanding conditions.

According to tastybrew, the 2lbs of rice would add 5.8% abv. I don't know or understand how that is, but I know many commercial beer companies use plain 'ol rice in their beer. I always assumed it acted to lighten the flavor...not sure what difference brown rice would have.

Tastybrew may be assuming that it's being mashed with something with enzymes, and likely assuming it's flaked rice.

Well I suppose I could leave out the rice; of course at that point I'm simply fermenting corn syrup with bread yeast. Not something I'm against trying, of course I would most likely end up with a flavorless, body-less alcohol...

One possible revision to my recipe:
2lbs Corn Syrup
2lbs Brown Sugar
1tsp Bread Yeast

Any takers?

mrhead said:

another high abv drink that would be cheap and easy to produce (perfect for us poor college students)

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That is precisely the definition of hooch. We don't allow hooch threads, and this one's on the ragged edge.

Try Joe's Ancient Orange mead, or a similar recipe. Have a spiced holiday mead going now that smells amazing, using all ingredients from the grocery store except for the wine yeast.

Well, technically, I bought the honey at LHBS, but that's because I changed the recipe from 1 gallon to 6, and didn't want to buy 24 pounds of honey 8 oz at a time.

I really wasn't going for hooch, I apologize if my lack of funding offends anyone. I am going for the GaP approach, have made a few successful batches of mead using bread yeast and honey which I will continue to do...now I'm just trying to make something that will be as good as mead but without taking 6 months to be drinkable.

Your approach is genuine, that's why the thread isn't closed. However, your recipe is, frankly, unappealing at best. How about some amber agave syrup and wine yeast? That doesn't add much expense but should vastly improve the outcome.

Heh, perfectly understandable. Head either up or down one forum (probably up, though it's discussed in both), and look at the apfelwein recipe. Will be simillarly chepa, and be quicker. As will Joe's Ancient Orange Mead. It's a quqick mead, approximately 30 days.

Definitely understnad your thouht on the time though. Started my first mead, this spiced one, alst week, and it MIGHT be drinkable in time for Christmas. But I also do wines, and first wine (This time around, used to make wine and beer years ago), will be ready to drink in approximately 3 weeks to start. Though I'll age most of it longer than that.

Funny you should mention agave syrup, when I was browsing my grocer I noticed a bottle of something called agave syrup and wondered "could I brew with that?" I'll have to pick up a bottle tomorrow...unfortunately I'll be sticking with bread yeast.

Don't you have a LHBS? Wine yeast is cheaper than bread yeast.

etp777 said:

Heh, perfectly understandable. Head either up or down one forum (probably up, though it's discussed in both), and look at the apfelwein recipe. Will be simillarly chepa, and be quicker. As will Joe's Ancient Orange Mead. It's a quqick mead, approximately 30 days.

Definitely understnad your thouht on the time though. Started my first mead, this spiced one, alst week, and it MIGHT be drinkable in time for Christmas. But I also do wines, and first wine (This time around, used to make wine and beer years ago), will be ready to drink in approximately 3 weeks to start. Though I'll age most of it longer than that.

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First mead I made was joe's; it was "drinkable" in 30 days, depending on your definition of drinkable.

Have made two batches of Apfelwein now, and am considering just using apple juice as the base for something new like this.

mrhead said:

Funny you should mention agave syrup, when I was browsing my grocer I noticed a bottle of something called agave syrup and wondered "could I brew with that?" I'll have to pick up a bottle tomorrow...unfortunately I'll be sticking with bread yeast.

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I know you at least have the internet...you could get a packet of RedStar Champagne yeast for $0.99

Yes yes, wine yeast is better, cheaper, stronger. I'm sticking with bread yeast, that's not on the table.

So right now I'm thinking about some combination of corn syrup, brown sugar, agave syrup, and some sort of juice.

Why are you so insistent about the bread yeast?

is there any honey involved? if not then y r u calling it mead?

Is getting wasted that important? I know it really is about the buzz, otherwise we'd be drinking sodas and apple juice, but really, there's more to life than puking on your friend's carpet. Just be patient. Buy apple juice in one gallon glass jugs at HEB. You can make apfelwein in them and then use reuse the jug to make whatever you want. Buy cheaper juice and ferment it in the glass jug.

Does San Antonio have a LHBS? If not, call Austin Homebrew Supply and order some dry yeast.

Find a beekeeper and call them up to see if you can get a good price on honey. I found a source that is about 1/2 what I could pay at HEB.

Really, man- If you're that desperate to get alcohol, you might want to just take a step back.

Yuri_Rage said:

Why are you so insistent about the bread yeast?

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Why are you so insistent against it? I'm not gonna make you drink it.

zonchar said:

is there any honey involved? if not then y r u calling it mead?

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nope, no honey; I don't recall ever referring to this as mead, sorry to have confused you.

BeerRunner said:

Is getting wasted that important? If you're that desperate to get alcohol, you might want to just take a step back.

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Thanks for the info Dr. Phil. If all I wanted to do was get wasted and puke on my friends carpet, I have a liquor cabinet full of goodies, a bathtub full of homebrew wine/beer/mead/gruit, and a carpet steamer. I'm simply trying to experiment with new ways of cheap, effective homebrew. Maybe this is the wrong forum for that sort of thinking.

Ummm, you called it mead from the very start, mrhead. Check the name of the thread.

etp777 said:

Ummm, you called it mead from the very start, mrhead. Check the name of the thread.

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Exactly y i was asking

mrhead said:

I'm simply trying to experiment with new ways of cheap, effective homebrew. Maybe this is the wrong forum for that sort of thinking.

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Yes, it is. Here at HBT, we consider "effective" to be a great tasting fermented beverage. Your definition of effective appears to be getting sloshed. That's not the point of the hobby.

I told you before that you were on the ragged edge of simply making hooch. Now I am convinced that's all you're after. Closed.