Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[pdxal]

So many pages, it's hard to read them all. Not sure if anybody else asked this. If your steam the rice with pineapple juice, will the pineapple flavor come through? Or would it make more sense to just add the juice to the finished wine?

If you use jasmine rice and Chinese yeast balls you'll end up with a lot of pineapple flavor. I would add the juice before drinking, and not ferment it, if you want more pineapple and/or sweetness.

 

[mrsamisme]

Even at 16% - 18%, that's like sake or slightly stronger. That's an impressive yield considering you had so much water. I'm definitely going to experiment with batches like you did with adding water and rice every 3 days.

Yeah, my next batch I'm gonna do the same way and I'll use koji rice this time. I just got a koji from Japan. I got 500 grams for $15. I'm excited about the process.

My last batch is now being infused 1/2 with cucumber 1/2 with coconut. Yummy!

 

[user 211287]

Considering the cost of the koji i was not very impressed with it for making a rice wine. ARL, RYR and yeast balls all tasted just as good to me for a fraction of the price. At $15/500 gram and the effort involved to make it, i can pretty much buy sake for that price.

RYR mixed with yeast balls sofar has been about the best overall.

 

[brewit75]

Considering the cost of the koji i was not very impressed with it for making a rice wine. ARL, RYR and yeast balls all tasted just as good to me for a fraction of the price. At $15/500 gram and the effort involved to make it, i can pretty much buy sake for that price.

RYR mixed with yeast balls sofar has been about the best overall.

There's just something about using the Red Yeast Rice and Yeast balls that transforms the wine. It looks completely different than just using yeast balls and gives the appearance of fruity. But, I would say strong and smooth are my best description of it.

 

[eigua]

There's just something about using the Red Yeast Rice and Yeast balls that transforms the wine. It looks completely different than just using yeast balls and gives the appearance of fruity. But, I would say strong and smooth are my best description of it.

I agree. It has a very fruity aroma. Whether that's a good thing or not is subjective. I like it, but I also like it without the RYR.

 

[mrsamisme]

Considering the cost of the koji i was not very impressed with it for making a rice wine. ARL, RYR and yeast balls all tasted just as good to me for a fraction of the price. At $15/500 gram and the effort involved to make it, i can pretty much buy sake for that price.

RYR mixed with yeast balls sofar has been about the best overall.

Yeah $15 is high but I wanted to give it a try. I'm finding already that the basic recipes in this forum may prove best. My 5/31/16 batch is doing great. I've not stirred it, nor tasted it, I'm just letting it ride as Sonofgrok consistently encourages us all. It smells amazing.

 

[eigua]

I know by reading this thread that it's generally accepted to let this ferment for 21-30 days. Both my batches of glutenous rice and long grain rice completed in 30 days, but my batch of broken jasmine rice has been going now for 41 days and is still bubbling quite vigorously. I hesitated to leave it past 30 days because I've read that it can start to sour into vinegar, but over the last 10 days I have clearly noticed both an increase in liquid volume and a lot more of the floating rice has started hanging down and disintegrating. The liquid is still clear and it seems both more starch conversion and fermentation are taking place. For those that use jasmine rice, do you generally just halt it at 30 days regardless or do you wait until it stops bubbling?

To answer my own question, I decided to wait until it had almost completely stopped bubbling, which ended up being 50 days since I started. It took on slightly yellow color the last couple of weeks of fermentation, but I'm happy to say that it's absolutely amazing tasting. Smooth, sweet, and potent! I think it actually tastes better than the batch I made using glutenous rice. That finished a lot faster, but wasn't nearly as delicious. I'm currently making another batch using glutenous rice also.

I had an impressive yield also. 2 1/2 c dry broken jasmine rice turned into 1.223 liters of cloudy, delicious rice wine. (I squeezed the rice solids in a paint strainer. I'd rather have cloudy wine than waste all that liquid.)

 

[pdxal]

To answer my own question, I decided to wait until it had almost completely stopped bubbling, which ended up being 50 days since I started. It took on slightly yellow color the last couple of weeks of fermentation, but I'm happy to say that it's absolutely amazing tasting. Smooth, sweet, and potent! I think it actually tastes better than the batch I made using glutenous rice. That finished a lot faster, but wasn't nearly as delicious. I'm currently making another batch using glutenous rice also.

I had an impressive yield also. 2 1/2 c dry broken jasmine rice turned into 1.223 liters of cloudy, delicious rice wine. (I squeezed the rice solids in a paint strainer. I'd rather have cloudy wine than waste all that liquid.)

Not accepted to just go 21-30 days, but many do.
I always go 5-6 weeks and have never had the wine go sour, using Chinese yeast balls and jasmine or any other rice.
I've liked the jasmine rice batches better, and at $15 for 25# rice, a good price point.
Good yield, enjoy!

 

[user 211287]

Jasmine is cheaper than a good short grain sticky rice. Another good cheap rice are the Korean rice varieties. They are short to medium grain in size. Rhee Chun and Han Kuk Mi are both cheaper Cali grown brands.

 

[BargainFittings]

Doing some bigger batches.

2 gallons from last batch and cooking up 20 pounds of jasmine rice for the next batch.

 

[kickinit233]

I think I might have a problem with mine it has been fermenting it for 4 days and while there is alcohol being created there is also a white mold like substance growing on the rice should I be worried.

 

[brewit75]

I think I might have a problem with mine it has been fermenting it for 4 days and while there is alcohol being created there is also a white mold like substance growing on the rice should I be worried.

I don't think that's a problem. In fact, it's a good thing. Can you take a picture and post it?

 

[kickinit233]

Its kind of hard to see in the photo but here it is.

 

[eigua]

I think I might have a problem with mine it has been fermenting it for 4 days and while there is alcohol being created there is also a white mold like substance growing on the rice should I be worried.

Search this thread. There's a ton of talk about the mold. It's normal and to be expected. The yeast balls contain both a mold and a yeast. The mold grows throughout the rice and creates amylase enzyme which breaks down the starch into liquid sugars which the yeast is then able to ferment. Some people see the mold growing on the outside of the rice, some don't. Regardless, the mold is growing throughout the rice. If it didn't, you'd never get fermentation.

 

[brewit75]

Its kind of hard to see in the photo but here it is.

Looks nice and white and fluffy. This is a good thing. Just make sure there's nothing black in color. As others have posted, the growth of mold is needed to break down the starches and convert/ferment. Keep it going.

 

[eigua]

Looks nice and white and fluffy. This is a good thing. Just make sure there's nothing black in color. As others have posted, the growth of mold is needed to break down the starches and convert/ferment. Keep it going.

Little black specks on the mold hairs is okay though.

 

[brewit75]

Little black specks on the mold hairs is okay though.

Agreed. I've seen that many time. Looks like tiny eyeballs for the mold.

 

[eigua]

Agreed. I've seen that many time. Looks like tiny eyeballs for the mold.

Hahaha! They're watching you.... Eww!

 

[SaucedBrews]

Perhaps it's been mentioned already, but I'll say it here... Pasteurize!

Along with the benefits of killing off anything you don't want to ingest, it also deactivates the yeast that you do want in the rice wine. If sealed in an airtight container, there's a high likelihood that, without pasteurization, the yeast will remain active and carbonate your beverage.

In an earlier batch, I didn't pasteurize and the rice wine was stored in small mason jars in the fridge. When opened after a week, it was bubbly like champagne.

 

[eigua]

Perhaps it's been mentioned already, but I'll say it here... Pasteurize!

Along with the benefits of killing off anything you don't want to ingest, it also deactivates the yeast that you do want in the rice wine. If sealed in an airtight container, there's a high likelihood that, without pasteurization, the yeast will remain active and carbonate your beverage.

In an earlier batch, I didn't pasteurize and the rice wine was stored in small mason jars in the fridge. When opened after a week, it was bubbly like champagne.

I have also pasteurized both batches I made because I read that if it continues to ferment it may eventually turn to vinegar due to the mix of different bacteria. I haven't opened any of my pasteurized stuff. I'm curious, do you know if it significantly changes the taste?

 

[pdxal]

Perhaps it's been mentioned already, but I'll say it here... Pasteurize!

Along with the benefits of killing off anything you don't want to ingest, it also deactivates the yeast that you do want in the rice wine. If sealed in an airtight container, there's a high likelihood that, without pasteurization, the yeast will remain active and carbonate your beverage.

In an earlier batch, I didn't pasteurize and the rice wine was stored in small mason jars in the fridge. When opened after a week, it was bubbly like champagne.

Another option is to just wait until it has finished fermenting.
I've said this before in the thread... if you wait until about 6 weeks the rice wine will have finished fermenting and you don't have to worry about pasteurizing or carbonation/further fermentation.
This has been with both Chinese and Vietnamese yeast balls.
I harvest at 6 weeks and bottle in 2 liter plastic bottles to sit and settle to decant for clear wine, and rarely have any additional CO2 being produced.

 

[brooklynkayak]

... I'm curious, do you know if it significantly changes the taste?

Yes, I personally prefer the taste of rice wine over rice wine vinegar. I also don't miss cleaning up the mess from exploding bottles.

Your are also less prone to foul taste from other organisms growing in your bottles. Salmonella and other nasties can be an issue after long term storage.

Of course pasteurization is not necessary if you keep your bottles cool and consume them within a couple months.

 

[mot_]

what is the best process to crew sake? there are so many online and so many on the forum...what do you guys recommend? i just wanted to do a basic dry sake with japanese rice and koji.

 

[MasterCrook]

Just got a commercial 60 cup rice cooker!
Can't wait to make the next batch with it

 

[Weaves]

What would be the best way to pasteurize this?

 

[eigua]

What would be the best way to pasteurize this?

There's a thread in the cider forum about stovetop pasteurizing.

I tried pasteurizing several ways. My best attempt was the last. I put the wine in a fairly strong bottle (just to be safe) like a flip top, then I heated water to about 150, turned off the heat and put the bottles in it for about 10-20 minutes to let everything equalize. Since I didn't have a large enough pot to do all this in a single go, I then heated a second pot of hotter water -- 180 I believe. I poured the hot water into my 5 gal bucket and then transferred the warmed up bottles into the bucket with the 180 degree water. I had to then heat more water in a few more batches to fill the bucket high enough with hot water, adjusting the temperature higher as the bucket water dropped temp. Keeping the lid on between water batches helped keep the temp from dropping too much though. According information I read, you want to keep the contents of the bottle at 165+ for at least 10 minutes.

The main things I tried to avoid were A) shocking the bottles by sticking them directly in 180+ degree water B) heating the pot with glass bottles inside it.

You also want to leave a decent amount of head space in the bottle. I left maybe 3-4 inches, but during pasteurization the fluid level rose to where there was only maybe 1/2 - 3/4 inch of space left. It dropped back down as it cooled.

 

[Weaves]

Thanks for the reply!!

 

[Weaves]

Okay sorry if this was mentioned before but there are sooooo many posts to read through....

I know it was said it turns vinegary over time if aged too much, does this stay the same if pasteurize it or will that prevent that?

 

[pdxal]

Okay sorry if this was mentioned before but there are sooooo many posts to read through....

I know it was said it turns vinegary over time if aged too much, does this stay the same if pasteurize it or will that prevent that?

I've never had a batch go sour, regardless of age, but true pasteurization should kill anything that will sour it.
As mentioned above, the thread on pasteurization linked is a great how-to guide.

 

[Frame125]

Bottled my first rice wine yesterday. Huh... It smells like overripe fruits With a hint of dumpster mixed in and that's when cold. But tastes much better than the smell. Its odd. It very sweet, very tart not really alcoholic or the other tastes overpower it. Seems like it be great for cooking but is very very strong to taste.
Cooked 7 cups rice 14 cups water 4 balls powdered mixed in, stuffed in glass jars with flip tops 45 days in house . It looked like all the pics you see of the stuff.
Not sure if this is how it's supposed to be ( never had rice wine elsewhere) or if I did stuff wrong. If it wasn't so sweet then it would be too tart, but that sugar should have been converted IMO to alcohol
Maybe add different yeast with the balls like in makgeolli home brews I have seen.

Ideas?