Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[Oldnslow]

Posts 6092 and 6093.

Thanks for the info.
Read through posts and noticed no mention of oxygenation yet. Stuck a wand in and blew some bubbles in it for half a minute. Maybe it will help keep from going into too much lactic acid production mode.

 

[Miraculix]

Thanks for the info.
Read through posts and noticed no mention of oxygenation yet. Stuck a wand in and blew some bubbles in it for half a minute. Maybe it will help keep from going into too much lactic acid production mode.

Interesting idea. Let`s see!

 

[Time2Retire]

Update:

I'm sipping a glass of the clear stuff from my latest effort, and it reminds me of an off-dry Riesling.

Too bad this isn't an exact science. I'll probably never make it this way again.

 

[Miraculix]

Update:

I'm sipping a glass of the clear stuff from my latest effort, and it reminds me of an off-dry Riesling.

Too bad this isn't an exact science. I'll probably never make it this way again.

That is the beauty of it!

 

[jpitz31]

Just for reference, One of the famous rice wines from China is Xiaoxing wine, from Xiaoxing China.
It can be fermented from just a few days, to make a tasty desert, to many years for a very refined drinking wine. My wife is Chinese and we make Xiaoxing wine, mostly for Chinese desert and for cooking. I have about 5 gallons in the closet, has been fermenting for several months.

Here is a really cool video of a guy from a small village making rice wine.

 

[Miraculix]

Just for reference, One of the famous rice wines from China is Xiaoxing wine, from Xiaoxing China.
It can be fermented from just a few days, to make a tasty desert, to many years for a very refined drinking wine. My wife is Chinese and we make Xiaoxing wine, mostly for Chinese desert and for cooking. I have about 5 gallons in the closet, has been fermenting for several months.

Here is a really cool video of a guy from a small village making rice wine.

Wow, great video!

And talking about versatility, your video led me to a whole new bunch of videos. I am into cooking. and maaan... here are a lot of ideas, plus some hints on how to make rice wine. I'll be doing the steaming method next which your video was also highliting.

 

[jpitz31]

Yes, thanks for the video clip, I watch Dianxi Xiaoge, Did you notice she has 8.7 million subscribers. Her videos are very well done.

Cheers
Joe

 

[Miraculix]

Yes, thanks for the video clip, I watch Dianxi Xiaoge, Did you notice she has 8.7 million subscribers. Her videos are very well done.

Cheers
Joe

No, i just saw that the video itself had more than 6 million views. Amazing.

 

[Time2Retire]

Wow, great video!

And talking about versatility, your video led me to a whole new bunch of videos. I am into cooking. and maaan... here are a lot of ideas, plus some hints on how to make rice wine. I'll be doing the steaming method next which your video was also highliting.

When we're lucky enough to throw a batch that turns out fairly dry, I'd like to see how it would work in Drunken Chicken.

(Of course, I use a Cajun Injector on chicken pieces that are already dead. The VERY traditional method creeps me out).

 

[pdxal]

I haven't tried the drunken chicken, either method, but have used the rice wine lees on salmon and black cod and it is amazing! Essentially stealing the traditional recipe for kasuzuke cod like this one:

https://www.uwajimaya.com/recipes/black-cod-or-salmon-kasuzuke/
It turns out great. You might consider giving it a try with your lees.

 

[Oldnslow]

First try. 2 kg of Thai sweet rice took about 4 liters to cook in 6 batches, added 6 balls. 46 hours in and see lots of potential based on liquid at bottom of container.

15 days later, I decided to pull out the liquid in my brew. Results - not too dry, not too bitter, the return of alcoholic goodness is slightly less tha water used to cook a kilo of rice. I got this much in a 1 gallon jug plus 2/3 of my coffee cup full. Coffee cup now empty

 

[Oldnslow]

Next batch ought to be crazy good with your input senor Miraculix!

 

[Oldnslow]

Strained thru a nut milk bag and picture taken when I finished up my brewer's benefit portion. I'll post after settled and racked if there is a noticeable difference. I claim successful first errant brew though. Very nice head change noted!!!

 

[Oldnslow]

Interesting idea. Let`s see!

Just finished the last bottle of my first batch and was strong-armed to the market under watchful eye of an old friend who only said "do it again. I want more."

 

[Miraculix]

Just finished the last bottle of my first batch and was strong-armed to the market under watchful eye of an old friend who only said "do it again. I want more."

Sounds like a solid success!

 

[MilesBFree]

Getting ready to start another batch, hopefully this weekend when I rack the apfelwine out of the primary fermenter. A couple of questions, please:

1. For quantity of rice, are the weight or volume measurements people are using for cooked rice or uncooked? i.e., do you weigh it before cooking and then use that through the end of the process? Or do you cook it, weigh or check volume then and proceed?

2. When do you add the water? I mean the 1.1 - 1.3 liters of water per kilo of rice. Options I can see are:
a. Pour it all in the fermenter before adding the rice and yeast mixture
b. Put the rice/yeast mixture in the fermenter then pour the water over it
c. Like b., but half of it over the rice to start, then add the other half after a few days

3. I saw a mention of bentonite - do people typically clear the wine with that? I have had both clear and cloudy at restaurants and like both. But this is more of a question as to will it clear itself if you let it sit a while, and rack a couple of times?

 

[Miraculix]

Getting ready to start another batch, hopefully this weekend when I rack the apfelwine out of the primary fermenter. A couple of questions, please:

1. For quantity of rice, are the weight or volume measurements people are using for cooked rice or uncooked? i.e., do you weigh it before cooking and then use that through the end of the process? Or do you cook it, weigh or check volume then and proceed?

2. When do you add the water? I mean the 1.1 - 1.3 liters of water per kilo of rice. Options I can see are:
a. Pour it all in the fermenter before adding the rice and yeast mixture
b. Put the rice/yeast mixture in the fermenter then pour the water over it
c. Like b., but half of it over the rice to start, then add the other half after a few days

3. I saw a mention of bentonite - do people typically clear the wine with that? I have had both clear and cloudy at restaurants and like both. But this is more of a question as to will it clear itself if you let it sit a while, and rack a couple of times?

You got it wrong, completely .

No problem.

It's all by weight, and there is no water involved after cooking. You cook one kg of rice in 1-1.3 kg of water, that's the stuff you inoculate with the yeast when cooled to body temperature.

 

[MilesBFree]

ah, got it! Thanks for the clarification

 

[Time2Retire]

I've got another batch going, same method as before: 2 kilos rice in two batches, added 2 cups water with the second batch. It's been very warm here, and if anything it seemed to help the rice get started faster. 3 weeks in. I'm going to give it another three, then a short secondary after removing the rice mush.

 

[Oldnslow]

Sweet! Almost 3 days into my second 5 pound run. Looking very much like the first, will give this one 3 weeks and pull the clear off and dump some more rice back in to see if I can get a perpetual pot going.

 

[Miraculix]

Sweet! Almost 3 days into my second 5 pound run. Looking very much like the first, will give this one 3 weeks and pull the clear off and dump some more rice back in to see if I can get a perpetual pot going.

You can skip that. Doesn't work this way. You have to remove some rice at the exact right timing during the first few days for this to work. Don't ask me how to figure out when is the right timing...

 

[MilesBFree]

To follow on to my earlier question, a few more:

1. Do you soak the rice before you steam it? i.e., that would add extra water?

2. Do you steam it:

a. In an actual steamer that has two parts, an inner bowl and an outer pan, adding the water to the rice to the inner one, with more water in the bottom part of the steamer, or

b. Do you just put the water and rice into a single pot and cook? The first method may add a (fairly) small amount of water by not allowing as much to evaporate off)?

Not trying to overthink this; just wanted to see if there is a "standard method" peiople have been using with good success since my last batch went sideways.

Also, if the answer is no need to pre-soak and option 2b is fine for the steaming, then the microwave method I mentioned on a previous page should work fine and I may go back to it on a future batch (with the correct rice-to-water ratio) (if the one I am going to start soon works OK).

 

[MilesBFree]

This is the method I am familiar with for steaming rice (what I was trying to describe in 2a):

https://thewoksoflife.com/how-to-steam-rice/

 

[Miraculix]

To follow on to my earlier question, a few more:

1. Do you soak the rice before you steam it? i.e., that would add extra water?

2. Do you steam it:

a. In an actual steamer that has two parts, an inner bowl and an outer pan, adding the water to the rice to the inner one, with more water in the bottom part of the steamer, or

b. Do you just put the water and rice into a single pot and cook? The first method may add a (fairly) small amount of water by not allowing as much to evaporate off)?

Not trying to overthink this; just wanted to see if there is a "standard method" peiople have been using with good success since my last batch went sideways.

Also, if the answer is no need to pre-soak and option 2b is fine for the steaming, then the microwave method I mentioned on a previous page should work fine and I may go back to it on a future batch (with the correct rice-to-water ratio) (if the one I am going to start soon works OK).

The standard (Western) version is to add rice and water to a pot, close it with a lid and boil till the water is gone.

You can also just steam the rice till it is done, it's actually the traditional way. That way, you cannot over water the rice. Just steam it till it's done and then let it cool. Don't let it touch the water in the steaming pot.

 

[MilesBFree]

Thanks. I think I will go with the option to chuck it all in a pot and cook for ease of making it

 

[wongjau]

Thanks. I think I will go with the option to chuck it all in a pot and cook for ease of making it

Soaking and steaming is better at keeping individual grains. This provides a lot of surface area for aeration which benefits fungus and amylase activity. This in turn is good for the fermentation because the yeast get a gradual feed of sugar as the rice grains break down.

 

[MilesBFree]

OK, i am convinced

 

[Time2Retire]

My rice baby at 3 weeks! More liquid and A. orzae than I've ever seen at this point. This method, adding the rice half and half with just a little water, seems to be working for me.

If this batch is good, maybe next time I'll try adding some red yeast rice.

 

[Time2Retire]

UPDATE:

A good thing I tasted it today, because it's very strong and shall we say tangy. Not too tart to drink, but I wouldn't share it with anyone else.

I pulled it off the gross lees (with the Mrs. clucking about the mess), added two teaspoons hydrated bentonite, cold crash and hope for something drinkable. I did get nearly a US gallon from two kilos of rice.

A record heat wave hit, right after I pitched this batch. That almost certainly had an effect.

 

[MilesBFree]

I have a new batch of 2lb (.907kg) of rice going now (after steaming the rice), in a 2-gallon glass jar I had around for making nocino. It is in the oven with the door propped open so the lights stay on. It is sitting right at 80 degrees F.

How long should it sit at that temp? Just keep going, or remove to a more room temp location (like 74 degrees F) after a week or so? Wondering about this since the yeast may do better at a lower temp, but i haven't made anything with yeast other than standard wine making yeast which would want a lower temp?