Recent content by wongjau

Haha. Have some wine from pasta instead of have some wine with pasta. Or both, even.

Glutinous rice has something like 1/3 more amylopectin than flour, very roughly speaking. But probably will get some fermentation with the pasta. [Edit: actually more like 55% more]

Unless the risoni has a lot of amylopectin like sticky/sweet rice, I wouldn’t expect to get anything like rice wine. Risoni is shaped like rice, but made from flour? The shape is important, but also the composition of the fermentables. Even non sticky rice with lower amylopectin doesn’t give...

Yes, that is correct. For rice wine there is a gradual conversion of the rice during fermentation. That is why it is important how the rice is cooked and that the rice grains are distinct and loosely packed.

Expensive sakes have less color because the rice is polished more which reduces the compounds that contribute to darkening. Less expensive sakes are charcoal filtered, but that reduces the flavor.

Congrats. Nicely aged! That’s what they are going for with the wine in the huge clay jars and the mud and leaves sealing the top.

There are some videos of an old fashioned way where they rolled the rice lees around in a suspended cloth hammock kind of thing.

You can run it through a nylon paint strainer bag. If you fold it up, you can weight and press it between a couple oven trays. I’ve seen some videos of commercial production using racks and frames and pressing like for cider.

Best rice is sweet/glutinous rice. I like Koda Farms Sho Chiku Bai. https://www.kodafarms.com/sho-chiku-bai-sweet-rice-preparation-serving-suggestions/ It’s a high quality California grown rice. Japan loves California grown rice. That’s the brand I use for special Chinese dishes and I went...

That is the normal color for rice wine. In Chinese, this type of rice wine is called “wong jau” or “huang jiu” which translates to “yellow wine“ in english. If you let it age, it will turn more amber the way that sherry wine does. No need for amylase. The mold in the rice balls grows and...

If you follow the traditional method, you rack/press after 10 weeks, heat to 140F and skim off any protein material, take it up to about 190F, then cool. From there you can store at room temperature. If you use a loose fitting lid, you can age it for 1-5 years and it will develop Shaoxing type...

Looks like the rice was packed loosely enough and your yeast got past the lag phase so you are probably ok with the closed container. Opening the container is not a problem. Check out this documentary where the famous brew master, 王阿牛, does open fermentation. He even stirs the fermenting rice...

If you look at my oldest posts and work forward, you should get a good idea of the process and theory. I pulled a lot of research from good sources. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/search/5133330/?page=3

Bummer. If the Rhizopus gets off to a good start, you get some lactic acid which drops the pH and inhibits other molds. Rhizopus also can show dark spores if the growing conditions aren’t right for it.

I get liquid collecting in 2-3 days. But that is at 85F. 80F is a bit low. Fungus and amylase activity is better at the higher temp. Once you get the starches to begin breaking down, the yeast will have something to ferment.