Rice and Sake

[Damsonite]

Anyone here experimented with Rice wine or homebrew Sake? Been pondering on the idea for some time and although the various recipes available on the Net look ok, I can perhaps envisage problems if I go by any of the traditional Japanese methods of using partly mouldy rice, but on the other hand modifying those recipes to use modern sterile practices is simply going to give me 'rice wine' - not Sake.

Any advice on offer, or recipes, please?

I was also wondering about the idea of using brown Basmati rice for wine making as the purest with the best flavour but being a short-grained 'pearl' rice I'm concerned that the stuff might simply turn into rice pudding!! Anyone used Basmati in winemaking, or perhaps alternatives, and had good results? If so, care to share? :hmm:

 

[AllyBally]

have made rice wine and rice and raisin wine in the past before, cant remember the recipes, but i tend to tinker about with recipes anyway, i can tell you though they were very drinkable :drunk:
And on one occassion the rice and raisin ( with loads of sugar over several stages) was like rocket fuel, and made a good impersonation of strippers when spilt on the drinks cabinet :whistle:

 

[Damsonite]

Ha! Yes, made the rice and raisin a few years ago too, and yes it was very drinkable! Think the recipe came from the old Pan book now out of print but it was a killer, in a very good way...

Someone told me that to make an "effective" Sake, I should make a basic rice wine then do to it that thing that we're not supposed to discuss here, but I can't honestly say that I could be bothered setting up a laboratory in the kitchen! But then I'm not inclined to make the stuff using the original historical method of chewing up rice and spitting it out into a fermenting crock, either! :sick:

I guess I could have a go at making my own Koji rice - the mouldy stuff - but it seems like a lot of work. I'm hoping that someone here might have some tips to make something that at least emulates the traditionally flavoured Sake without breaking bones (or the bank) to do it?

 

[Moley]

Ok, I think I may have met my match with you, and you're obviously pretty bright, and you can write properly. Please stay.

AND you've bothered to read and take note of the forum rules :clap:

I'm out of my depth with this one though

I've made rice & raisin several times but I don't think I've ever even tasted true Sake.

You might like to compare notes with Pelligri on the Harris forum, and the Koji link is here.

 

[Damsonite]

Thanks for those links...duly joined and saved for future use! :thumb:

 

[greencheapsk8]

Well as long as you can convert most of the starch to sugar, bung in some yeast and way ya go :party:

Would making rice flour first help? smaller particles react faster

 

[doodles]

I have korean soju brewing at the moment. The drops I have tasted from the trial jar have been delicious. Just get some glutinous rice from a chinese supermarket boil it up for about 2 hours until it turns to sludge then throw it in you FV with some water, sugar, yeast, nutrient and amylase.

 

[Damsonite]

@doodles... Hey that sounds like a fun one! Just read a little about the stuff (had never heard of it) on google then put a search in for a recipe and the first hit was your thread on here! Did you perfect (or at least finalise) that recipe, though? How much sugar, how long on the pulp, and when is the amylase added, etc., etc.?

I notiice your last post on that thread was back in April, so I'm guessing that the stuff's now finished fermenting and on it's way to finishing...what % alcohol did you manage? Plus, I'm wondering if a 'rice vodka' type thing could perhaps take some light fruit flavouring to make it a bit more interesting...to make things easy, say a tin of strawberries, gooseberries or peaches thrown in to a gallon of the primary must? Not so much to overpower the flavour of the rice, but perhaps to add to it subtly? Or do you think that would spoil the finished wine, or even just convert the stuff to puke? :mrgreen:

Regarding the rice, I have a good Chinese supermarket about 5 minutes away - should I actually ask for 'glutinous rice' in there, or do they have their own specific name for the stuff? If it's something like pudding rice then I can imagine the kind of flavour we're talking about but I'd think that pudding rice would make...well, pudding!

Thanks for the help - I'll have a go at this stuff if I have a recipe to go by... (though I don't fancy the gorse wine!??)

 

[evanvine]

But then I'm not inclined to make the stuff using the original historical method of chewing up rice and spitting it out into a fermenting crock, either!

I tend to agree with you, chewing 4kg of unmalted barley would take some doing!

 

[doodles]

@doodles... Hey that sounds like a fun one! Just read a little about the stuff (had never heard of it) on google then put a search in for a recipe and the first hit was your thread on here! Did you perfect (or at least finalise) that recipe, though? How much sugar, how long on the pulp, and when is the amylase added, etc., etc.?

I notiice your last post on that thread was back in April, so I'm guessing that the stuff's now finished fermenting and on it's way to finishing...what % alcohol did you manage? Plus, I'm wondering if a 'rice vodka' type thing could perhaps take some light fruit flavouring to make it a bit more interesting...to make things easy, say a tin of strawberries, gooseberries or peaches thrown in to a gallon of the primary must? Not so much to overpower the flavour of the rice, but perhaps to add to it subtly? Or do you think that would spoil the finished wine, or even just convert the stuff to puke? :mrgreen:

Regarding the rice, I have a good Chinese supermarket about 5 minutes away - should I actually ask for 'glutinous rice' in there, or do they have their own specific name for the stuff? If it's something like pudding rice then I can imagine the kind of flavour we're talking about but I'd think that pudding rice would make...well, pudding!

Thanks for the help - I'll have a go at this stuff if I have a recipe to go by... (though I don't fancy the gorse wine!??)

When I made it I was intending to only make a gallon but it turned out that once all the rice was boiled it had swollen up so much that I was left with a choice of either throwing most of it away of making a 5 gallon batch. I went for the 5 gallon option.

I used youngs high alcohol yeast but for some reason fermentation stopped after a week so I put in some more nutrient and some youngs super wine yeast.

I managed to ferment nearly 9kgs of sugar in it by following moleys directions and adding it in stages. I would guess its about 20%ish but tastes stronger to me. That could be because of the amylase. I have no idea how much starch that converted. I added the amylase at the start and put a few more in towards the end.

I left all the rice in until the whole thing finished fermenting as that is how the Koreans do it. They make an alcoholic drink called Makgeolli which is basically Soju but with all the rice yeast etc still in it. Commercial Makgeolli is mostly wheat as it makes it cheaper to produce.

You could easily add other flavours to it but the taste is very delicate so anything you added would over power it however you can use it as a mixer like vodka as its very similar just weaker and slightly sweeter.

All Chinese supermarkets stock glutinous rice in mine it was about £4 for 2kg if I remember correctly.

I didn't do it perfectly at all but it turned out OK in the end. It's still clearing but tastes lovely already. I want to see how much it clears naturally before adding any finings.

Oh and my Gorse wine is by far the best wine I have made so far. It was delicious!

 

[andycole]

I have a VERY old book of wine recipes and Rice & Raisin wine was the first thing I made, if I remember correctly. In fact, I still have one of my first bottles from 1987. Don't suppose it's anything better than paint stripper now :sick:

If you need the recipe, let me know, but I'm sure that you can find some on the net.

I have tasted true Sake and to be honest, I didn't like it. Quite sour.

Andy

 

[HLA91]

Can I just ask, those of you who have amde Rice and Raisin what is it like?
It sounds a very economical wine to make especially if you make a lighter wine by reusing the must as I have seen in a few books.