Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[trbig]

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!

I occasionally grow habaneros. When they ripen to orange, I cut them in half and put on the dehydrator. I like stuff fairly spicey, but we put just one of those halves into a pot of beans on the slow cooker and ruined the whole batch. That stuff was nearly inedible and hurt me TWICE.. lol.

This is my long-winded version of saying, "3 whole peppers in with just 6 cups of rice!?!?" You are either much tougher than me... or dumber.. lol. All I can say is, Good luck! There's not a lot of things with alcohol in them that I'd not be willing to try, but that just may be one of them.

Signed,
The Wuss.. lol.

 

[Whippy]

HAHA! Thanks for the words of warning, trbig, and I understand what you mean about the peppers. From my experience with these and also with cayanne peppers, when you cook with them, they give off MUCH more heat than if eaten fresh or made into hot sauce. I don't know if it is all in my head or what, but it is what I have noticed.

I had much the same experience as you several years ago when I thought "just one habanero" would give a pot of chili a good heat...when I took the first bite, I thought my head would explode! LOL

I used 6 grinded habaneros last week in a hot sauce which yielded 1 quart, and it is hot, but could still use a little more for my taste. If I were to cook a curry with 6 peppers and let it simmer for 3 hours of the stove, you'd be calling Medevac for me :cross:

On reflection, for the sake of never having used any peppers in any kind of fermented beverages before, I believe I WILL heed your advice and start with just one, not knowing what the reaction will be...all things in stages, right>?

 

[TBBrewer]

2 things extract more heat out of peppers, heat & alcohol. I make a salsa bloody mary vodka that I put 5 peppers in and it will smoke just about anybody.

 

[trbig]

I believe I WILL heed your advice and start with just one, not knowing what the reaction will be...all things in stages, right>?

There's also the saying of, "Go big or go home!"




... says the guy with no taste buds or intestines on the line.

 

[trbig]

OK.. back to the topic on hand.

I've wondered.. does the Koji mold have to be on top.. basically in the dry to grow, or can it grow and reproduce while under the rising liquid? Meaning.. If your whole rice cake is submerged, is the koji still growing/working/breaking down the starch?

 

[jak1010]

This gives me an idea of making a rice wine bloody Mary...

 

[TBBrewer]

Was thinking about sangria. It would compliment the fruit quite well.

 

[Leadgolem]

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?

The filters do clog sometimes. If you have one that still has liquid in the top of it after 6-8 hours they you will want to pour the liquid into something else, replace the filter, and then pour the liquid back into it. It's best to use several at the same time if possible, otherwise it takes a rather long time to get all the wine through the filter.

I've got 4 cheap pour spout cups and colanders that I bought at dollar tree for this. They fit together well. I put a commercial sized coffee filter in each one, fill them up, and let them percolate over night.

I use a rice cooker and dissolve the nutrient in the water that is then used to cook the rice. With steamed rice, I don't think it will matter much when you add the nutrient. For the sake of convenience I would probably add it to the crushed rice yeast balls and mix it all in at once.

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

Hmm, duly noted and yoinkified for later reference.

OK.. back to the topic on hand.

I've wondered.. does the Koji mold have to be on top.. basically in the dry to grow, or can it grow and reproduce while under the rising liquid? Meaning.. If your whole rice cake is submerged, is the koji still growing/working/breaking down the starch?

When sake is made I believe that the phased additions of water and rice submerge the koji after each water addition. So, probably. Based on this article, I would say that it can grow submerged, but probably won't taste the same.

When monascus purpureus is grown for dye production it is usually grown submerged. That's the bug in red rice wine. I ran across that little tidbit looking for information on nutrients for it. Never did find what I was actually looking for...

 

[aiptasia]

OK.. back to the topic on hand.

I've wondered.. does the Koji mold have to be on top.. basically in the dry to grow, or can it grow and reproduce while under the rising liquid? Meaning.. If your whole rice cake is submerged, is the koji still growing/working/breaking down the starch?

The fungus will grow submerged and continue to convert long chain starches into short chain glucose sugar. Koji and yeast are both fungi.

 

[sonofgrok]

The fungus will grow submerged and continue to convert long chain starches into short chain glucose sugar. Koji and yeast are both fungi.

Yes. Yeast are a fungus among us.

 

[h0psnobery]

bump

 

[aiptasia]

bump

 

[TBBrewer]

Jak, I received the ARL today. Thank you. I look forward to using this on my next batch of rice wine. I will report back on the outcome.

 

[jak1010]

Jak, I received the ARL today. Thank you. I look forward to using this on my next batch of rice wine. I will report back on the outcome.

Great! Looking forward to it. The thai jasmine comes out great! I've even made batches of plain old white rice with a little table sugar mixed in. They all taste good.

 

[chask31]

My wife and I are in the process of moving from our apartment to a house, so I have not had the opportunity of brewing lately. I found this thread and decided to give this a try. Since you can't walk 10 feet in NY without finding an Asian grocery, the yeast balls and the red yeast rice were easy to find. I brewed the white on 7/14 and the red on 7/21/13. The red has really taken off in the past week or so.

The first pic was taken 7/14/13; the second on 7/21/13, third on 7/28/13 and the last on 8/1/13. The white will be ready for bottling on Sunday. I can't wait to try it! Both batches contain 4 cups of the California sushi sticky rice. For the white, I crushed 3 yeast balls. For the red I used the food processor to turn 2 yeast balls and 1/4 cup dry red yeast rice into powder. I wish I used the food processor on the white batch, but will try that next time!

 

[aiptasia]

Looking good, Chask.

 

[hikertrash]

Ok, I know this has probably been addressed in the last 2610 posts but...
Has anyone tried to seed a new batch of rice with the mush from the previous batch (like pitching on a yeast cake). I recently moved and no longer have a yeast ball dealer! I'm down to my last two balls!

 

[Leadgolem]

Ok, I know this has probably been addressed in the last 2610 posts but...
Has anyone tried to seed a new batch of rice with the mush from the previous batch (like pitching on a yeast cake). I recently moved and no longer have a yeast ball dealer! I'm down to my last two balls!

Yup. I've done that a couple times. It works just fine, as long as you harvest and immediately add the mush to the new batch of cooked and cooled rice. I tried drying the leftover starch mass, that didn't work very well. Neither did refrigerating the starch mass.

The red rice wine seems to be the best for this. The white rice wine I did this with developed some kind of infection. It was still rice wine, and pretty good, but I wouldn't try to reuse it after it's gotten something in it.

 

[aiptasia]

Well, I have some interesting news. The combo rice wine+sake that i'd bottled about three weeks ago has turned completely into the driest Sake ever in the fridge. Not surprising considering but when i'd bottled and pasteurized it, it still had some rice wine character to it. That character is now gone and it tastes like gekkikan (dirty water). I think I stumbled upon their secret formula.

 

[sonofgrok]

Well, I have some interesting news. The combo rice wine+sake that i'd bottled about three weeks ago has turned completely into the driest Sake ever in the fridge. Not surprising considering but when i'd bottled and pasteurized it, it still had some rice wine character to it. That character is now gone and it tastes like gekkikan (dirty water). I think I stumbled upon their secret formula.

Mmmmmmm dirty water. That just sound delicious.... oh wait... no it doesn't!

 

[Whippy]

...it sounds only slightly better than "prison water."

By the way, started my second batch today. This time I simply boiled the rice on the stove rather than steaming it. The rice did not taste NEAR as good this way, so back to steaming next time It will be interesting to compare the differences in the wines made with steamed v/s boiled rice to see for sure if it is worth the extra effort.

 

[Leadgolem]

...it sounds only slightly better than "prison water."

By the way, started my second batch today. This time I simply boiled the rice on the stove rather than steaming it. The rice did not taste NEAR as good this way, so back to steaming next time It will be interesting to compare the differences in the wines made with steamed v/s boiled rice to see for sure if it is worth the extra effort.

In ter rest ting. I would think that the only real difference would be in water content, which can also be regulated in boiled rice.

 

[Whippy]

Well from what i have seen tonight, the boiled rice is certainly off to a better start, as after just a couple days the liquid is very discernable almost to the top of the rice pile! I'm wondering if maybe it would be conducive to slightly OVER cook the rice when steaming??

My steamed rice was still very sweet, was just done (not crunchy at all) but was not at all broken or soggy...it was cooked as if I were to be eating it... That rice took about two weeks to show any liquid and is still going extremely slow after 3 or 4 weeks, though it is certainly improving.

The boiled rice was pretty broken up after cooking, but still mostly rice shaped; it was not so sweet, and was kind of more glue/paste-like than sticky...but boy is it making wine well!

Judging only by consistency of the wine at this stage, I'm guessing my steamed rice wine is going to be extremely sweet and will not yield as much wine, while the opposite will be true of the boiled rice wine (obviously) plus it should complete its fermentation much quicker.

I will certainly taste these two side by side, but can forsee I will likely end up mixing the two together when all is said and done....time will tell.

This rice wining is great fun! I'm already looking to go cash in my spare pennies in order to buy more sticky rice and Chinese yeast balls

 

[dgr]

Someone, somewhere in the continuum that is this thread postulated/experimented/compared (pick one) that a drier cooked rice yielded a sweeter final result.

Let us know how yours go.

I went shopping on auto-pilot at walmart the other day. I unpacked the cold stuff and put it in the fridge. Later that day I unpacked the dry stuff and noticed a one gallon cracker jar came home with me. I had no recollection of buying it. Auto pilot is pretty cool.

 

[billpaustin]

I tried using some of the rice that had already fermented, instead of yeast, in the new batch. It looks like it is working.

 

[WesleyS]

Just harvested my latest batch.
Started 7/15/13.
3 cups short grain sweet rice and 4 yeast balls.
This is definitely the best batch so far, I didn't even flavor it. It turned out sweet and fruity and quite strong. I think I'll be doing more batches with sweet rice because this is much better than the batches I made with jasmine rice.




Both of those bottles are full, so I consider that a pretty good yield from 3 cups rice.

 

[TBBrewer]

Just harvested my latest batch.
Started 7/15/13.
3 cups short grain sweet rice and 4 yeast balls.
This is definitely the best batch so far, I didn't even flavor it. It turned out sweet and fruity and quite strong. I think I'll be doing more batches with sweet rice because this is much better than the batches I made with jasmine rice.

Both of those bottles are full, so I consider that a pretty good yield from 3 cups rice.

What yeast did you use, water to rice ratio, temperature for the ferment, & in devoid of sunlight or not.

 

[TBBrewer]

So I cooked up 2 sheet trays of rice tonight, 6 cups dry each. Jak, wondering what ratio of ARL you used to make your best wine. My experience has been that the VM yeast made the best wine and I picked up 2 different kind last time I was out. The little yeast balls that I have used before in the blue package, but another with larger yeast balls that are made by the same VM company, but are larger and also have red lettering. I wanted to try the ARL on one tray, just waiting on your best suggestion. Thanks.

 

[WesleyS]

What yeast did you use, water to rice ratio, temperature for the ferment, & in devoid of sunlight or not.

Yeast:



I used the rice on the right in the picture below.





Here's the post where I described the rice cooking process I used. It worked very well for this particular kind of rice. I found it by searching google for how to cook sweet rice.

Well, just cooked up a batch of the short grain sweet rice I bought earlier today. The rice cooked perfectly. I was very surprised. I did 3 cups rice dry measure. Added 5.25 cups water and soaked for 30 minutes. Turned heat on. Once boiling, I turned the heat down low and put the lid on loosely. After 10 minutes, there was no more water, put the lid on all the way, turned the heat off and let it sit for about 10 more minutes. After that it was cooked all the way through and not a gooey mess. After this cools I'll be using 2-3 yeast balls. I will be interested to see the difference between the flavor of this batch and my previous jasmine rice batches. I guess I'll know in 21 days!

The fermentation temperature was in the low 70's and kept in complete darkness the whole time. No opening, no stirring, just left it alone in the closet to do its thing.

 

[TBBrewer]

So I cooked up 2 sheet trays of rice tonight, 6 cups dry each. Jak, wondering what ratio of ARL you used to make your best wine. My experience has been that the VM yeast made the best wine and I picked up 2 different kind last time I was out. The little yeast balls that I have used before in the blue package, but another with larger yeast balls that are made by the same VM company, but are larger and also have red lettering. I wanted to try the ARL on one tray, just waiting on your best suggestion. Thanks.

 

[jak1010]

So I cooked up 2 sheet trays of rice tonight, 6 cups dry each. Jak, wondering what ratio of ARL you used to make your best wine. My experience has been that the VM yeast made the best wine and I picked up 2 different kind last time I was out. The little yeast balls that I have used before in the blue package, but another with larger yeast balls that are made by the same VM company, but are larger and also have red lettering. I wanted to try the ARL on one tray, just waiting on your best suggestion. Thanks.

Glad to hear it. I've used 1/2 of a packet for 3 cups of dry rice. Let me know how it turns out.

FYI, I've got another ARL experiment that I'm working on. In about 3 days I should be able to share if it turns out. Made with ARL, rice, sugar and a habanero pepper.

 

[TBBrewer]

The heat should be interesting. I am a chili head as well. My buddy suggested ageing some pasteurized batches on peppers while I was thinking about cocoa nibs. Maybe a chocolate chipolte rice wine? Interesting thought. Have you made any other pepper batches that have been good?

 

[jak1010]

I've infused many batches of vodka with hot peppers, strawberries and other flavors but never brewed anything.

This will be my first brewed hot pepper batch so I'm excited and have high hopes. Looking to make a rice wine Bloody Mary...

 

[TBBrewer]

Funny you say that..... This is my bloody Mary vodka in the works currently. Not to derail, but I will have to try some wine with some heat.

 

[Leadgolem]

Putting chili's in your wine is crazy. Let the insanity commence.

 

[TBBrewer]

I did 2 batches of rice wine tonight. 1 was 6 cups of jasmine rice with a 1:1.5 ratio rice to water and I pitched 1 packet of the ARL on it. The other is the same, just with 12 small VM yeast balls pitched on that one. I think I may put an older pasteurized batch I have on some cocoa nibs and see how it comes out.

 

[jak1010]

I have decided to do ARL + RYR too, but in the name of science (and because I can, and want more rice wine) I will make one with just ARL. Think I'm going to need more ARL my friend.

Oh, I reconnected with a childhood friend ( she is from Vietnam) and she gave a bottle of my rice wine to her Mom. Her Mom went nuts over it, started talking in Vietnamese to me over the phone. They both said I am the only non-Vietnamese person they know who eats and likes the boozy 'yeast rice' (3d into ferment). I am going to see them both soon--they plan to cook for me, make 'yeast rice' for me, taking me to their favorite markets, cooking for me. Mom says she has lemon grass plants for me to take home along with a medicinal orchid, and other plants I want--we are both garden addicts. Did I mention cooking for me?

How did it turn out? You know where to find me if you need to for more ARL. I know things have been hectic and I hope all is well.

 

[Unferth]

Speaking of bloody Mary's, anybody found any particularly nice mixed drinks to make with this?

I just made a dirty gin martini with rice wine in place of dry vermouth: Freaking awesome.

 

[Leadgolem]

It's nice with a little apple juice, rum, and apple pie syrup too.

 

[TBBrewer]

Check out how clear this wine became. This was pasteurized and allowed to settle for a few weeks, nothing else. The pickle jar has the wine aging on cacao nibs.