Recent content by wongjau

Most people buying yeast balls at the Asian markets are using them to make a mildly fermented rice dessert type thing. It should be sweet and slightly fizzy, and shouldn’t have a ton of alcohol that knocks you on your butt. Postpartum women eat it for extra calories for recovery and milk...

I’d expect champagne yeast to do something. I’ve not tried doing that though.

Agreed. My nicest one sat on lees for a few years because life got in the way. I was pleasantly surprised when I finally strained it.

Red yeast rice wine lees are good for red fermented bean curd. I specifically made red rice wine so I could make red fermented bean curd because I couldn’t find any that was non-China produced.

You can use the rice for marinating chicken, pork, or fish. Google “rice wine lees marinate” for recipes. Save your extra rice in the refrigerator until needed.

Haha. Have some wine from pasta instead of have some wine with pasta. Or both, even.

Glutinous rice has something like 1/3 more amylopectin than flour, very roughly speaking. But probably will get some fermentation with the pasta. [Edit: actually more like 55% more]

Unless the risoni has a lot of amylopectin like sticky/sweet rice, I wouldn’t expect to get anything like rice wine. Risoni is shaped like rice, but made from flour? The shape is important, but also the composition of the fermentables. Even non sticky rice with lower amylopectin doesn’t give...

Yes, that is correct. For rice wine there is a gradual conversion of the rice during fermentation. That is why it is important how the rice is cooked and that the rice grains are distinct and loosely packed.

Expensive sakes have less color because the rice is polished more which reduces the compounds that contribute to darkening. Less expensive sakes are charcoal filtered, but that reduces the flavor.

Congrats. Nicely aged! That’s what they are going for with the wine in the huge clay jars and the mud and leaves sealing the top.

There are some videos of an old fashioned way where they rolled the rice lees around in a suspended cloth hammock kind of thing.

You can run it through a nylon paint strainer bag. If you fold it up, you can weight and press it between a couple oven trays. I’ve seen some videos of commercial production using racks and frames and pressing like for cider.

Best rice is sweet/glutinous rice. I like Koda Farms Sho Chiku Bai. https://www.kodafarms.com/sho-chiku-bai-sweet-rice-preparation-serving-suggestions/ It’s a high quality California grown rice. Japan loves California grown rice. That’s the brand I use for special Chinese dishes and I went...

That is the normal color for rice wine. In Chinese, this type of rice wine is called “wong jau” or “huang jiu” which translates to “yellow wine“ in english. If you let it age, it will turn more amber the way that sherry wine does. No need for amylase. The mold in the rice balls grows and...