Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[Unferth]

And how much might this yield?

 

[weirdboy]

Did you take a picture in the mirror?

As I recall there are about 5 cups of rice per pound, so you're looking at 125 cups of rice. If you make all of that into wine, going by my yields and a back-of-the-envelope calculation, I'd think about 13.5L of wine, which comes out to 3.577 gallons.

 

[Unferth]

Did you take a picture in the mirror?

As I recall there are about 5 cups of rice per pound, so you're looking at 125 cups of rice. If you make all of that into wine, going by my yields and a back-of-the-envelope calculation, I'd think about 13.5L of wine, which comes out to 3.577 gallons.

That was ten whole dollars at Costco. Might have to get fancy next time and get 25 lbs of sushi rice.

 

[bottlebomber]

And how much might this yield?

My boys literally go through one bag of that rice every month to 6 weeks. I recently stopped buying it with the arsenic scare in the US rice crop, and started buying Thai and Chinese rice.

 

[sonofgrok]

My boys literally go through one bag of that rice every month to 6 weeks. I recently stopped buying it with the arsenic scare in the US rice crop, and started buying Thai and Chinese rice.

Because Chinese food controls guarantee such safety... ;-)

We always get the big bag of Thai rice from the asian grocer or my MIL picks it up for us at the commissary.

 

[negativereaction]

And how much might this yield?

I'm no expert, but isn't that just regular long grain white rice? Will regular long grain white rice actually yield anything drinkable? I guess I'm curious, since the discussion to date is all about jasmine rice and sushi rice.

 

[Unferth]

I'm no expert, but isn't that just regular long grain white rice? Will regular long grain white rice actually yield anything drinkable? I guess I'm curious, since the discussion to date is all about jasmine rice and sushi rice.

Are you being racist against my rice? Lol

I think it is probably not the optimal rice to make into wine... Like maybe Concord grapes which can and are occasionally used for wine but are more often used for non-fermentable purposes. But it will work.

I'm considering holding off and getting a big bag of jasmine or sushi to do this.

 

[negativereaction]

I dare you to try the long grain white rice. Also, try some Uncle Ben's minute rice too. Someone has to be the guinea pig and research this for us.

 

[Unferth]

Hahaha!

I just got some inspiration: Cajun dirty rice wine!

And, maybe, pork fried rice wine? Perfect in a snifter with a splash of soy sauce.

 

[weirdboy]

I am willing to bet minute rice will work very well.

 

[karalaok]

My folks do this on Lunar new year celebration as well, but instead of wine they made a rice ball and serve as desert. After mixing the rice with yeast, they would form the rice into individual ball about the size of a tennis ball or golf ball. They placed the rice ball neatly in a glass container cover and let it ferment for 3 days only. At 3 days is ready to eat. Take the rice ball out and put on a serving bowl, pour a little bit of the wine liquid that got created during fermentation around the rice ball. Sprinkle it with roasted sesame seed or roasted crushed peanuts. Very delicious. The more you eat the happier you'll get

 

[user 83772]

 

[Unferth]

My folks do this on Lunar new year celebration as well, but instead of wine they made a rice ball and serve as desert. After mixing the rice with yeast, they would form the rice into individual ball about the size of a tennis ball or golf ball. They placed the rice ball neatly in a glass container cover and let it ferment for 3 days only. At 3 days is ready to eat. Take the rice ball out and put on a serving bowl, pour a little bit of the wine liquid that got created during fermentation around the rice ball. Sprinkle it with roasted sesame seed or roasted crushed peanuts. Very delicious. The more you eat the happier you'll get

That sounds pretty cool. Is it still just rice and yeast? Or do they add something to make it sweeter?

 

[weirdboy]

The wine tastes pretty sweet already.

 

[karalaok]

That sounds pretty cool. Is it still just rice and yeast? Or do they add something to make it sweeter?

The sweetness is there without adding anything but some time we add liquid sugar. With a cup of water, sugar to taste and some chop up ginger, bring everything up to a boil and let it shimmer for about 5 minutes. Add a teaspoon of that would be great too.

 

[nsrooen]

So to everyone making this, it looks like -

Ratio of Yeast Balls to rice =
1 yeast ball / 1 cup uncooked rice?

Planning on trying it out with some Calrose sushi rice this weekend.
Thanks.

 

[saramc]

And how much might this yield?

Traditional white rice should provide 2 1/4 cup raw rice per pound, and 6 3/4 cup cooked per pkg instructions...168.75 cups per 25 pounds. Whew, that is a tad over ten gallons of cooked rice. I am just imagining cooking it all.

 

[saramc]

That sounds pretty cool. Is it still just rice and yeast? Or do they add something to make it sweeter?

There is a link to sweet fermented rice on page three of this thread. I posted for anyone interested, but you can find recipes aplenty on web, just search for 'fermented rice dessert' or 'fermented sweet rice'. And the three day fermented sushi rice drizzled with its own wine and a few slices of fresh mango is how I enjoyed it, nice and cold. The rice alone was sweet.

 

[saramc]

So to everyone making this, it looks like -

Ratio of Yeast Balls to rice =
1 yeast ball / 1 cup uncooked rice?

Planning on trying it out with some Calrose sushi rice this weekend.
Thanks.

I used 1 yeast ball/1 cup uncooked sushi rice, but actually meant to use 1 ball to 2 cups uncooked. I plan to use one yeast ball per three cups uncooked rice next go round, and can add more yeast powder if I think I need to--since I have looked at it every single day.

Finally found info about sake rice: http://www.sake-world.com/html/rice.html

 

[chiteface]

Wow well that stinks. For this wine at least, I have added juice straight to the filtered wine and then put it right in the fridge numerous times with no issues. I have not gotten carbonation or anything in the bottle either.

It sure did. Almost ended my home brewing adventures. But I am super excited about this and want to supruse my wife in a good way. Just wanted to make sure that wouldn't go south. Great thread. Also just figured out how to attach.

 

[Unferth]

It sure did. Almost ended my home brewing adventures. But I am super excited about this and want to supruse my wife in a good way. Just wanted to make sure that wouldn't go south. Great thread. Also just figured out how to attach.

View attachment 86120

HOLY ****!!!!!!!!! Um, yeah, my wife would be wary of homebrewing after that too... And I'm not sure I could blame her.


That adds a whole new layer of meaning to cold crashing your wine!

 

[weirdboy]

I took my bottle over to a friend's house last week and it "popped" pretty well when I pulled the stopper out, and there was just the very slightest hint of carbonation detectable in the wine...maybe something like 0.2-0.5 volumes CO2. Of course, I didn't add any sugar to it after fermentation...just transferred it to the bottle. Personally if I were to add any flavorings with additional sugars, I'd use the typical wine processes to stabilize with potassium metabisulfite or campden tablets.



Sticking it in the fridge doesn't halt fermentation, it just slows it down. After all, that is how lagers work.

 

[sonofgrok]

It sure did. Almost ended my home brewing adventures. But I am super excited about this and want to supruse my wife in a good way. Just wanted to make sure that wouldn't go south. Great thread. Also just figured out how to attach.

Um... WOW! Glad you are alright lol. This will be fermented enough already that you should not have any problems.

 

[Brewing Clamper]

Great thread, I found the rice balls at my Asian food market in town. The only thing is that it only says rice as the ingredients. Is it the wrong one?

 

[sonofgrok]

Great thread, I found the rice balls at my Asian food market in town. The only thing is that it only says rice as the ingredients. Is it the wrong one?

Mine just say "Rice, water" for the ingredients.

 

[saramc]

Great thread, I found the rice balls at my Asian food market in town. The only thing is that it only says rice as the ingredients. Is it the wrong one?

The Shanghai Dried Yeast Balls I am using are made of rice flour, yeast, water; product of Macau.
They do sell just simple rice balls at market (think rice dumplings for soups/stews), so you want to make sure these are yeast balls, or sometimes sold in cake or patty form.

 

[lovelylocksleah]

My husband was just wondering if there was a rice wine thread on here and after reading this, we are both excited to make some just in time for Christmas! Thanks for all the research and experimentation! We have a 25 lb bag of jasmine rice and some leftover glutinous sweet rice we use for making sticky rice, and another small bag of sushi rice. I think Santa's getting drunk for Christmas...

Will be happy to share my findings! So excited I want to got start it now!

 

[groundling]

I am gonna mix this up tonight. At the Asian grocery tonight they had never heard of dried rice balls with yeast in them. They looked at me kinda weird. When I said "sake" they showed me this koji mold rice in the refrigerator section. I'll let everyone know how it turns out.

 

[bottlebomber]

I am gonna mix this up tonight. At the Asian grocery tonight they had never heard of dried rice balls with yeast in them. They looked at me kinda weird. When I said "sake" they showed me this koji mold rice in the refrigerator section. I'll let everyone know how it turns out.

That's probably like the difference between dry and liquid yeast. Both will probably work but you may get a little extra complexity from the fresh rice. I think I can get that down in the city if I look around a little, please keep updating.

 

[jtrage]

That's probably like the difference between dry and liquid yeast. Both will probably work but you may get a little extra complexity from the fresh rice. I think I can get that down in the city if I look around a little, please keep updating.

I got a similar response at 99Ranch market in plano, tx. Eventually I was pointed towards some rice/water balls. No mention of yeast. Probably 25 for $5 so I wasn't too worried. I'll post a pic and let you know how it turns out.