Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[josephbernard66]

Yeah. You were the one that said brew more. I got some buddies that wanna brew some too. I been sharing my stuff now im out. Lesson learned dont be too nice. But if you somethinf from down here ill make a trade.

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[Melana]

Ok, where do I get the yeast balls?


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[ChefRex]

Ok, where do I get the yeast balls?


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If you're not fluent in Chinese and don't feel like searching asian markets, jac1010 is selling them on Ebay.
Good stuff.

 

[Melana]

If you're not fluent in Chinese and don't feel like searching asian markets, jac1010 is selling them on Ebay.
Good stuff.

Thanks!

 

[Rambunctious]

Some where earlier in this thread it was mentioned that they were going to try to form into balls and dry the remains of their rice wine lees into yeast balls. Can anyone comment as to weather this works and is worth the effort?


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[AbstractBrewer]

Still no airlock activity. I have had ciders do this in the past, so hope is not yet lost. Maybe this Mason jar does not seal well, and it is escaping there. The one gal does not have a screw top, rather a slide on kinda lid. Time will tell.

 

[josephbernard66]

I tried to reuse the lees. Mine just turned green . I was air drying them though.

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[Temptd2]

I've been getting 2+ quarts out of 5 cup batches of jasmine.

Same here.

To save a poor fellow brewer from search fatigue - what is your rice/water ratio? This one was a 1:1. Thanks!

 

[ChefRex]

To save a poor fellow brewer from search fatigue - what is your rice/water ratio? This one was a 1:1. Thanks!

Soaked overnight, one cup rice to 1.25 water, bring to a boil, reduce to lowest setting for 25 minutes, remove from heat and let cool.
I have let it cool all day while I am at work or until it is in low 70's everywhere, I have an inferred thermometer there it a lot of variations, with the same results.
Hope this helps.

 

[Temptd2]

Thanks, Chef, that does help, and I also test mine with an laser-guided infrared.

 

[ChefRex]

Thanks, Chef, that does help, and I also test mine with an laser-guided infrared.

My pleasure.

 

[MasterCrook]

That's the RYR I just bought for 99 cents at a local Asian food market in North York, Ontario

 

[jak1010]

Yeah. You were the one that said brew more. I got some buddies that wanna brew some too. I been sharing my stuff now im out. Lesson learned dont be too nice. But if you somethinf from down here ill make a trade.

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Damn! Been busy all day and just got to seeing this. Just sold my last bag of RYR a few hours ago. You'll be first on my list when I get more. Glad you're enjoying this stuff. I did the same thing, started bringing this to parties and then making it for groups at parties. It goes quickly.

 

[Leadgolem]

Just harvested my first batch of wine made with jasmine rice - it's a 4 weeks because I made a mistake and packed it too tightly into the jar, so at 3 weeks, I put it in a different jar much more loosely packed.

It's REALLY good - different taste than the sweet rice, which we like too - but interestingly, 4 cups of jasmine rice = about 750ml of wine, where 4 cups of sweet rice made two 750ml bottles plus about half a 16 oz. bottle. What to do, what to do - more jasmine, or not!

Well, I still have a lot of jasmine rice left, so I guess that answers THAT question....

I generally use a 1:1.5 ratio of dry rice to water. Without presoaking, and get a better yield then you reported.

The sweet rice has consistently yielded better then the jasmine though. I believe it has to do with the higher proportion of short chain carbohydrates in the short grain sweet rice. They are easier to saccharify then the longer chain starches that are more common in jasmine rice.

The jasmine rice wine does have a better aroma, but I like the taste of the sweet rice better.

I tried to reuse the lees. Mine just turned green . I was air drying them though.

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I've not been able to preserve the lees for reuse yet either. I also tried air drying, and refrigeration for a couple of weeks. Both attempts failed. I believe the bug producing the amylase enzyme died in both cases. The air drying also killed the monascus purpureus, though the refrigeration did not. It probably would have been possible to add yeast balls and refrigerated RYR lees to start a new RYR batch. Though I have no idea how long it would keep in the fridge. My experiment was at 2 weeks in the fridge.

I have had success in reusing the lees immediately after harvesting a batch. The white rice wine lees seem to have a tendency to get infected, and also produce progressively tangier batches. Probably due to acetobacter getting thicker as time goes on. So I prefer to make batches fresh for white rice wine.

The red rice wine batches did not either tend to get infections, or change discernibly in taste between batches. I was able to do 4 batches back to back, without any negative indications, from a single starter. I believe the monascus purpureus is inhibiting the growth of acetobacter, and most other kinds of common batch infections. So, I will generally make one RYR batch and reuse the lees until I have as much wine as I want.

 

[ChefRex]

Leadgolum, when you make RYR batches are you using only RYR or a mix with the balls? Either way how much RYR are you using?
Thanks

 

[CliffMongoloid]

Mine looks weird i think... liquid and small chucks... Strong alcohol smell

 

[trbig]

How big a batch are you doing, I may have read it but I don't want to go back.

Sorry, was gone all weekend. I do a minimum of 10 lbs dry rice, but sometimes 25. I just use a 7 1/2 gal ferment bucket that I also rotate and make beer in. 25 lbs is a tight fit in a 7 1/2 gal bucket.

 

[ChefRex]

Sorry, was gone all weekend. I do a minimum of 10 lbs dry rice, but sometimes 25. I just use a 7 1/2 gal ferment bucket that I also rotate and make beer in. 25 lbs is a tight fit in a 7 1/2 gal bucket.

On issues doing that large of a batch? I think it was Leadgolum that had an issue doing, I think, a 5 gallon batch.

 

[troy2000]

My nephew asked me an interesting question yesterday about the yeast balls: "does that stuff work on wheat?"

My answer was, "I dunno. Bring me some wheat next time you swing by, and we'll find out."

Full disclosure: It isn't just an idle question. My parents ground their own flour and made their own cracked wheat for years (ever had cracked wheat, almond milk and honey slow-cooked overnight for breakfast?). When they died they left several hundred pounds of red winter wheat, that's sealed in 50 lb double bags and probably good for a thousand years...

My nephew was their live-in caretaker the last few years of their life, so he got custody of the wheat and the flour mill. And if the yeast balls work on wheat, we're looking at a lifetime supply of booze....

If they don't, we've lost a few cups of wheat and some yeast balls. Sounds like a good gamble to me....

 

[Temptd2]

I tried it on some tails from a mash and it doesn't look like it's doing a dang thing except growing a big SCOBY on top! But that's mostly barley, so I'll be interested to hear if the wheat works. We buy hard red winter wheat by the 50# bag to sprout/dehydrate/grind for flour for our breadmaking. So there is always some wheat around the house in one form or another!

 

[trbig]

On issues doing that large of a batch? I think it was Leadgolum that had an issue doing, I think, a 5 gallon batch.

No issues other than normal stuff you have on small batches. You win some and lose some. Mostly win. Hardest part for me, is I've found the cooler I can ferment this stuff, the better. Warmer ferments make for a sour batch. There doesn't seem to be such thing as a cold crash and make dormant on whatever yeast this is. I've had a carboy of it out in the garage in the low 30's and it still bubbles. Seeing some of the results from capped rice wine exploding in peoples' fridges, this seems to attest to that. Only thing that seems to really stop it is heat, but I've never tried k-meta or sorbate on it either.

 

[candlejack]

Question for you all.

I read the first 10-20 pages of this post and am very intrigued by this recipe. Since yeast balls are hard to come by, if i find some and make this recipe....can i take leftover rice mush at the end of a batch when bottling and use that to start a new batch?

Thank you in advance for your replies!

 

[josephbernard66]

No good on grits oatmeal or potatoes... no on spaghetti as well. Pickle flavors with potatoe. Grits more or less the same. Oatmeal was nasty.

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[Temptd2]

No issues other than normal stuff you have on small batches. You win some and lose some. Mostly win. Hardest part for me, is I've found the cooler I can ferment this stuff, the better. Warmer ferments make for a sour batch. There doesn't seem to be such thing as a cold crash and make dormant on whatever yeast this is. I've had a carboy of it out in the garage in the low 30's and it still bubbles. Seeing some of the results from capped rice wine exploding in peoples' fridges, this seems to attest to that. Only thing that seems to really stop it is heat, but I've never tried k-meta or sorbate on it either.

Me too. Have fermented all my batches at between 60* and 66*. Have had NO off flavors, smells, or anything growing, aside from a small patch or two of barely discernible white fuzz. No acetone, no fruity stuff, just nice clean flavors and smells so far.

 

[josephbernard66]

I been fermenting at room temps. My stuff is tangy some people like most don't. To tell the truth my taste buds aren't very picky. I like the fact its easy and reasonably cheap to make.

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[josephbernard66]

Just had a great idea for bottling this rice wine. 1 gallon tea jugs. When they get opened you can never fully seal them again. They are also plastic and can handle expansion if need be.

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[josephbernard66]

Milo jugs.

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[jak1010]

Just had a great idea for bottling this rice wine. 1 gallon tea jugs. When they get opened you can never fully seal them again. They are also plastic and can handle expansion if need be.

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Not a bad idea. It should hold just fine. Although, my batches don't stay around long enough to need "bottling". I just need a container for short term storage.

I use a few flip top bottles to stash them in and they're usually empty by the time the next batch is ready for harvest.

 

[josephbernard66]

Mine neither.

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[troy2000]

Mine neither.

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Neither of my first two batches have shown the slightest inclination to keep fermenting and carbonizing after being bottled. But only having done the two, I can't really make any sweeping generalizations... and I fermented both batches for several weeks