Can I make Sake like beer?

[Bvbellomo]

I am tempted to mix a big bag of sushi rice with the minimum amount of pilsner to convert the sugars and target about 10% abv using either 4134 or a clean American style yeast.

I would hope for a strong, clean, light, refreshing strong ale with Sake like flavor. But I might get a 1 note, solventy waste. Has anyone tried this before?

I've considered making Sake, but can't get the right rice. This cuts costs and time and I have a lot of experience brewing beer, and potential for something interesting and new.

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

I have only made a few rice win batches following a similar process to this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...nal-rice-wine-cheap-fun-and-different.361095/

I only used normal sushi rice. That being said I think a lot of the flavors and character of the rice wine would be lost if you use a beer yeast. I think a lot of light ales use rice as an adjunct and it doesn't impart the "sake" character it seems you are after. Maybe someone who has tried will have a better idea of how it could come out.

 

[Bvbellomo]

4134 is Sake yeast and should impart any yeast flavor not from the Koji.

Interesting recipe, definitely saves the cost if you can find the right balls, but ups the unfamiliarity.

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

Yeah agreed, but for me it is a side project, which I allow to be less precise than my beer brew-days. Cook up some rice crush up some balls clean and sanitize a jar and let it rip for under a month.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I am tempted to mix a big bag of sushi rice with the minimum amount of pilsner to convert the sugars and target about 10% abv using either 4134 or a clean American style yeast.

I would hope for a strong, clean, light, refreshing strong ale with Sake like flavor. But I might get a 1 note, solventy waste. Has anyone tried this before?

I've considered making Sake, but can't get the right rice. This cuts costs and time and I have a lot of experience brewing beer, and potential for something interesting and new.

AFAIK, most macro lagers are brewed with a large proportion of rice as adjunct to reduce the cost of the grain bill. No sake-like flavors in sight.

If you are serious about obtaining sake flavor, brew some sake. You don't need (and cannot in any legal way obtain!) real Japanese sake rice to make a good sake. In fact, all of the American craft sakes are brewed with American-grown rice. The closest thing to highly polished sake rice would be a really good grade of sushi rice, like Kokuho Rose which comes from California. Then order some Koji spores from amazon, mine shipped from Tokyo and took ~10 days to arrive, Koji is a mold which produces amylase and converts the rice starch to sugars, then you'll need some neutral white wine yeast to convert those sugars to alcohol.

There are lots of articles on the interwebs on how to make Sake so that's as far as I will go here. I hope you decide to give it a go.

 

[Transamguy77]

I don’t think you will get any sake like flavor at all. I make a rice lager and use 40% rice and 60% 2 row and it’s a dry lager with no sake flavor at all.

You also will need to make the rice ahead of time before adding it to the mash. I usually make mine the night before.