Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[jak1010]

The first time, I pulled from a batch since I wasn't sure I'd like it. Since then, I make separate batches just for eating. Usually just the leftover rice I can't fit in the fermenter. I prefer it chilled too so I put it in the fridge about 2 hours before eating.

 

[SteveDodds]

Day 24 spaghetti and potato finished
Since it is 8:00 am I will not be swallowing.

First the spaghetti:
Color: Cloudy urine.
Smell: Not bad but not great. Very alcoholic. A faint grainy smell. Many floral beer like smells much like a trappist ale or maybe a lambic. Almost smells like a bowl of Wheaties. The smell makes me wish it had some hops in it. A rather sweet floral citrusy smell.
Taste: Also not bad but not great. Drinkable...I think. Quite sweet. Floral notes. Lots of citrusy notes like orange juice. Lots of citrusy aftertaste. Lots of body. Very citrusy like a mixture of orange, lemon, and maybe pineapple juice. A taste almost like several day old Mountain Dew. Has a strong mouth bite but not in an alcoholic way.
Conclusion: Not something I will be doing again. Produced a drinkable product but its just not my thing. But for others this might be worth doing some more investigating.

Potato:
Color: The color of lemon juice.
Smell: Very paint like. Smells exactly like my wife's finger nail polish with a little bit of rotten egg mixed in. I should not have smelled it as hard as I did. Wasn't sure if I was going to survive it. Kind of nauseating.
Taste: It was very hard to bring myself to taste it. When I did taste it I actually gagged and almost vomited.
Conclusion: Nasty! Disgusting!

Epilogue: For others that are interested the spaghetti might be ok. I strongly advise everyone to not make the potato. However, YMMV.

 

[Unferth]

Day 24 spaghetti and potato finished
Since it is 8:00 am I will not be swallowing.

First the spaghetti:
Color: Cloudy urine.
Smell: Not bad but not great. Very alcoholic. A faint grainy smell. Many floral beer like smells much like a trappist ale or maybe a lambic. Almost smells like a bowl of Wheaties. The smell makes me wish it had some hops in it. A rather sweet floral citrusy smell.
Taste: Also not bad but not great. Drinkable...I think. Quite sweet. Floral notes. Lots of citrusy notes like orange juice. Lots of citrusy aftertaste. Lots of body. Very citrusy like a mixture of orange, lemon, and maybe pineapple juice. A taste almost like several day old Mountain Dew. Has a strong mouth bite but not in an alcoholic way.
Conclusion: Not something I will be doing again. Produced a drinkable product but its just not my thing. But for others this might be worth doing some more investigating.

Potato:
Color: The color of lemon juice.
Smell: Very paint like. Smells exactly like my wife's finger nail polish with a little bit of rotten egg mixed in. I should not have smelled it as hard as I did. Wasn't sure if I was going to survive it. Kind of nauseating.
Taste: It was very hard to bring myself to taste it. When I did taste it I actually gagged and almost vomited.
Conclusion: Nasty! Disgusting!

Epilogue: For others that are interested the spaghetti might be ok. I strongly advise everyone to not make the potato. However, YMMV.

I'm surprised. would have thought the noodles would have turned out way worse than the potatoes.

The enzymes in the yeast balls must be more suited to grain than pure starches.

I wonder if you used a whole wheat pasta if it might turn out better?

 

[sonofgrok]

Ewwww.... or you could just stick to rice.

 

[WesleyS]

Ewwww.... or you could just stick to rice.

^this
That reminds me. It's time to harvest my latest batch!

 

[Temptd2]

So not to be outshown by all you EXPERIENCED brew-type alpha males here (and yes, my fella female brewers too) - I couldn't stand it, I started two more batches of rice wine, even though my first batch is barely five days old!

I did one batch with the sweet rice, 2 pounds rice to 4 cups water, stovetop cooking, which is backed way off on the water, as my first try was 2 pounds rice to 7 cups water.

Then I did another batch with 2 pounds Thai Lucky Elephant rice (from Costco, 25 pound bag for $17.99) cooked exactly the same way. I did rinse but did not soak.

Both batches of rice came out really beautiful. They are now cooling off enough to scatter the yeastage over them shortly. I plan on 2 crushed yeast balls per batch, then they're into their respective 2 quart Ball canning jars with coffee filters and rings on the top.

Then they're gonna go into my little "ferment chamber" with their older cousin to rest, relax, and reproduce for the next 3 weeks!

My first batch is running at just over 60* but seems to be fine - there is a good inch or so of liquid at the bottom, and no visible "boogeys" of any kind on the rice.

I cannot wait to taste this stuff! We went by the LBS today and the proprietor is all watered up to try it too. He has another customer who brews rice wine, and he said it was absolutely DELICIOUS when said customer brought some in for him to try. BIG FUN and again, thanks to all those who have gone before me. I'm up to page 168 now! LOL!

 

[MarcusKillion]

potatoes are good to make alcohol out of . Not wine . Vodka .

 

[Leadgolem]

I used Thai Sweet Rice, 8 cups dry rice to 12 cups water and 4 yeast balls.

Most of my batches have a kind of "peak" alcohol aroma. Usually in the middle of the fermentation process, and they then calm down during week 3. It doesn't seem to effect the final flavor significantly.

...Ambient room temp this time of year runs between 59* and 66*, depending on how warm the day is and whether or not the furnace is running (which is set to 64*).

KotC (King of the Castle) wanted it out of the house because he wants to brew beer this coming weekend and didn't want any weird yeasties abounding, so I put my jar of goodness out in the laundry room, still swaddled, and into a picnic-type cooler.

I checked the temp with a laser thermometer and it's running about 62*. There is a fair amount of liquid developing already, and no mold that I can discern yet. I have NOT opened the top on it nor otherwise molested the stuff, except to take the towel off just enough to check the temp, and the aforementioned banishment to the laundry room!...

You are actually on the cool side for rice wine, so you might not have as good of a conversion efficiency as you might want.

I also want to steal your laser thermometer.

Yep, I'm gonna just let it RELAXXXXX for 3 weeks with no intervention from me!

As for the jasmine rice, it will have to wait a bit - the local Asian market had 5 pound bags of sweet rice at $3.99 each - so I bought 4 bags! I'll definitely try some of the Thai Jasmine after that though, they had it there too.

I've gotten consistently better results from short grain sweet rice myself. I also personally prefer the wine it produces to the jasmine. The aroma of the jasmine is better, but I like the flavor of the sweet rice better.

Oh, I was actually able to find an Asian market with better prices on short grain rice. I've switched over to that as preferable for rice wine. It's annoying to handle, but IMO makes better wine.

I laughed at this part! I brew other stuff around my rice wine all the time! Aspergillus which is likely what is performing the saccharification though is a prolific contaminant at least in the laboratory environment.

Hmm aspergillus likes starch, but I wonder about it being able to address simpler sugars. So, even if it did get in the beer, would it be able to do anything? ipe:

Enquiring mimes want to gnome.

I get them here.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DRIED-YEAST...243?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e851900eb
I know....seamless plug.

Hey Jak, you still out of ARL? I'm wanting to do a largish batch with ARL but haven't seen it locally.

Day 24 spaghetti and potato finished...
Epilogue: For others that are interested the spaghetti might be ok. I strongly advise everyone to not make the potato. However, YMMV.

I'm sorry, I can't seem to find the original post. Did you cook the potatoes prior to fermentation?

 

[jak1010]

Still out of ARL. The guy at the market says it's coming from China and could take a while. I'll definitely keep you updated.

 

[SteveDodds]

I'm sorry, I can't seem to find the original post. Did you cook the potatoes prior to fermentation?

I peeled them then continued to use the potato peeler to make really thin slices. I boiled them just a little bit to soften them up. I didn't boil them to the point of making them soft enough to make mashed potatoes.

 

[ChefRex]

What is ARL? I've seen it referenced but haven't found the post with an explanation, thanks

 

[Temptd2]

Most of my batches have a kind of "peak" alcohol aroma. Usually in the middle of the fermentation process, and they then calm down during week 3. It doesn't seem to effect the final flavor significantly.

You are actually on the cool side for rice wine, so you might not have as good of a conversion efficiency as you might want.

I also want to steal your laser thermometer.

I'm seriously considering getting a seedling heat mat and hooking it up with my DorkFoods sous vide controller and setting the temp for 68* or so, inside the cooler.

We currently own 2 of the DorkFoods controllers but I'm not able to sous vide cook with them because KotC has commandeered BOTH of them - one runs the brew belt to keep the ferment at a steady temp and the other runs a brew mat to keep the conditioning chest running at a steady temp for carbonating our bottles!

I just ordered a third controller but now suspect that too is going to be used for brew purposes, specifically the rice wine, and I STILL won't be able to do any sous vide cooking! :cross:

Man am I REALLY gonna have to order a fourth one???

As for the laser temp taker - it's actually infrared with a laser "spotter" on it - they're not very expensive, got this one on Amazon for about $22! Go getcha one!

 

[JuanMoore]

What is ARL? I've seen it referenced but haven't found the post with an explanation, thanks

It's an abbreviation for Angel Rice Leaven, which is a dry rice wine yeast.

http://en.angelyeast.com/products/FoodIngredients/WineYeast2.html

 

[MarcusKillion]

I just squeezed out a few jars of wine that I had added water and yeast to to ferment out longer .
The sweet white rice came out ( before cold crashing to remove crap ) fairly good tasting . I think I may have added too much water as it was a bit weak but did not taste bad like the other stuff I made . This is the stuff in fridge at 61 degrees .
The mixed black and white I think tasted okay also but is also weak I think
The black has way too much crap in it to try right now . It came out very thick as far as wine is concerned . After it settles I will try it .
The last black i made without extra water was good . Kind of like cranberry juice watered down .

 

[MarcusKillion]

Here is something to ponder on .
The jar on left is black & white rice . this is actually the dirty part settling out again after cold crashing the whole jar and is a watermelon juice color .
the one in middle is black rice after cold crashing . It is nice and clean and is red .
The jar on right is the strange one . Notice how only about a 1/8 inch has separated after being in fridge . This is black rice also but came out quite thick with dissolved rice that just does not want to settle out .
the jar in middle was done with the usual amount of water and the one on right had water and yeast added to it . it came out quite mushy and obviously squeezed through the filter bag .

 

[ChefRex]

Started a new batch tonight, 5cups Thai jasmine, one cup of forbidden rice, three balls. Time to wait!

 

[josephbernard66]

I had a brainstorm. I started a batch using oatmeal. I also a batch using instant grits. I have no idea how this will taste. I also have no idea if I should add this post here.

 

[ChefRex]

I had a brainstorm. I started a batch using oatmeal. I also a batch using instant grits. I have no idea how this will taste. I also have no idea if I should add this post here.

Please post your results, inquiring minds want to know. You used the rice yeast balls?

 

[josephbernard66]

Yes I did. I thought about using some lees from a batch of rice wine. However I thought that a fresh yeast ball would be best. Anyways we will know in a week or so if it works and in three weeks if it's something sailors would turn down.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[ChefRex]

So it's a mix of rice and oatmeal?/grits?

 

[josephbernard66]

Three batches 1oat 1grits 1spaghetti. All using fresh ji qui.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[MarcusKillion]

So I tasted the jar on the right in my pics that would not separate . It separated about a quarter inch so far . it tastes good , black rice has a good flavor , but it has that sting I am sure is from fusels from being fermented too warm before I tossed it in the fridge . Oh well now I know . fridge it all from the start.

 

[trbig]

I've had a couple wine bottles full loosely capped in the fridge since @ Christmas time. One is wine from just sweet rice, the other is made with sweet rice with RYR in it. I went to pour a glass last night and the one made without the RYR had gone bad, while the one with the RYR in it still tasted just fine. While not a good scientific standard with just one bottle each, it made me wonder if the RYR has anything to do with keeping it from going bad? I know my Chinese friends use it and let their bottles sit for months and months at room temp.

 

[Temptd2]

I checked my "fermentation chamber" today - the one I made a little over a week ago, sweet rice in the gallon container, has a lot of clear/yellowish liquid at the bottom, no signs of any infection, volume of rice has gone down considerably. I haven't taken the lid off it at all. TWO more week, c'mon!

The other two jars in there were started on the 14th - one each of sweet rice and jasmine rice in half gallon Mason jars with coffee filters/rubber bands for "lids" - I picked one up and tilted it ever so slightly, not on purpose - and the filter got wet instantly! Removed it and there is clear liquid at the TOP of the jar. I got a paper cup and poured out a little, maybe an ounce, then dried the jar and put a new filter on it.

Tasted that stuff and ODG is that stuff GOOD! Quite sweet still but has such a great flavor to it. Man if the finished product comes out with even a hint of that flavor/sweetness - I will never be without rice brewing! Not sure if it was the sticky rice one or the jasmine rice one, I forgot to check the label before I put it back to bed.

This is such fun!

 

[WesleyS]

Just bottled my latest batch. Jasmine rice, flavored at bottling with pineapple coconut juice. After dinner I'll pasteurize and keep in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 months before opening. I've found with the process I've been using, it's well worth the wait. It turns out amazing.

 

[ChefRex]

Just bottled my latest batch. Jasmine rice, flavored at bottling with pineapple coconut juice. After dinner I'll pasteurize and keep in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 months before opening. I've found with the process I've been using, it's well worth the wait. It turns out amazing. View attachment 180413

Thanks Wes, now I'm going to have to start several more batches so I can have a pipeline! How much juice are you using?

 

[WesleyS]

Thanks Wes, now I'm going to have to start several more batches so I can have a pipeline! How much juice are you using?

I usually just add to taste, but with the amount of wine I harvested this time I just dumped the entire container in. Here's a couple pointers for anyone that wants to use the same juice. The reason I wait so long to drink it is because at first you mainly just taste the pineapple, but after a couple months the coconut comes through a lot more and it just tastes amazing. After that amount of time, the solids have settled a whole lot so it's easy to drink just the clear wine on top. And trust me, you don't want to drink the solids from a batch using this juice. For whatever reason, it tastes like hairspray. Also, maybe because of a couple of other ingredients in the juice, it forms a bunch of goopy stuff when mixed with the rice wine. I just bottle it with the goop and it just settles out over time. It looks very strange with all the goopy stuff, but it clears up nicely and turns out great over time.

 

[MarcusKillion]

Three batches 1oat 1grits 1spaghetti. All using fresh ji qui.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Home Brew mobile app

I was wanting to eat spaghetti grits and oat casserole with fish sauce but now I just want to puke .

 

[jak1010]

Damn....The pineapple coconut juice combo sounds friggin great. Definitely going to try it.

 

[josephbernard66]

I was wanting to eat spaghetti grits and oat casserole with fish sauce but now I just want to puke .

Well I wanted to see how this stuff would break down. The ingredients are cheap. I like cheap and making things that others say cannot or should not be done.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Home Brew mobile app