I just failed my first attempt at making sake. I washed, soaked, cooked, and cooled the rice. Then I added the kouji yeast and mashed it together, threw the mash into a muslin bag, put the bag in a jar, and covered it. This was about a week ago. I decided to open the jar to check on the progress and there's mold growing on top of the rice.
I'm not sure what I did wrong and I don't want to try again just to have the same thing happen. Is there anything I can do to stop this from happening again? The kouji yeast is more expensive than regular yeast. Should I add water to the top of the rice after putting it in the jar or something? Is the likely problem that I failed to sanitize something properly? I could really use some advice to avoid repeating the mistake.
I'm not sure what I did wrong and I don't want to try again just to have the same thing happen. Is there anything I can do to stop this from happening again? The kouji yeast is more expensive than regular yeast. Should I add water to the top of the rice after putting it in the jar or something? Is the likely problem that I failed to sanitize something properly? I could really use some advice to avoid repeating the mistake.