Rice wine

[robert8891]

I have 2 batches of rice wine , one blueberry & one banana been fermenting 10 days today , banana is done @ 1.0 & blueberry is 1.016 , I added Chinese yeast balls & nothing happened for 2 days so I made starters of 2 grams of red star Montrachet wine yeast + nutrient & 2 lbs sugar to each batch & had a very vigorous fermentation from day 3 to 10 where I am now but both are very sour tasting & has a little vinegar smell but when tasted I can feel alcohol heat as it hits my belly . My question is could I back sweeten to cover the sour or is it ruined . There is no kind of mold or no fungus so would it still be safe to drink ? I've made a ton of different brews but never a rice wine so I'm lost !! ... help .....

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[mdweil]

I just started making rice wine myself and I've been told that if things go wrong it is possible to make rice vinegar rather than rice wine. I've lived in SE Asia where I drank this all the time and never experienced the alcohol heat you've described.

I found a lot of good info in this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f243/making-traditional-rice-wine-cheap-fun-different-361095/

Good Luck!

 

[Arpolis]

Sounds like the molds and yeast did not take and bacteria set in. If you have lactobacillus bacteria in there then you probably have too much lactic acid giving that sour taste. Back sweetening can help but that is a hard taste to fix.

Did you add fruits to the rice as you added the yeast balls? It may be best to start the rice wine like in the above thread explains and add your fruits either after fermentation starts or after it is complete. That should help you with getting the rice wine started and keeping the bacteria out.

 

[robert8891]

I added the fruit in the beginning & then the yeast balls , still nothing happening the next evening so I got a little impatient & made a champagne yeast starter & pitched 12 hrs later . By morning I thought it was going to explode , it was a super vigorous fermentation . Right before I pitched I added 2 lbs sugar to each one & now they r both done , one is 1.00 & the other is .998 . I really hate to dump 5 gals so I'm going to play with it tonite to see if i can make it drinkable & thanks for the info

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