Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[MarcusKillion]

Question!
Im sure this has already been asked but i dont wanna look through 327 pages...

Can you add fruit when you do everything in the beggining? to add flavor and such. Or is there a specific time when your supposed to?
Thanks.

I just put a dried prune in some of this that had already been bottled . . Put it in fridge for a couple days and the flavor soaked right in .

 

[trbig]

Just remember that this rice wine is sweet because there's still residual sugar left over after the yeast has ate all it could. Any other sugary juices will only make it sweeter. I've added dried mango to batches at the start, but thinking now, putting it in at the beginning, part of the sugar from the fruit will be eaten by the yeast, so if you want much of the actual flavor of the fruit to come out, you'd be better to do as suggested by a few and add after the ferment is done.

 

[organ]

What do we get for having read the entire thread? It took two weeks but I finally finished.

 

[MarcusKillion]

What do we get for having read the entire thread? It took two weeks but I finally finished.

You get the address to a few more extra long threads that we would like you to read and give us a summary of the contents .

 

[chalkdust41485]

What do we get for having read the entire thread? It took two weeks but I finally finished.

How about a gold star? What's your address? I'll mail it to ya...

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[troy2000]

Finally got around to trying this. I cooked two cups of dry jasmine rice in my cooker, with about 2 1/2 cups of water. After the rice cooled, I added two thoroughly crushed yeast balls and mixed the powder in with my (sanitized) hands, making an effort to break up all the rice clumps. Then I let it set at room temperature, about 72* F.

After 24 hours, I shook the living daylights out of the jar to make sure everything was thoroughly mixed.

After 48 hours, I already have enough liquid to see it when I tilt the jar... I'm pretty jazzed.

 

[trbig]

What do we get for having read the entire thread? It took two weeks but I finally finished.

Then you move to the front of the class to answer all the questions. Those of us that have been around here a while may have forgotten a lot of it. Since it's all fresh in your head, we divert all questions to you. Congratulations!!!

 

[trbig]

I've tried several large batches (10 lbs of rice) with sweet and jasmine rice and they have been coming out with a sour taste. The general consensus was that by adding too much water, it somehow made a sour batch, but some Chinese friends of mine have always added 1.3 x water to the weight of the rice. (13-14 lbs water) They told me that they don't even make it in the summer time and that @ 60 degrees is best temps for it or it gets sour. So my thinking was that temps had more to do with getting a sour batch than the water. They also said to not be afraid to stir it every day. That's a problem I've had in the past.. having a big plug of rice on top not getting converted.

So... I made a batch up last month that should be done in a few days (Jan 14) and have left the batch in a room that stays colder in the house with the door shut. I used 10 lbs sweet rice cooked at 5 cups water to 3 cups dry rice, 1 bag RYR ground up with 10 yeast balls. After the rice was done, I added 1.5 gals cold water, stirred it up, which brought the temps down enough to add the yeast balls/ryr mixture. Stirred well and put back in the cold room. I popped the lid on it and stirred with a sterilized spoon every day for the first week and a half. It needed it. Every day, there was a thick dry-ish layer of rice on top.

After the week and a half, the dry-ish rice had been converted enough that even though it was still floating on the top, it was in liquid, so it wasn't going to make a plug of starch any more. A couple days ago, I decided to give it a taste to see how it was doing. Rice wine without any added water is way too sweet for my taste. The reason it's sweet is there's still a lot of residual sugar from the converted starch for the yeast to eat, but the yeast has reached it's alc. tolerance level and stalled out. The added water dilutes it to where it lowers the alc. level and more of the sugars can be eaten by the yeast. You just have to find that combination that's correct. Too much water and you get a watery wine. Too little water, and you get a sweet wine and wasted the potential to get more.

ANYWAY... I tasted the wine and thought "Wow!" This is hands down the best batch I've made. My wife hasn't liked any of the other batches, but I let her try this one and she even likes this one. My son's girlfriend has tried most of my batches and I let her try some and she said, "Wow! This is the best one you've made!" It's still a sweet taste, but not sickeningly so. Just a medium sweet with a really nice warmth after you drink it.

As I said, it should ne ready in a few days, but I guess the colder ferment temps have slowed things down and there's still a few CO2 bubbles coming to the surface. May give it an extra week, but I'm stoked about this batch. The level of the ferment bucket looks to have 4 1/2-5 gals in it, but after straining, I should be left with at LEAST 3 gals of goodness.

I guess I need to get another batch going while it's still winter! lol. I'll post some pics when I go to bottle it.

 

[organ]

Then you move to the front of the class to answer all the questions. Those of us that have been around here a while may have forgotten a lot of it. Since it's all fresh in your head, we divert all questions to you. Congratulations!!!

 

[MarcusKillion]

trbig;
Am I reading right that you cooked the rice and then added in an additional 1.5 gallons water to the rice ? does this not make it very weak . Everything I have read states to only cook the rice and nothing about adding in more water .
Is this because you are adding in the RYR ?

 

[organ]

I think he added the water after fermentation stopped which supposedly reinvigorated the yeast by lowering the ABV.

 

[jak1010]

I've tried several large batches...

I guess I need to get another batch going while it's still winter! lol. I'll post some pics when I go to bottle it.

I've done lots of batches and experiments but the largest batch so far has been a 2 gallon glass cookie jar. My standard batch is 4 cups of rice in a 1 gallon glass cookie jar. But, I've never done a large batch (like a 5 gallon bucket) of rice wine. Maybe someday soon.

 

[trbig]

trbig;
Am I reading right that you cooked the rice and then added in an additional 1.5 gallons water to the rice ? does this not make it very weak . Everything I have read states to only cook the rice and nothing about adding in more water .
Is this because you are adding in the RYR ?

Yes, you are correct in that I cook the rice at a 5 cup water to 3 cups dry rice until all 10 lbs of rice is cooked and put in my 7 1/2 gal ferment bucket. Then I add a gallon and a half of cold filtered water BEFORE fermentation starts. But no, this does not make the wine weak. The rice wine is so sweet because the mold breaks down the starches into much more sugar than the yeast can eat. When the yeast attain the alcohol level that they stall at, it doesn't matter how much sugar is left.

So basically, the way most of us make the rice wine, there's still a lot of leftover sugar that could be converted to alcohol and is going to waste. The only way to get a better yield would be to use a yeast with a higher alcohol tolerance, or dilute the mix down with water. You just have to find the right combination. Too much water and you get watered down, low alcohol, dry wine where every bit of the sugar has been processed by the yeast. Too little water, and you're left with too much residual sugars and you get a really sweet wine where the yeast has maxed out it's alc. tolerance. The magic number seems to be 1.3 times in weight of added water vs the innitial weight of dry rice you used. Water is 8 lbs a gallon. A gallon and a half would be 12 lbs water and I actually added 14 pounds water (1 3/4 gal) due to the 10 lbs sweet rice and 1 lb RYR. I think Golem did some experimenting and came up with this number as well.

The reason I tried this is because of my Chinese friends, who have several generations of rice wine makers in their family to ask them about, and this is how they've always done it. If you like your rice wine the sweetness it is and are happy with it, then by all means, carry on. If you'd like to try to get more wine from all that available sugar left over, then maybe give it a try.

 

[MarcusKillion]

I made a couple jars last night . One with red one with white . this time I just sprinkled the yeast on top . I have now added in some extra water . Not sure how much as I had not weighed the rice dry so I just poured some in . Stirred it into the top of the rice .
I noticed in chinese recipes they use a lot of water but it is not stated as to how much water is used to ferment as it is a amount also used for washing and steaming . They stir at 4 different times for temp control so it must be fairly watered down as the cooked rice is impossible to stir without adding in water.
I was told that my wine did not taste like it should . No mold ever got in it . Maybe it got some spores from the air in it . Also fermenting without adding water definitely makes low ABV and could possibly account for a bad flavor I suppose

 

[trbig]

. Also fermenting without adding water definitely makes low ABV and could possibly account for a bad flavor I suppose

Fermenting without water should have no impact on the alc level. There should still be a ton of unfermented sugar available, but the yeast should be maxed out on it's alc level it can tolerate. No idea why you only got a 5% alc level, but that is not a normal level.

If adding the proper amount of water or slightly less, there should be no change in the end alc. level of the wine, just the amount of sweetness left over.

But just to remind.. Every batch that I've added water to that wasn't cooler than normal room temp has had a sour taste. Like I said.. It was suggested 60 degrees F was what they shoot for.

 

[jak1010]

Fermenting without water should have no impact on the alc level. There should still be a ton of unfermented sugar available, but the yeast should be maxed out on it's alc level it can tolerate. No idea why you only got a 5% alc level, but that is not a normal level.

If adding the proper amount of water or slightly less, there should be no change in the end alc. level of the wine, just the amount of sweetness left over.

But just to remind.. Every batch that I've added water to that wasn't cooler than normal room temp has had a sour taste. Like I said.. It was suggested 60 degrees F was what they shoot for.

True. I don't add water to my batches. Just cooked rice and yeast balls. Just like the original post from SonOfGrok.

Strong, and definitely sweeter, rice wine that I prefer. It reminds me of a sake variant which is fine since I think sake tastes like warm dirty dish water.

Todd: I'm looking to run a large batch. You using a 5 gallon brew bucket?

 

[trbig]

Todd: I'm looking to run a large batch. You using a 5 gallon brew bucket?

7 1/2. A 10 lb batch might not fit in a 5 gallon. Plus, the first 1 1/2 weeks or so, there's a pretty agrressive ferment going on and it might start puking out if the liquid gets up. Here's a pic of 10 lbs + 1 lb RYR in a 7 1/2 gal bucket. You decide...

 

[mjwj12]

7 1/2. A 10 lb batch might not fit in a 5 gallon. Plus, the first 1 1/2 weeks or so, there's a pretty agrressive ferment going on and it might start puking out if the liquid gets up. Here's a pic of 10 lbs + 1 lb RYR in a 7 1/2 gal bucket. You decide...

That's quite a lot. How many oz you get from that?

 

[jak1010]

7 1/2. A 10 lb batch might not fit in a 5 gallon. Plus, the first 1 1/2 weeks or so, there's a pretty agrressive ferment going on and it might start puking out if the liquid gets up. Here's a pic of 10 lbs + 1 lb RYR in a 7 1/2 gal bucket. You decide...

Excellent, thanks for the advice.

 

[trbig]

That's quite a lot. How many oz you get from that?

??? I don't really measure, but seems like I remember @ 3 gallons.

 

[Gar]

ive got a cupple bottles aging right now of my cider/champange/ryr /jazz rice/yeast ball mix i let some of this go in a very cold area in my house and it is dry and not tart or infected tasting at all. im sure that the cold had alot to do with that. but id say the chinese figured this out forever and a day ago or it could be that i put a yeast to it before i put anything else to it for about 1.5-2 hours before the yeast balls and ryr. hell it might be im drunk and just repeating what ive already said. but the all important but i never made a control to compare anything with.

 

[Bidwell]

I've made 29 batches, mostly 2-4 cups and use a steamer lined with cheesecloth and steam for 45- 1 hr. Seems I add about a bottle of water when adding yeast (85° or) because it won't break apart otherwise. Always sweet batches. I go for around 11 days.

I also have used the electric steamer and used 1.25:1. I have thrown out several because they were sour. A couple needed sugar or honey to make me happy. Point is ALL THE SOUR BATCHES have been using the cooker. Looking back and reading here, my mistake may have been the water ratio. The couple times it was perfect, I may have gotten it right.

Seems my steamed rice needs just the right amount of additional water after it has cooled, to break up and become workable. So far that's been about a bottle of water for a 4 cup batch.

 

[trbig]

4 cups rice is @ 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds of dry rice. A bottle of water is somewhere @ a pound, so you're still under the optimal 1.3 water to dry rice ratio and won't water it down.

I will say though.. with only letting it go 11 days, you're quitting when there's still a lot of converting and yeast eating going on.

 

[jak1010]

11 days is enough to get alcohol but not much. The yeast and mold have only just begun. 20-30 days is what my normal ferment time is.

Although, I've left a batch for almost 3 months and it still tasted good.

 

[Bidwell]

I agree 11 days is short. I like the taste.

My favorite was a 5 cup steamed batch that went 39 days. Mixed 1tsp sugar and cornstarch with the yeast. No water added. Very sweet and a kick! Very little (comparatively) rice unused.

 

[mjwj12]

This is the only thing I found out of 4 different markets I went to today. 50g of dried yeast each box. 5$

 

[mjwj12]

Question.
I got my 1 gallon jar, Yeast and rice. What is the most amount of ratio i can deliver to the gallon jar?
And i didn't get the balls i got dried yeast chunks. how much crushed up yeast should i use.

 

[trbig]

Question.
I got my 1 gallon jar, Yeast and rice. What is the most amount of ratio i can deliver to the gallon jar?
And i didn't get the balls i got dried yeast chunks. how much crushed up yeast should i use.

I really don't think you got what you need. Looks like you got just yeast. Just yeast doesn't have the mold required to convert the rice starch into sugar for the yeast to eat. Plus, the yeast balls have a strain of yeast that is capable of very high alcohol resistance.

Did you try to find someone in the store who speaks english and ask them? I looked all over two different stores and could find nothing.. until I asked. One store, they ended up being in a jug by the checkout counter. Just say "Rice wine". If all else fails, order online or order some ARL from Jak.

 

[mjwj12]

here is the ingredients

 

[mjwj12]

I really don't think you got what you need. Looks like you got just yeast. Just yeast doesn't have the mold required to convert the rice starch into sugar for the yeast to eat. Plus, the yeast balls have a strain of yeast that is capable of very high alcohol resistance.

Did you try to find someone in the store who speaks english and ask them? I looked all over two different stores and could find nothing.. until I asked. One store, they ended up being in a jug by the checkout counter. Just say "Rice wine". If all else fails, order online or order some ARL from Jak.

Yes I did ask every time. And this is what they showed me. :/