sake treasures and curiositys

[Mayhew]

i completed a sake. i used the koji starter kit (spores) and used 1lb-dry rice and came out with about half a gallon of surprisingly thick milky white potion. its at least 10% abv but is so smoothe/creamy you dont feel any warmth until its quaffed. i used 1 limes juce for citric acid and it left quite a tart taste.

im left curious though if i omitted the yeast and mainained clendliness would i get sugar syrup? so just koji and rice.

 

[Arpolis]

That is the idea. The koji will just produce amylase enzymes and convert the rice into simple sugars.

Many Sake starter kits say to add citric acid. In my experience you really shouldn't add any acid. The purpose of the citric acid is to be used as a preservative and help keep unwanted baddies out but if brewed correctly then that should not be an issue. Lactobacillus will usually infect sake easily and that will add any acid needed to balance out the sake. Adding citric acid on top of it and you get your sour taste.

 

[KevinM]

In theory yes. The issue is that its very hard to keep it that sterile.

I suspect that larger amounts of koji-kin, and a heated environment for a shorter time would result in a sweet liquid that could be reduced to a syrup. Some heat would be fine, since you want an optimal temp for enzymes, and you don't have to worry about killing off yeast.

Similar to how malted barley is mashed within an hour or two to create a sweet liquid called wort, and can be cooked to a syrup.