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I've had great success, it appears to have brewed correctly and tastes great. The only issue is that it's very thick and VERY sweet. I don't want to ruin what I have but was hoping for something a little more "drinkable" and less of a sipping drink.

My question is this: Should I ferment it again with a packet of Sake Yeast, treating what I have essentially as mash. It's very high in sugar content which leads me to believe that there's enough "food" in there for the yeast to eat, the issue would be if the alcohol content is too high to begin with.

Short of drinking my whole bottle, I have no idea how strong what I've made is.
 
Amay42 said:
I've had great success, it appears to have brewed correctly and tastes great. The only issue is that it's very thick and VERY sweet. I don't want to ruin what I have but was hoping for something a little more "drinkable" and less of a sipping drink.

My question is this: Should I ferment it again with a packet of Sake Yeast, treating what I have essentially as mash. It's very high in sugar content which leads me to believe that there's enough "food" in there for the yeast to eat, the issue would be if the alcohol content is too high to begin with.

Short of drinking my whole bottle, I have no idea how strong what I've made is.
Click to expand...

Mine have been like that too. I tried adding water to dilute it for the fermentation to start up again, but I must have waited too long and the yeast was already dead. I'll try again soon, adding the extra water at 1 week instead of 3,

It's not so thick and sweet if you refrigerate it and let the rice solids drop out.

Or you can mix it with something like unsweetened cranberry juice.
 
It shouldn't be thick at all unless the filtering/straining wasn't done or not enough.
Right after filtering/straining it should be runny like water, colour is opaque white
 
Mine have all cleared with time, so that the rice solids settle out and the clear liquid can be decanted off of them. Clear color has been slightly yellowish white/clear.
Adding water after fermentation thins it out to make it more like traditional sake. I suspect, but have no proof, that the rice wines have turned out around 20% after 6 weeks fermentation and commercial sake is around 15%. When filtered water is added mine tastes much more like commercial sake.
It may taste sweet but not have much sugar to additionally ferment. I doubt that another yeast could ferment the rice wine any further due to the high alcohol content, but why not give it a try and see?
 
I just started a batch of this today. I picked up the yeast balls from Cleveland's Chinatown ($6 for 14 oz.). I have about 50 lbs of medium-grain rice lying around that I'm going to experiment with my first batch. I usually have so much regular rice that if this works well, I don't want to bother buying another variety of rice just for wine-making. If it doesn't work out, then, I guess I'll have to invest in some glutinuous/sweet/jasmine/sushi rice ;)
I cooked 6 "cups" (as measured by the scoop that came with the rice cooker) as I normally would in my rice cooker, cooled it, and sprinkled on three balls of the yeast powder on top. It filled a gallon Cambro about three quarters full. I made a "well" in the middle all the way down to the bottom, then set it next to my kombucha and sourdough starter in the warmest room in my house (the basement, actually).
This being November in northeast Ohio, ambient temps are pretty cool. So we'll see what it looks like three weeks!
 
Also, holy cow, 525 pages??? I read the first 60 or so today, then decided I had gleaned all the info I could without dedicating a week of my life just to reading this thread. But many thanks to sonofgrok et al. for their EXTREMELY informative discussions/pictures at the beginning of this thread!
 
Ok, so I just harvested my onto yeast batch. The wine seems very clean, but lower abv. Not by much though. I'm estimating about 15%, whereas the chinese yeast yielded about 17%. After I've finished all the new yeast, I'll go back to the chinese one to compare.
 
Took me a little over three weeks to get through all 5251 posts. If I'd have started a batch on the first day id be drinking it by now. Went to my local Asian market after the first hundred or so and picked up 5# each of Jasmine, Korean sweet, and sushi rice and after some digging found the yeast balls! No RYR or ARL though. Then some glassware from the thrift store. Put 7 batches together before I left for work for 3 weeks. Here they are (from right to left in order of build)

*All batches were thoroughly rinsed, but not soaked prior to going in the rice cooker. Cooled by putting the cooker in the snow until rice was at room temperature. Containers were washed with normal dish soap and water and sloshed with starsan. Didn't have any cheese cloth and didn't think about coffee filters, so I cut out sections from nylon game bags and soaked with starsan. Then lids went on snuggish. Put all the jars on a closet top shelf and covered with a towel. Room should be around ~62° while I'm gone.

11/08
1. 4c dry Jasmine 1:1.25 x2 yeast balls

11/09
2. 7c dry Korean Sweet 1:1 x3 yeast balls

3. 4c dry Sushi 1:1 x2 yeast balls

11/10
4&5. 2c dry Jasmine 1:1 x1 yeast ball

6&7. 2c dry Jasmine 1:1 x1.5 yeast balls

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1448488047.669095.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1448488063.004547.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1448488085.687876.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1448488100.189107.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1448488111.325003.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1448488125.239934.jpg

Can't wait to get home and bottle and try this! The only worries I have are about jars 2 and 3. 2 has a wooden (bamboo?) lid with a rubber seal. Worried that the wood may have some nasties in it that could be getting into the batch even though I cleaned and sanitized. Jar 3 has 4 cups packed pretty tight and layered with yeast. Only about 3/4" of headspace.

I'd be interested in any feedback and questions. What kind of yield should I anticipate when I get back?

And thanks sonofgrok for starting this thread as well as all who have contributed.
 
Nice post :)

The headspace can become an issue if the rice gets pushed up and touches the lid. Also, sometimes moisture builds up on the inside of the container and can drip from the lid. For this reason, I'd stay away from wood lids.

How does it smell?
 
Dunno yet. I left for work on the 11th and won't be home til the 2nd. My roommate hasn't texted me about strange odors from my room or the house blowing up, so I'm expecting tasty good things when I get home. [emoji482]
 
The first batch I did on 11/9 had liquid about 2" up the sides by the time I left on 11/11, so that looked promising.
 
Smell is not strong...so faint I didn't notice, honestly.

I'm using ceramic crocks (cookie jars) as fermenters.

I used sweet rice and it basically turned into a pot of glue but I mixed in 3 yeast balls to each container, each one holding 1lb of cooked goo.

Put another one together last night with Thai Jasmine and it is a much easier rice to handle.

Hoping to have some for New Years that won't kill me.
 
Not gonna lie, it looks bad. Kinda looks like that one time I cooked rice in my rice cooker, forgot about it, unplugged it, and put it away with 2 cups of cooked rice still inside. Nasty surprise when I wanted to cook rice a week later. :(

I'm 4 days in myself and I have no apparent mold on top of my batch, white or black.
 
I think it's safe to say it'll end up bad, you should start over. If you want to wait it out for experimental purposes, check to see if it starts smelling like acetone/nail polish remover. Then you know it's a goner
 
Yeah, I'm going to let it ride. Probably put it outside so it doesn't take over my kitchen.
 
I'm sure this has been answered but I'm not feeling up to reading the 132 pages. Is there a difference between red yeast rice and cargo rice? I can't seem to find anything labeled red yeast rice at any asian market.
 
Red yeast rice is rice which has red yeast grow on it. It has the shape of grains of rice but is red and crusty, can be crushed into powder.

It can't be used as rice
 
FYI to all considering this: I've done 4 batches and it sucks. It isn't worth your time at all IMO.
 
SeraW said:
7 uncooked cups of sweet rice total in a 1 gal plastic jar. 6 small balls total. Now for the wait.
Click to expand...


Following the wait you'll experience the frustration of straining it out followed by the realization that it's way too sweet and no one you know likes it.

Sorry.
 
normonster said:
Following the wait you'll experience the frustration of straining it out followed by the realization that it's way too sweet and no one you know likes it.

Sorry.
Click to expand...


If you don't like it don't drink it, make it or visit/post in this thread. Wow!
I like it and this thread has been going for a bit so I don't think I'm the only one.
Everyone has different tastes, it's an easy recipe, I've come up with a relatively easy way to strain it.
To post two days in a row how much it sucks is really uncalled for.
 
Da heck mods? Why delete my apologies? I said it was a bad call and I'm sorry.

If you're going to delete it then delete it all maybe.
 
Hi guys,

Worked my way half through this thread which was awesome.
Very excited in making this recipe (thanks OP)
Just one question though that`s not totaly clear to me. How many grams of yeast to use per how many grams of dry rice? aprox..
I thought 20 gram (say two balls) yeast for 500 grams dry rice? Could you pleae answer in the metric scale since I`m from across the pond? :)

Thanks all, happy brewing
 
tomerus said:
Hi guys,



Worked my way half through this thread which was awesome.

Very excited in making this recipe (thanks OP)

Just one question though that`s not totaly clear to me. How many grams of yeast to use per how many grams of dry rice? aprox..

I thought 20 gram (say two balls) yeast for 500 grams dry rice? Could you pleae answer in the metric scale since I`m from across the pond? :)



Thanks all, happy brewing
Click to expand...



I've never weighed everything, but I just weighed one heaping cup at approx 231gm, I typically do 5 cup batches and have done batches in warm weather with two balls, it's a little cooler now so three balls.

My latest batch,View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1452644292.447462.jpg
stored in a warm spot.
 
I would think that would depend on preferred rice variety. Wouldn't a long grain variety like Jasmine weigh more in a volume measure than, say, a short grain sweet rice?
 

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