Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[TBBrewer]

I'm with you on the VN balls. I snuck a "taste" of each of my identical-except-for-yeast batches and the VN is WAY more drinkable than the Chinese. The VN one will go quick when it's done.

Yeah, it has just been so much cleaner tasting. I picked a few more packages yesterday. I did find both types of VN yeast, big and small. Both packaged by the same company, just one is red lettering and one is blue. All of my experience has been with the blue small VN yeast. If anything, I would say I have been under pitching and have had good results. The only thing I use the Chinese yeast for is if I flavor the wine as the wine by itself is a little harsh. I do not think I have tried the RYR and VN yeast yet. That will be on my list next.

 

[saramc]

I wish they made a few different micron size paper filters. The regular ones seem to clog pretty quickly. Almost wish I could do a progressively smaller mesh so it would flow better.

Not paper but look at 'ice bubble bags', loads of different micron sizes and the bags nest in each other. Amazon and eBay have a nice selection. You can clean/sanitize them just like the nylon mesh bags.

On the VN yeast balls, what ratio of the mini ones to dry rice? The mini ones are blue lettering, right? (Sitting in hubby's hospital room and I have them at home, otherwise I'd just go look at the minis)

 

[elkshadow]

Not paper but look at 'ice bubble bags', loads of different micron sizes and the bags nest in each other. Amazon and eBay have a nice selection. You can clean/sanitize them just like the nylon mesh bags.

On the VN yeast balls, what ratio of the mini ones to dry rice? The mini ones are blue lettering, right? (Sitting in hubby's hospital room and I have them at home, otherwise I'd just go look at the minis)

I used the whole package on 8 rice + 2 RYR.

 

[aiptasia]

Not paper but look at 'ice bubble bags', loads of different micron sizes and the bags nest in each other. Amazon and eBay have a nice selection. You can clean/sanitize them just like the nylon mesh bags.

On the VN yeast balls, what ratio of the mini ones to dry rice? The mini ones are blue lettering, right? (Sitting in hubby's hospital room and I have them at home, otherwise I'd just go look at the minis)

Sara, same. One full package of the blue label mini vietnamese rice balls and about half a cup of Japanese dry koji went into six cups of sho chuku bai short grain sweet rice in my last batch.

 

[TBBrewer]

Not paper but look at 'ice bubble bags', loads of different micron sizes and the bags nest in each other. Amazon and eBay have a nice selection. You can clean/sanitize them just like the nylon mesh bags.

On the VN yeast balls, what ratio of the mini ones to dry rice? The mini ones are blue lettering, right? (Sitting in hubby's hospital room and I have them at home, otherwise I'd just go look at the minis)

I will look into those. Thanks for the tip.

I have been pitching 2 of the VN small yeast per lb of rice. Yep, blue package. I picked up larger ones made by the same company, 4 per pack, with red lettering.

 

[embreedow]

Ok, so I harvested by batch with sweet rice and red rice yeast... I'm not gonna lie, it tastes pretty weird. Kind of tart and almost citrusy, with a hint of sourness. Is this how its supposed to taste, or did I just ingest something thats gonna make me sick?

 

[aiptasia]

Ok, so I harvested by batch with sweet rice and red rice yeast... I'm not gonna lie, it tastes pretty weird. Kind of tart and almost citrusy, with a hint of sourness. Is this how its supposed to taste, or did I just ingest something thats gonna make me sick?

OMG you're gonna die!

J/k.

The citrusy flavor is common to young rice wine. It might taste like mango, kiwi, star fruit or lemon-lime to a lot of people. I've found that these flavors mellow out as the wine ages. The sour notes are from acetobactir or lactobacillus which either came in from a sanitation problem or inside the yeast balls themselves. Left unchecked, they will turn the wine into vinegar.

In a link in this thread, there's a .pdf file that discusses the composition of yeast balls. They can contain any number of regional yeast, fungus and bacteria depending on which company made them. For example, some have aspergillus fungus, some have rhyzopus, some have others. The different yeasts will also bring different flavors to the rice wine, too, and there's no way to know what strains are in the yeast balls. It's whatever is local to that particular area.

You're welcome to try it again with a different type of rice ball, or you can use Japanese Koji or Chinese Rice Leavin to break down the complex rice starches (contains no yeast) into glucose, and then use a lager or ice wine-type yeast to ferment the glucose and cold ferment it at 50 degrees f.

 

[edds5p0]

OMG you're gonna die!

J/k.

The citrusy flavor is common to young rice wine. It might taste like mango, kiwi, star fruit or lemon-lime to a lot of people. I've found that these flavors mellow out as the wine ages. The sour notes are from acetobactir or lactobacillus which either came in from a sanitation problem or inside the yeast balls themselves. Left unchecked, they will turn the wine into vinegar.

In a link in this thread, there's a .pdf file that discusses the composition of yeast balls. They can contain any number of regional yeast, fungus and bacteria depending on which company made them. For example, some have aspergillus fungus, some have rhyzopus, some have others. The different yeasts will also bring different flavors to the rice wine, too, and there's no way to know what strains are in the yeast balls. It's whatever is local to that particular area.

You're welcome to try it again with a different type of rice ball, or you can use Japanese Koji or Chinese Rice Leavin to break down the complex rice starches (contains no yeast) into glucose, and then use a lager or ice wine-type yeast to ferment the glucose and cold ferment it at 50 degrees f.

Just a small correction; while Koji only hydrolyzes starch, rice leaven will both ferment and hydrolyze the starch.

 

[embreedow]

I dunno what I would do without you guys! Sorry if it was discussed before, but can I pasteurize the wine to kill the lactobacillus?

I looked back through the thread and I think I found that pasteurizing does prevent the lactobacillus from taking hold and turning it to vinegar. Next time I'm gonna try it without the RYR to see if it comes out sweeter.

 

[Leadgolem]

Just a small correction; while Koji only hydrolyzes starch, rice leaven will both ferment and hydrolyze the starch.

I haven't used rice leaven, is this certain? I thought it was essentially a powdered enzyme product?

I dunno what I would do without you guys! Sorry if it was discussed before, but can I pasteurize the wine to kill the lactobacillus?

I looked back through the thread and I think I found that pasteurizing does prevent the lactobacillus from taking hold and turning it to vinegar. Next time I'm gonna try it without the RYR to see if it comes out sweeter.

Yes. I do that all the time. Pasteurizing to 160f has no discernable effect on the flavor, though it does cause the wine to separate more rapidly.

EDIT: The RYR has actually come out with less of a tang then any of my batches without it. I think the RYR actually interferes with the acetobacter in some way.

Something you could try, if you haven't already, is powdering both the yeast balls and the RYR. My batches seem to turn out better if the desired organisms spread through the entirety of the growth medium evenly, and rapidly.

 

[trbig]

I've been away from the site for a while, but just thought I'd post some info. Back in March, (3/24/13) I made a big batch of the rice wine with some ryr.. You can see my post back on page 130 of this thread.

What I've discovered after a couple attempts, is that big batches don't seem to work out well. Not for me anyway. What's happened to me is the rice becomes a big glob of glue, basically making a big plug in the bucket, then the CO2 gas can't escape. It sits in a big bubble at the bottom and kills/deactivates the yeast.

I also made a smaller 3 gallon batch about the same time with about the same results. I opened both containers and with a spoon, added some water and popped the big CO2 bubbles, then stirred them until I had a fairly wet consistency, then covered them back up... and completely forgot about them. Tonight, I needed the ferment bins, so I went to just dump the rice stuff out, expecting some foul smelling science experiment.. only in both bins, I had some really nice tasting and very strong wine.

So, for 4 months, this stuff sat on the trub.. or whatever you want to call it, and there were no ill effects. If anything, it got better. Best I've tasted from what I've made anyway. Just a heads up. I'll filter it better soon. The sediments drop out pretty readily.

 

[Leadgolem]

I've been away from the site for a while, but just thought I'd post some info. Back in March, (3/24/13) I made a big batch of the rice wine with some ryr.. You can see my post back on page 130 of this thread.

What I've discovered after a couple attempts, is that big batches don't seem to work out well. Not for me anyway. What's happened to me is the rice becomes a big glob of glue, basically making a big plug in the bucket, then the CO2 gas can't escape. It sits in a big bubble at the bottom and kills/deactivates the yeast.

I also made a smaller 3 gallon batch about the same time with about the same results. I opened both containers and with a spoon, added some water and popped the big CO2 bubbles, then stirred them until I had a fairly wet consistency, then covered them back up... and completely forgot about them. Tonight, I needed the ferment bins, so I went to just dump the rice stuff out, expecting some foul smelling science experiment.. only in both bins, I had some really nice tasting and very strong wine.

So, for 4 months, this stuff sat on the trub.. or whatever you want to call it, and there were no ill effects. If anything, it got better. Best I've tasted from what I've made anyway. Just a heads up. I'll filter it better soon. The sediments drop out pretty readily.

Good to know. Interesting it didn't turn to vinegar on you. I would have expected it to.

You can avoid the starch "cap" by rolling the inoculated rice into 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls. That way the co2 can escape between them while the saccharification continues. Something I picked up from reading between the lines on a couple of red rice wine recipes with my third large batch.

 

[trbig]

I might try that..

I haven't been making any more of the rice wine because of the problems, and what product I did get, I wasn't that fond of the flavor. Really impressed with this stuff though. I've still got lots of supplies... 20lbs of rice, 9 lbs of RYR, several bags of the yeast balls. I even bought a coffee grinder just for the yeast balls so I quit using the one I use for my coffee. lol. So I might as well make up another batch. I put my first batch of mead on last night in the 7 gallon bucket, but I've still got the 3.5 gallon one.

Since I've been gone so long, has there ever been a general consensus as to the rice/yeast ball ratio? I pulverize the RYR in the coffee grinder along with the yeast balls.

While I enjoy the taste of the non-ryr wine, the one made with it is much sweeter and fruitier. Do you think it's a mental thing? Red= fruit punch.. right? lol. How would you get a fruit taste from red mold? Not sure how, but it does. Oh.. and the wine from the pic cleared up a lot after sitting in the fridge all night.

 

[aiptasia]

No consensus yet. Different people use different ratios. I think I tend to overpitch on the yeast balls in my batches but it works for me. For the chinese yeast balls, which are a large gumball size, I crush one per 3 cups rice. For the blue packets of vietnamese yeast balls (about the size of a mento), I crush up half a pack for 3 cups rice, so that's about six of them. Again, that's my ratio. Others may differ. YMMV.

 

[Whippy]

I put my first batch together 9 days ago and am not getting ANY liquid. I opened the jar and took a whiff and it smells great, like it is fermenting, but I'm not getting any wine here. Should I spray mist some water into the jar or something? I'm worried the rice is just going to dry out without giving off any wine. It seems from this thread that folks are seeing progress within only a couple days in most cases.

I used chinese sweet rice (short grain) and chinese yeast balls. The jar has mostly been sitting at around 74-78F temperature, but I did move it into the warmer atmosphere of the garage overnight a couple of evenings.

..any suggestions? Should I just dump this and try again another time, or rather wait it out?

 

[dgr]

whippy,
I would let it ride. You may be happily surprised. The rice could be soaking up the liquids right now.

 

[edds5p0]

I haven't used rice leaven, is this certain? I thought it was essentially a powdered enzyme product?

Yes. I do that all the time. Pasteurizing to 160f has no discernable effect on the flavor, though it does cause the wine to separate more rapidly.

EDIT: The RYR has actually come out with less of a tang then any of my batches without it. I think the RYR actually interferes with the acetobacter in some way.

Something you could try, if you haven't already, is powdering both the yeast balls and the RYR. My batches seem to turn out better if the desired organisms spread through the entirety of the growth medium evenly, and rapidly.

I have made some tasty batches using ARL alone. I believe it is actually a. Oryzae.

 

[Leadgolem]

I might try that..

I haven't been making any more of the rice wine because of the problems, and what product I did get, I wasn't that fond of the flavor. Really impressed with this stuff though. I've still got lots of supplies... 20lbs of rice, 9 lbs of RYR, several bags of the yeast balls. I even bought a coffee grinder just for the yeast balls so I quit using the one I use for my coffee. lol. So I might as well make up another batch. I put my first batch of mead on last night in the 7 gallon bucket, but I've still got the 3.5 gallon one.

Since I've been gone so long, has there ever been a general consensus as to the rice/yeast ball ratio? I pulverize the RYR in the coffee grinder along with the yeast balls.

While I enjoy the taste of the non-ryr wine, the one made with it is much sweeter and fruitier. Do you think it's a mental thing? Red= fruit punch.. right? lol. How would you get a fruit taste from red mold? Not sure how, but it does. Oh.. and the wine from the pic cleared up a lot after sitting in the fridge all night.

The red being fruitier isn't your imagination. Every batch of red rice wine I've made has been much fruitier then the white rice wine. They have been sweeter too, though not all to the same degree.

If you are getting more particulates then you would like, try adding 1/8 tsp of yeast nutrient per 1 1/2 cups of dry rice to the water you are cooking the rice in. A recent experiment I ran indicates that the yeast nutrient helps reduce the particulates in the final product by more then 50%. I'm not sure why, but it did. The experiment is a fairly small sample to be sure, but with a result that dramatic I think it's a good bet that was the difference.

I have made some tasty batches using ARL alone. I believe it is actually a. Oryzae.

Interesting. Wouldn't a product that is mainly aspergillus oryzae still saccharify only, without actually fermenting the sugar that resulted?

 

[sonofgrok]

Angel rice leaven = rhizopus oryzae and rice flour. Although it is a microbial culture of multiple organisms, I am pretty sure the bulk of the yeast is saccharomyces bayanus as that is what is used in all of the Angel pure yeast products.

 

[aiptasia]

The red being fruitier isn't your imagination. Every batch of red rice wine I've made has been much fruitier then the white rice wine. They have been sweeter too, though not all to the same degree.

That's interesting. I've found the opposite to be true. My RYR batches are dryer and have more of an earthy, rice flavor to them than my pure white rice batches. Are you letting them ferment out the full three weeks or pressing sooner?

Interesting. Wouldn't a product that is mainly aspergillus oryzae still saccharify only, without actually fermenting the sugar that resulted?

If it were pure A. oryzae (aka, Koji fungus), then yes. It would only convert the rice into glucose soup. Since rice brewing is a dual fermentation process, you would need a yeast strain to ferment the glucose. If you wanted greater control over the yeast strains, i'd suggest using koji rice (rice infected with A. oryzae) and a hand picked strain of yeast. The yeast you'd pick would be based on the characteristics of that yeast (flavor profile), preferred fermentation temperature (off-flavor control) and attenuation (sweet/dry). There's a lot of room to pioneer here, because I don't think anyone is actively studying rice wine & yeast characteristics in the states. There may be some Asian studies that have covered this territory, but whom to contact, where to look and the need for possible translation makes it a little daunting to explore.

Japanese Sake producers already use this method but typically are constrained by their Sake council to using one of about ten strains of yeast. Their yeasts are typically cold fermenting lager yeasts that produce low acid content rice wine.

Angel rice leaven = rhizopus oryzae and rice flour. Although it is a microbial culture of multiple organisms, I am pretty sure the bulk of the yeast is saccharomyces bayanus as that is what is used in all of the Angel pure yeast products.

That's good to know. The more I get into rice wine, the more interested I get in the ingredients and organisms i'm working with.

 

[trbig]

The red being fruitier isn't your imagination. Every batch of red rice wine I've made has been much fruitier then the white rice wine. They have been sweeter too, though not all to the same degree.

What ratio are you using your RYR at? I used 1 lb. (Actually 14oz) to 20lbs of rice and this has a good flavor. I pulverize it up in a coffee grinder with the yeast balls.

If you are getting more particulates then you would like, try adding 1/8 tsp of yeast nutrient per 1 1/2 cups of dry rice to the water you are cooking the rice in. A recent experiment I ran indicates that the yeast nutrient helps reduce the particulates in the final product by more then 50%. I'm not sure why, but it did. The experiment is a fairly small sample to be sure, but with a result that dramatic I think it's a good bet that was the difference.

I am thinking about starting a smaller batch tonight.. maybe 5lbs. I'll try this and see how it goes. Healthy yeast equals better booze.. right? Nice and strong.. able to leap tall buildings and withstand alcohol levels to 30%!

 

[Leadgolem]

Angel rice leaven = rhizopus oryzae and rice flour. Although it is a microbial culture of multiple organisms, I am pretty sure the bulk of the yeast is saccharomyces bayanus as that is what is used in all of the Angel pure yeast products.

Ah, so it is a product with multiple organisms in it.

That's interesting. I've found the opposite to be true. My RYR batches are dryer and have more of an earthy, rice flavor to them than my pure white rice batches. Are you letting them ferment out the full three weeks or pressing sooner?

Yup going the full three weeks, and tasting side by side with white rice wine batches. That's one benefit of doing so many experiments.

If it were pure A. oryzae (aka, Koji fungus), then yes. It would only convert the rice into glucose soup. Since rice brewing is a dual fermentation process, you would need a yeast strain to ferment the glucose. If you wanted greater control over the yeast strains, i'd suggest using koji rice (rice infected with A. oryzae) and a hand picked strain of yeast. The yeast you'd pick would be based on the characteristics of that yeast (flavor profile), preferred fermentation temperature (off-flavor control) and attenuation (sweet/dry). There's a lot of room to pioneer here, because I don't think anyone is actively studying rice wine & yeast characteristics in the states. There may be some Asian studies that have covered this territory, but whom to contact, where to look and the need for possible translation makes it a little daunting to explore.

Japanese Sake producers already use this method but typically are constrained by their Sake council to using one of about ten strains of yeast. Their yeasts are typically cold fermenting lager yeasts that produce low acid content rice wine.

Interesting, something to play with anyway. I do have a sake kit with the koji kin in it.

What ratio are you using your RYR at? I used 1 lb. (Actually 14oz) to 20lbs of rice and this has a good flavor. I pulverize it up in a coffee grinder with the yeast balls.
...
I am thinking about starting a smaller batch tonight.. maybe 5lbs. I'll try this and see how it goes. Healthy yeast equals better booze.. right? Nice and strong.. able to leap tall buildings and withstand alcohol levels to 30%!

I'm using 1/8th the volume of dry rice in red yeast rice. IE: 1 tbs RYR : 1/2 cup dry rice. Pulverized with the rice yeast ball and tossed with the rice after it has cooled overnight and been broken up.

I'm not sure why the yeast nutrient altered the proportion of particulate matter so dramatically. It also, IMO, improved the white rice wine aroma noticeably. The batch with nutrient didn't have that "ricey" smell to it. It just smelled like vanilla.

 

[trbig]

I've got a 12 cup batch batch I used the energizer in and in the bin cooling for the night also. So 12 cups dry rice would be a cup and a half of the RYR and 4 yeast balls. I went with just a little more water in the rice this time.. 5 cups water to 3 cups rice. I'll be rolling the rice into balls like you suggested.

So I keep hearing 3 weeks now. What happened to the 28 day mark? Or do I gotta go back and read the 100+ pages I missed? Got a more condensed version?

 

[trbig]

And thinking about your ratio... Looks like I'll need to get about 72 pounds of rice to get rid of the 9 bags of the RYR I have left.. lol. Better get some more yeast balls while I'm at it..

 

[aiptasia]

Ah, so it is a product with multiple organisms in it.

I thought that said, "multiple orgasms in it" at first. Where's my coffee...

Interesting, something to play with anyway. I do have a sake kit with the koji kin in it.

The Sake kits have the koji Kin spores for making your own Kome-Koji. In a pinch, you can also pulverize some cold mountain dried Koji and use the dust as a Koji starter. Or, there are some sources of fresh Koji rice out there (FH Steinbart). That, or you could just use the cold mountain dried Koji like I did, but I hear that using fresh koji produces a superior Sake.

So many options!

 

[Leadgolem]

I've got a 12 cup batch batch I used the energizer in and in the bin cooling for the night also. So 12 cups dry rice would be a cup and a half of the RYR and 4 yeast balls. I went with just a little more water in the rice this time.. 5 cups water to 3 cups rice. I'll be rolling the rice into balls like you suggested.

So I keep hearing 3 weeks now. What happened to the 28 day mark? Or do I gotta go back and read the 100+ pages I missed? Got a more condensed version?

It's a harvest range really. It depends on your taste and your temperatures. The wine gets progressively tangier over day 21, but if your temps are to low you may not have as much liquid as you would prefer at day 21.

EDIT: The red rice wine is much more tolerant as far as time goes. People have been letting it go over 6 weeks without it souring.

 

[dgr]

I get to see what a hot fermentation does to this. Started a batch on 7/23. I rinsed sweet rice, drained and added 1.5:1 water:rice and cooked. Mixed with a pulverized rectangle and threw it in the closet. Got home from work on 7/24 and the house was about 90. I got the AC fixed this afternoon. The rice is already floating on a half inch of liquid.

Best part is no matter what I'm confident it's going to be good.

 

[trbig]

EDIT: The red rice wine is much more tolerant as far as time goes. People have been letting it go over 6 weeks without it souring.

My last deal where my wine sat in the bins for 4 months.. the white wine that I didn't use any RYR was actually a week or so older than the red, and both taste quite lovely!

 

[Leadgolem]

Nobody posted anything about rice wine today. That makes me sad.

 

[dgr]

Anything more pathetic than a sad golem?

Here's my hot ferment "experiment" at 4 days.

 

[aiptasia]

I made a batch a few days ago that I just didn't like. Pure sho chuku bai aged three weeks with chinese yeast balls, then pressed. The same rice wine featured in my clarifying thread. Oh holy god is it sweet. Alcoholic, and super extra sweet. Way too sweet. I'm going to have to thin it out with some fresh berries or juice or something and make it into a fruit jiu.

 

[Whippy]

whippy,
I would let it ride. You may be happily surprised. The rice could be soaking up the liquids right now.

Thanks for saving the day, dgr...I am now making rice wine and it looks nice! I suppose with all the rice/yeast variations, plus rice cooking techniques, no two batches will ever ferment or taste the same.

I do know this stuff smells fantastic and I'm now hooked! I think starting another batch this week must be in my plans...

 

[jak1010]

Thanks for saving the day, dgr...I am now making rice wine and it looks nice! I suppose with all the rice/yeast variations, plus rice cooking techniques, no two batches will ever ferment or taste the same.

I do know this stuff smells fantastic and I'm now hooked! I think starting another batch this week must be in my plans...

That's how it goes...before you know it, you're experimenting and there's glass jars everywhere and all different colors of rice and bottles all over the place.

All worth while. I can't think of another wine that you can make and drink in 21 days.

 

[wyoast]

Well I went off to work after starting my first attempt at this, let it go 3 weeks then swmbo strained the rice, bottled and pasturized for me.. She did 3 of the Grolsh bottles with a little pineapple juice and 1 with nothing added. I've only tried the pineapple so far but I've got to say...pretty dang good!! they've been in the fridge for about a month and all of the white sediment has collected in the bottom of the bottles. This stuff definitely packs a punch!!

 

[user 50046]

Alright, I skipped some posts in the middle but have read about the first 50 and the last 50 so sorry if I missed it but....

1. My first batch is now done fermenting (I might have waited too long). I used Three Ladies Brand Sweet Sticky Jasmine rice and "Heng Lung Brand" dried yeast.

2. Resulting liquid is very sweet tasting, and fruity in aroma. The rice went from cooked at roughly 2 gallons to 1 gallon of liquid and about a half gallon of mush.

3. The rice wine is super super cloudy. I added bentonite yesterday and have had it sitting for 24 hours at 33 degrees and I now have a gallon jug with 1" of clear liquid at the top and 1" of brown sludge at the bottom, and the rest looks like elmers glue.

How would I clean this up a little more before I pasteurize and bottle?

 

[Leadgolem]

Alright, I skipped some posts in the middle but have read about the first 50 and the last 50 so sorry if I missed it but....

1. My first batch is now done fermenting (I might have waited too long). I used Three Ladies Brand Sweet Sticky Jasmine rice and "Heng Lung Brand" dried yeast.

2. Resulting liquid is very sweet tasting, and fruity in aroma. The rice went from cooked at roughly 2 gallons to 1 gallon of liquid and about a half gallon of mush.

3. The rice wine is super super cloudy. I added bentonite yesterday and have had it sitting for 24 hours at 33 degrees and I now have a gallon jug with 1" of clear liquid at the top and 1" of brown sludge at the bottom, and the rest looks like elmers glue.

How would I clean this up a little more before I pasteurize and bottle?

If it's to sweet, you could add 10-20% water and let it ferment a bit drier. It's probably better to keep it pretty cool so you don't get to much acetic acid if you decide to do this.

I've been filtering mine through coffee filters in colanders lately. I find that removes a very large amount of solids, even when what you put in is pretty thick. Though it does take a long time to percolate.

Something you could do in a future batch is add a small amount of yeast nutrient to the water when you cook the rice. In the two tests I did that reduced the particulate matter substantially.

 

[user 50046]

Thanks Leadgolem,
It's very sweet right now. Almost like a simple syrup shot of booze. I had it fermenting in my beer fermentation fridge at 66, mostly to keep it out of reach of the kids. I'll add a few cups of distilled water now as I was planning on doing that before bottling.

I'll try some coffee filters, seems they would just clog up though with this much sediment though.

I steamed the rice, so would you recommend adding the nutrient to it while it's still hot or after it's cooled down and I'm placing it in the jar with the powdered yeast?

 

[dgr]

Strat,
http://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/FS/FS-53-W.pdf The last two sections are relevant.

 

[LabRatBrewer]

I tasted the pepper batch from post 2448. Its nice, sweet upfront then lingering heat on the back. If I do it again, I'd increase the white rice ratio and add orange habaneros to hopefully drive the heat forward.

 

[Whippy]

Oh LabRat!! Habanero flavored ANYTHING is nice, and making this wine with them sounds 'licious! Having a bush of habaneros which is currently filling out and about a pound dried on hand, I think I am going to do the same! I'll probably grind up about 3 whole dried peppers and put them into a 6 cup rice batch...nice and spicy, but not so much to where it won't be flavorful

Thanks for this brilliant idea!