Thanks for the reply.. I followed this tutorial https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Rice-Wine it says to put it in a airtight container. To bad I messed up. Think I will let it go for the 3 week mark and see what happens.
Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different
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Forgot to mention. I racked it after 9 days because of my co2 issue.. it tasted very sweet and yeasty.. BUT I loved it! Abv wise I gues around 7/8%
Now I have two batches going in mason jars with the cheesecloth on top so co2 can escape. 1 is with Jasmine the other with Pandan rice.
Now I have two batches going in mason jars with the cheesecloth on top so co2 can escape. 1 is with Jasmine the other with Pandan rice.
Hi Tomerus,
I don't think you need to put it in an airtight container which is used more for wine-making. I brewed mine in those food-grader containers which are not airtight. They work great as CO2 can naturally and slowly leave the fermentation jar. Traditional sake brewers also only cover their fermentation tanks with either a cloth or plastic cover. The movie "The Birth of Sake" shows this and other processes really well.
SakeToji
Hi TGFV,
Looks like you may have introduced other bacteria at some point to your batch. Sorry...
SakeToji
I added about 20 oz of water to my 1 gallon fermentation at the end of my main fermentation (around day 14-15) before filtering and starting secondary fermentation. --SakeToji
Several posts above talked about their sake being sour and dry and people are looking for ways to make sweet sake.
I did a side-by-side comparison between a batch using the traditional 3-step buildup method and another batch using the easy "one-step" process (mixing Koji, rice, water, yeast altogether method).
The result is that the traditional buildup approach yields nice, sweet and smooth sake while the easy approach yields a sour taste.
I'm attaching a few pictures here to show the side-by-side fermentation results.
The one in the plastic fermentation tub was using the traditional buildup approach. As you can see, the fermentation was very active.
The one in the glass jar was with the easy "one-step" method. The fermentation never went nearly as active as the traditional method.
The traditional method (Fred Eckhardt method) I used can be found on this website.
Has anyone tried that method before ?
I did a side-by-side comparison between a batch using the traditional 3-step buildup method and another batch using the easy "one-step" process (mixing Koji, rice, water, yeast altogether method).
The result is that the traditional buildup approach yields nice, sweet and smooth sake while the easy approach yields a sour taste.
I'm attaching a few pictures here to show the side-by-side fermentation results.
The one in the plastic fermentation tub was using the traditional buildup approach. As you can see, the fermentation was very active.
The one in the glass jar was with the easy "one-step" method. The fermentation never went nearly as active as the traditional method.
The traditional method (Fred Eckhardt method) I used can be found on this website.
Has anyone tried that method before ?
SakeToji, I think you are comparing apples and oranges a little. The majority on here are making rice wine with (Chinese) yeast balls and not going the Fred Eckhardt/sake method.
I've had tons of rice wine batches turn out non-sour using the yeast balls, in fact haven't had a single sour batch, but haven't tried the traditional Japanese sake method with koji to compare to. I've drank lots of commercial sakes, though, and they are much drier and more minerally than my rice wines. Mine do vary a little on degree of pineapple/fruity flavors, but always turn out sweet and smooth (whether nigori or cleared with time). If I want it to taste a little more like commercial sake I add about 10% filtered or distilled water and it is still sweeter but more comparable to sake.
I thought as much. Oh well. Could be because I tried to use old rice leftovers.
JJewlz420
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I'm so glad I found this site! I been making Rice wine for at least 3/4 months now and have done 5/6 batches so far! I have watched a lot of youtube videos and have done a lot of searching on google for recipes and I have kinda borrowed something from each recipe I found to kinda make it my own recipe..
I use calrose/nishiki sushi rice when making my rice wine, I wash 6 cups of rice for a hour at the sink, rinsing and pouring off the cloudy water, until the water runs clear, and this can take quite a few washes though I have seen people say three rinses is more than good, I wash the rice until it turns a white opaque, even some of the rice grains become almost see through from all the washing. I then soak the rice for up to 2 hours, and boil the rice, (i do not own a bamboo steamer but looking into getting one soon) I then lay the rice out on parchment paper to cool, once the rice is cooled enough I then use 3 Yeast balls to mix in with my rice and place in a big plastic container, with paper towel and lid loosley on, I wait about a week until the rice is forming liquid, I then wash another 6 cups of rice the same way as i do before, washing the rice at the sink for a hour, I then let that rice soak for 24 hours, and the next day I cook it up and let it cool, I then add in one liter of Fiji water ( I read somewhere that fiji water is a good choice to use as its considered to be a soft water with good minerals in it..) I add in the water and then add in my other 6 cups of cooked cool rice, so the total I end up with is 12 cups of rice and one liter of fiji water to ferment for about 22 days or until bubbling has stopped, I then cold crash for a few weeks until the rice wine clears and then I syphon off into another bottle to sit for about another week to see if it clears out more before i i do the final bottling. I think after my new batch of rice wine is done, I think I want to add some POM blueberry to flavor.. I also found that flavoring your rice wine with sugar helps with any bitter taste.
I have had a few instances when my brew smelt like nail polish remover, but by the end of the ferment the smell has always went away and i always give a small taste sample to make sure the taste is not off or the brew did not spoil.. every batch I have made has came out good, but I find the clear rice wine better tasting than the cloudy rice wine!
I use calrose/nishiki sushi rice when making my rice wine, I wash 6 cups of rice for a hour at the sink, rinsing and pouring off the cloudy water, until the water runs clear, and this can take quite a few washes though I have seen people say three rinses is more than good, I wash the rice until it turns a white opaque, even some of the rice grains become almost see through from all the washing. I then soak the rice for up to 2 hours, and boil the rice, (i do not own a bamboo steamer but looking into getting one soon) I then lay the rice out on parchment paper to cool, once the rice is cooled enough I then use 3 Yeast balls to mix in with my rice and place in a big plastic container, with paper towel and lid loosley on, I wait about a week until the rice is forming liquid, I then wash another 6 cups of rice the same way as i do before, washing the rice at the sink for a hour, I then let that rice soak for 24 hours, and the next day I cook it up and let it cool, I then add in one liter of Fiji water ( I read somewhere that fiji water is a good choice to use as its considered to be a soft water with good minerals in it..) I add in the water and then add in my other 6 cups of cooked cool rice, so the total I end up with is 12 cups of rice and one liter of fiji water to ferment for about 22 days or until bubbling has stopped, I then cold crash for a few weeks until the rice wine clears and then I syphon off into another bottle to sit for about another week to see if it clears out more before i i do the final bottling. I think after my new batch of rice wine is done, I think I want to add some POM blueberry to flavor.. I also found that flavoring your rice wine with sugar helps with any bitter taste.
I have had a few instances when my brew smelt like nail polish remover, but by the end of the ferment the smell has always went away and i always give a small taste sample to make sure the taste is not off or the brew did not spoil.. every batch I have made has came out good, but I find the clear rice wine better tasting than the cloudy rice wine!
JJewlz420
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I bottled my batch of rice wine yesterday, I got exactly 1 Gallon of rice wine from my brew, and it seems to be settling pretty fast, I didnt use any bentonite, its been cold crashing for a little over 24 hours and a little over half has settled pretty nicely... Once all has settled to the bottom then I will siphon off into another bottle which then I will flavor with blueberry juice and cold crash another week before final bottling!
So I pulled out the rice and racked to a gallon jug. Let it settle. Racked off of that. And I got about 3/4 of a gallon.
But it’s still crazy sweet.
Like I feel that I could/should add a fining agent and repitch wine yeast to eat up all that sugar released.
I’m also wondering, I used a glutenous sweet rice instead of the Jasmine rice the OP used.
Could there just be too many carbs for the enzymes to convert to sugar than what the yeast can handle?
Glutinous rice probably contributed to the sweetness, as that stuff's on the sweet end to begin with. However, my experience is that brewing this type of rice wine without any added water always ends up sweet and boozy, while adding water to the tune of 10-15% of the final volume creates something much drier without as much alcohol kick, more like a dry white wine. I don't know if you could add water after the ferment for the same effect; if enough yeast are still alive in the jug, it might work as the dilution might wake them up and get them back to work. Otherwise, pitching wine yeast might help dry it out further if the alcohol content isn't already too high for the strain you pitch.
Davedrinksbeer
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How many pounds of rice did you use to get that much rice wine? I used 15 pounds of jasmine rice and that’s about how much I got.
I'll be making a couple batches of rice wine in the coming days. The 桂花 (guì huā - sweet osmanthus) trees are blooming in the neighborhood - the most deliciously fragrant flowers I've encountered other than jasmine and one of my favorite brewing ingredients not named barley, water, hops, or yeast. I picked a few ounces each of two different types - "silver" and "red" - and might go for a third variety as well ("gold"); they're all distinctly the same kind of flower, but each variety is also distinct from the others in aroma and the flavor it imparts to the extent that products containing osmanthus often label which type of osmanthus flower it uses. A few ounces is 1000+ individual flowers and probably fifteen minutes of picking, so it's more than it sounds like. As for their potency, five grams of dried flowers (probably equivalent of ~12-15 grams fresh) is detectable in a 21 liter batch of beer, 10 grams is center stage, and 15 grams is excessive.
Osmanthus is often used in rice wine, especially in a few cities where it's considered the "city flower". I'm going to make batches with each type I pick, but I haven't decided how I'm going to add the flowers. I've got three ideas though:
1 - Mix them in dry with the rice at primary time and let them infuse the wine from day one. I'd use a small amount this way because they're potent, and I could always do some secondary additions if it's not enough. The downside is the possibility of infection - how much would freezing the flowers (which I've already done) reduce this risk?
2 - Toss them in a small volume of water at pasteurization temps and add the flowers and water to the primary. Again, I'd use a small amount because of the potency and reserve the option of dosing in secondary if it's too weak. Downsides are that I'd lose the option of a sweet wine since even a hundred ml of water in a batch that size dries the wine out considerably, and the potential of losing some of the goodness of the flowers by essentially cooking them during the pasteurization process.
3 - Dry hop in secondary. Infection risk is minimal because of the alcohol content, this also gives me good control over the dosing levels because I can taste it as it goes, but the downside is that this is the most predictable and therefore boring option, haha!
Any suggestions?
Also, on the subject of experimentation: I've wanted to try a mixed grainbill by adding other grains in with the rice for some time, but I'm not likely to get to it any time soon. It's pretty common to add a handful of millet or even some diced sweet potato to eating rice here, and I like to add quinoa, but what would it be like if we fermented that like regular rice wine? Buckwheat? Wheat? A bit of Munich malt? I'd probably start around 20% of the grainbill and cook the added grain together with the rice. Anyone want to volunteer to be the resident mad scientist and give it a try?
Osmanthus is often used in rice wine, especially in a few cities where it's considered the "city flower". I'm going to make batches with each type I pick, but I haven't decided how I'm going to add the flowers. I've got three ideas though:
1 - Mix them in dry with the rice at primary time and let them infuse the wine from day one. I'd use a small amount this way because they're potent, and I could always do some secondary additions if it's not enough. The downside is the possibility of infection - how much would freezing the flowers (which I've already done) reduce this risk?
2 - Toss them in a small volume of water at pasteurization temps and add the flowers and water to the primary. Again, I'd use a small amount because of the potency and reserve the option of dosing in secondary if it's too weak. Downsides are that I'd lose the option of a sweet wine since even a hundred ml of water in a batch that size dries the wine out considerably, and the potential of losing some of the goodness of the flowers by essentially cooking them during the pasteurization process.
3 - Dry hop in secondary. Infection risk is minimal because of the alcohol content, this also gives me good control over the dosing levels because I can taste it as it goes, but the downside is that this is the most predictable and therefore boring option, haha!
Any suggestions?
Also, on the subject of experimentation: I've wanted to try a mixed grainbill by adding other grains in with the rice for some time, but I'm not likely to get to it any time soon. It's pretty common to add a handful of millet or even some diced sweet potato to eating rice here, and I like to add quinoa, but what would it be like if we fermented that like regular rice wine? Buckwheat? Wheat? A bit of Munich malt? I'd probably start around 20% of the grainbill and cook the added grain together with the rice. Anyone want to volunteer to be the resident mad scientist and give it a try?
I set up two batches last night with 3 kilograms of sticky rice (first time using it) and here are my thoughts:
Sticky rice is the traditional rice for making Chinese rice wine. It's usually soaked for half a day, steamed in a steamer basket above boiling water, and then pitched with more water than you'd usually add.
I only soaked for about 3-4 hours due to time constraints.
I did some in a steamer basket and some in my electronic pressure cooker's rice setting. I overfilled the pressure cooker and gave it too much water. It was a goopy mess. Next time, I'll try a standard 3 and 3 (plus a little extra water) in the rice cooker if I use it again.
The steamer basket rice would have been awesome for making the local snack "tofu skin". It was still pretty dry after 45 minutes of steaming, though, so I'm not sure how that will affect the yield.
I mixed the two batches so I had half goop and half dry sticky rice, and then I put it, glob by glob, into the two 5L water jugs I bought to use as fermenters. I should have just used a bucket and lived with the excessive headspace - it was a long, arduous, sticky process, probably 25 minutes of shoving gloopy rice into the jugs.
One jug got a small handful of orange osmanthus flowers mixed straight in with the ARL. The other I went plain and I'll probably dose some of the finished wine with the white flowers. I also gave each jug a bit of water, I'd estimate about 200 mL each.
Now it's time to wait. Winter's coming, so I suspect it might take an extra couple weeks to finish. Maybe I'll move the jugs on top of the fridge to get some of the radiant heat off the back of the compressor.
Not sure if I'd use sticky rice again. I know it's traditional, but it was a nightmare to handle, and a bit more expensive than regular rice to boot.
Sticky rice is the traditional rice for making Chinese rice wine. It's usually soaked for half a day, steamed in a steamer basket above boiling water, and then pitched with more water than you'd usually add.
I only soaked for about 3-4 hours due to time constraints.
I did some in a steamer basket and some in my electronic pressure cooker's rice setting. I overfilled the pressure cooker and gave it too much water. It was a goopy mess. Next time, I'll try a standard 3 and 3 (plus a little extra water) in the rice cooker if I use it again.
The steamer basket rice would have been awesome for making the local snack "tofu skin". It was still pretty dry after 45 minutes of steaming, though, so I'm not sure how that will affect the yield.
I mixed the two batches so I had half goop and half dry sticky rice, and then I put it, glob by glob, into the two 5L water jugs I bought to use as fermenters. I should have just used a bucket and lived with the excessive headspace - it was a long, arduous, sticky process, probably 25 minutes of shoving gloopy rice into the jugs.
One jug got a small handful of orange osmanthus flowers mixed straight in with the ARL. The other I went plain and I'll probably dose some of the finished wine with the white flowers. I also gave each jug a bit of water, I'd estimate about 200 mL each.
Now it's time to wait. Winter's coming, so I suspect it might take an extra couple weeks to finish. Maybe I'll move the jugs on top of the fridge to get some of the radiant heat off the back of the compressor.
Not sure if I'd use sticky rice again. I know it's traditional, but it was a nightmare to handle, and a bit more expensive than regular rice to boot.
Andrew Hodgson
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I have some sushi rice and one bag of three yeast balls, will start some rice today and start the brew up tonight or tomorrow.
I had followed this recipe and created a few flip-top bottles worth of rice wine. I made it in the summer and tried it with a few friends, everyone disliked it but I could taste the start of something tasty. Let the bottles sit in the fridge until about a month ago and the wine really tasted great to me, I made a small batch and blended with some tart cherry juice and fridged it now I will finish off my rice and yeast balls and probably pick up some more and have a nice pipeline of tasty rice wine going.
I had followed this recipe and created a few flip-top bottles worth of rice wine. I made it in the summer and tried it with a few friends, everyone disliked it but I could taste the start of something tasty. Let the bottles sit in the fridge until about a month ago and the wine really tasted great to me, I made a small batch and blended with some tart cherry juice and fridged it now I will finish off my rice and yeast balls and probably pick up some more and have a nice pipeline of tasty rice wine going.
Andrew Hodgson
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Interesting Development on my latest rice wine. It has a scoby growing on the surface. Granted I usually have been filtering and bottling around 28 days, this batch might be a bit longer, I have to check my notes. But I have been storing it next to kombucha so that makes sense. I am definitely going to pull the mass before I bottle and see if I have created some kind of rice wine SCOBY. We will see if it ferments any different than the (assumed) mother.
sgreene820
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I just did five cups dry sweet rice and five cups water in my electric pressure cooker on high for 12 minutes. Not sure if it needed more time or what, it came out kind of yellow and a little translucent. Those of you using an electric pressure cooker, what settings do you use?
Antonovich
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Started my first batch and it has been 10 days. So far it was looking good then I got some white film on top and some black specs. Searching, I see people say it's ok but I'm looking to confirm that its ok or if I need to toss it, as well as why it's there and what it is. Should I submerge the rice a bit to wet the top or just leave it as is? I opened it up tonight and it does smell quite alcoholic as well as a bit fruity almost like a red wine.
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You're fine Antonovich
It should be fine to drink from a health standpoint. The color change is almost certainly from oxidation and it'll probably taste different from when it was fresh - possibly to the point of undrinkability. You may have ended up with something akin to Shaoxing huangjiu (a well-known "yellow" rice wine from Shaoxing in China's Jiangsu province), which is often quite vinegary and, in my opinion, better for cooking than drinking.
Blasphemy168
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Hmmm....2 weeks in and no liquefaction. 6 cups dry sweet glutinous rice. Soaked overnight. Drained and steamed in a strainer over water until translucent, flipping once. Cooled on sheet pan. 6 of the small Vietnamese yeast balls crushed and sprinkled on top after cooling. Mixed and put in 1 gallon jar with muslin and screw lid. After 2 weeks, it looks like the rice dried out some, with no spores or yeast activity. It smells alcoholic and really good when I unscrew the cap, but still no liquid. At this point, I'm going to boil some water, let it cool, and add just a little bit to see if it was a moisture issue with the yeast not starting. Any thoughts or suggestions? I've only read up to page 80, so if the answer is in the back half of the forum, my apologies in advance.
I had the same thing happen with glutinous rice. I added maybe 60-70ml of water per cup of rice - just guessing since I didn't measure - and it came out great. I'll probably add more water if I do it again, since the end product is sweeter than I prefer and more water during fermentation dries it out and increases the yield.
It's also super cloudy - after a week cold crashing only the top 15% or so is clear. It's good with the lees in suspension, though, so I'm just going to drink it cloudy.
It's also super cloudy - after a week cold crashing only the top 15% or so is clear. It's good with the lees in suspension, though, so I'm just going to drink it cloudy.
Blasphemy168
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Did you end up extending the fermentation time? I added just a little bit of water and it seems to have jump started things. I was 2 weeks in to the process with no liquid until I added the water. Should I wait another 2-3 weeks, or harvest anyways in another week?
I left it for a couple months, mostly out of laziness. I'd probably wait a bit longer than usual in your case.
*
Hello all, new to posting but been reading on Homebrewtalk for years and love the site and the extremely wise and helpful folks here.
I started a batch of rice wine with some Basmatti on 2/1 and another with Thai Jasmine on 2/4. The first batch has started showing some liquid but has some odd bubbles and the second batch has some black spotted mold. Just wondering if anyone can tell me if these are normal
I started a batch of rice wine with some Basmatti on 2/1 and another with Thai Jasmine on 2/4. The first batch has started showing some liquid but has some odd bubbles and the second batch has some black spotted mold. Just wondering if anyone can tell me if these are normal
Davedrinksbeer
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I read somewhere on here it is normal and not to worry. Mine did the same thing and came out fine. I’ve done a few batches and when I ferment warm 70’s it has more floral/citrus notes and when I ferment cooler mid 60’s it’s more clear, crisp and smooth.
Thanks @Davedrinksbeer I kind of figured but wanted some reassurance. Mine fermenting around the mid to upper 60's. I've got them on the kitchen counter near an outside wall so they tend to stay a bit cooler than the room temp.
Davedrinksbeer
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Good Luck,I’m amazed on how good this taste. My friends all really like.
Trying just Korean rice syrup for kicks the next go around. I have a bottle i need to use up and it should be enough for maybe a half gallon. Might add fresh ginger and yuzu/yuja for flavor since its just going to be used for cooking and marinating meat.
1/2 gallon batch with hot water
500 grams of Korean rice syrup
2 heaping TBS Korean yuja tea mix. Its almost like a marmalade made with sugar, honey and yuzu/yuja
20 gram of candied ginger
Added almost a half tsp FermaidK after it cooled.
1/2 gallon batch with hot water
500 grams of Korean rice syrup
2 heaping TBS Korean yuja tea mix. Its almost like a marmalade made with sugar, honey and yuzu/yuja
20 gram of candied ginger
Added almost a half tsp FermaidK after it cooled.
Last edited:
MikeOhio
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Definitely getting the early acetone type smells with a batch i put together in a 1 gallon hocking type jar, 5 cups of thai jasmine and 2 yeast balls. So far though i have not got those same smells from a 2.5 gallon hocking jar with the same recipe, 5 and 2, done only 2 days later. both sit at a week and 5 days respectively. I wonder if there is a correlation with packing density in a fermenter and the development of the solventy smells? The same volume in a larger space, the 2.5 gallon jar has not produced those smells so far? Both seem to be producing liquid at the bottom so far so well see.
MikeOhio
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Im 0-2 so far.....The 1 gallon jar (5 cups rice/2 yeast balls) fermented exactly 3 weeks @ 65 in a fermentation fridge/inkbird-308 produced vinegar. The 2.5 gallon jar with the same 5 cups rice/2 yeast balls, 3 weeks, @ room temp, a constant 74 produced vinegar! No unusual mold on either one. The one variable that may have contributed to the issue was a higher water ratio with both. About 1:2 rice to water. A third batch in another 1 gallon jar, again @ room temp, a constant 74 with a lower ration, 1:1.5 rice to water has 2 weeks to go. So far, not so good!
Davedrinksbeer
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I’m not sure what your saying. I put 1 cup of rice with maybe cup and a half of water in my rice cooker and mine comes out fine. I don’t wash or soak my rice. After it cooks, I spread the rice out on aluminum foil to cool. After it cools down, I smash the yeast balls up and sprinkle some on there and dump it into a fermenting bucket. I make 15-20 pounds in about 2 hours. 20 pounds gave me 3 gallons of rice wine/sake.
MikeOhio
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I'm not sure what above is confusing? I laid out the recipe i followed for both batches, they were the same (thai jasmine rice/standard yeast balls), and laid out the variables (differences between the 2), the fermentation temps, and The different size of jar. The fact that they used a rice to water ratio of 1:2, is what i'm wondering may have caused them both to turn to vinegar by the 3 week mark. They both were kept in the dark as well.
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