Mr_Sunshine
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Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different
- Thread starter sonofgrok
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk:
The back of the ARL packet says "24-36 hours" and it also says "When wine aroma appears" but I think that means that the rice is ready to eat. I know for a fact that there's alcohol after 3-7 days but not enough for me. MUCH better at 26-30 days.
The recipes I've seen from suppliers here in China all say to harvest after a couple days, but they're making 米酒 (mijiu) breakfast porridge, which ferments a bit sour but minimally alcoholic (kids eat/drink the stuff for breakfast), and is often heated up and then has raw eggs cooked into it and sugar added, at least that's pretty standard here in Wuhan. The seven day fermented beverage is probably what they serve to women after giving birth, in which case less alcohol is desirable, since whatever mom takes in, the baby's gonna take in as well (unless you're using formula).
It's also worth noting that, with the possible exception of winter 黄酒 (huang jiu - nothing like the drink of the same name in Shanghai), I've never encountered alcoholic, non-distilled rice wine in over six years in China. It's typically 白酒 (bai jiu - distilled grain liquor, usually horrendous in flavor) or cheap Chinese lager when people drink outside of foreign bars here.
That makes me sad.
edds5p0
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I made a batch with ARL at 1:1.5 and after it slowed down, I added roughly an additional third of the volume of water. After almost 4 weeks the product is great. It' shot some sweetness, but it has a similar dry bite to a good Merlot. I ended up with a better flavor and much higher volume with no apparent compromise in alcohol content.
I may have to try that. I think the additional water brings the % down causing the yeast to activate again and produce the same quality with more quantity.
Do you have a supplier for ARL near by as well? How do you compare it to the Yeast Balls?
Do you have a supplier for ARL near by as well? How do you compare it to the Yeast Balls?
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
edds5p0
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My ARL came from nahamilto40 on this thread and it is a bit more efficient than the balls I got at my local market. I think we've pushing the limits of how little water we can add to get results. As long as there are solids left, we probably could add some water to reduce ethanol inhibition and get more yield.jak1010 said:
Alright, I can't resist.
Mr_Sunshine
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It's no wonder I can't find any more of these jars at Wal-Mart, everyone on here night them all up!
dgr
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I would guess you can't find them because it's harvest season for hop's cousin. :fro:
Mr_Sunshine said:It's no wonder I can't find any more of these jars at Wal-Mart, everyone on here night them all up!
I would say that production is up.
Here's the two week update on the ARL and alcohol solution experiments. Batch contents from left to right:
1. 1.5 cups jasmine rice, 1 gram ARL.
2. 1.5 cups basmati rice, 1 gram ARL.
3. 1.5 cups long grain white rice, 1 gram ARL.
4. 1.5 cups sweet rice, 1 gram ARL.
5. 0.75 cups jasmine rice, 1/2 of a rice yeast ball. Submerged in 22.5% alcohol solution.
6. 0.75 cups jasmine rice, 1/2 of a rice yeast ball, 4.5 tsp crushed RYR. Submerged in 22.5% alcohol solution.
Technically, I should have done this yesterday. My schedule was a little busy though, and I didn't end up having time.
No real new observations. The short grain rice appears to have turned into rice soup. That mirrors the original grains experiment. Neither of the alcohol solution experiments seem to have changed at all. That makes it more likely, in my opinion, that the starch hasn't saccharified. It is more likely that the change in texture is due to liquid absorption.
Happy Brewing all!
1. 1.5 cups jasmine rice, 1 gram ARL.
2. 1.5 cups basmati rice, 1 gram ARL.
3. 1.5 cups long grain white rice, 1 gram ARL.
4. 1.5 cups sweet rice, 1 gram ARL.
5. 0.75 cups jasmine rice, 1/2 of a rice yeast ball. Submerged in 22.5% alcohol solution.
6. 0.75 cups jasmine rice, 1/2 of a rice yeast ball, 4.5 tsp crushed RYR. Submerged in 22.5% alcohol solution.
Technically, I should have done this yesterday. My schedule was a little busy though, and I didn't end up having time.
No real new observations. The short grain rice appears to have turned into rice soup. That mirrors the original grains experiment. Neither of the alcohol solution experiments seem to have changed at all. That makes it more likely, in my opinion, that the starch hasn't saccharified. It is more likely that the change in texture is due to liquid absorption.
Happy Brewing all!
I'm making my first batch!
First a funny story about getting the yeast balls. The first Chinese supermarket I went to, I looked all over and couldn't find them. I asked a man who worked there but he had a hard time understanding what I was looking for, so he took me to a cashier who spoke better English. I didn't want to tell them I was making homemade wine, so I tried explaining it in other terms "dried yeast...rice balls" and my wife was interjecting with things like "yeast, like when you bake." The cashier asks me if it's a powder and, thinking how I'm going to crush the balls into powder, I say yes. She says something in Chinese to the man who then leads us over to the baking powder. I tell him it's still not it, but thank him for his time anyway - he'd been trying to help us for about 10 minutes by that point. As he's turning to walk away, my wife asks me if there's any other way to make the wine. Suddenly, the man stops, turns around, and says to me, "You're making the wine?"
I say yes. Unfortunately, that store was sold out then (are there a lot of Bostonians in this thread?) but he showed me where they normally stock them and told me how to make it - which was the same steps Sonofgrok detailed in his OP. I also asked him to tell me what they're called in Chinese, but my attempt to use the Chinese name in subsequent stores did not help me at all. But two stores later, I bought a package.
On to the wine... I started this last Friday night using 2.5 cups of Jasmine rice and 2 yeast balls. It was my first time steam cooking rice, so I'm worried I didn't cook the rice properly. I'm also worried I didn't let the rice cool off as much as I should've let it before putting it in the jar with the yeast. Anyway, I'm 6 days in at this point and I'm just starting to notice some liquification at the bottom and some white fuzz on top. I'm not sure how much this will yield, but it's exciting so far.
First a funny story about getting the yeast balls. The first Chinese supermarket I went to, I looked all over and couldn't find them. I asked a man who worked there but he had a hard time understanding what I was looking for, so he took me to a cashier who spoke better English. I didn't want to tell them I was making homemade wine, so I tried explaining it in other terms "dried yeast...rice balls" and my wife was interjecting with things like "yeast, like when you bake." The cashier asks me if it's a powder and, thinking how I'm going to crush the balls into powder, I say yes. She says something in Chinese to the man who then leads us over to the baking powder. I tell him it's still not it, but thank him for his time anyway - he'd been trying to help us for about 10 minutes by that point. As he's turning to walk away, my wife asks me if there's any other way to make the wine. Suddenly, the man stops, turns around, and says to me, "You're making the wine?"
I say yes. Unfortunately, that store was sold out then (are there a lot of Bostonians in this thread?) but he showed me where they normally stock them and told me how to make it - which was the same steps Sonofgrok detailed in his OP. I also asked him to tell me what they're called in Chinese, but my attempt to use the Chinese name in subsequent stores did not help me at all. But two stores later, I bought a package.
On to the wine... I started this last Friday night using 2.5 cups of Jasmine rice and 2 yeast balls. It was my first time steam cooking rice, so I'm worried I didn't cook the rice properly. I'm also worried I didn't let the rice cool off as much as I should've let it before putting it in the jar with the yeast. Anyway, I'm 6 days in at this point and I'm just starting to notice some liquification at the bottom and some white fuzz on top. I'm not sure how much this will yield, but it's exciting so far.
Congrats on your first batch... If you have a bag of balls, go for it and make a full batch. Make yourself 6 cups of Thai Jasmine rice and fill that thing up. You won't regret it.
Drinkable wine from start to finish in 3 weeks is almost unheard of but this stuff is the real deal. It's great as is and the flavoring and spice potential are almost unlimited. All of the fruit juice options have worked great. All of the spices and peppers have also worked great.
For those keeping score at home, the "rice wine/milk mead" experiment was a crash and burn disaster. It turned out exactly as you would imagine rotten milk to look and smell but with rice added in. Do not try this at home!
I think I'm going to take the advice of several folks on this forum and make the 2 as separate batches and then mix the final products.
As for other experiments, I'm either going to have to build an extension on the house or rent a one bedroom apartment for my experiments (or my spouse) just to keep the peace. There are gallon batches with airlocks and mason jars everywhere. Friends look around and say "I hope you don't get raided!"
I love this hobby!!!
Drinkable wine from start to finish in 3 weeks is almost unheard of but this stuff is the real deal. It's great as is and the flavoring and spice potential are almost unlimited. All of the fruit juice options have worked great. All of the spices and peppers have also worked great.
For those keeping score at home, the "rice wine/milk mead" experiment was a crash and burn disaster. It turned out exactly as you would imagine rotten milk to look and smell but with rice added in. Do not try this at home!
I think I'm going to take the advice of several folks on this forum and make the 2 as separate batches and then mix the final products.
As for other experiments, I'm either going to have to build an extension on the house or rent a one bedroom apartment for my experiments (or my spouse) just to keep the peace. There are gallon batches with airlocks and mason jars everywhere. Friends look around and say "I hope you don't get raided!"
I love this hobby!!!
Congratulations. Please tell me that's not regular long grain white rice.I'm making my first batch!...
m3n00b
Well-Known Member
What isle is the yeast usually in at the Asian market?
If this batch turns out okay, I definitely plan on going bigger next time.
This is my first time making something other than cider, and now there's so many other types of beverages I want to try making. I don't have much space for it, but it is lots of fun.
It's not. I'm using Thai Jasmine rice.
Aisle 3.
Just kidding. I forget the other products that were adjacent to the yeast balls, but since they're also used for making rice balls, that might be helpful in tracking them down. The easiest way, however, is to just ask someone at the store. If you tell them you want to make the wine, there should be someone there who will know exactly what you're looking for.
Looking good after 6 days. Gave it a quick stir after the pic and grabbed a taste. It was GREAT! This has been such a fun project while waiting for beer to ferment.
Gravity has remained stable at 1.024. I diluted the batch with 1 quart of water. The new gravity reading was 1.018.
trbig
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Well, I broke down and am trying it the way my Chinese friend advised. I steamed up 10 lbs of rice, (Used fancy sweet sushi rice instead of Jasmine, because that's what they use) then tossed it into a ferment bucket to cool. After it cooled off to under 100 degrees, I crushed up 10 yeast balls and a package (14oz) of RYR in a coffee grinder, then added that and 13 POUNDS of filtered water, which comes to the 1.3 conversion. At 8lbs a gallon for water, that's one and a half gallons, plus a pint. I mixed in some of the water to make a soup out of the RYR/Yeast ball powder, dumped it into the bucket, then added the rest of the water on top and stirred with a sterile spoon.
Their rice wine comes out like a dry watery whiskey. No sweetness at all. I'll let you know how it goes in @ a month, which is the time he said they let it go.
Their rice wine comes out like a dry watery whiskey. No sweetness at all. I'll let you know how it goes in @ a month, which is the time he said they let it go.
Here's the harvest checkup for my latest rice wine experiment. I'm not going to keep posting them in this thread. They are getting lost in the 294 pages of it. I'll start a new thread for my experiments.
As you can see I had the last two batches positions reversed in the first photo. From left to right in photo two.
1. 1.5 cups jasmine rice, 1 gram ARL.
2. 1.5 cups basmati rice, 1 gram ARL.
3. 1.5 cups long grain white rice, 1 gram ARL.
4. 1.5 cups sweet rice, 1 gram ARL.
5. 0.75 cups jasmine rice, 1/2 of a rice yeast ball. Submerged in 22.5% alcohol solution.
6. 0.75 cups jasmine rice, 1/2 of a rice yeast ball, 4.5 tsp crushed RYR. Submerged in 22.5% alcohol solution.
1. Average yield. Fairly neutral rice and alcohol aromas. Medium sweetness, low alcohol feel. Very slight tang to it. It doesn't register as any fruit, just a bit of acid content. Very nice. Slight yellow color.
2. Average yield. Fairly neutral aroma as well, stronger on the rice then on the alcohol. Medium sweetness, low alcohol feel. The acid in the flavor is lower then the jasmine rice batch. Moderate yellow color.
3. No yield. Some sludge was produced, but it wasn't drinkable.
4. Superior yield. Still fairly neutral aroma. Very little rice, much more alcohol aroma. Medium-high sweetness, low alcohol feel. Very little acid in the flavor. Moderate yellow color.
5. Strong rice and alcohol aroma, vaguely fruity too. Mild rice flavor, moderate raisin flavor. Medium-high sweetness, low alcohol feel. No apparent acid. Red in color, obviously.
6. Strong rice and alcohol aroma. Very mild rice flavor. Medium-high sweetness, low alcohol feel. No apparent acid. This is the only sample where it was possible to determine that no yellow tint existed.
The first four batches went pretty much as expected. The alcohol solution experiments did not.
I had expected some starch conversion due to residual amylase in the rice yeast ball. From prior batches, partial conversion of starch has resulted in hard "nuggets" of starch that are left over. This was not the case. The remaining starch was very smooth. If anything, I would say the degree of starch conversion in these experimental batches was higher then expected in a typical rice wine. It was also very apparent from the flavor that significant amounts of sugar are present in the solution. In addition, the acid content of the alcohol solution experiments was nill to my taste buds.
In my opinion there are two things that can be reasonably extrapolated from this experiment. First, that the alcohol content of the wine does not significantly interfere with the saccharification of the starch. Or, the growth of the organism that produces the enzyme responsible for the conversion. Second, the alcohol does interfere with the organism responsible for producing the acid in the wine.
I would not consider either supposition proven, but the data does seem to be strongly leaning in that direction.
Happy Brewing!
As you can see I had the last two batches positions reversed in the first photo. From left to right in photo two.
1. 1.5 cups jasmine rice, 1 gram ARL.
2. 1.5 cups basmati rice, 1 gram ARL.
3. 1.5 cups long grain white rice, 1 gram ARL.
4. 1.5 cups sweet rice, 1 gram ARL.
5. 0.75 cups jasmine rice, 1/2 of a rice yeast ball. Submerged in 22.5% alcohol solution.
6. 0.75 cups jasmine rice, 1/2 of a rice yeast ball, 4.5 tsp crushed RYR. Submerged in 22.5% alcohol solution.
1. Average yield. Fairly neutral rice and alcohol aromas. Medium sweetness, low alcohol feel. Very slight tang to it. It doesn't register as any fruit, just a bit of acid content. Very nice. Slight yellow color.
2. Average yield. Fairly neutral aroma as well, stronger on the rice then on the alcohol. Medium sweetness, low alcohol feel. The acid in the flavor is lower then the jasmine rice batch. Moderate yellow color.
3. No yield. Some sludge was produced, but it wasn't drinkable.
4. Superior yield. Still fairly neutral aroma. Very little rice, much more alcohol aroma. Medium-high sweetness, low alcohol feel. Very little acid in the flavor. Moderate yellow color.
5. Strong rice and alcohol aroma, vaguely fruity too. Mild rice flavor, moderate raisin flavor. Medium-high sweetness, low alcohol feel. No apparent acid. Red in color, obviously.
6. Strong rice and alcohol aroma. Very mild rice flavor. Medium-high sweetness, low alcohol feel. No apparent acid. This is the only sample where it was possible to determine that no yellow tint existed.
The first four batches went pretty much as expected. The alcohol solution experiments did not.
I had expected some starch conversion due to residual amylase in the rice yeast ball. From prior batches, partial conversion of starch has resulted in hard "nuggets" of starch that are left over. This was not the case. The remaining starch was very smooth. If anything, I would say the degree of starch conversion in these experimental batches was higher then expected in a typical rice wine. It was also very apparent from the flavor that significant amounts of sugar are present in the solution. In addition, the acid content of the alcohol solution experiments was nill to my taste buds.
In my opinion there are two things that can be reasonably extrapolated from this experiment. First, that the alcohol content of the wine does not significantly interfere with the saccharification of the starch. Or, the growth of the organism that produces the enzyme responsible for the conversion. Second, the alcohol does interfere with the organism responsible for producing the acid in the wine.
I would not consider either supposition proven, but the data does seem to be strongly leaning in that direction.
Happy Brewing!
troy2000
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I'm only on page 16 of this thread; gonna take me a while to work through it. But on a related subject, I use the rinse water from rice when I make sourdough starter for baking.
I did it by accident first time; I used a glass canister that had held rice, and didn't bother to rinse the rice powder out of it. It gave the sourdough a nice green-apple tartness that I liked....
I did it by accident first time; I used a glass canister that had held rice, and didn't bother to rinse the rice powder out of it. It gave the sourdough a nice green-apple tartness that I liked....
OP
OP
Lol, I'll link back.Boo
Nobody has anything to post about rice wine today?
Harvested mine yesterday - three cups of short-grained Northwestern (Chinese) rice split between three jars, made with three local yeast balls. One jar attenuated clean and clear, the other two were a bit murkier and darker (from some slightly burnt rice grains) and had a slightly lower yield. That first jar was also easy to squeeze with a piece of cheesecloth for maximum liquid, though that murked it up a bit. The second and third jars gave me no end of trouble with the cheesecloth and I certainly ended up throwing away one or two hundred mL of wine with their dregs. I collected the wine from all three jars together (approx. 1.2 L), and filtered one more time through a clean piece of cheesecloth into some sanitized jars.
Had a taste after they had chilled - quite sweet without the slightest hint of an alcoholic bite (though the liquid certainly burned when it touched a tiny lesion on my finger during the squeezing, so it's definitely alcoholic). My girlfriend said it tastes just like the mijiu her mother makes (surprised me - I had no idea her mother made mijiu).
I'll try some fruit juice mixes with these batches - probably grape and pomegranate since they're still somewhat in season here - and probably start another batch soon, maybe trying ARL in one jar and local yeast balls in the other for a side-by-side comparison of my own, since I already have both on hand.
Extended taste after work today - about four ounces - there's a strong pineapple taste. I'm thinking there's no real need to add fruit juice this time around since it's already so fruity. I can feel a little bit of alcohol on the swallow, but it's very light. Definitely need to start another batch soon - this isn't gonna last.
I made some Rice Wine a couple months ago and had more than I could get into all my bottles, so I put some in a flip-top bottle. I've been letting it sit in the refrigerator and finally last night poured the liquid into a cup and dumped the solids. I have to say it was very good... very alcoholic, but SMOOTH! I have a beer bottle full that I've been letting sit as well. I'm thinking I might let that go until around new years just to see what it's like.
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