Asian Ale...Need help!

Hey guys, I am taking a course this summer called Geography of East Asia. The teacher is amazing (Boyer if anyone is a VT alum) and he is willing to give me massive extra credit if I brew something tasty with cultural or historical significance to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam or any of the Pacific Asian countries.

The teacher is a wine connoisseur (famous for teaching world regions and geography of wine here) so if anyone has a wine recipe that is fairly easy or quick I could do that as well, but the course is only 8 weeks long.

I have a few ideas but could really use some direction on a place to start. It will probably be a 3-4 gallon batch, All-Grain and I would like to avoid lagering if possible. If something calls for a lager I plan to use my beloved Pacman strain at 62*.

uh, sake?

Oh wow, I was under the impression that was a distilled spirit since I have never had it!

Kirin or Sapporo clone?
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?t=16613

1/2 lb carapils

4 lbs pale or extra light malt extract
2 lbs rice syrup solids

1 oz Czech Saaz (60 min)

1/4 oz saaz (15 min)
1/4 oz hersbrucker (15 min)

1/4 oz saaz (1 min)
1/4 oz hersbrucker (1 min)

Wyeast 2007 Pilsen Lager yeast

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Nope, although challenging, sake is just a fermented rice wine. No distilling involved.

If you wanna get really obscure you could do something like this Korean Rice/Ginseng Wine or maybe come up with an ale utilizing some of the spices in it. It's pretty interesting and potent stuff.

Why not brew up the the Neo-Chinese IPA, also know as Chinese Imperialist Double Indian Pale Ale???? All the locals are drinking it...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/brew-day-chinese-ipa-244135/

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/cider-mead-sake/sake/sake-kit.html

Kit for brewing some sake, shouldn't be too difficult

You could always do a Chateau Jiahu clone. Being a VA guy Im sure you are familiar with Dogfish's beers. This beers recipe is derived from preserved pottery jars found in the Neolithic villiage of Jiahu, in Henan province,Northern China, that revealed that a mixed fermented beverage of rice, honey and fruit. You could always tweak it to things you find fall more in line with your studies, as this was Dogfishs interpretation. Anyhow, here is the clone recipe from BYO

P gallons/19 L, all-grain; OG = 1.088 FG = 1.014; ABV = 10%

Ingredients:

11 lb. 6 oz. (5.2 kg) two-row pale malt
3.0 lbs. (1.4 kg) orange blossom honey
2.0 lbs. (0.91 kg) rice syrup
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) Alexander’s Muscat grape juice concentrate
0.5 lbs. (0.23 kg) Hawthorn berry powder
0.25 oz. (7.1 g) Simcoe hops (60 mins)
Wyeast 4134 (Sake #9) yeast

I think it might not be a bad idea to back everything down a touch to something more in the 7% range, as it will be an easier ferment and likely much more drinkable.

Wow guys, thanks so much for the input. I am going to make a list of ingredients/processes from each recommendation and decide which one I have the best chance of pulling off!

My biggest concern is time constraints and I am worried the honey may not ferment out to completion on meads/wines/Chateau clones! (Although the chateau might be added to my personal brew queue)

Regardless I will report back with what I decide to make and hopefully with good news!

I've often thought of doing a Pale Ale and just finishing it with freshly ground spices that you would find in a Curry. So why not take a favorite Asian dish of yours and use the spicing? I've made Curry Ice Cream by lightly cooking curry powder in a simple syrup and then swirling into the IC (actually a soy based product at the time).

samc said:

I've often thought of doing a Pale Ale and just finishing it with freshly ground spices that you would find in a Curry.

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What do you mean? Like garam masala? (black & white peppercorns, cloves, malabar leaves, mace, black cumin, cumin seeds, cinnamon, black, brown, & green cardamom, nutmeg, star anise, and coriander seeds.) or do you mean "curry powder" (coriander, turmeric, cumin, and red pepper)?

I could see doing something with garam masala...

samc said:

So why not take a favorite Asian dish of yours and use the spicing?

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I vote for Yuzu and ginger.

What I don't want to see is a bright neon-pink "General Tso's" beer.

There is also good old fashioned "Chinese 5-spice powder".

I did a chateu jiahu clone .. all gluten free here: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/user/epicbeerdude?feature=mhee#p/u/3/_uZayC4MxP4]epicbeerdude's Channel - YouTube[/ame]

Get him a gift card to a massage parlor.

J8D said:

Get him a gift card to a massage parlor.

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Hoppy Ending Ale

How about makegolli (Korean: 막걸&#47532, a rice wine that's a little more rustic and thus easier to make than sake? You can get the nuruk (Korean: 누&#47337 you need at H-mart if you have one near you.

Umeshu (Japanese: 梅&#37202 is very simple to make and is an infused liqueur, consisting of ume fruit, lots of sugar, and shochu (Japanese: 焼&#37198. You could drink it after eight weeks; however, we usually mature it for a year when my wife makes it. Not sure how easy it will be for you to source ume (Japanese: &#26757, though, especially as they are out of season (even here).

Something you could do that is seasonal, but I don't think eight weeks would be sufficient, is gukhwaju (Korean: 국화&#51452 or dugyeonju (Korean: 두견&#51452, which are wines made from chrysanthemums or azaleas, respectively. I don't have a recipe, but let me know if you find a good one.

Finally, you could make a happoshu (Japanese:発泡&#37202, which is simply a beer-like beverage with less than 50% malt. Usually, they're of poor quality as the idea is to make a beverage as cheaply as possible; because of silly Japanese laws happoshu is taxed lower than beer. However, as a challenge I've made some interesting, if not tasty, one's. I made one recently with 50% sweet potato that I saccharified with koji (Japanese: &#40633.

Plenty more ideas here and here.