Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[Rish]

Got my batch going today. 2 kg rice (dry, 10 cups), 12 cups water, simmer 20 minutes. I'll do 15 minutes next time. Cooled, add 60 grams powdered yeast balls and mix well, get it in the jars. Seriously misjudged container and swell size so I'll see if container size affects results! Storing in laundry room at about 80°F for a couple of days then down to the basement at 70° for a few weeks.

 

[Rish]

Bubbles and some liquid collecting at 24 hours. I'm continually amused by how tickled I get when fermenting things go like they should!

 

[Rish]

Day 3. Got some separation going on, smelling like yeast bread dough, grains tasting sweet. Good signs, I believe. Moved from 80°F down to ~70°F.

 

[Miraculix]

Day 3. Got some separation going on, smelling like yeast bread dough, grains tasting sweet. Good signs, I believe. Moved from 80°F down to ~70°F.
View attachment 851728

That's how it is supposed to go!

 

[tobiasf]

If my understanding of this process is correct, I'm out of luck if it's been around 80F in the house lately. I'd rather not have to try to keep temps down inside a cooler or something. I think I'll have to wait until temps drop in the fall.

 

[Rish]

If you don't do too big a batch (like I unwisely did), it's pretty easy to go about 3 days at 80° then move the fv to a cooler with some water to cover most of the sides and swap out frozen water bottles to keep it cool. My experience with a bigger fv (6 gallon) in a water bath is swap a couple of 2 liters twice a day. With a small fv and cooler, probably much less than that.

 

[Rish]

3 weeks in and pretty tasty. Sweet, a little tart, some muscadine wine notes. I tasted the rice after squeezing out the wine and it is very alcohol forward. Is there anything you can do with it? Hate to throw it out.

 

[wongjau]

3 weeks in and pretty tasty. Sweet, a little tart, some muscadine wine notes. I tasted the rice after squeezing out the wine and it is very alcohol forward. Is there anything you can do with it? Hate to throw it out.

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.

 

[pdxal]

You can use the lees as noted above as a marinade. I mentioned this about a hundred pages ago. Google kasusake salmon or kasusake cod for recipes.

 

[Miraculix]

Theres also this fermented tofu that it's needed for.

 

[wongjau]

Theres also this fermented tofu that it's needed for.

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.

 

[TexasTea]

This jar is what my Chinese mother in law used to make rice wine, and other fermented foods /drinks. Apparently the upside down bowl on top is the airlock (you fill the rim with water). I may try this.

 

[Time2Retire]

My latest effort after 5 weeks. (It's warm here). It has the dreaded acetone smell, so I'm going to give it a couple of weeks in "secondary" and see if that dissipates.

The trick of adding more rice and water a couple of days in, definitely improves the yield and ABV. It does seem to make the fermentation process little more temperamental.

 

[Rish]

I'm at one month on my first batch. Visible liquid levels haven't changed in a couple of weeks. Emptied and pressed a one quart jar today and got 2 cups of wine. It tastes and smells good, sweet and a little tart, pretty much the same as last week. Do y'all think I should go ahead and get it off the lees? Are there benefits or risks to leaving it longer? TIA
btw, it's potent!

 

[Miraculix]

I see no risks in leaving it longer but it also looks like it's done and can be extracted.

 

[wongjau]

I see no risks in leaving it longer but it also looks like it's done and can be extracted.

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.

 

[ICanSeeBeerlyNow]

Really cool thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Rish]

If you dilute this for more volume to a lower abv/sg will fermentation start again? What if you add another yeast (Champagne maybe)?

 

[Rish]

Damn, did I kill a 6400+ comment thread?! The final product is pretty sweet so I was just wondering (in my cups a bit) if there's a way to ferment those sugars that are left to get more ethanol out of this. I strained and pressed mine and got about a gallon out of 2 kilos of rice.

 

[wongjau]

Damn, did I kill a 6400+ comment thread?! The final product is pretty sweet so I was just wondering (in my cups a bit) if there's a way to ferment those sugars that are left to get more ethanol out of this. I strained and pressed mine and got about a gallon out of 2 kilos of rice.

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

 

[Miraculix]

Damn, did I kill a 6400+ comment thread?! The final product is pretty sweet so I was just wondering (in my cups a bit) if there's a way to ferment those sugars that are left to get more ethanol out of this. I strained and pressed mine and got about a gallon out of 2 kilos of rice.

The trick is to manage the fermentation with additional water at the right time. There is information about that specific topic within the posts i have linked to quite recently. It is tricky though, as you have to hit the right timing. Otherwise it will sour the wine.

 

[Rish]

Started a 2# (dry wt) jasmine rice batch. Want to try the jasmine instead of sweet rice since it's available locally and pretty inexpensive. I used 50% more yeast balls than I did with sweet rice since I read that jasmine rice might not be as "digestible" to the enzymes. Not sure if that will make a difference. It'll be held in the mid-70's. I'll post on progress. Pretty easy way to make alcohol!

 

[Rish]

Day 6: liquid about 3/4 up to the top of the rice. Smells good!

 

[passedpawn]

Man, I must admit I made the best rice wine ( I call it sake, but you pedants won't stand for that). I make it clear, and I make it milky (nigori). It's all really good! No koji. Just rice and enzymes. The latest is slightly carbonated ( I made a big batch and kegged lol).

 

[Lampy]

No koji. Just rice and enzymes.

What kind of rice and what enzymes? I am curious about the process.

 

[passedpawn]

It's really easy. Well, if you read about making real sake the old way with koji and multiple additions, it's incredible complex. I have tried that and ended up with either weak or strong vinegar. This one I made here is really tasty. I'll also say it must be fairly high ABV, based on how I feel the next morning lol.

• Cooked Rice 10# (from BJs)
• Enzymes (amylase and gluco, but you probably only need gluco). I vaguely remember a couple of tsp of each. Homebrew shop will have both of these
• Yeast (a high ABV white wine yeast I picked up at the HBS)

1. I cooked the rice the normal way, in water in a big pot. put in bucket with airlock.
2. Added Enzymes when it was warm but not hot. Stir.
3. When cool, mix in yeast.
4. Rice will completely melt in a couple of days. It will be look like mostly liquid. No mold growth in this process.
5. I think I waited about a week, then filtered the rice solids from the liquid. I just poured it into my AIO brewing system. The mash basket worked really well as the filter. Opened the valve and the liquid ran out into a fermentor. There is still a lot of white thin solids that get through, but not actual rice.
6. I let mine ferment at room temperature. I waited several months before I even tried it. It's likely ready way before that.
7. I did not filter it, though I had planned to (I do have plate filters and carbon that would have made it water-clear I think). The rice solids will eventually settle to the bottom. If you bottle and include these solids, it'll be milky and is referred to as nigori. It's got an interesting sweet banana-y flavor that I do like. If you filter the solids away, it's lighter-flavored and mostly clear.

 

[Rish]

This from @Miraculix which helped me a lot.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...-cheap-fun-and-different.361095/post-10381353

Short version: cook sweet or jasmine rice, powder yeast balls (you can get these at Asian markets) in a spice grinder (I use one ball per pound of dry rice), sprinkle over warm rice that you spread out on a sheet pan, mix well, put in a container with a loose lid, set it somewhere that is around 70°F, wait a month, strain, press the lees, bottle, chill, enjoy.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

It's really easy. Well, if you read about making real sake the old way with koji and multiple additions, it's incredible complex. I have tried that and ended up with either weak or strong vinegar. This one I made here is really tasty. I'll also say it must be fairly high ABV, based on how I feel the next morning lol.

Thanks for the sake-rice-wine-for-dummies post! I've only tried sake once, at a fancy japanese restaurant, decades ago, and at the time, it was definitely not for me! But your process looks fool-proof enough that brewing up a small batch sounds like a fun experiment!

Would beano work as well as the glucoamylase?

 

[passedpawn]

Thanks for the sake-rice-wine-for-dummies post! I've only tried sake once, at a fancy japanese restaurant, decades ago, and at the time, it was definitely not for me! But your process looks fool-proof enough that brewing up a small batch sounds like a fun experiment!

Would beano work as well as the glucoamylase?

No idea. Maybe?

 

[Time2Retire]

Update on my latest batch.

Several weeks of cold crashing, and the solids have finally settled. I got 2 US quarts of clear yellow, and one of nigori-style. It's very strong, and as predicted, the chemical notes went away. Pleasant nectarine flavors that have never happened before.

I encountered two things. First, what looked like a kahm infestation, but without the unpleasant smell. Now, I ferment a lot of things--kimchi, sauerkraut, kvass, you name it--and kahm happens with all of those. But I've never seen it with rice wine before. I skimmed it off and Bob's your uncle.

Second, it's tangy. Not quite sour, but very very tangy. (Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to drink it). I know this is because about four days in, I added more mash and about two cups of water. @Miraculix or one of our other potion masters, is there something I'm doing wrong timewise?