Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[trbig]

OMG!!! Does anyone realize how long it takes to fill up a 6 1/2 gallon ferment bucket with steamed rice at 3 cups a shot? Well.. now I do! lol. 20 lbs of rice with one bag of red yeast rice mixed in and two yeast balls, and it filled my bucket to within a couple inches from the top. I mixed the rice 1/1 with water. At this ratio, the sweet sushi rice was very plump, soft, and manageable, not a sticky clumpy glob.

I hope I get airlock activity fairly soon like my other batch. Wish me luck!

 

[bottlebomber]

OMG!!! Does anyone realize how long it takes to fill up a 6 1/2 gallon ferment bucket with steamed rice at 3 cups a shot?

You should have used a carboy

 

[user 83772]

My first batch still has about a week left to do it's thing, but I bottled my raspberry brown ale the other day which left me with a spare 2-gallon fermenter. What better way to use up the rest of the rice I have sitting on the counter!

I had 12 cups of rice left in the bag, and it took about 11.5 to fill up the fermenter. I was tempted to squeeze the last little bit of rice in there based on how much volume the rice loses during fermentation, but I was unsure how packing it in would affect the liquefaction process, so I didn't bother. I used 10 yeast balls, for anyone keeping track. Can't wait to see what kind of yield I get!

 

[trbig]

You should have used a carboy

Why? Just to make things even harder?

 

[sonofgrok]

Why? Just to make things even harder?

Pretty sure it was sarcasm...

 

[saramc]

Not Sara, but if you go allllll the way back to page 4 of this thread, she makes a batch there. And reading that again, she pulverized the red rice and yeast balls as I was thinking on doing.

Thank you...that was going to be my very response!!

And the bucket looks great!

 

[KegWrangler]

OMG!!! Does anyone realize how long it takes to fill up a 6 1/2 gallon ferment bucket with steamed rice at 3 cups a shot? Well.. now I do!


I guess 6 hours! What do I win if I'm right?

 

[trbig]

Thank you...that was going to be my very response!!

And the bucket looks great!

A little worried that just 2 yeast balls for 20 lbs of rice will not be enough. No airlock activity this morning, but the level of the water has moved, which is a good sign. As the rice all cooled, it should have sucked the water towards the bucket, and it's showing a slight positive pressure. 16 days, and my other 18 cup batch is still bubbling happily away. Or is it me that is happily listening to it? lol. I'm thinking it might not be done by day 21. Each day, the smell coming from the airlock is just a little more alcoholic smelling. Yesterday, I pushed on the lid to make the airlock bubble so I could smell it. A tiny drop of water splashed into my eye as I did it and it burned! So even my airlock water is becoming alcoholic with all those fumes pushing through it! lol.

 

[trbig]

OMG!!! Does anyone realize how long it takes to fill up a 6 1/2 gallon ferment bucket with steamed rice at 3 cups a shot? Well.. now I do!


I guess 6 hours! What do I win if I'm right?

LOL.. Ummm.. NOPE. Longer. Probably closer to 8 hrs total, but I took a break to go to the movies, (Olympus has Fallen... good flick) so it was an all day ordeal. I would cycle through 3 bowls of rice with 3 cups each soaking in water in them. It took close to 30 minutes per batch, so I'd empty one bowl into the steamer, start that, refill the bowl, rinse a few times, then let sit in water and move it to the back of the line of the three bowls. This meant that each bowl would sit for @ an hour soaking before steaming. I'd spread the recently steamed rice onto a cookie sheet, at @ 15 minutes, I'd use a spatula and flip it all over, and it would take just about that 30 minutes to cool down to the 90-100 degree mark where I'd sprinkle the red yeast rice and yeast ball powder mixture over it, slide it off into the bucket, then mix it well... just in time to start another round.

 

[Tabb]

I got a 5 lb bag of sweet rice soaked a few hours in a roasting pan. Cooked on the stove cooled, added some water, crushed all the yeast balls I had up and mixed it up in a bucket.
I didn't measure. I didn't record temps. Just kinda went for feel.
I figured 2000 years ago they were doing it without temps why should I? Its been in the bucket for about 10? hours now.
Maybe I'll see if there is signs of anything in a little bit.

 

[RLFoley]

my rice is floating completely off the bottom of my vessel after only one week. should i go ahead and bottle, or wait another week?

 

[user 83772]

Wait another two! The rice will continue to convert for at least that long. If you bottle now, you're cheating yourself out of wine!

 

[timewasted]

I just left the Asian Market. I'll be starting my batch tonight.

 

[sonofgrok]

my rice is floating completely off the bottom of my vessel after only one week. should i go ahead and bottle, or wait another week?

Wait another two! The rice will continue to convert for at least that long. If you bottle now, you're cheating yourself out of wine!

Yes. Wait two more weeks.

 

[Tabb]

Is there a down side to waiting past 21 day mark?

 

[sonofgrok]

Is there a down side to waiting past 21 day mark?

depends on how long after you keep going. This at the point where the flavor really begins to change drastically with age. In that 4th and 5th week, it tends to really change in flavor and keeps going (Not necessarily bad, just different). Depending on what flavor you like you can let it go longer although my recommendation is if you want to age it, go ahead and still harvest at 21 -28 days and then age it. I probably wouldn't "primary" it longer than 28 days or so.

 

[CliffMongoloid]

Is there a place to order the yeast balls online? Tried 2 different asian markets today... No luck

 

[scurry64]

I ordered mine here

http://importfood.com/nrhf0401.html

 

[Drunken0ne]

Results with pitching yeast when the rice was to hot to hold. Today is day 21. Made with thai jasmine rice 1:1 ratio, soaked one for a hour the other not soaked. It appears that no black mold grew on either batch. FYI started a batch a week later on 3/9 and top layer has slight start of black mold like size of a dime. It grew 2 weeks in and I didn't change anything except soaked for 24 hrs. The batch soaked for a hour had a sweeter taste to it, but wife liked the one that wasn't soaked. I love this stuff. I can't wait to do some more. To think i have the week off for my kids spring break. What to do, what to do? OP did a great job on posting the recipe and now it is time for some more.

 

[jazzman]

I'm 6 days in and my batch with blue mold on top is now showing liquid forming on the top third of rice. Don't see liquid on bottom yet. Opinions? I boiled my rice and added the yeast when it was kind of hot. It was sticky sushi rice.

 

[bottlebomber]

I was looking around and found this very short video, interestingly it covered the yeast balls a little bit. It must be a cultural thing, because it didn't appear that the elder was enjoying the alcohol drink
[ame]http://youtu.be/dS2FvRWBrHU[/ame]

 

[Ibrewaletx]

Attached is the amount of liquid I'm seeing on day 4 as a followup to my original post - pretty happy so far. I have the typical white fuzz on top with some small black dots as well. I was concerned my glutinous rice was too 'wet' & mushy, but all looks good so far.

Day 1


Day 4

 

[LabRatBrewer]

I was looking around and found this very short video, interestingly it covered the yeast balls a little bit. It must be a cultural thing, because it didn't appear that the elder was enjoying the alcohol drink
http://youtu.be/dS2FvRWBrHU

Oh no, I was feeling bloated when I started mine...

 

[Leadgolem]

I was looking around and found this very short video, interestingly it covered the yeast balls a little bit. It must be a cultural thing, because it didn't appear that the elder was enjoying the alcohol drink
http://youtu.be/dS2FvRWBrHU

Interesting video, though I kinda doubt that is how the yeast balls we are using are made.

 

[bottlebomber]

Interesting video, though I kinda doubt that is how the yeast balls we are using are made.

Yeah, I'm not sure. It is China though. They might be able to pay some old grandma .35¢ an hour to roll the balls. They're the right size

 

[TheDemonSlick]

Hey, Sarah!!! Guess what I found at another Asian supermarket I found in Oklahoma City...

That's my counter at home, not the store shelf.. lol. I went looking for the red yeast rice again because I got to be friends with a local Chinese family that has a Chinese restaurant (Big surprise, right?) Anyway, I started asking about rice wine, and the guy said his dad has made it as long as he can remember. Back behind the register, there were assorted bottles of Brandy, or so I thought. He uncorked one of them and.. it smells exactly what's coming from my fermenting air lock at the house right now! This is a terrible pic, but look how beautiful it is! Nice and clear.

From their directions, it sounds like everything we've been having problems with? Many won't be able to do this due to size, and some was lost in the translation with the rice, I think, but he said to use:

10 lbs of rice.. and not sure if this was dry or cooked. He said yes to both questions.. lol.

Let the rice cool, then put it in a fermenting bucket. Add 13 pounds of water.

Stir in ONE (Yup.. just one) powdered yeast ball and one package (Mine are 14 oz) red yeast rice. Close it up, keep out of direct sunlight, (I think we've determined that as well) After one week, open it up and stir it, then close it back up for 3 more weeks for a total of one month.

He let me taste his, and there was a strong alcohol taste, but not any sweetness? He also warned against letting air get to the alcohol after bottling... another thing we've determined. His would definitely need some type of flavoring for my taste, but the aroma was heavenly. BUT... when he told me to add 13 pounds of water to the already cooked rice, flashes of my sour-as-heck-batch came flooding to my taste buds.. He even mentioned that sometimes it goes sour when making it. I may try a variation between his and ours and see what happens using less water. I just love the coloring the red yeast rice gave it.

This is Beni-Koji, or Red Koji, and everything you say is true. I was given a similar recipe by a shopkeeper in Boston's Chinatown. I am not using the yeast balls because I can't define what's in them exactly, but red yeast rice does not contain any yeast. It is rice inoculated with monascus purpurae, then dried. The mold produces an amylase enzyme that converts the starches to sugars, the yeast coverts the sugars to sweet sweet booze. I suspect there are similiar molds in the chinese Qu, or yeast cake... My Chinese friend calls it a wine cake. Probably Aspergillus Oryzae, the traditional Koji mold, which does the same thing. Don't steam the red rice, you'll kill the mold. Add it in dry or soak in water for a bit at 100F, if you do this soak add the water as it will also contain the active mold. Grinding it should be fine as long as there isn't excessive heat from friction. The only people who should worry about it's cholesterol lowering properties are people already taking commercial cholesterol lowering drugs. They might want to switch over. This mold in conjunction with just about any yeast will produce a red rice wine that tastes like fruit, even though it doesn't contain any. Also, the mold and yeast feeding each other allows yeast to continue functioning in alcohol levels that would normally kill them... this is how you can get 15-20% with bakers yeast.
I actually started a thread on my recipe in ingredients. Doing a 2-3 gallon run in a bucket with airlock. About 4 days in, bubbling nicely and smells like booze when I sniff around the airlock.
This is a great thread. I've been shying away from the wine cakes because I'm unsure what I'll get, but seeing the success people are having I may give it a try... I can get those things easily and cheaply here.
*********
Thanks to the OP and everyone else for all your experiences, I'll try to put them to good use!

 

[trbig]

Yeah, all I did was grind the red rice and 2 yeast balls together, then sprinkle over the warm (@100 degree) steamed rice. I was under the impression that red yeast rice would be.... yeasty? lol. If it's mainly koji, then I'm wondering if I've got enough yeast in there with just two balls. I've still not got any activity in my airlock. I've got some Lalvin D47 and V1116 yeast in the fridge. I'm wondering if I need to re-hydrate one of those and pitch it in, or just leave it alone.

 

[CliffMongoloid]

So you can either do with or without the red rice yeast?

What is the benefit in using?

 

[trbig]

No, you don't have to have the red yeast rice.. but I'm trying to determine if you need additional yeast if you add the red rice, and according to Demonslick, you still need yeast.

I have no patience. I threw two more yeast balls in the coffee grinder, added them to about a cup of warm water, then poured it all over rice. When I pulled the lid off, I couldn't smell anything but the rice, so no alcohol being made yet. Hopefully that liquid yeast dripping down through it will fire it off, and as the liquid drips down when it's being converted, it'll carry the yeast through the batch to the bottom.

 

[saramc]

No, you don't have to have the red yeast rice.. but I'm trying to determine if you need additional yeast if you add the red rice, and according to Demonslick, you still need yeast.

I have no patience. I threw two more yeast balls in the coffee grinder, added them to about a cup of warm water, then poured it all over rice. When I pulled the lid off, I couldn't smell anything but the rice, so no alcohol being made yet. Hopefully that liquid yeast dripping down through it will fire it off, and as the liquid drips down when it's being converted, it'll carry the yeast through the batch to the bottom.

So are you at 20# dry rice, one pkg RYR and four yeast balls? Even the red sake, akaisake, uses yeast in addition to the koji and red koji. Watching with interest.