Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[MikeOhio]

I'm now starting to wonder if i had bad yeast balls in some way? Ill keep trying.

 

[Antonovich]

I'm now starting to wonder if i had bad yeast balls in some way? Ill keep trying.

were all the yeast balls from the same batch? Ive used both thai sweet rice and jasmine rice without any issues. Although I do my rice/ water at 1:1 in a rice cooker. I always wash rice, but don't soak it.

 

[MikeOhio]

Yep...Hang tai marine products yeast balls/amazon, and local walmart dynasty thai jasmine rice. What was your ferm temps antonovich?

 

[Antonovich]

Yep...Hang tai marine products yeast balls/amazon, and local walmart dynasty thai jasmine rice. What was your ferm temps antonovich?

just at room temp on the kitchen counter. Our house is a little cooler the past while, prob 65-68F unless we're using the oven.

 

[sgreene820]

Has anyone figured out how to dilute the rice wine enough to restart fermentation and dry out the end product a little? I was thinking about maybe adding 25% sterilized water.

 

[OpenSights]

Sunday will be the end of week #4. I’ve only seen minor activity, but looks on par with pictures posted.

 

[OpenSights]

Work made me wait an extra two weeks. Very boozy and sweet. Sushi rice 1-1 rice/water. Good stuff! Going to try adding cinnamon in the next batch... or ginger.... maybe one of each.

 

[sgreene820]

Has anyone figured out how to dilute the rice wine enough to restart fermentation and dry out the end product a little? I was thinking about maybe adding 25% sterilized water.

To answer my own question. I've restarted fermentation after combining two batch with lees and adding about 25% water. It took time and temperature (probably mostly temperature) for it to restart fermentation. It's slowly bubbling into an airlock now. I'll wait until the airlock is still again to harvest.

 

[501irishred]

I’m interested in the results from this. It would be nice to have a little dryer version (I would end up doing both). What lees did you rack onto?

 

[sgreene820]

I’m interested in the results from this. It would be nice to have a little dryer version (I would end up doing both). What lees did you rack onto?

I wasn't as precise as I could have been. I meant that both batches weren't separated from the rice solids and yeast, so I combined both in one gallon jug and shook it a little, them added a little water.

The warmest place in my house is on top of the refrigerator. It restarted when it got the upper 70's.

 

[OpenSights]

I’m interested in the results from this. It would be nice to have a little dryer version (I would end up doing both). What lees did you rack onto?

For my next attempt I’m going to add a dash of nutrient and a pinch of energizer.... worth a shot.

 

[501irishred]

I wasn't as precise as I could have been. I meant that both batches weren't separated from the rice solids and yeast, so I combined both in one gallon jug and shook it a little, them added a little water.

The warmest place in my house is on top of the refrigerator. It restarted when it got the upper 70's.

For my next attempt I’m going to add a dash of nutrient and a pinch of energizer.... worth a shot.

All worth a try for sure. I used some nutrient a while back, and the the batch turned out good as I recall, but mine are so inconsistent from batch to batch (volume) it’s hard to say if it truly helped anything. As another experiment, I might actually do what I had thought sgreene820 was planning on doing. Maybe rack a batch on the first lees of a fruit wine. Maybe a muscadine this fall?

 

[OpenSights]

I brought a sample to my club’s board meeting tonight. It’s taken on a pleasant sour note. Next week’s beer of the month is sours. One jar still has some fermentation going on, so I’m going to add a touch of nutrient and energizer to it, combine and add gelatin then rack into a 750l swing top and add a carbonation tablet. See what happens.

 

[OpenSights]

All three pint jars popped when I opened them tonight. So the yeast is active again. Separated the “clear” from the milk and added priming sugar to both. Hopefully by Tuesday it’ll carb. I won’t put it in the fridge till Monday night.

Might be a stepping stone for me in an unconventional way to sours.

Light throws the pic off, it is rice white.

 

[FatDragon]

Might be a stepping stone for me in an unconventional way to sours.

Can you elaborate on this? I've had tartness in rice wine - in fact I'd say it's characteristic of the stuff in my experience - but I'm not really sure what a tart rice wine has to do with a sour beer, so I'd like to hear what you're thinking about this.

 

[OpenSights]

Can you elaborate on this? I've had tartness in rice wine - in fact I'd say it's characteristic of the stuff in my experience - but I'm not really sure what a tart rice wine has to do with a sour beer, so I'd like to hear what you're thinking about this.

Tart was what I tasted two weeks ago, yesterday it was closer to sour. We, my club and I think either there is natural bacteria in the yeast balls or somehow picked up wild bacteria for the sour from the air. This time of year I have the windows open as much as I can!

The sour beer idea comes from my LHBS’s manager. It’s not sake, rice is a grain, not malted, but rice wine is in one of those grey areas where it can be anything.

I also have a dandelion wine with wild yeast going... minor activity. I’m going to give it another few days before I pitch yeast.

 

[MikeOhio]

20 cups of rice, 1/2 Jasmine 1/2 Sweet. 4 shanghi yeast balls. Fermenting at 51. Im getting closer. Last batch at 53 had very little tartness or sour, but lots of alcohol and sweet!

 

[Bart Grungeman]

20 cups of rice, 1/2 Jasmine 1/2 Sweet. 4 shanghi yeast balls. Fermenting at 51. Im getting closer. Last batch at 53 had very little tartness or sour, but lots of alcohol and sweet!
View attachment 626491

What temp are you fermenting at.?

 

[imasickboy]

What kind of fermenter volume am I looking at to do, say 25 pounds of rice?

Do we have a rice per gallon volume established?

 

[OpenSights]

Water to rice ratio depends on what kind of rice you’re using. Took a couple of batches to figure it out, but with the sushi rice I used it was one to one.

 

[imasickboy]

Not water to rice, but cooked rice per gallon of space. As in, will 25 pounds of cooked rice fit in a 7 gallon fermentor?

 

[MikeOhio]

Fermenting @ 51 Farenheit...

2 1/2 cups uncooked generally equals 1 pound. That generally expands due to water absorption to 3 cups per 1 cup uncooked in volume. Thats 8 pounds of uncooked in my 2.5 gallon jar, expanded to 24 cups cooked. Its occupying roughly 2/3rds the space. 25 pounds of cooked is going to expand to 187 cups of cooked by volume. Thats 7.7 x my volume? It does compact but you dont want it to compact to much....my head is hurting from the math so you take it from there imasickboy.
Mike

edit...by the way, its recomended to use 1 yeast ball for no more than 4 cups of uncooked i believe. That means you'll theoretically need 15 yeast balls?

 

[imasickboy]

Fermenting @ 51 Farenheit...

2 1/2 cups uncooked generally equals 1 pound. That generally expands due to water absorption to 3 cups per 1 cup uncooked in volume. Thats 8 pounds of uncooked in my 2.5 gallon jar, expanded to 24 cups cooked. Its occupying roughly 2/3rds the space. 25 pounds of cooked is going to expand to 187 cups of cooked by volume. Thats 7.7 x my volume? It does compact but you dont want it to compact to much....my head is hurting from the math so you take it from there imasickboy.
Mike

edit...by the way, its recomended to use 1 yeast ball for no more than 4 cups of uncooked i believe. That means you'll theoretically need 15 yeast balls?

Perfect. Thanks!

 

[MikeOhio]

To clear up 1 math mistake above...thats 8 pounds, equal to 20 cups uncooked which expanded to roughly 60 cups cooked.So your volume will be a little over 3x my volume. That should equate to a little over 6 gallons of cooked rice for 25 pounds uncooked. Thats if cooked at the standard ratio of slightly more than 1 cup water to 1 cup uncooked rice, which will produce in an ideal world...62 cups of rice wine, or 20-22, 750 ml wine bottles of rice wine?
Mike

 

[OpenSights]

Anyone have an idea, roughly what the ABV is? I haven’t figured out way to measure it....

 

[Davedrinksbeer]

Anyone have an idea, roughly what the ABV is? I haven’t figured out way to measure it....

I’ve read 18-20% alcohol which in my personal experience sounds probably right. To give me a nice buzz I have to drink:
1 - 12 ounce bottle of Sake OR
1- 750 ml of wine OR
3- 12 ounce craft beers

 

[OpenSights]

I’ve read 18-20% alcohol which in my personal experience sounds probably right. To give me a nice buzz I have to drink:
1 - 12 ounce bottle of Sake OR
1- 750 ml of wine OR
3- 12 ounce craft beers

For mine I was guessing about 18%... +/-2%.

 

[OpenSights]

Going to throw a wrench in the gears.

I think tomorrow I’m going to make 6 cups rice, 4 yeast balls, 1 stick cinnamon graded, and 4-6oz honey.

 

[OpenSights]

On that note, any speculation on the alcohol tolerance of these yeast balls?

 

[MikeOhio]

2 months later to the day and it came out wonderful, sweet with a very small amount of tart! This shows 4, 1 qt. mason jars after bulk pasteurizing, adding some bentonite dissolved in hot water and allowed to cool some, then chilled, 24 hrs later. Bentonite helps this stuff clear very fast. This batch will be split between left clear, infused with black cherries, and 1 with just mango. I've infused this stuff with a mix of pineapple & mango and the pineapple overwhelmed the mango as the dominate flavor. Raspberries seemed to offer a very subtle hint at flavor. Im hoping cherries are a little stronger. Carry on.

 

[gump]

2 months later to the day and it came out wonderful, sweet with a very small amount of tart! This shows 4, 1 qt. mason jars after bulk pasteurizing, adding some bentonite dissolved in hot water and allowed to cool some, then chilled, 24 hrs later. Bentonite helps this stuff clear very fast. This batch will be split between left clear, infused with black cherries, and 1 with just mango. I've infused this stuff with a mix of pineapple & mango and the pineapple overwhelmed the mango as the dominate flavor. Raspberries seemed to offer a very subtle hint at flavor. Im hoping cherries are a little stronger. Carry on.

 

[gump]

ohio mike how much Bentonite do we need to add )

 

[MikeOhio]

2 heaping teaspoon mixed we’ll in 1 cup of boiled water, allowed to cool to room temp and 1/4 cup poured in each mason jar.

 

[sgreene820]

To answer my own question. I've restarted fermentation after combining two batch with lees and adding about 25% water. It took time and temperature (probably mostly temperature) for it to restart fermentation. It's slowly bubbling into an airlock now. I'll wait until the airlock is still again to harvest.

UPDATE: I forgot this gallon of wine with airlock sitting over my fridge with an airlock. It has indeed fermented out nearly dry over several months. Still has a boozy mouthfeel, like a sherry, but the orangish color is gone. It might be good oaked for another six weeks, but I'm going to offer my stock to friends.

 

[Agrax]

I started to make rice wine. 2 balls for 2kg (4,4lbs) of cooked rice. It’s fermenting nicely, but my question is (maybe more general): can i cook and cool additional rice to add to already actively fermenting rice to make more wine or adding additional 4lbs would kill the yeast cuz they won’t be able to ferment this amount of wine? Yep, im a bit cheap, so i just want to know if adding more mass to a ferment is something people do (no experience in fermenting at all)

My question is not entirely „yeast-related”, but more abt enzymes. Is there enough saccharificating enzymes in the ferment after a week or will the added rice get totally unfermented, as there’s no more enzymes to feed the yeast

 

[T.Rev1000]

Anyone try using the rice yeast balls to ferment anything else they’re brewing? I’m interested in what this might do in a mead or cyser.

 

[bracconiere]

Anyone have an idea, roughly what the ABV is? I haven’t figured out way to measure it....

i know it's an old post, but also know you're still active...what you need is a vintometer...little glass tube, fill it up then turn it upside down and see the ABV...only works with dry alcohol though

just saw this and thought i'd throw it in....

edit: and now that i'm thinking about it, something i learned here...a hydrometer and refractometer can do it with the maths...

 

[OpenSights]

i know it's an old post, but also know you're still active...what you need is a vintometer...little glass tube, fill it up then turn it upside down and see the ABV...only works with dry alcohol though

just saw this and thought i'd throw it in....

edit: and now that i'm thinking about it, something i learned here...a hydrometer and refractometer can do it with the maths...

Actually picked one up when my LHBS closed. Haven’t used it or learned how.

I should make some rice wine again and try it out!

Thanks!

 

[OpenSights]

Anyone try using the rice yeast balls to ferment anything else they’re brewing? I’m interested in what this might do in a mead or cyser.

That might be interesting! The yeast balls makes the rice wine on the tart/sour side. I think you’re on to something!

 

[bracconiere]

Actually picked one up when my LHBS closed. Haven’t used it or learned how.

I should make some rice wine again and try it out!

Thanks!

View attachment 668766

yep, that's what i was talking about...just only works with dry washes....