45 replies to this topic

[armagh]

Mine's done and I have to say it is one of the more interesting things I have fermented, and absolutely painless.  4 cups cooked rice, 4 crushed yeast balls placed in a 1 gallon jar with cheese cloth between the lid and the jar, wait four weeks and strain.  From such simple ingredients, the nose and palate are complex.  Definitely a 0.5 to 1 ounce proposition per sitting and I'm guessing overindulgence would result in a mead like hangover, which always require occult assistance to ride out.  Either way, I see a worthy experiment emerging using different rices (brown/white-jasmine/basmati) simultaneously.  This could get to be a cheap and easy habit.

[djinkc]

Mine's done and I have to say it is one of the more interesting things I have fermented, and absolutely painless.  4 cups cooked rice, 4 crushed yeast balls placed in a 1 gallon jar with cheese cloth between the lid and the jar, wait four weeks and strain.  From such simple ingredients, the nose and palate are complex.  Definitely a 0.5 to 1 ounce proposition per sitting and I'm guessing overindulgence would result in a mead like hangover, which always require occult assistance to ride out.  Either way, I see a worthy experiment emerging using different rices (brown/white-jasmine/basmati) simultaneously.  This could get to be a cheap and easy habit.

 

That was a lot more of the yeast balls than I used.  The daughter and SIL brought some over Friday night.  Jasmine.  We all enjoyed it and some of my original batch has improved a bit with time.  Hangover?  No but the stuff does have a kick.  I need to get the Jasmine going. 

[pods8]

I'm going to give this a go but I've got some brown jasmine rice (not regular brown rice, thai brown jasmine) I was gonna give it a go with.

[Genesee Ted]

That was a lot more of the yeast balls than I used. The daughter and SIL brought some over Friday night. Jasmine. We all enjoyed it and some of my original batch has improved a bit with time. Hangover? No but the stuff does have a kick. I need to get the Jasmine going.

What's your serving size?

[pods8]

And now I wait, 5cups brown jasmine, 1:1 water after a 1hr soak, 2yeast balls.

[pods8]

Well a week in it has compacted down to 2/3 the above picture and has some liquid in the rice but no separation.  I was doing some more reading and may have screwed up in using brown jasmine rice as the bran may inhibit things, I'll let it ride regardless but I think I'll pick up some white jasmine rice and get another batch rolling.

[djinkc]

What's your serving size?

 1 - 3 oz.  It just depends.  

 

Well a week in it has compacted down to 2/3 the above picture and has some liquid in the rice but no separation.  I was doing some more reading and may have screwed up in using brown jasmine rice as the bran may inhibit things, I'll let it ride regardless but I think I'll pick up some white jasmine rice and get another batch rolling.

 

Don't be afraid to squeeze some out using the cheesecloth.  The daughter and SIL brought some over that had a lot of settled sediment.  Tasted nice after it was shaken up a little. 

[Genesee Ted]

This is very interesting

[pods8]

Don't be afraid to squeeze some out using the cheesecloth.  The daughter and SIL brought some over that had a lot of settled sediment.  Tasted nice after it was shaken up a little. 

 

I plan to.  But there is a visual difference that may translate to a product difference.  The brown jasmine batch made up 11days ago has some liquid intermixed but hasn't separated at all yet.  The white jasmine batch made up 4 days ago already has about an inch of liquid with rice floating.  Still early but it appears the white rice breaks down much easier in this process.  We'll see what the results are in the 21-30day timeframe. 

[pods8]

Well the brown jasmine rice was at 22days so I harvested, yield is lower than I think the white jasmine will be.  Presumably the bran made it harder to break down the rice.  I took a sip last night (sweet, tangy) but will sit down to taste it more this weekend.  I pasteurized the bottles to halt activity (heated to 160F then pulled from the water to cool).

 

 

 

In comparison the white jasmine at 2 weeks:

[pods8]

So I harvested the white jasmine on Wednesday.  It yielded better, wasn't as sweet or as tangy.  I tasted a sample prior to pasteurizing the rest and putting it in the fridge.  At first I was a tad bummed on the flavor, it was a bit rough, but last night it had smoothed out a lot.  It'll be interesting to see how this tastes over the next bit.  I'm going to get some more going since I have more rice and yeast balls.

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

I started my first batch of this over the weekend. 2 cups Basmati rice and 2 rice balls fit well in a half gallon mason jar. Anyone else have a batch going?

[djinkc]

I still haven't tried the last batch with Jasmine rice.  Bottled almost a case.

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

I still haven't tried the last batch with Jasmine rice.  Bottled almost a case.

That had to be a lot of rice. Did you pasteurize it or did it get below 1.000 FG? 

[djinkc]

The last batch I held at 140df for a while.  This one was at least 6 weeks in the fermenters so I didn't bother.  That was nearly a couple months ago so I think I'm OK.

[davelew]

How are the results with the brown rice?  In Japanese sake, the best kura brag about how much of the husk of the kernel they remove, with the rice that is the least commanding the highest prices.

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

My first batch went only 2 weeks. I was getting a whiff of solvent so I strained and chilled it. 2 cups of rice + 2 rice balls yielded just short of 4 cups of wine. It's pretty sweet, fruity and a bit funky. Not bad. Second batch already started. 

[MyaCullen]

what is the accepted ratio of yeast balls to cups of rice, 1:1? that's after cooking right? not the dry measure?

 

I located the yeast balls at the local Oriental Market, and have some surplus rice.

 

Is anyone treating this as a starter culture? or do I need new rice balls for every batch?

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

Rice measurement is dry. When cooked, two cups fills up the better part of a half gallon mason jar. One ball per cup of dry rice. Ball gets crushed into powder and added to rice after it cools. Seems like most people use fresh balls for each batch. The rice after fermentation gets pretty weird, like mushy glue.

[MyaCullen]

Rice measurement is dry. When cooked, two cups fills up the better part of a half gallon mason jar. One ball per cup of dry rice. Ball gets crushed into powder and added to rice after it cools. Seems like most people use fresh balls for each batch. The rice after fermentation gets pretty weird, like mushy glue.

thanks

 

any thoughts on pressure cooking the rice?  I was thinking of making at least 1 maybe 2 gallon container batches at a time.