Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[saramc]

Excellent thread, assuming I can get hold of the yeast I giving this a try.

I have seen vinegar mentioned as a negative result several times in this thread but what if I wanted to make vinegar? Having a bottle of it in the cupboard would be great as I do loads of SE Asian cooking and always have to sub it for something else. So how to make vinegar on purpose?

Just leave it in the bottle with lid a bit loose, at room temp, and with time it will turn into rice wine vinegar. It changes colors with time, wait long enough and it turns dark brown/black. You can start cooking with it immediately though, very nice touch...made stir fry the other night and used it to deglaze my wok.

 

[sonofgrok]

Do you plan to pitch new yeast balls if there is no lift off, or try adding amylase first if things go not as planned?
I came across an article which I cannot find now, of course, that talked about how the starchy mass leftover from this type of project is blended with rice flour and shaped into balls and allowed to air dry and establish a new yeast colony. But they never disclosed how the amylase comes in to play, perhaps it is a chain reaction as the yeast ball dries?

Perhaps the amylase spores require dry mass to reproduce. Just speculating...

 

[Leadgolem]

Do you plan to pitch new yeast balls if there is no lift off, or try adding amylase first if things go not as planned?
I came across an article which I cannot find now, of course, that talked about how the starchy mass leftover from this type of project is blended with rice flour and shaped into balls and allowed to air dry and establish a new yeast colony. But they never disclosed how the amylase comes in to play, perhaps it is a chain reaction as the yeast ball dries?

I believe the amylase enzyme is produced by the fungus that is growing in the rice during the fermentation. I used 1 yeast ball to about 3 cups of cooked rice. According to the ratios on here that would have been short on the enzymes if they had all been stored in the dried yeast balls.

If nothing happens I'll just throw the rice out. It's 1 1/2 cups of cheap dry rice. My compost pile won't mind it at all.

Perhaps the amylase spores require dry mass to reproduce. Just speculating...

That had occured to me too. If the amylase producing fungus can be propagated from mycelium instead of spores this should work just fine. I don't think the yeast will mind being treated like this.

If the fungus can only be propagated from spores, then this experiment will probably fail. Most fungus won't produce spores until they think they are reaching the end of there life cycle. IE: They dry out or get cold, depending on the species.

 

[BadMrFrosty]

I believe the amylase enzyme is produced by the fungus that is growing in the rice during the fermentation. I used 1 yeast ball to about 3 cups of cooked rice. According to the ratios on here that would have been short on the enzymes if they had all been stored in the dried yeast balls.

I don't think all balls are created equal, I just came back from my local Asian market and the ones I picked up are in 100 gram packs and contain 8 balls of varying sizes. Going by the ratio a few pages back of 10 grams ball to 0.55 (~2.5 cups) grams rice means that with my massive balls I would need less than one for 3 cups and still achieve the recommended ratio.

So come on people, weigh your balls and give us some precise numbers on the ratios you have all be using!!!

PS. Cheers for the info on making the vinegar guys.

 

[sonofgrok]

I believe the amylase enzyme is produced by the fungus that is growing in the rice during the fermentation. I used 1 yeast ball to about 3 cups of cooked rice. According to the ratios on here that would have been short on the enzymes if they had all been stored in the dried yeast balls.

If nothing happens I'll just throw the rice out. It's 1 1/2 cups of cheap dry rice. My compost pile won't mind it at all.
That had occured to me too. If the amylase producing fungus can be propagated from mycelium instead of spores this should work just fine. I don't think the yeast will mind being treated like this.

If the fungus can only be propagated from spores, then this experiment will probably fail. Most fungus won't produce spores until they think they are reaching the end of there life cycle. IE: They dry out or get cold, depending on the species.

Not necessarily. As I mentioned before, the ratio I use is way overkill.

 

[Leadgolem]

I don't think all balls are created equal, I just came back from my local Asian market and the ones I picked up are in 100 gram packs and contain 8 balls of varying sizes. Going by the ratio a few pages back of 10 grams ball to 0.55 (~2.5 cups) grams rice means that with my massive balls I would need less than one for 3 cups and still achieve the recommended ratio.

So come on people, weigh your balls and give us some precise numbers on the ratios you have all be using!!!

PS. Cheers for the info on making the vinegar guys.

Mine are 1/3 of an ounce each.

Not necessarily. As I mentioned before, the ratio I use is way overkill.

That is another reason to do the experiment.

If the saccharification was due to a large influx of enzyme at the beginning of the process, I would expect it to have happened a lot faster. A gradual production of the enzyme would seem to be more in line with what is being observed in the jars of yumminess.

That, and the way sake is made, leads me to believe that the enzyme is being produced by the fungus.

In any event, it should be an interesting experiment.

 

[Leadgolem]

Here's my 12 oz bottle of rice wine after 2 days in the fridge. I may not need to use anything to clear it after all. I'll probably decant it when I harvest the large batch next week. I don't want to tip the bottle enough to taste the cleared liquid until I'm ready to pour it off the solids completely.

 

[sonofgrok]

That cleared pretty nicely!

 

[lakeslad]

I don't think all balls are created equal, I just came back from my local Asian market and the ones I picked up are in 100 gram packs and contain 8 balls of varying sizes. Going by the ratio a few pages back of 10 grams ball to 0.55 (~2.5 cups) grams rice means that with my massive balls I would need less than one for 3 cups and still achieve the recommended ratio.

So come on people, weigh your balls and give us some precise numbers on the ratios you have all be using!!!

PS. Cheers for the info on making the vinegar guys.

My Balls p) are 10grams each, i use 3 in about 3-4 cups of dry rice, i split this rice into 2 containers (each one has 3 balls in) and i get about 1.5 liters of good wine, made two batches now and both have worked out just fine.

 

[lakeslad]

Here's my 12 oz bottle of rice wine after 2 days in the fridge. I may not need to use anything to clear it after all. I'll probably decant it when I harvest the large batch next week. I don't want to tip the bottle enough to taste the cleared liquid until I'm ready to pour it off the solids completely.

that looks great mate, just what mine looks like after standing, i didn't decant mine as i found even tipping the bottle up to pour a shot disturbs the sediment so i usually drank some with the wine...and im still here!!

 

[sonofgrok]

...and im still here!!

Lol. I not only don't clear and decant, I actually shake mine before pouring and I'm still kicking around.

 

[cpesko]

So I was reading a write up about this wine. And says this. Rice Beer. Take the fermented sweet rice but in a 600ml coke squeeze out some air screw top tight and ferment until hard in the fridge. Says do not filter the rice out. full of nutrients.

 

[GunnyB]

I ended up chucking my first batch because it didn't taste quite right (sour and yeasty). In hindsight I think it may have had to do with my choice of rice which was gluten free and was what we had in the cupboard. Started a new batch using Thai jasmine and after two days it is smelling, and tasting better.

 

[Hopper77]

Just racked mine of the rice. Regardless of the earlier bad vinegar taste it now tastes amazing. I got just shy of a gallon from 11 cups of jasmine rice cooked on the stove top. I poured one glass I'm drinking now and the rest is cold crashing.

 

[Leadgolem]

that looks great mate, just what mine looks like after standing, i didn't decant mine as i found even tipping the bottle up to pour a shot disturbs the sediment so i usually drank some with the wine...and im still here!!

Lol. I not only don't clear and decant, I actually shake mine before pouring and I'm still kicking around.

Oh, I don't think it will hurt me. I do have a "yeasty" or "bready" aftertaste I don't really care for is all. In pretty much everything else I've brewed that has been due to yeast particles suspended in the brew.

I'm trying to reduce the particulates to see if it that changes the flavor profile. I'm not worried about getting a crystal clear brew. The nice thing about this stuff is that it definitely doesn't need to age, even though it's clearly very high in alcohol. No "hot" alcohol at all. That means that I don't really want to just let the stuff sit in the bottle for a month or more while the yeasty flavor goes away.

 

[Hopper77]

Also I dropped my alcometer into it and it read just under 20 proof. No way of telling exactly how high it is because the alcometer starts at 20

 

[Ostomo517]

Cant wait to start tomorrow, found the yeast balls .99 cents for 12. The older lady behind the counter at the Asian market when she rang me up said "Ohhhh you make some good stuff huh? Bring me sample sometime." Lol

 

[Leadgolem]

Also I dropped my alcometer into it and it read just under 20 proof. No way of telling exactly how high it is because the alcometer starts at 20

Since there is unfermented sugar in the mix, I don't think an alcoholometer is capable of taking an accurate reading. Those things are designed to measure distilled spirits, which contain only alcohol and water is large amounts. I'm pretty sure the presence of the dissolved sugar would completely screw up the reading.

 

[wooda2008]

I ended up chucking my first batch because it didn't taste quite right (sour and yeasty). In hindsight I think it may have had to do with my choice of rice which was gluten free and was what we had in the cupboard. Started a new batch using Thai jasmine and after two days it is smelling, and tasting better.

Gunny,

All rice is gluten free. When a rice is "glutinous", they're describing its stickiness as similar to gluten. The problem is more likely that something got into your brew. As others have said, this wine is susceptible to infection.

 

[sonofgrok]

I do think the flavor of the rice has a lot to do with the flavor of the final product as well though. Mine being thai jasimine which I find very sweet and pleasant to eat as rice gives me a sweet pleasant drink that I think tastes a lot like thai jasmine. I could imagine getting a pretty bleh wine using like a pilaf style rice. yuck.

 

[Marauder]

I'm sure someone has done it. So what spices or fruits have been infused successfully ie blueberries vanilla beans etc. for good flavors and what have failed also what is the best way to infuse, add them in the beginning with the rice so they can take part in the break down and fermentation Or infuse in the finished product after draining/straining it? Also how are you guys cleaning the fruits of wild yeasts? Boiling, rinsing in spirits, or is the alcohol content of this high enough to do that on its own?

 

[bottlebomber]

3 days now and mine has released enough liquid that it's almost covered the top of the rice. I opened it and took a whiff, it smelled delicious in a very yeasty way, and made my eyes and nose burn assuring me that it's releasing a ton of Co2. Also, I think what some people may be thinking is mold is actually just hydrated yeast ball. I know I had a lot of yeast ball mixture on the top of mine, and it has hydrated and resembles fuzzy mold but there's no way mold could have developed this soon.

 

[bknifefight]

A squeeze of a lemon into a small glass of rice wine was very nice two nights ago.

 

[Marauder]

A squeeze of a lemon into a small glass of rice wine was very nice two nights ago.

Glad to hear citrus went well. I thought about adding a squeeze of juice from a fresh orange, and tossing a vanilla bean into the jar to soak, or I could use dried sweet orange peel like what is used in some witbier? (I've heard OJ ferments awful)

 

[sonofgrok]

Glad to hear citrus went well. I thought about adding a squeeze of juice from a fresh orange, and tossing a vanilla bean into the jar to soak, or I could use dried sweet orange peel like what is used in some witbier? (I've heard OJ ferments awful)

I always add fruit juice but always after fermentation. I have done fresh squeezed pomegranate and blueberry both with great success.

 

[weirdboy]

3 days now and mine has released enough liquid that it's almost covered the top of the rice. I opened it and took a whiff, it smelled delicious in a very yeasty way, and made my eyes and nose burn assuring me that it's releasing a ton of Co2. Also, I think what some people may be thinking is mold is actually just hydrated yeast ball. I know I had a lot of yeast ball mixture on the top of mine, and it has hydrated and resembles fuzzy mold but there's no way mold could have developed this soon.

Rice doesn't have any diastatic power to self convert, though. So, the enzymes must be coming from somewhere.

 

[GunnyB]

Gunny,

All rice is gluten free. When a rice is "glutinous", they're describing its stickiness as similar to gluten. The problem is more likely that something got into your brew. As others have said, this wine is susceptible to infection.

Oh, I thought the gluten free was some kind of fat free/ diet thing. Anyhoo...the Thai jasmine is coming along swimmingly. I probably should have worked with the first batch more but straining it turned into a total disaster.

 

[bottlebomber]

Rice doesn't have any diastatic power to self convert, though. So, the enzymes must be coming from somewhere.

Right, the "yeast ball" must have some sort of enzyme in it. I would actually really like to learn more about what is in those things.

Oh, I thought the gluten free was some kind of fat free/ diet thing. Anyhoo...the Thai jasmine is coming along swimmingly. I probably should have worked with the first batch more but straining it turned into a total disaster.

What "gluten free" rice means is that it is certified to have not been harvested or processed on equipment that is shared with wheat. It doesn't matter for most people, but some folks are literally one bagel away from death so it is a concern for them.

 

[kosciel4]

What final gravity are you guys bottling at? I realize an o.g. cannot be taken, but Ive reasoned vinegar has a gravity of its own so perhaps by doing a reading every few days that transformation could be avoided. I am on day 10 of two batches, a 4 gallon that I've kept at 90 degrees which has a reading of 1.038 and a 3 gallon kept around 72 which is still to thick to get a reading. Perhaps my logic is flawed. Has anyone that has bottled taken readings? (I assume bottle around .990-1.050) Thanks

 

[Leadgolem]

I haven't been taking readings. I'll get some from the big batch this weekend. Based on the taste, I'd guess my small batch was around 1.010 - 1.015. Though that's just a guess.