Rice wine in a Carboy?

After my last batch of mead turned out to be pretty undrinkable, I've decided to give rice wine a shot. Problem is all I have is glass carboys. Is this a bad idea? I think the only problem would be getting the fermented rice out of the carboys small opening. Also is such a thing as too much head space? I don't plan on making a full 6 gallon batch of rice wine.

Thanks

 

Hi PhilipRobinson - and welcome. I don't want to hijack your post but I wonder if it might not be useful to explore what might have caused your mead to be undrinkable before you leap into making a rice wine. The same conditions may play into your rice wine that played into your last mead...

 

Maybe experiment with rice wine in a glass jar. There is a current running thread on it.

That being said I don't see why making a batch in a carboy wouldn't work other than being a pain in the a $$


.http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=361095

 

Most people use buckets since you require 2x daily vigorous agitation.

 

I've done it in a 1 gallon water bottle before and it was a royal PITA getting the cooked rice in. A 5g carboy has a bigger mouth, but it's still not tremendously wide. I ended up pureeing the rice to make it easier to get in/out, though that made it really hard to filter and also made for a wetter rice which lead to more surface mold (harmless).

This stuff really is simple to make and almost fool-proof. Any old jar(s) or bowl will do even if you can only cover it with paper towels and rubber bands. I really enjoy making this because it is so relaxed and such a refreshing change from the rigid and easy-to-screw-up worlds of making beer (I suck at beer), wine, and mead. I don't think head space is a concern because this doesn't require an airlock anyway.

Depends on the type of rice wine. The basic Chinese rice wine I make, you just prepare it and let it sit undisturbed for 30-60 days. Makgeolli, sake, and other types are different for sure.

 

Thanks everyone, sorry about the slow response, I've been way too busy this week.

I too would like to know, my first 2 batches turned out pretty decent, I followed a recipe similar to the light lemonade mead (there's a great instructable on it), for my last batch I tried making the joe's ancient orange mead. I substituted some of the honey for sugar cause I'm a broke student and honey is expensive. I used champane yeast instead of the recommended bread yeast but I dont think that should matter. It just sat in my celler for three months which is usually a cool dark place. Its pretty sour (and way too much cinnamon but that's an obvious problem).

Honestly there's alot of brewing basics I still don't really have a good grasp on (what effect does cooking the honey beforehand have and is it important? is racking important? rehydrating? what types of yeast should I be using for different brews?) not asking for an answer for all this but I do need to find myself a good beginners guid.

As for the rice wine I guess I'll get myself some proper jars. 1L canning jars are small but super cheap so maybe I'll give those a shot.

 

You voided the warrantee. JAOM is not a recipe, it's a formula. It MUST be followed verbatim. The key to the JAOM is that the bread yeast quits leaving residual sweetness that balances out the bitterness of the orange pith. Champagne yeast will ferment dry and the mead will be unbearably bitter.

As for using a carboy for rice wine, a big mouth jar is way better. Ask your favorite restaurant waiter to save you a big pickle jar.

 

ah I see, this exactly the type of stuff I need to learn. Does anyone know of any good brewing guides that covers basic info such as this?

 

For brewing you might read Papazian's or Palmer's books on beer brewing but for mead making - (wine does not involve heat so technically there is nothing being "brewed") you might read Ken Schramm's The Compleat Mead Maker or Steve Piatz' The Complete Guide to Mead Making. For wine making (mainly grape but it applies to other fruits) you might look at Daniel Pambianchi's Techniques in Home Wine Making. This book is a little more technical than many other home wine making books but Pambianchi is a professional wine maker and he knows both the art and the underlying science of wine making.

 

For rice wine a large glass pickle jar .75 or 1 gallon is a good easy to clean fermentor.