Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[jak1010]

jak1010,

I just order some yeast balls from you on Ebay, looking forward to trying this out!

Thanks!

Chris

Nice! Thanks for that. You're going to love this stuff. Just be careful...it's freaking awesome!

 

[jak1010]

After 2 days mine has a decent amount of liquid on top ... Is this normal?

Should be fine...Can you post a pic of it?

 

[CliffMongoloid]

Should be fine...Can you post a pic of it?

.

 

[jak1010]

Hard to tell from the pic but, it looks like all is well. Very similar to what I've seen before. No weird colors or growths. How long has it been going?

 

[CliffMongoloid]

Hard to tell from the pic but, it looks like all is well. Very similar to what I've seen before. No weird colors or growths. How long has it been going?

3 days... There is some white fuzz on top

 

[ChefRex]

3 days... There is some white fuzz on top

Looks normal, how about a side shot?

 

[CliffMongoloid]

Looks normal, how about a side shot?

Its in a white 2 gallon bucket

 

[Leadgolem]

Any differences for red over white? Temps... times.... X cetera ?

Not really, the wine is very different though. The RYR produces a much fruitier, and less tangy wine. The RYR it's self produces the fruit flavor. It also seems to inhibit the growth of acetobacter in the batch.

I've had good success with using the lees from a RYR batch to do another batch. You do have to mix the lees in with new cooled rice immediately after harvesting. No stashing it in the fridge or anything like that. Trying to do that with white rice wine has produced wine, but generally it's more acid in it then I would like.

3 days... There is some white fuzz on top

Here's a picture of what I consider normal mold growth on the top of a RYR batch. The mold is normal on white rice wine batches too, it's just a lot harder to see. The red gives it a good contrast.

Gray-green or orange mold is bad. Sometimes black mold is bad, sometimes it's the koji fruiting body and is fine.

 

[Temptd2]

We just had about 3 ounces each of the harvested-Monday rice wine, warmed up slightly in the MW. It's so dang good.

ONE of the two 750ml bottles opens with a very considerable POP! every day. The other one has a slight pop to it but nothing compared to the first. Also, when that first one POPS - it causes the solids to self-mix with the clearer top liquid. Anyone else having this happen?

I think I'm going to pasteurize these in the next day or so - have more ready to harvest tomorrow, and more next week, so I can see that the two of us won't be able to keep up with the production! PLUS there is homebrew in the house, and some in the conditioning chamber, AND we're brewing this weekend.

 

[jak1010]

3 days... There is some white fuzz on top

Perfect. That sounds exactly right. Just keep that lid on and make sure no nastiness get in. In about 14-17 more days there'll be so much alcohol produced that the fuzzy good mold will be all gone.

 

[CliffMongoloid]

Perfect. That sounds exactly right. Just keep that lid on and make sure no nastiness get in. In about 14-17 more days there'll be so much alcohol produced that the fuzzy good mold will be all gone.

Awesome thanks... I'll forget about it fit a bit

 

[AbstractBrewer]

What kind of volumes are we talking about for a 1 gallon container? I keep reading all through the thread, but see very little about specific recipes? I plan to use Jasmine Rice, and yeast balls.

I bought a 1 gal Mason jar, drilled the lid and added an airlock. Fit the sleeve of a sweater over it to block light, and keep warm. Just need an idea of how much rice(dry) to how many Yeast balls. Yeast is from jak1010, not sure about how big they are?

 

[ChefRex]

What kind of volumes are we talking about for a 1 gallon container? I keep reading all through the thread, but see very little about specific recipes? I plan to use Jasmine Rice, and yeast balls.

I bought a 1 gal Mason jar, drilled the lid and added an airlock. Fit the sleeve of a sweater over it to block light, and keep warm. Just need an idea of how much rice(dry) to how many Yeast balls. Yeast is from jak1010, not sure about how big they are?

I have been putting six dry cups in a one gallon container along with three balls, yields a little over two quarts of wine.

 

[AbstractBrewer]

Excellent. Thanks for the reply.

 

[ChefRex]

No problem, the worst part is the wait. The stuff is so good.

 

[Temptd2]

I had another batch set to harvest today - but it's the batch where I really packed the rice into the half-gallon jug. It showed very little liquid, so I spooned the rice out into a large bowl, broke it up (and it was still very much grains, not just mush) and put it into a gallon jug, and back in the cooler. I'm gonna give it another week and see how it looks.

Mine has been fermenting in the 60 to 64* range and doing just splendidly. VERY little formation of anything fuzzy on top, no off odors, and the wine we did harvest on Monday past is really good. And, those two bottles continue to ferment in the fridge, which the bottom shelf is just about 40*. I get a very hearty POP! off especially one of them when I decork it every day.

Pretty happy with my rice wine farm!

 

[AbstractBrewer]

Pics of my mini brewer.



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[AbstractBrewer]

Its 1 gallon. Sitting next to 5 gallons of Skeeter Pee......

 

[mjwj12]

Does cold crashing work for rice wine?


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[jak1010]

Pics of my mini brewer.View attachment 184271View attachment 184272



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That's really friggin cool. I may try doing that.

 

[jak1010]

Does cold crashing work for rice wine?


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It depends on the reason. For clearing it and allowing the solids to drop out, I'd say yes. Very effective. For slowing down the yeast and fermentation, I'd say be very careful. In my fridge, it tends to continue and needs to be "burped" often.

 

[AbstractBrewer]

That's really friggin cool. I may try doing that.

Thanks! It doesn't bother SWMBO nearly as much as the CarBoys.

 

[jak1010]

Yup, I'll be making a lid tomorrow. Cool thing is, the lids fit pint and quart size jars so I can move it around if needed based on the size of the batch. Thanks again.

 

[mjwj12]

Here is my wine that I put in the fridge to cod crash last night. What do I do with it now?


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[trbig]

Here is my wine that I put in the fridge to cod crash last night. What do I do with it now? View attachment 184473

If you want clear wine, keep those greedy little fingers I see in the right side of the pic away from it for a couple more days in the fridge.

Try a sip from the clear stuff on top, then shake up the bottle a bit and try another sip. See how you like it best, then drink it that way. A week or so in the fridge will condense those solids and leave you more clear stuff.

 

[jak1010]

Here is my wine that I put in the fridge to cod crash last night. What do I do with it now? View attachment 184473


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That was quick. I'd say keep Thing away from it. (Is that the hand creature from The Adams Family?) and taste both versions of the wine. Clear and then solids mixed in. See what you like.

 

[jak1010]

If you want clear wine, keep those greedy little fingers I see in the right side of the pic away from it for a couple more days in the fridge.

Try a sip from the clear stuff on top, then shake up the bottle a bit and try another sip. See how you like it best, then drink it that way. A week or so in the fridge will condense those solids and leave you more clear stuff.

Yea....what he said.

 

[troy2000]

OK, put the pot to use this weekend. I soaked 5 cups of Thai jasmine rice overnight, cooked and cooled it, and mixed 3 powdered yeast balls into it.

It's in my fermenter, along with the batch I started a while back. That one's probably ready to bottle; it doesn't seem to be doing anything.

And why is there room in my fermenter? Because the batch of grain I was assured by telephone would definitely be here by Friday at the very latest is apparently going to get here Tuesday instead, according to FedEx tracking. !@#$%^&.....

OK. Harvested this batch today. From the original five cups of rice, I wound up with exactly seven cups of wine. And it's potent stuff....

I think it's delicious, although I may not be the most reliable judge of such things; I'm opinionated and have strong preferences. For example, I think the wheaty smoothness of Marker's Mark disqualifies it as a bourbon, although I'd take it over Canadian whiskey. Real bourbon uses rye with the corn instead of wheat, and has a bite to it.

At any rate, no way am I going to tamper with this wine by adding juices, flavorings, ice cubes or anything else. The only thing I'm going to do is chill it, and let it settle while I decide whether to stir the solids back into it whenever I pour a (small!) glass.

The bean pot performed like a champ; making rice wine is now its assigned mission in life. Interestingly, the rice is completely unrecognizable as such. It turned into a batch of somewhat ropy dough, that could almost be mistaken for a thick, well-aged sourdough starter. I'm going to roll it into balls, dry it, and see if I can use it instead of store-bought yeast balls for my next batch.

 

[jak1010]

OK. Harvested this batch today. From the original five cups of rice, I wound up with exactly seven cups of wine. And it's potent stuff....

I think it's delicious, although I may not be the most reliable judge of such things; I'm opinionated and have strong preferences. For example, I think the wheaty smoothness of Marker's Mark disqualifies it as a bourbon, although I'd take it over Canadian whiskey. Real bourbon uses rye with the corn instead of wheat, and has a bite to it.

At any rate, no way am I going to tamper with this wine by adding juices, flavorings, ice cubes or anything else. The only thing I'm going to do is chill it, and let it settle while I decide whether to stir the solids back into it whenever I pour a (small!) glass.

The bean pot performed like a champ; making ice wine is now its assigned mission in life. Interestingly, the rice is completely unrecognizable as such. It turned into a batch of somewhat ropy dough, that could almost be mistaken for a thick, well-aged sourdough starter. I'm going to roll it into balls, dry it, and see if I can use it instead of store-bought yeast balls for my next batch.

I like the bean pot idea. You like the results?

 

[jak1010]

On a side note...I made a lid for mason jars that can be used for rice wine. I made this one with a small whole punch and then a reamer to expand the size. Unfortunately, I made the whole too big for the airlock so, I used some wax to seal the gaps. I attached it to the quart mason jar for a wild yeast starter for a batch of apple juice.

Thanks AbstractBrewer for the cool idea!