If I had a nickel for every time I've said that...
Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different
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If I had a nickel for every time I've said that...
I did with the lees for a rice wine batch, I didn't get the material mixed in with the new rice well enough. The result was an infected, but still drinkable rice wine.
I've got a batch with a similar process going with the RYR+yeast ball lees now. This batch was mixed much more thoroughly. The airlock on it is burping nicely, but it's about 2 1/2 weeks to early to know how well it will come out.
OP
OP
Interesting. We are on our own sake forum now. Viva la revolucion!
Ostomo517
Well-Known Member
Nice! :rockin:
OP
OP
No you are correct. This is rice wine, similar to but not officially sake. The sake forum is labeled as a rice wine AND sake discussion forum though so we are good
Just starting my first batch now. Had to go to to the next town over couple of days ago to get the yeast balls and rice. Bought a jar here in town yesterday, back to the next town over for Starsan tonight.
In the spirit of experimenting, and just being crazy old me, I did a few things and thought I'd share.
One batch with yeast balls, red yeast rice and Thai jasmine rice. As usual, it turned out delicious and great as usual. No big surprise.
For my first experiment...my wife asks me to order our typical Saturday night Chinese food for dinner. I was at the end of placing the order when the woman asks "anything else?"....you guessed it, I said "yes, I also need 4 quarts of white rice." My wife knew immediately what was happening. So early Sunday morning I crushed up a few yeast balls and proceeded to fill a gallon fermenter with rice and yeast balls. What could go wrong...right? I'm making Chinese rice wine with rice from the Chinese restaurant.
3 weeks later, I don't know what to call this stuff. It's absolutely horrible! Lesson learned. No more being lazy with something that's already so simple.
The next experiment was Thai Jasmine rice, Angel Rice Leaven and 1/2 a cup of sugar. Cooked the rice with a 1:1.25 rice to water ratio, cooled it, layered it in with sugar and Angel Rice Leaven in a one gallon fermenter. 3 weeks later and wow! Very good, surprisingly sweet and potent wine.
All in all, 3 batches made and 2 successes. I'm loving this rice wine craze.
One batch with yeast balls, red yeast rice and Thai jasmine rice. As usual, it turned out delicious and great as usual. No big surprise.
For my first experiment...my wife asks me to order our typical Saturday night Chinese food for dinner. I was at the end of placing the order when the woman asks "anything else?"....you guessed it, I said "yes, I also need 4 quarts of white rice." My wife knew immediately what was happening. So early Sunday morning I crushed up a few yeast balls and proceeded to fill a gallon fermenter with rice and yeast balls. What could go wrong...right? I'm making Chinese rice wine with rice from the Chinese restaurant.
3 weeks later, I don't know what to call this stuff. It's absolutely horrible! Lesson learned. No more being lazy with something that's already so simple.
The next experiment was Thai Jasmine rice, Angel Rice Leaven and 1/2 a cup of sugar. Cooked the rice with a 1:1.25 rice to water ratio, cooled it, layered it in with sugar and Angel Rice Leaven in a one gallon fermenter. 3 weeks later and wow! Very good, surprisingly sweet and potent wine.
All in all, 3 batches made and 2 successes. I'm loving this rice wine craze.
Tinhorn said:
No doubt. I'm a big advocate of RDWAHAHB
Johnnyhitch1
Well-Known Member
After going to 2 asain specialty stores im stumped in finding this rice balls!!
Dont mind spending money on them because i think this is something im going to enjoy
Anyone have the best online source for there guys?
Preferably east coast so im not banged on shipping.
Look forward to doing saramc batch with red yeast rice. Seems like the red rice really tears the rice apart.
Cheers!
Dont mind spending money on them because i think this is something im going to enjoy
Anyone have the best online source for there guys?
Preferably east coast so im not banged on shipping.
Look forward to doing saramc batch with red yeast rice. Seems like the red rice really tears the rice apart.
Cheers!
saramc
Well-Known Member
But, you could try recycling the yeast and adding amylase. I believe some have done this.
This Angel Rice Leaven, ARL, is this the product that is in the foil pack similar to dry wine yeast? One of the products now on eBay? How much dry rice to one ARL?
I have the website to the ARL somewhere, but cannot figure out how to translate the info on the site. Aarg, and I have ARL calling out to me!!
edds5p0
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saramc said:
ARL is super easy to work with and relatively cheap. I've pitched a quarter of a packet in 2.5 cups of rice and had everything go off without a hitch. If you can't find the balls in your area, this is what I would order on the web.
It is super easy. I've never added sugar though (that was the experiment part) and it turned out great.
Ostomo517
Well-Known Member
How many cups dry rice was the one you added 1/2 cup of sugar?
Yes, same one. There are English directions on the back but not very clear. I've been using one package of ARL for each 6 cup dry rice batch I make. Although the directions say 3 days to wine, I prefer to eat the rice at 3 days and drink the wine at 3 weeks. Hard to keep away from eating though since its got a sweet and awesome flavor.
6 cups of dry rice.
Ostomo517
Well-Known Member
Thanks, This will be my next batch just waiting for a couple small batches of barleywine to go into secondary in a few days. I swear next trip to LHBS Im getting dedicated rice wine buckets!!
Ok I'm gonna make another batch I'm out of Jasmine rice but have plenty of sweet rice and I'll make sure and measure it so I can compare the two--I do know that first batch went from clear to cloudy in a weeks time and I'm betting that's when it turned sour on me--I might even take a few shots of each jug and post a few images as they progress
saramc
Well-Known Member
Went clear to cloudy a week from assembly date?
saramc
Well-Known Member
Yes, it may have been a lactobacillus that took hold. I will need to pay more attention to the clarity of my must, it is always cloudy when I harvest but that is due to solids being stirred up. Did you taste it at week3, to see how you liked it? I strongly encourage sample, even with a straw pipette.
Time to go make another batch, using Angel Rice Leaven this time. My first time with ARL.
has anyone tried Red Yeast Rice, Yeast Balls AND Angel Rice Leaven? My thinking is that would be a monster ferment!
One of my first batches I made was a 1:2 ratio of 1 cup dry rice to 2 cups water. Fermented 21 days. It came out very tart and became sour 2 days after harvest. Not sure what to do with it, I left it in the fridge for 3 weeks until I mixed it with plumb wine.
Did a 50/50 mix and it was gone in 2 days. It turned into a grapefruit color and taste.
Very easy to drink. I even put a few drops of buckwheat honey in a glass (had the honey fro JQGM) and it took on a whole new flavor. This stuff is durable and versatile.
Did a 50/50 mix and it was gone in 2 days. It turned into a grapefruit color and taste.
Very easy to drink. I even put a few drops of buckwheat honey in a glass (had the honey fro JQGM) and it took on a whole new flavor. This stuff is durable and versatile.
what's the best way to rinse your rice? I ended up dumping into a large mixing bowl, covering (2-3x volume of water to rice) with water, stirring and dumping through a strainer... did it 3-4 times and it's mostly clear now... But I'm thinking there has to be a better way!
Newsman said:
Don't know the best way but I use a rice cooker and just put a cups inches of water in top and stir few times a drain in the sink from the bowl until its clearer not totally clear
Usually do three or four times
My dad use to let water slowly flow into pot and stir occasionally til the water ran clear and then drain and out the water
That was for rice to cook and use for fried rice but took about 20 minutes or longer and I am not that patient and what is do above has worked well for me
saramc
Well-Known Member
I soak the rice for volume increase and then place in strainer and rinse until water runs clear. Sometimes I rinse first, just depends on how scatterbrained I get.
CooperBrew
Well-Known Member
We cook rice in a rice cooker several times a week. I got a tupperware bowl and drill a lot of small holes (smaller than rice grains) in the bottom and a little up the sides. We use this as our rice rinsing bowl. It rinses fast and drains right out the bottom
This is what the last batch of red rice wine yielded. 15 cups of dry rice cooked at 1:1.5 ratio of dry rice to water. No soaking. 5 750ml bottles and 2 375ml bottles. They are in a big pot of water on my stove pasteurizing now.
Ostomo517
Well-Known Member
Well, I just started my first attempt with two gallons of rice cooked at approximately 1.25:1 water to rice ratio. I just used a sieve and rinsed the rice pretty good until most of the excess starch was gone. Seems to have worked as I have no caramelized rice.
I used 1 cup (approximately -- slightly less) that I got in trade for some yeast balls. Then I also used my new 3-cup mini-chopper to chop up 6 of the dried yeast balls and mixed it with the red yeast rice. Then I cooked 5# of Thai Jasmine rice in 4-cup increments until I was down to about 3 "cups" (3/4 measuring cup) dried rice. I put down a batch of rice in the 2 gallon container, sprinkled some of the mixed yeast on top, put down another batch, etc until I was out of cooked and dried rice. Good thing too, as the last batch pretty much topped off my container.
I have put the glass container in my "keezer" and set the thermostat to about 65 degrees F. That way it's in a temperature-controlled environment and out of the light.
I'll let you know how it goes in about 3 weeks.
I used 1 cup (approximately -- slightly less) that I got in trade for some yeast balls. Then I also used my new 3-cup mini-chopper to chop up 6 of the dried yeast balls and mixed it with the red yeast rice. Then I cooked 5# of Thai Jasmine rice in 4-cup increments until I was down to about 3 "cups" (3/4 measuring cup) dried rice. I put down a batch of rice in the 2 gallon container, sprinkled some of the mixed yeast on top, put down another batch, etc until I was out of cooked and dried rice. Good thing too, as the last batch pretty much topped off my container.
I have put the glass container in my "keezer" and set the thermostat to about 65 degrees F. That way it's in a temperature-controlled environment and out of the light.
I'll let you know how it goes in about 3 weeks.
edds5p0
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Newsman said:Well, I just started my first attempt with two gallons of rice cooked at approximately 1.25:1 water to rice ratio. I just used a sieve and rinsed the rice pretty good until most of the excess starch was gone. Seems to have worked as I have no caramelized rice.
I used 1 cup (approximately -- slightly less) that I got in trade for some yeast balls. Then I also used my new 3-cup mini-chopper to chop up 6 of the dried yeast balls and mixed it with the red yeast rice. Then I cooked 5# of Thai Jasmine rice in 4-cup increments until I was down to about 3 "cups" (3/4 measuring cup) dried rice. I put down a batch of rice in the 2 gallon container, sprinkled some of the mixed yeast on top, put down another batch, etc until I was out of cooked and dried rice. Good thing too, as the last batch pretty much topped off my container.
I have put the glass container in my "keezer" and set the thermostat to about 65 degrees F. That way it's in a temperature-controlled environment and out of the light.
I'll let you know how it goes in about 3 weeks.
Sounds like you've got all the bases covered.
edds5p0
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I made a mistake that I would like to share to help others. On my first 5 cup batch, I tried some new things that ended hurting the quality of the final product. First, I steamed in a 2 gallon pot using a cheesecloth sheet to hold the rice above the water. The bottom ended up gooey, but the top seemed just about right. Second, I only added RYR thinking it would do everything. The RYR was sprinkled on the top and I bored a hole in the center to the bottom that I put more RYR in. When the mold doesn't have to penetrate the substrate to grow, it will cover the surface and make a giant web of mycelium. After a week and a half of letting the RYR do it's think, there was very little liquid in the bottom and the jar was grown to the lid with mycelium. I finally pitched some ARL and it took off properly, but the batch stalled after a week, so I pitched a rice ball and stirred it in. Nothing else happened. I just harvested on Friday, and it wasn't the greatest. I did get alcohol, but the final product looked like a strawberry smoothie and was thick with mold. The taste wasn't too bad, but I only got about a liter from 5 cups of rice. All this being said, I have a few lessons to share.
1. Mix the yeast and rice thoroughly.
2. While steaming seems to work well for many, without a proper steamer it may be better to make the rice in a pot.
3. RYR needs help to do its thing.
4. Even with some mistakes, it is worth waiting to see how the batch comes out.
I also realized tonight as I was preparing my next batch that I am using fortified rice. It is Carolina Jasmine, but it has worked well on my previous 3 batches, but I do wonder how it affects my product versus plain rice. Any thoughts?
1. Mix the yeast and rice thoroughly.
2. While steaming seems to work well for many, without a proper steamer it may be better to make the rice in a pot.
3. RYR needs help to do its thing.
4. Even with some mistakes, it is worth waiting to see how the batch comes out.
I also realized tonight as I was preparing my next batch that I am using fortified rice. It is Carolina Jasmine, but it has worked well on my previous 3 batches, but I do wonder how it affects my product versus plain rice. Any thoughts?
Fortified rice is usually made by either dusting or spraying a nutrient solution on the dry rice. If you rinse your rice I doubt it would make any difference. You could try skipping the rinsing to see if the added nutrients alter the final product.
saramc
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How does that red rice wine taste? Looks fabulous!
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