EndlessPurple
Well-Known Member
Thanks
Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different
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Ostomo517
Well-Known Member
Whats this lookin like?
So I scraped the green fuzzy mold off the top of the rice cake inside 1 of my jars last night,( first time I have opened it at 8 days) and when I opened the jar it smelled very very alcoholic like rice vodka. Lol. Smells awesome, Even though I just scraped the mold off the top. So I pushed the rice under the level of the liquid alcohol to try and sanitize the top surface. I'm still going to try this when it's finished, if it doesn't keep getting moldy. My other 2 jars seem to be looking just fine with about an inch of liquid under the rice. I haven't opened those 2 jars. Hopefully I won't have to open the other again either. I'm at 9 days as of today, fingers crossed.
Yes! I think it was the water ratio for me too. Just stirred it after five days and it is sweet like candy. It never got this way before with a 3:1. Now at 1:1 the rice is still in individual chunks and it smells sweet and fragrant!
bottlebomber
Well-Known Member
zeapo said:
When it has been 3 weeks, and it is deliciously alcoholic.
Arrheinous
Well-Known Member
Three weeks is definitely a good amount of time for it. I found that the rice and the liquid reseparate at this point.
So are you saying that there is little to no bearing on whether the rice:
#1 Is floating
#2 Has sunk to the bottom, leaving free standing liquid on top
#3 Neither, liquid level is still below rice mass
?
At 2 weeks 2 days here I'm am still at #3, just curious.
#1 Is floating
#2 Has sunk to the bottom, leaving free standing liquid on top
#3 Neither, liquid level is still below rice mass
?
At 2 weeks 2 days here I'm am still at #3, just curious.
user 83772
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Has anyone weighed the rice/yeast mixture prior to fermentation, and then compared it to the weight of the remaining starch mass once the 21 day brew period is over? I'm curious what kind of rice > rice wine conversion factor folks are getting.
nhamilto40
Well-Known Member
I haven't yet but that sounds like a good idea. My batch is about done fermenting.
I think the way to do it would be to weigh the starting rice and the residue (after drying at 100 C). Then conversion would be (residue/rice)*100%. Will not be perfect since there will be some suspended solids in the wine but it should be close.
OP
OP
You are fine
So I just stared mine last night. Here is what I did.
3 cups dry jasmine rice(soaked for about 2hr)
cooked rice with 4 1/2 cups water for 15min
let cool
added 4 crushed rice/yeast balls to a 1/2 gal ball jar.
(layered the rice and yeast)
I have a question. Is sun light bad for this? If so I will cover it.
3 cups dry jasmine rice(soaked for about 2hr)
cooked rice with 4 1/2 cups water for 15min
let cool
added 4 crushed rice/yeast balls to a 1/2 gal ball jar.
(layered the rice and yeast)
I have a question. Is sun light bad for this? If so I will cover it.
saramc
Well-Known Member
Yes, avoid sunlight.
You can harvest anywhere from Day 21-30, per recommendation from Asian community. Day 24 seems to be my preference. Use your tastebuds to tell you what you like, but remember as you pass Day 21 the wine is known for becoming drier and usually develops a bit more tang. It was also pointed out that if you harvest at Day 21 and refrigerate, the wine does continue to ferment the residual sugar, so pasteurize promptly if you want to halt continued ferment.
Good idea. I will try to remember to do this with my next batch. Take a baseline measurement of mass of the dry/soaked rice + known mass of yeast balls, then the mass of the cooked rice + known mass of yeast balls, then the mass of unstrained wine, and then one of the remaining starchy mass after it was strained. No idea if all four measurements are necessary, but at least I will have them.
loud1
Well-Known Member
I love rice wine, and i cook with it all the time but it is kind of expensive where i live. This seems like a great alternative, i'm going to get started on this project right away. Thanks for the great info.
bway2141
Member
So I just cooked 8 cups of rice (4 cups of jasmine and four of sweet rice) with 12 cups of water. It is very mushy and moist. I'm reading a lot of posts about excess moisture causing sour and sharp alcohol tastes. Has anybody tried tossing in a small amount of dry, sanitized rice? I just pitched 20 min ago but have come across a lot more posts about using a 1:1 ratio.
Any thoughts? A little bit of dry rice would grab some moisture but would it inhibit fermentation?
Any thoughts? A little bit of dry rice would grab some moisture but would it inhibit fermentation?
bway2141 said:
So is it the extra moisture that's causing the acetone smell? I have a batch about a week in and a lot of liquid has formed and no black mold but there is moisture inside and I just smelled it for the first time and I have the strong acetone smell.
bway2141
Member
Very true pablo. It's probably not worth the risk of introducing any bacteria that might be on the raw rice. I should just RDWHAHB.
Ostomo517
Well-Known Member
I had some acetone smell my first batch but a couple weeks age on it and its smooth as silk
Just finished with my first two batches of this. I was inpatient and didn't soak the rice also I didn't know that it had to be steamed so I just boiled it. I went to my closes Chinese market and they had two different kinds of yeast balls the first was small and nothing really on the package the other was a big ball and the ingredients had ginger and other things in it. The flavored one took about two weeks to start working but it ended up tasting better then the other. The other I think the unflavored fermented out further then the flavored one leaving less residual sugars. The other has more of a sour flavor.
No such luck at our nearest local oriental market on the balls (was out of Agar anyway). I remember a few links for balls people have found but only made it 5 pages into the 30 (I'm at 40 per page) this afternoon so will have to go back and try to find some of them again. Any consensus on who's the best currently?
bottlebomber
Well-Known Member
zeapo said:
Don't interfere with it. Everyone seems to get a bloom of some sort on the surface of the rice, and it's not a good plan to mix this into the brew. It doesn't need any help, it actually gets pretty active. I know there's been at least one person who's stirred it and ended up with an inferior product.
Okay, you say not to mix it, because you don't want to mix the surface in with the rest. The original recipe says to pour the whole thing out and squeeze all the liquid from the rice essentially mixing everything together. So do you think mixing it while its fermenting will cause any issues?
I currently have 2 identical batches and I am swirling 1. I will post results in 1 week when they are finished.
I currently have 2 identical batches and I am swirling 1. I will post results in 1 week when they are finished.
Hmm, difficult to tell for sure. I would expect it to be more difficult to separate the liquid from the solids when it's all done. That, and a possible increase in the tanginess from mixing in the acid producing bacteria. Though both results are more speculation then anything else.
The batches I've had that came out well have been left essentially untouched.
Okay, again you say that mixing in the bacteria will cause bad flavors. But I thought the bacteria/mold was inside the yeast and already mixed throughout the rice...
I do agree that the batch I'm swirling will probably come out more cloudy though. I guess only time and tasting will tell.
I do agree that the batch I'm swirling will probably come out more cloudy though. I guess only time and tasting will tell.
@Zeapo,
The original posters clearly stated that it was ok per the recipe sources to stir even during the process. They also say that they don't bother. As Lead said, any time you touch it you run risk of contamination. I did not see anything about bacteria but there is Beni or Koji mold on the balls you use. I've still yet to read a single person getting sick from consuming the mold and some of them posted some amazing mold pics earlier in the thread.
The original posters clearly stated that it was ok per the recipe sources to stir even during the process. They also say that they don't bother. As Lead said, any time you touch it you run risk of contamination. I did not see anything about bacteria but there is Beni or Koji mold on the balls you use. I've still yet to read a single person getting sick from consuming the mold and some of them posted some amazing mold pics earlier in the thread.
I'm thinking stirring may cause the activity level of the bugs making the tangy flavors go up. Like I said though, it's speculation.
I've only stirred one batch. That batch was a pita to get any liquid out of. That may have had another cause though. One observation does not a trend make.
Oh, I don't think it will hurt you. I was just thinking it might not taste as good.
I grew up in western Washington state. Mold is pretty much ubiquitous there. I never could understand why people freak out about it in other parts of the country. Besides, what do you think is flavoring your blue cheese?
SFGiantsFan925
Well-Known Member
Well, 3 more jars of all Jasmine started, and now all 3 have been in the dark, and all have an acetone smell so far. I am going to let them go the full 21 days and see if its just a phase. I have not moved them, opened them, swirled them or anything. It must be the yeast balls that I am using. Ill have to try a different one I guess.
bruin_ale
Well-Known Member
Just started a batch yesterday, 6 cups of jasmine.
What yeast balls are you using SFGiantsFan?
What yeast balls are you using SFGiantsFan?
SFGiantsFan925
Well-Known Member
I posted a picture earlier in the thread. They are from a Ranch 99 Market in Concord, CA. Just the generic ones. Its a large bag with packages of 2 balls each. Not sure why i am getting this acetone smell.
Would it be a problem if I jarred my rice/ yeast blend while the jars were still damp from StarSan? Not sure if that would somehow cause the acetone smell. Do the jars have to be completely dry? I figured it was like my beer where it didnt matter. Maybe it does??
FYI: The picture of the ones I used is on page 80.
bruin_ale
Well-Known Member
thanks for telling me what page, I read about 50 pages then skipped to the last 10-20 pages so I missed the pic you posted. I'm using something different, so I can't rule out the yeast ball if mine turns out without the acetone smell. I didn't dry my container out, it was definitely still damp with StarSan, I don't think it should matter - but this is my first batch so I don't know for sure.
Here's the update on the different grains experiment. It has now been 7 days since the rice was inoculated with the crushed yeast balls. I will admit I am rather surprised by the results.
Wheat Berries: Fairly vigorous white mold growing on them, no visible liquid in the jar.
Brown Rice: A small amount of liquid is visible in the bottom of the jar.
Basmati Rice: About 1/2 an inch of liquid separated from the rice.
Long Grain White Rice: Visible liquid in the jar, no separation of liquid and rice.
Jasmine Rice: About 3/4 of an inch of liquid separated from the rice.
Japanese Sweet Rice: About 1 inch of liquid separated from the rice, and visible mold growth on the top of the rice.
The first surprise to me is that the wheat berries are doing anything at all. I rather expected to get several kinds of unpleasant growths on the cooked grain and have to throw it out. Since it is growing only the white mold that I've seen on other batches of rice wine, I'm going to give it some time and see what it does.
The brown rice is also a surprise. It is clearly producing liquid, though slowly. I expected it to go nasty the same way as what I was expecting from the wheat.
The third surprise is the difference in the amount of liquid produced by the different rice samples. Out of the 4 samples of whit rices I've got results ranging from no visible separation to an inch of liquid. I rather thought that the amount of liquid yielded by the different types of rice would be fairly close.
The fourth surprise was the Japanese sweet rice. As I mentioned in my post with the cooked grain photo, it was basically a giant rice bogey. Stretchy, and sticky. A bit like a giant blob of rubber cement. I expected this sample to fail in some spectacular fashion. Instead, I would have to say that at this point it's my top performer. It appears to be converting to rice wine substantially faster then any of the other samples.
Of course, it doesn't matter how fast it converts if it tastes bad. We won't know that until the batches are harvested on day 21.
I hope everybody finds this as interesting as I do. Happy brewing!
Wheat Berries: Fairly vigorous white mold growing on them, no visible liquid in the jar.
Brown Rice: A small amount of liquid is visible in the bottom of the jar.
Basmati Rice: About 1/2 an inch of liquid separated from the rice.
Long Grain White Rice: Visible liquid in the jar, no separation of liquid and rice.
Jasmine Rice: About 3/4 of an inch of liquid separated from the rice.
Japanese Sweet Rice: About 1 inch of liquid separated from the rice, and visible mold growth on the top of the rice.
The first surprise to me is that the wheat berries are doing anything at all. I rather expected to get several kinds of unpleasant growths on the cooked grain and have to throw it out. Since it is growing only the white mold that I've seen on other batches of rice wine, I'm going to give it some time and see what it does.
The brown rice is also a surprise. It is clearly producing liquid, though slowly. I expected it to go nasty the same way as what I was expecting from the wheat.
The third surprise is the difference in the amount of liquid produced by the different rice samples. Out of the 4 samples of whit rices I've got results ranging from no visible separation to an inch of liquid. I rather thought that the amount of liquid yielded by the different types of rice would be fairly close.
The fourth surprise was the Japanese sweet rice. As I mentioned in my post with the cooked grain photo, it was basically a giant rice bogey. Stretchy, and sticky. A bit like a giant blob of rubber cement. I expected this sample to fail in some spectacular fashion. Instead, I would have to say that at this point it's my top performer. It appears to be converting to rice wine substantially faster then any of the other samples.
Of course, it doesn't matter how fast it converts if it tastes bad. We won't know that until the batches are harvested on day 21.
I hope everybody finds this as interesting as I do. Happy brewing!
Ostomo517
Well-Known Member
Awesome experiment! Since we never got a update on that one using the yeast balls in beer wort I may have to take this on myself next week.
It's still kinda early for the one with the beer wort. My guess is if he has any residual starches left over it'll continually eat away at those and take longer to finish from the amylase and it'll finish very dry. Worst case scenario is if he gets a lacto infection. I'm guessing the lacto is frequently in the yeast balls after all since the rice has been either boiled or steamed typically which should kill the lacto.
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