Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

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i put too much extra water in my ryr batch and it came out very thin on taste and of course on alcohol also. So I put in a half a can of grape juice concentrate and a couple cups of sugar just to see what it would come out like . it is bubbling away and churning that rice
 
trbig said:
...The Chinese people I know that make this store it in bottles with a large air gap/head space at the top. They use red yeast rice, but after sitting in the bottle a few months, that red color becomes a really nice amber-ish to light brown because of the oxidation...
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That's interesting. I've got some I bottled last April with normal wine bottle headspace and it's still very red.
 
Leadgolem said:
That's interesting. I've got some I bottled last April with normal wine bottle headspace and it's still very red.
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I don't know, man.. just going by what they say, but I think they're holding out on me.. lol. Some ancient Chinese secret they can't tell the white guy.

They let theirs sit out on shelves at room temperature. Mine is like yours, in wine bottles and still red after at least a couple months. The stuff I bottled back in December is still as red as when I bottled it.
 
My neighbor said to me when I told him I used black sweet rice to make wine " black rice ? " It actually comes out looking quite like the ryr only a bit darker and close to the same taste
I read on the asian university site that sealed rice wine is stored at room temp and sealed up and left for 3 months to 10 years to finish out . I think it comes out amber colored if I remember correctly
 
trbig said:
I don't know, man.. just going by what they say, but I think they're holding out on me.. lol. Some ancient Chinese secret they can't tell the white guy.

They let theirs sit out on shelves at room temperature. Mine is like yours, in wine bottles and still red after at least a couple months. The stuff I bottled back in December is still as red as when I bottled it.
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Here's a few pics of a batch made with Red Yeast Rice. I cold crashed it for about 4 months and then poured off the clearer stuff into this bottle. It's been in this bottle in the fridge for about 4 more months.

1393786248511.jpg


1393786261633.jpg


1393786274641.jpg
 
Let's just say that I can see why it stays around for a long time. It's not as sweet and fruity as when first harvested. It's has a bit of a chalky texture and a slight stale taste. Still drinkable in small quantities though. VERY alcoholic. Like a brandy almost.

I much prefer the stuff while it's young. I usually don't have much left within 2 weeks of harvesting. This was just a batch that I intentionally aged. Not terrible but, I'm such a fan of the young version of this wine that there's no bonus for me to wait for it to age into something that I enjoy less.

Made another batch today. :D
 
I haven't even HARVESTED my first batch yet (tomorrow will be 3 weeks!) but I have four batches going! HA HA! I sure hope I like it. If it TASTES as good as it SMELLS - then I'm golden.

Plan to harvest the first batch tomorrow. Will try to remember to take some pictures!
 
Temptd2 said:
I haven't even HARVESTED my first batch yet (tomorrow will be 3 weeks!) but I have four batches going! HA HA! I sure hope I like it. If it TASTES as good as it SMELLS - then I'm golden.

Plan to harvest the first batch tomorrow. Will try to remember to take some pictures!
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If you don't like it you can send it to me:D I have two more going and cooking rice at the moment for another. I do want to save some to try aging a couple of months as people thinks it improves.
 
Yeah, not sure aging is gonna happen here, based on the wonderful smells coming from this stuff - but we shall see.

Forgot to mention, I bought a microwave rice cooker on Amazon. Loaded it up with 4 cups of sweet rice and 5 cups of water, put it together as recommended, stuck it in my hot-rod Panasonic inverter technology MW - on high 5 minutes, 70% 15 minutes. Checked it about 10 minutes in and it had overflowed MAYBE 2 tablespoons - cut the power back to 50% and let it go the rest of the time. Left it alone for 20 more minutes, then took it out of the MW and checked - woohoo, perfect rice!

Did another batch, same thing - 4 cups sweet rice, 5 cups water, 5 minutes on High, 15 minutes at 50%, let stand 20 minutes, uncover and NO overflow, just beautiful perfectly-cooked sweet rice. Gonna do it this way from now on.

It MIGHT work with 5 cups rice - as long as I use the 50% setting. Will try that next time and see. It supposedly has a 12 cup capacity but I'm slightly doubtful....
 
Temptd2 said:
Yeah, not sure aging is gonna happen here, based on the wonderful smells coming from this stuff - but we shall see.

Forgot to mention, I bought a microwave rice cooker on Amazon. Loaded it up with 4 cups of sweet rice and 5 cups of water, put it together as recommended, stuck it in my hot-rod Panasonic inverter technology MW - on high 5 minutes, 70% 15 minutes. Checked it about 10 minutes in and it had overflowed MAYBE 2 tablespoons - cut the power back to 50% and let it go the rest of the time. Left it alone for 20 more minutes, then took it out of the MW and checked - woohoo, perfect rice!

Did another batch, same thing - 4 cups sweet rice, 5 cups water, 5 minutes on High, 15 minutes at 50%, let stand 20 minutes, uncover and NO overflow, just beautiful perfectly-cooked sweet rice. Gonna do it this way from now on.

It MIGHT work with 5 cups rice - as long as I use the 50% setting. Will try that next time and see. It supposedly has a 12 cup capacity but I'm slightly doubtful....
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That "cup" capacity is probably what they consider to be a cup of rice in Asia, rather then a US measuring cup. IE 3/4 of a US measuring cup. 9 cups.

At a guess, that's probably total volume including the water.

Have I mentioned lately that the way the capacity of rice cookers is stated annoys me?
 
Here's a picture of my aged red rice wine. I considered this portion to have the perfect proportion of suspended solids to liquid when I bottled it. You can see it has completely settled out.

agedryr.jpg
 
Leadgolem said:
Here's a picture of my aged red rice wine. I considered this portion to have the perfect proportion of suspended solids to liquid when I bottled it. You can see it has completely settled out.
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And that's the point I pour off the yummy clear part and discard the solids. :)
 
So there seems to be conflicting information here. Is it generally considered a good thing to fully clear this wine, or is leaving solids in suspension a good thing?


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
501irishred said:
So there seems to be conflicting information here. Is it generally considered a good thing to fully clear this wine, or is leaving solids in suspension a good thing?
Click to expand...

Is a steak better with just a few light seasonings or with a good steak sauce? Is Mexican beer better with a little lime and salt or just as-is? Is a basic mead best, or does some fruit additions make it better?

It's all a matter of personal tastes. Some like it better with the solids, and some don't. Only you can decide.
 
Leadgolem said:
That "cup" capacity is probably what they consider to be a cup of rice in Asia, rather then a US measuring cup. IE 3/4 of a US measuring cup. 9 cups.

At a guess, that's probably total volume including the water.

Have I mentioned lately that the way the capacity of rice cookers is stated annoys me?
Click to expand...

LOL! Why, no, I don't believe you HAVE! :p Annoys me too.

OK, so here is my harvest (original batch, 4 cups sweet rice, 7 cups water, 2 Chinese yeast balls, 3 weeks)! The larger bottles are 750ml bottles and the smaller one is a 16 ounce bottle. Can't believe how much this produces from just 4 cups of rice! Wowza!

I just finished harvesting it so it's totally milky now. Gonna stick it in the fridge and see what shakes out. It's very good with a nice little alcohol burn at the end.

rice wine.jpg
 
501irishred said:
So there seems to be conflicting information here. Is it generally considered a good thing to fully clear this wine, or is leaving solids in suspension a good thing?


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

My preference is to keep whatever solids made it past the harvest strain. It isn't much and when left to sit, you can see the solids on the bottom. I shake it right back in before serving so that it looks similar to milk or heavy cream in appearance.

In fact, mine looks exactly like the pics you see above in the post from temptd2.

To me, I can taste the difference and I prefer the solids.
 
jak1010 said:
My preference is to keep whatever solids made it past the harvest strain. It isn't much and when left to sit, you can see the solids on the bottom. I shake it right back in before serving so that it looks similar to milk or heavy cream in appearance.

In fact, mine looks exactly like the pics you see above in the post from temptd2.

To me, I can taste the difference and I prefer the solids.
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And I, on the other hand, prefer the much crisper/cleaner, less chalky feel/taste of the cleared product. There is no right/wrong, just what you end up prefering.... Even though Jak is way wrong. ;) :D
 
jak1010 said:
I know you are but what am I? ;)

About to pour myself another glass of this delicious stuff.
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I'm actually doing a bit of a science experiment with mine. I'm taking a big shot.. maybe 2-3 ounces.. of the RYR rice wine every day and I want to see if it has any effect on my cholesterol levels. I'll probably hear, "Well, your cholesterol dropped 5 points, but your ALT (Liver enzymes) jumped 10." lol
 
trbig said:
Is a steak better with just a few light seasonings or with a good steak sauce? Is Mexican beer better with a little lime and salt or just as-is? Is a basic mead best, or does some fruit additions make it better?



It's all a matter of personal tastes. Some like it better with the solids, and some don't. Only you can decide.
Click to expand...


Hmmm I see. For me a Ruth's Chris steak = a little salt and pepper and Applebee's steak = ketchup and hot sauce. Got about a week left to see what my rule will be for rice wine.....



Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
trbig said:
And I, on the other hand, prefer the much crisper/cleaner, less chalky feel/taste of the cleared product. There is no right/wrong, just what you end up prefering.... Even though Jak is way wrong. ;) :D
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LOL! Can't wait til KotC gets home tonight so we can see which way WE prefer it. Am also gonna try adding some homemade SF pomegranate syrup (aka jelly that didn't fully set up) and see how that fares. If that's good - I've also got some homemade SF Asian pear/ginger butter (no actual butter involved) and see if I like that too. Or instead. Or neither.
 
Temptd2 said:
LOL! Can't wait til KotC gets home tonight so we can see which way WE prefer it. Am also gonna try adding some homemade SF pomegranate syrup (aka jelly that didn't fully set up) and see how that fares. If that's good - I've also got some homemade SF Asian pear/ginger butter (no actual butter involved) and see if I like that too. Or instead. Or neither.
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Careful not to get it too close to his beer. :) These Chinese beverages can leap high and far. :D
 
Went with a smaller pour this time. I can drink beer by the gallon but I can't hang too much with this stuff.

1393897561827.jpg
 
501irishred said:
So there seems to be conflicting information here. Is it generally considered a good thing to fully clear this wine, or is leaving solids in suspension a good thing?
Click to expand...

I think it depends on how sweet you prefer it to be. A lot of the sweeter compounds drop out with the solids. So do some of the other flavor compounds. IMO, the solids do detract from the texture somewhat.

I've been thinking that I may try sweetening some of the cleared wine with simple syrup and see how that goes.
 
jak1010 said:
Careful not to get it too close to his beer. :) These Chinese beverages can leap high and far. :D
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No worries there, Jak - the rice wine is in an entirely different level of the house AND in the laundry room which is actually at the back of my Mom's cottage!

Well taste test - YEAH! Goooood juice. We drank some straight, we drank some with pomegranate syrup, we drank some cold and we drank some warmed. Consensus - warmed is REALLY good, smooths out any rough edges. I like the unfiltered/cold/plain really well, KotC prefers the warm/filtered. Something for everyone! :D

Very glad I have more happily chugging away. And SonofGrok - :rockin:
 
501irishred said:
So there seems to be conflicting information here. Is it generally considered a good thing to fully clear this wine, or is leaving solids in suspension a good thing?


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

It's just like sake. Some prefer nigori (with solids, milky appearance), some prefer the clear styles. The solids add sweetness.
 
Wow, guess I'll be pasteurizing at least part of this - took both the 750ml bottles out of the fridge this morning and the corks came out with a real good POP!! LOL! Obviously those yeasties are still working away in there.

Don't wanna blow up the fridge like the previously posted pics showed. I don't think KotC and I can drink it fast enough to use it up before it blows - we still got lots of beer in the house that we enjoy too!
 
Temptd2 said:
Wow, guess I'll be pasteurizing at least part of this - took both the 750ml bottles out of the fridge this morning and the corks came out with a real good POP!! LOL! Obviously those yeasties are still working away in there.

Don't wanna blow up the fridge like the previously posted pics showed. I don't think KotC and I can drink it fast enough to use it up before it blows - we still got lots of beer in the house that we enjoy too!
Click to expand...

Temptd2 said:
Just started another batch - 5 cups sweet rice, 6.5 cups water, 3 yeast balls.

Sigh. Thanks you guys. Another kitchen addiction!
Click to expand...

Can't drink it fast enough before it blows, so I'm going to start another batch. Sounds about right - this stuff is good enough (and easy enough) to circumvent standard logic. I'd start another one myself, in spite of having more beer, mead, and rice wine than I can currently drink (even if you completely ignore the rest of the alcohol in my house), but the lady of the house would be moderately displeased by such a move...
 
I started this last 10lb batch on Jan 30th, so it's officially been just over a month, and the airlock is still bubbling @ every 10 seconds or so, but got tired of waiting on it.

Here's what is left of 10lbs of sweet rice.





And the liquid. About 2 1/2 gallons.





It came out a good batch.. tastes really nice. I had been adding 13 lbs of water to the batch. (Weight of rice x 1.3 of water. And yes, that means that I cook the rice the normal way, then after it is in the ferment bucket I add that much additional water to the rice before adding the yeast.) That made a very strong, but very dry rice wine. I don't remember if I cut back the water to 10 lbs of added water or I just added a gallon. I will have to look back, but this batch is nicer. Like a semi sweet where the rice wine with no added water was way too sweet for my taste and the other was a bit too dry, though still good. The wine is now cold crashing out in my garage and I'll post up how much settled out since I like it clear. Then bottle and pasteurize.
 
trbig said:
I started this last 10lb batch on Jan 30th, so it's officially been just over a month, and the airlock is still bubbling @ every 10 seconds or so, but got tired of waiting on it.

Here's what is left of 10lbs of sweet rice.





And the liquid. About 2 1/2 gallons.





It came out a good batch.. tastes really nice. I had been adding 13 lbs of water to the batch. (Weight of rice x 1.3 of water. And yes, that means that I cook the rice the normal way, then after it is in the ferment bucket I add that much additional water to the rice before adding the yeast.) That made a very strong, but very dry rice wine. I don't remember if I cut back the water to 10 lbs of added water or I just added a gallon. I will have to look back, but this batch is nicer. Like a semi sweet where the rice wine with no added water was way too sweet for my taste and the other was a bit too dry, though still good. The wine is now cold crashing out in my garage and I'll post up how much settled out since I like it clear. Then bottle and pasteurize.
Click to expand...

Gotta say, I'm a bit jealous. :D
 
FatDragon said:
Can't drink it fast enough before it blows, so I'm going to start another batch. Sounds about right - this stuff is good enough (and easy enough) to circumvent standard logic. I'd start another one myself, in spite of having more beer, mead, and rice wine than I can currently drink (even if you completely ignore the rest of the alcohol in my house), but the lady of the house would be moderately displeased by such a move...
Click to expand...

Since I AM the "lady of the house" here - no worries on THAT front! LOL!

KotC is delighted that I am so on board with all this formation of alcoholic beverages. He loves that I enjoy the whole beer brewing process, from gathering supplies to bottling and conditioning. Hell, I get to drink some of it too, may as well have a hand in making it!

So far the rice wine has kinda been "my" baby, but since we tasted it last night - he is more interested in doing some rice wine experimentation of his own. 'S'all good!
 
I got a batch bout 3/4 5gal bucket mixed in ginger with it to try to break down the starches more and to try to cover the taste of birnt rice bits. Bout how much liquid im gonna get? Anyone know?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Home Brew mobile app
 

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