Making some Sake (Japanese rice wine)

[Skinah]

Hi,
I am in the middle of making my first Sake and am wondering if anyone else makes it and what recipe they find tastes the best as some seem to be a lot more work with doing multiple additions of koji and steamed rice every day. My main question is why do they add extra Koji rice when the brew already contains Koji in it from previous additions?

 

[Skinah]

I may have found why the Koji is added with each addition of normal steamed rice and that is that the Koji reproduces at 30c (86f) degrees and when you are brewing at 18c (68f) or lower it will not reproduce. For some reason the existing koji in the brew is only capable of converting X amount of steamed rice so everytime you add more steamed rice some extra koji rice is also needed. The Sake needs to slowly convert the rice into sugars with the Koji mould so the Yeast also slowly consumes the sugars. This trickle feeding is what leads to the higher alcohol content than the yeast can normally produce as the yeast only ever see a small amount of sugar.

My Sake is now a week into the fermenting stage and it tastes like sake only with more strong fruity tones and lower alcohol then the store purchased Sake I normally drink. Will be interesting to see how it changes when filtered and has had time to age.

 

[pdxal]

Yes, you are stepping up the koji with the additions, similar to a yeast starter.
Let us know how it turns out and any insight.
Have you checked out the rice wine thread on here? It might offer another/easier method to a very similar product.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I'm really interested in your observations; I've got kokuho rose rice on hand, along with a pouch of koji rice, a packet of montrachet white wine yeast, and I just bought a 1 gallon glass jar. Please post back often with any hints/tips, I can't wait to get started.

 

[Skinah]

pdxal: I would not call it stepping up the koji, as you seem to always keep the ratio the same. The ratio is something like 100% steamed rice, to 25% of that amount is koji rice and 160% water. For example 1kg steamed rice, to 0.25 kg koji to 1.6 Litres of water. Often thou each time an addition is made you are doubling the overall volume in your fermenter probably to let the yeast catch up like a yeast starter. I'll have to check out the rice wine thread some time, but I wish to learn Sake as I love the taste and also teriyaki chicken is a favourite and is made with Sake as a major ingredient.

JayJay1976:
Some tips are that you really need to wash the rice well when making the Kome koji (koji rice) as the better you wash and then let the rice fully drain means the rice is easier to separate to get the koji kin (koji seeds) to infect each grain of rice. So wash rice very well, soak for at least 1.5 hours (to overnight) with cheap table (non polished) medium grain rice and then drain for at least an hour. The rice should come out rubber like not like you normally cook rice to otherwise it is a sticky mess and rice falls apart. Rubber like all the way through. After a few days the rice is easier to separate into individual grains and then the white mould covers the rice..

Next tip is when bulk steaming rice dont use a rounded bottom strainer as you want the same distance for the steam to travel through all the rice otherwise the thinner areas get cooked more and the fat middle of a colander does not fully cook. Think a square bottomed rice steamer or bamboo style one would work far better than a colander that I used. You soak the rice so the heat from the steam transfers through the rice to cook it and all the water the the rice needs is in the rice from the soaking stage. This is why some people weigh the rice dry and then after it drains to see what % water the rice has taken on..

Currently I am surprised that compared to beer there is very little gas produced, the air lock I have never bubbles yet I see bubbles forming on the surface of the brew and when I stir the mixture 1-2 times a day the whole thing crackles with bubbles getting released. Very interesting as you can stir it for 2 minutes and still the brew will crackle with bubbles popping like freshly poured soft drink.

 

[Skinah]

This is the beginners recipe I followed here. They also have a intermediate and advanced recipe to compare with as well.
http://www.tibbs-vision.com/sake/instrct.html

 

[Skinah]

An update on how this is turning out and also more info on why Sake is brewed the way it is as I have learned more about the technique and how it effects the flavour...

The multiple additions are mainly for allowing the Lactic Acid to build up to protect it from infections that make the brew taste sour, in addition the low temperature during fermentation also stops the sour from taking over. Traditionally a Lactic acid MOTO is created and then multiple additions are made to build this up in size each time allowing the lactic acid to build before adding more additions. Your Sake goes sour if you dump a huge amount of rice and water into a fermentor with a small moto.

You can protect the brew from going sour with one of these three methods. All of these will create some level of sourness and it is the sweetness that offsets the sour, more on this below...

1. Lemon juice or citric acid probably the easiest way but possibly the worse tasting.
2. Lactic acid (traditional way) or natural yogurt in a moto starter.
3. Hops which can protect to a higher temperature if you are brewing in a warmer time of the year.

Since this is my first ever sake and the temp in my house was 18-20 degrees C I opted to use Citra Hops and a warmer lager M54 yeast and I kept the brew at 18-20 C for the whole ferment. This has created some ale like flavours in the Sake and made it taste fruity in a way I like, hopefully these will smooth out as the Sake ages but I will probably drink most of this before it ages.

The brew first tasted great at around 8 days in and this is when the beginners recipes recommend stopping the brew. However it was too weak in alcohol at this point at 6-8% and I wanted 15-20% so I opted to keep brewing. After 2 weeks the brew slowed down and when I tasted it the alcohol was now high enough, but the brew was very dry and not sweet as the yeast had eaten all the sugers leaving it a sour taste that dominated but was still drinkable. It also tasted watery. So at this point I dumped in some more steamed rice and water with no koji (would have used if I had any) and allowed the brew to take off again, a week later it slowed again. This time the yeast died from the alcohol being too high, yet the koji can still live in this enviroment and was still creating sugars from the rice creating a sweeter Sake. Now it is time to separate the Lees from the Sake and the brew tastes great at 4 days after the yeast has died the sweetness is matching the sour nicely.

I'll post again after it is separated from the Lees and has been pasturised to stop it from being too sweet.

 

[Skinah]

WOW the difference between the first Sake removed from the Lees to the last lot is huge but is completely understandable. I used a stainless steel steamer lined with voile and cheese cloth to filter the lees with gravity over 24 hours. Worked great, the pot under the steamer basket captured everything. The first lot came out pretty fast, however the last lot had more time on the Lees with the Koji still active so the sugars really consentrated into the second lot. 80% comes out in the first 5 hours and then the last 10% needs to be pressed out and is super sweet. Just used another pot to push down on the Lees whilst still in the steamer setup.

 

[Skinah]

My first brew turned out great. Now my second brew is bubbling away with 19 litres of Sake on the way.

This time I am doing an experiment with multiple additions of rice and koji but adding the entire water at the start. Whilst this is not a good idea with latic acid based moto starters due to reasons in previous posts in this thread, it should work when using hops.

Reasons for doing it this way is multiple.

1. It is hard to steam a lot of rice, I find 1.5 to 2kg to be the limit of my setup otherwise it does not cook evenly and the middle is undercooked. Need to look at buying a dual tier rice steamer to solve this but steaming over multiple days in this brew allows a bigger batch to be made.

2. The entire water at the start allows the yeast to see a slowly increasing gravity that will hopefully allow a higher alcohol % with yeast that normally stops at lower %.

3. I boil all my water in this brew to get rid of colorine and to ensure it is sterile. The water cooling down takes ages and doing this mid week when working is harder then doing it in bulk on a weekend.

 

[amber-ale]

I am also trying out my first batch of sake and am wondering what the kome koji is soposed to look like when it is ready to use.
My kome koji is "frosted" in mold, but only fuzzy in some places. It smells lightly of cheese, but the preveous trial ( unsuccessful, rice too wet and turned into mush) had a stronger smell.

it is still white, not yellow or green.

should I leave it for another day? does it matter?

 

[Skinah]

I am also trying out my first batch of sake and am wondering what the kome koji is soposed to look like when it is ready to use.

See these two links
https://www.nrib.go.jp/English/sake/ss/sshm_kome-koji.htm
and
https://homebrewsake.com/recipe/video-series-and-instructions-for-making-koji-for-sake/

My own tips in short words are....

1. Only use SUSHI rice and never used any rice stating 'sweet/sticky/glutinous' for the Koji making. You want rice that does not stick together and will separate easily. If you see videos on pro brewers raking koji rice around it will look like dry rice and will never stick or clump. So use sushi rice.

2. Wash rice till it clears, soak it the correct amount and then steam for the right amount of time. I have found the normal tap water temp works for me at a 1.5 hour wash and soak combined, then drain for an hour and steam for 1 hour. Soak the rice until it has no crunch left in it, but it will be crumbly when you bite it. Then no water should come out when you shake the rice in a strainer. After steaming the rice should be like rubber and not soft and fluffy like you normally eat rice.

3. You really need to keep the rice at 30 degrees Celcius when growing the koji, only at a certain temp range will it produce the Amalayse that breaks the rice down. You can not do it at room temp. I use a polystrene box or beer cooler and place hot water bottles in it with 50 degree C water and it works great. Change water every 12 hours.

4. If the koji goes green/yellow it is going to spore and should not be used for sake making as it can be bad for you. White or Tan is fine, just no black, green or bright yellow. I am growing some of mine on to spore stage at the moment to see what happens and I may dry and save it for making another batch.

5. I have been growing mine for 3 to 4 days and use it when it starts to taste sweet, I find at day 2 it has the mould and a slight smell, but by day 4 it is very strong smell and you can not mistake the sweet.

6. Make extra and freeze it, if you need to sweeten the sake after it finishes fermenting, adding more koji makes sure it really it finished and it did not just run out of koji, the extra then sweetens the sake and creates a better mouth feel, gets rid of the watery taste and balances the sour taste. Making extra to fake dry age steaks or to play with making spores, once you get the koji growing well it is easy to make the sake as it is just repeating the steaming of the rice.

 

[Skinah]

A good short and to the point video on making the Koji Rice is found here, it is the method that I use, only I use old soft drink bottles to hold the hot water with:


My second brew is now at day 14 from pitching the M54 yeast and is tasting dry, slightly sour, watery and also with a warming alcohol bite. The yeast states it only handles 9% alcohol but this has clearly gone much higher already due to the way Sake slowly creates fermentable sugars over time trickle feeding the yeast. Once the bubbling stops and the Sake increases in sweetness then the flavour really changes as the watery and sour characters leave and the mouth feel improves so I am keen to reach this stage before summer arrives with hot weather. The alcohol stops the yeast from working in the 15 to 20% range and then the sugars that the Koji creates continues to occur and the Sake will sweeten. If it does not get sweeter I have some Koji Rice frozen that I can add at the end if it needs more. The taste of the milky white Sake to me does not taste as good as it does after being left in the fridge and the Sake goes clear with a slightly yellow tinge.

This will be my last Sake brew for the year as it is getting too warm and I am only just able to keep this brew at 17-20 degrees C. Only possible to brew this warm due to the hops I used to protect it against getting sour. Next winter I plan to try a latic acid moto starter instead of hops to compare what changes in the Sake by doing so.

The growing of the Koji onto spore stage has gone well, the rice is very bright green/yellow and how bright a colour it is has surprised me. Do not use Koji to brew or eat that has gone to spore.

 

[Skinah]

Bottling of this batch finally happened on day 42. Took ages to finally stop fermenting... Taste results are that this batch is way higher in alcohol then the first batch due to the way I added all the water at the start and added the rice slowly over a few days as I had time to steam more rice. Big difference and after having a glass this is stronger than store bought Sake and is also stronger in flavour, maybe too strong in flavour. Have heard that people water it down with 10% water.

 

[Blacksmith1]

this is pretty cool. might have to show the wife as she likes sake. maybe I can con her into doing most of the cooking?
I get using the sushi rice for the koji, but do different rices in the batch make any real changes in the end flavors? We tend to only buy jasmin or basmati for our meals but I assume any rice can be used

 

[Skinah]

I get using the sushi rice for the koji, but do different rices in the batch make any real changes in the end flavors?

Yes any rice can be used BUT medium and short grain types are best. I have only brewed with 3 types and the taste was similar however Sake is only made from rice and water so all the flavour comes from the rice. The main thing you want to look for is a rice that is low in protein and fat as these create less pleasing flavours and this is the reason the rice is highly polished to remove those 2 things which are in the outer layers of the rice.

Calrose rice is cheap and what I have settled on for my brews because in big bulk bags it is half the price of some types of rice.