Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[chonas]

@clearbear, no. The only viabile microorganism in the slurry would be the yeast. That said, if you have some semiwhole rice grains you can add them with new rice and new balls/arl.

Procedure best practices update:

Start the rice out with cheese cloth covering it for the first 2-4 days (small enough holes that fruitflies can't fit, but oxygen can). Then put it under airlock with an aggressive yeast. When your bubbles are more than 14 seconds apart, you can go ahead and strain, pasteurize, and rack it. It's cutting my brew time down by 2 weeks.

 

[sgreene820]

None of the bodegas in my area carry yeast balls or red yeast rice. Neither seem to be carried on Amazon anymore.

Anyone know someplace in the DC area to buy these?

TIA.

 

[pdxal]

None of the bodegas in my area carry yeast balls or red yeast rice. Neither seem to be carried on Amazon anymore.

Anyone know someplace in the DC area to buy these?

TIA.

Funny, they pop right up on Amazon for me:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=yeast+balls

Probably much cheaper locally at an Asian food store.

 

[gitano]

Just posting so the "subscription" will work.

Paul

 

[sgreene820]

Yep, when I searched again, it came up. Ordered. I wondered how I phrased the query that first time that didn't hit on it?

Still no vendor for red yeast rice starter. I wonder if I can cultivate from one of the extract capsules they sell for cholesterol?

 

[user 211287]

A couple vendors have koji on Amazon but i do prefer RYR. 200gr is around $11 plus shipping. RYR at my market is less than half that. Angel Rice Leaven would be another option.

 

[chonas]

Most koji on amazon etc is koji rice which will yield maybe 2:1. You would want koji spores which yield like 1000:1. ARL is more like koji spores, though a different genus of mold.

 

[beermanpete]

I made my first batch on Sunday. I hope it turns out good.

 

[user 211287]

ARL no longer has a US based 360shopping website option. All based in China now unless i just cant find it. When i bought mine i could have sworn they had one on the east coast near DC.

 

[sgreene820]

H Mart in the DC area, is Korean owned. Big stores, too, but no luck. I did find RYR on ebay.

 

[pdxal]

H Mart in the DC area, is Korean owned. Big stores, too, but no luck. I did find RYR on ebay.

I'm surprised, H Mart here has yeast balls.

 

[crane]

From my experience you cannot rely on the staff at these stores to know if they carry any of this stuff or where it would be. I went to one of the local Asian grocery stores here and asked multiple people, only one kinda new what I was talking about but said they didn't sell yeast balls. While still in the store I googled it and found someones blog who made this stuff. I learned from that blog that this store did sell them and what aisle to find them in.

 

[beermanpete]

From my experience you cannot rely on the staff at these stores to know if they carry any of this stuff or where it would be. I went to one of the local Asian grocery stores here and asked multiple people, only one kinda new what I was talking about but said they didn't sell yeast balls. While still in the store I googled it and found someones blog who made this stuff. I learned from that blog that this store did sell them and what aisle to find them in.

I had a similar experience trying to find the yeast balls. At the third Asian market I went to in the San Fernando Valley I ask several store clerks for help finding them and it still seemed a bit uncertain. I decided to take the chance with what I was directed to and went to the checker with the yeast balls. She immediately asked if I was making traditional rice wine. Go figure.

 

[Electrake]

Anyone have any colored molds on top? the rice wine smells fantastic.. But the fuzz on top is taking on a dark appearance

 

[sgreene820]

I started a big batch with sweet rice a little under three weeks ago, Shanghai yeast balls and RYR. Harvested today. Still very sweet, but boozy. Wondering if I harvested too soon? Well liquified, but the yeast hasn't kept up with the converted starch. Maybe too much alcohol to keep going?

Put in a gallon jug with some Lalvin 1122 and yeast energizer. Hoping another week will dry it out some.

 

[user 211287]

I would have used K1V-1116. Leave at room temps for a day and then put it in a much cooler spot to finish. Its the "killer" yeast and tolerates cold temps and higher ABV fairly well.

 

[eigua]

I started a big batch with sweet rice a little under three weeks ago, Shanghai yeast balls and RYR. Harvested today. Still very sweet, but boozy. Wondering if I harvested too soon? Well liquified, but the yeast hasn't kept up with the converted starch. Maybe too much alcohol to keep going?

Put in a gallon jug with some Lalvin 1122 and yeast energizer. Hoping another week will dry it out some.

That has happened to me before also. I was never able to get it restarted using champagne yeast. I suspect it may have worked if I had added additional water to water it down some since it was so absurdly sweet. It smelled boozy, but after drinking it, it was clearly very low ABV.

 

[sgreene820]

I may regret doing this but I added a couple of cups of water, since I figured the ABV was going to be too high to restart a fermentation with the added yeast. Here's what it looks like now.

 

[pdxal]

I started a big batch with sweet rice a little under three weeks ago, Shanghai yeast balls and RYR. Harvested today. Still very sweet, but boozy. Wondering if I harvested too soon? Well liquified, but the yeast hasn't kept up with the converted starch. Maybe too much alcohol to keep going?

Put in a gallon jug with some Lalvin 1122 and yeast energizer. Hoping another week will dry it out some.

Try another batch and wait 6 weeks with the yeast balls instead and compare the outcomes. It ends sweet, but 3 weeks is generally too early for fermentation to have finished. You will also have carbonated wine if you seal it up after just 3 weeks unless you pasteurize it.

 

[user 211287]

Ive used both EC1118 and K1V1116 to dry out sweet rice wine.....They both got quite dry.

 

[sgreene820]

Try another batch and wait 6 weeks with the yeast balls instead and compare the outcomes. It ends sweet, but 3 weeks is generally too early for fermentation to have finished. You will also have carbonated wine if you seal it up after just 3 weeks unless you pasteurize it.

So you haven't had problems with acetobacter? One of the other threads said harvest in three weeks.

 

[pdxal]

So you haven't had problems with acetobacter? One of the other threads said harvest in three weeks.

I have never had a batch sour, in over 2 dozen.
Clean your equipment as with brewing beer, keep sealed up but not airtight without an airlock or with one, use Shanghai style yeast balls, and you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[sgreene820]

Just tasted after another weeks ferm, this time w/o the rice lees. I didn't notice any obvious effect ferm from adding EC-1122 (and some water), but it is less sweet now, with a nice warm nose like a sherry. The pink from the RYR looks more amber in the glass. Tastes like a cross between a sake and and sweetish sherry, too. Stills tastes like ABV is > 10%, but I wouldn't care to guess with any more precision.

 

[yardnomes]

I have made a few batches of this rice wine with great results, but I have some questions regarding my most recent.

I made 4 one gallon jars full and well, I forgot all about them. I think I made them back in February or March. Probably February. Long story short, I began a nine month deployment back in May. All the containers are still in their original jars with only a paper towel "airlock" sitting in the back of my closet back home. I wont be home until March.

Does anyone have any idea what I can expect after letting this stuff go for a year? My gut tells me disaster, but my heart remains hopeful that I will have inadvertently made something special.

 

[crane]

I wouldn't get your hopes up too high. With exposure to oxygen for that long I would expect a very acetic vinegar.

 

[user 211287]

I wouldn't get your hopes up too high. With exposure to oxygen for that long I would expect a very acetic vinegar.

Sounds like a great start to a good rice wine vinegar to me.

 

[sgreene820]

This is week five. Think pink!

 

[beermanpete]

I separated the wine from the rice mash after fermenting for 4 weeks. I did not taste it yet but it is quite aromatic and smells of alcohol. The mash remnants taste ok, somewhat tangy but nothing that suggests an infection. What is the typical aging time for this product? Should I rack it off the lees that have settled out of solution?

 

[sgreene820]

Mine was too sweet after 4 weeks. I had decanted it, so I left it to continue fermentation. This weekend will be 6 weeks. I think I'll be done, even if it isn't.

 

[ethics_gradient]

How do you all prep your glutenous rice? I am 1 for 3 with this stuff, I think due to inconsistencies making the rice.