Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[user 211287]

I found these at Walmart to try on Ball and Mason jars. The hole is large enough for an airlock but it needs a tiny bit of saran-wrap to seal. The small hole needs to be blocked too.

Under $5 for 4

 

[user 211287]

Sweet rice has nearly no amylose and contains mostly amylopectin. Many other rices are 20% amylose or higher. Its more difficult to convert to sugars. The Kagayaki sushi rice i prefer to eat is in the 18-23% range. It seems to be working very well for wine and smells fantastic in the Fujian style red rice wine.

I just bought a 15lb bag of Nishimoto Akitaomore rice, mostly to eat but i will be trying it for rice wine also. Its a little less sticky than a true sushi rice although its a true short grain. I will probably mix it 50/50 with sweet rice.

I really wanted to try this one for rice wine. Its a sweet rice and Koshihikari hybrid called Snowflake or Milky Queen but they only had large bags.

 

[MasterCrook]

I think i might try a short grain rice next time. I've had decent batches with Thai Jasmine, and I'm waiting to test my latest batch after a week. From what I've observed so far, Thai jasmine is harsher, makes a more tart, sour wine. The extra glutinous i just bottled is sweet, too sweet actually. I hope it changes flavour over time. My very first batch ever was sushi rice, and it was also too sweet. I'll try it again though.

 

[user 211287]

Have you tried a calrose variety? Its a medium grain hybrid rice with a slightly higher amylose content than sushi rice and a bit less sticky. Akitakomachi is another short grain rice that is also less sticky than other Japanese short grain varieties. It might produce a less sweet wine.

Im using mine to replace my mirin which is a sweet 14.5% cooking sake. The lees from the RYR is also widely used for cooking in some areas in China. I will be straining my sweet rice and jasmine mix in 2 days if the sample seems good. It will be at 22days and it smells very "boozy" now.

 

[MasterCrook]

I haven't tried calrose yet, maybe in the near future. Have you compared thai jasmine batches to short grain batches?

 

[MasterCrook]

I think glutinous low amylose rice is the best for yield and abv. I can't wait to try my batch again after it ages!

 

[user 211287]

I havent tried a straight Jasmine batch yet. Im out of Jasmine rice atm. I have mixed it with glutinous rice 50/50. That batch i will harvest tomorrow or the next day.

BTW Costco has about the best deal on Jasmine if you dont mind a 20lb bag. Its under $20 for the bag. I dont eat enough Jasmine to justify buying that much. It very high on the glysemic index but also contains a fairly high amylose content too.

Ive got some Himalayan red rice and black rice i want to try but most of what im reading says to avoid rice with a lot of husk/bran material such as brown rice. I may try a small amount mixed with glutinous rice just for color.

 

[MasterCrook]

Yeah, husk/bran isn't good, but mixing it sounds like an interesting experiment

 

[user 211287]

Oh WOW, the 50/50 jasmine and sweet rice batch is outstanding. I would swear its a fruit wine. Fairly sweet and very slightly tart. I racked it off into a 2qt mason with an air lock to see if it will clear up a bit.

This really is insanely good if you like a sweet wine. I will post a pic in a little while. I got about 1 3/4qts back from a 5 cup batch. I could have squeezed the lees a tiny bit more.

 

[MasterCrook]

Sounds like a great combination! Looking forward to seeing the pics! The suspense is killing me, I can't wait to sample my extra glutinous batch after clearing

 

[user 211287]

Its already starting to clear up.

 

[MasterCrook]

Nice, that really liquified

 

[user 211287]

Its close to 1500ml return from 5 dry cups of rice with no additional water added to the cooked rice. I even used a bit less water than normal to cook the rice.

This was strained at 22 days. First 36 hours or so it was stored in a upstairs closet that was quite warm. The rest of the time it fermented in 75-81F temps. Now its in 68-71F temps in the mason jar.

The lees basically turned to powder when squeezed in the fine strainer bag. I almost kept the lees for some cooking. It tasted surprising good and its used quite often in Asian dishes.

 

[MasterCrook]

I've noticed with glutinous the lees get spent more, less material left after squeezing. I usually get around (10) 750ml bottles from 16 cups dry jasmine. I think this time I used only 14 cups glutinous, which is why I got 8 bottles

 

[user 211287]

Im sure the lees i got was way under 2 cups. Im guessing around 1.5 cups after a pretty good squeeze. About the size of a baseball.

I sampled and stirred one of the RYR+yeast ball batches. Much drier but good. Im harvesting it in 3 more days. I may salt and keep the lees this time for cooking. It will add a nice color and flavor to Chinese style roast pork.

 

[MasterCrook]

I've noticed that too, ryr with jasmine makes a drier wine with a different mouth feel. I am really enjoying the batches workout ryr at the moment

 

[emreka]

If you can't manage glutinous, go with Jasmine Rice. It's between 1.5-2x the price of regular rice but that's still superior than the 3x-4x price of Glutinous.

The most oriental rice I have access to is locally grown jasmine and even then I'm not sure if it has all the characteristics of the original thing.
So, I have a few questions I can't find any info on, hope someone can answer them. First, I'm guessing that the main difference between gluttonous and jasmine rice is the alcohol yield, am I correct? If so, what should my expectations be, will I at least achieve %12-13 ABV? Can I compensate by adding sugar? If so, should I also add (regular) yeast nutrients?
Btw, I'm using Angel Rice Leaven.

Thanks in advance.

 

[user 211287]

The main difference for making wine is the amylose content. Sweet or glutinous rice only has about 1% and jasmine can easily exceed 20%. The higher the amount, the harder it is to convert the starches to sugar.

I got an excellent conversion on my jasmine sweet rice mix with just yeast balls. I kept it slightly warm for roughly the first 36 hours and then let it ferment for the remaining 22 days in one of the warmer rooms upstairs. This promoted mold growth and enzyme production.

I only added a small amount of sugar and sweet rice flour to the ground red yeast rice.

I haven't added any yeast nutrients but i may try it in the future.

 

[emreka]

The main difference for making wine is the amylose content. Sweet or glutinous rice only has about 1% and jasmine can easily exceed 20%. The higher the amount, the harder it is to convert the starches to sugar.

Thanks for the explanation. So the problem is in the breaking down process. That's a bummer. I'll expreriment with sugar and sugar + nutrients in the future.

 

[user 211287]

Jasmine can and does work but the results may not be as good as sweet rice. It partially depends on your tastes and possibly fermentation time or technique.

 

[user 211287]

6/29 batch results

2 dry cups Kagayaki Select Koshihikari rice
1 dry cup Jasmine
6tbs RYR before grinding
1 Heng Lung yeast ball
1tbs sugar
1tbs sweet rice flour

Exactly 5 cups return. Maybe another half cup in the Lees. Sweet but not super sweet. Just slightly tart near finish and semi dry mouth feel on finish. I racked it off into a 2qt mason jar with air lock for a few more days. VERY happy with the results of this recipe.

Next RYR+Yeast ball batch will be 2 cups Koshihikari and 1 cup sweet rice.

 

[MasterCrook]

My bottles are still aging, I didn't get a chance to try it on the weekend.

You're ryr batch looks good. You use a lot of ryr though

 

[user 211287]

The 6tbs of RYR were before grinding. One recipe i found was in grams so i took a WAG and tried to stay a bit lighter. IIRC one of the recipes called for 150 grams to a kilo of rice. The other called for 2oz to a pound of rice.

I guess i should start using a scale.

 

[MasterCrook]

Two things I need to start using:

1.Digital scale
2.Coffee grinder

 

[user 211287]

I just ordered some Angel Rice Leaven. I think i will try it next with a bit less RYR.

I put the sweet rice batch with just yeast balls in the fridge to cold crash. Looks great already. Tomorrow i will bottle and pasteurize.

The RYR+yeast ball batch isnt settling as quickly but i will cold crash it tomorrow too. The cloudy portions of both should make excellent marinade.

 

[MasterCrook]

I have always been curious about ARL, in comparison with the yeast balls. I just bought a bunch of Onto Yeast balls so i think that'll last me 4 batches or so. Maybe when I'm done with those I'll try ARL. I'll keep everyone posted on what happens with the Onto Yeast, I'm thinking maybe in September. How long is the delivery for the ARL?

 

[user 211287]

Website says allow 10 days for delivery. They are on the east coast. Im in the central USA.

 

[user 211287]

Wow, these guys at 360videoshopping are slow shippers. I just received my USPS tracking number and the package has not even been picked up yet by USPS.

I guess i cant expect much for free shipping from CHINA!!!!

 

[z-bob]

I've made 4 or 5 batches of this now; I'm sipping some right now that I let ferment for 2 months. They've all (including this one) been too sweet. If I add a little more water, will the yeast be able to ferment it dryer? If so, when do I add the extra water, at the beginning or when it's almost finished?

 

[user 211287]

Have you tried red yeast rice and a sake yeast or maybe Lalvin EC-1118 with some nutrients?