Making Traditional rice Wine. Cheap, Fun, and Different

[Bidwell]

Rinsing clear seems like it should reduce your sweetness. You're getting rid of extra starches that will be converted to sweet sugars over the whole process.

Exactly my thoughts. I figure the rinsing is for a nice presentation, which we don't care about.

I just made a 2 cup batch. Soaked an hour or so, no rinsing, dumped on steamer with cheesecloth for 30 minutes. Cooled, spread, added 6 yeast tablets, mixed. A little dry so I added maybe half a cup of water to help mix the yeast. Then in the dark at 80°F.........

 

[Bidwell]

Haha, that's ME selling on eBay. Thanks for the compliments!...
I was looking at those smaller yeast balls in the picture.

I believe your balls are more "potent" than my smaller flattened discs. I used 2 discs per cup. Your balls were 1 ball per cup.

Here are some results.

 

[FatDragon]

I believe your balls are more "potent" than my smaller flattened discs. I used 2 discs per cup. Your balls were 1 ball per cup.

Here are some results.

That's an interesting pic of the 5 days batch - I've only made a couple batches so far, but I don't get anything near that kind of separation with my local yeast balls or ARL, nor does my color come out anything like yours - it's quite yellow in my case. What kind of rice do you use?

 

[Leadgolem]

How much wine do you typically get out of a dry batch per cup of pre-cooked rice? How sweet/cloudy is it? I'm getting about 1/3 of a liter per cup of rice, and it's sweet and super-cloudy - my first batch is still weeks away from fully settling out the starches after five or six weeks in the fridge. Since I've got so much extra sugar there I suspect my wine's tolerance for extra water might be higher than others are getting, probably because of the amount of convertible starch in the rice I'm using.

Honestly, I can't say I've recorded much data on the actual yields. Except to note the relative amounts produced in some of the experiments.

I'd say 225-300ml/cup. Depending on the kind of rice used. It's usually very sweet, cloudy, and strongly alcoholic.

Like I said though, I haven't kept records aimed at that particularly. I'm trying to estimate from photos.

That's an interesting pic of the 5 days batch - I've only made a couple batches so far, but I don't get anything near that kind of separation with my local yeast balls or ARL, nor does my color come out anything like yours - it's quite yellow in my case. What kind of rice do you use?

I think it's the type of yeast balls. Every experiment I've run with them as produced a somewhat yellow wine regardless of what rice was being used. The same rice produced a more white rice wine when I used ARL.

 

[Bidwell]

What kind of rice do you use?

Three Ladies Brand, Sanpatong Sweet Rice. The secret is warm temps, at least for the first several days.

BTW, no mold...so far

 

[jak1010]

I know I'm probably asking for trouble but hey, I like to experiment. I made a 5 cup batch with 3 different types of short grain rice. Thai Jasmine, Sushi rice and one other that I'm not sure of since it's all in Chinese. Cooked with 5 cups of water, cooled and then pitched 1/2 a pack of Angel Rice Leaven.

Not sure how this will turn out but, wish me luck!

 

[FatDragon]

I know I'm probably asking for trouble but hey, I like to experiment. I made a 5 cup batch with 3 different types of short grain rice. Thai Jasmine, Sushi rice and one other that I'm not sure of since it's all in Chinese. Cooked with 5 cups of water, cooled and then pitched 1/2 a pack of Angel Rice Leaven.

Not sure how this will turn out but, wish me luck!

Give me a picture of the Chinese and I'll tell you what you've got.

 

[Roughster]

OK I am on page 68 and see a 21-30 day range for fermentation. I am at 21 days on the dot probably about a 72 degree ave temp. How do I know if 21 days is enough or if I should wait longer? Here is what it looks like right now. If I gentle twist the jar, the whole mass moves with a slow wobble giving me the impression the whole thing is liquified. Any guidance appreciated

 

[Leadgolem]

I know I'm probably asking for trouble but hey, I like to experiment. I made a 5 cup batch with 3 different types of short grain rice. Thai Jasmine, Sushi rice and one other that I'm not sure of since it's all in Chinese. Cooked with 5 cups of water, cooled and then pitched 1/2 a pack of Angel Rice Leaven.

Not sure how this will turn out but, wish me luck!

Hmm, tasty. Yes, I think tasty sums it up well. The aroma might be a little odd with three different kinds of rice.

 

[Bidwell]

Seems the sugar AND/OR 1 day more fermentation soured my small batch.
I believe the yeast DISCS are responsible for the sweeter but slower results.
I have 4 more batches going to confirm this.

I have noticed the steamed rice is dryer and benefits from a little water when mixing the yeast. The boiled rice seems to convert to liquid in a few days where the steamed takes double.

 

[Gar]

update i harvested at 28 days well kinda. i seperated at 28 days and got a idea to add more cider in various levels to quart mason jars one half one a third and one a fourth of cider then fill with rice wine. its been setting a few days now and havent tried it yet but i am drinking the leftover from this batch and i gotta say i taste very little of any flavors. its not hot but it does hit and it is throwing a beating on me. about as strong as a big beer. id say the best thing a person could do with it is add a juice to it to get a flavor. im gonna age some to see if age changes things

 

[Roughster]

Well harvested at Day 23. 6 cups dry rice got me approximately 1600 mLs / ~56 fluid Ounces.

Out of the gate it is sweet and slightly tangy. The Mrs and Neighbor did not like it.

I tried several liquors and hard mixes:
#1 - Butterscoth Schnapps - favorite
#2 - Hazelnut Schnapps
#3 - Triple Sec
#4 - Caramel Vodka

All else were met with grimaces as was neat. (Fruit Loops Vodka, Chocolate Liquor, Vanilla Vodka, Cherry Liquor, and Cake Vodka).

I like it, don;t think it will be a favorite around the house, but I'll keep a batch going. I think I harvested too early, or haven't let it condition. I literally squeezed it from the jar tonight and drank almost immediately.

 

[wooda2008]

First batch with mold! YAY!!!
only 3 days in:

6 cups rice, 8 cups water.

 

[MarcusKillion]

Well harvested at Day 23. 6 cups dry rice got me approximately 1600 mLs / ~56 fluid Ounces.

Out of the gate it is sweet and slightly tangy. The Mrs and Neighbor did not like it.

I tried several liquors and hard mixes:
#1 - Butterscoth Schnapps - favorite
#2 - Hazelnut Schnapps
#3 - Triple Sec
#4 - Caramel Vodka

All else were met with grimaces as was neat. (Fruit Loops Vodka, Chocolate Liquor, Vanilla Vodka, Cherry Liquor, and Cake Vodka).

I like it, don;t think it will be a favorite around the house, but I'll keep a batch going. I think I harvested too early, or haven't let it condition. I literally squeezed it from the jar tonight and drank almost immediately.

Pasteurize it and let it age at room temp .Asians do it for up to 10 years

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Sooooooo lately Ive been making my rice wine with brown rice. It has a nice flavor for one... and I always buy brown rice thinking I will eat it. I wont. I like white rice.

So once again, this recipe is a great use for dry rice left in your cupboard that you are never going to use. Trash to treasure.

 

[Leadgolem]

Sooooooo lately Ive been making my rice wine with brown rice. It has a nice flavor for one... and I always buy brown rice thinking I will eat it. I wont. I like white rice.

So once again, this recipe is a great use for dry rice left in your cupboard that you are never going to use. Trash to treasure.

Interesting, my experiment with brown rice was a failure. Did you take any special steps with it? Was it par-boiled, etc?

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Interesting, my experiment with brown rice was a failure. Did you take any special steps with it? Was it par-boiled, etc?

No I simply put it in a rice steamer...

Watch now that Im being all cocky this batch will come out like crap

 

[Bidwell]

It seems yeast consistency isn't. Two identical batches at different times, one sour, one sweet. I take notes too.

BTW, is that yeast dust harmful?

 

[MarcusKillion]

3 weeks in for my jars and about a month on the big one . Tasted of one of the jars last night . tasting a whole lot better . this stuff has a stinging to it .strange .
I put a bit of Tupelo honey in it and stirred up . That tasted pretty good . I also tried some orange blossom honey . Not bad either . I am going to use tupelo and then pasteurize it and allow it to age a while . I think it will be good .

 

[Newsman]

I'm getting ready to try the Vietnamese yeast balls and RYR with Thai Jasmine rice. I'm soaking 1 cup of RYR with 1 tsp of yeast nutrient in some warm water (feels "nice" warm, not burning hot warm from the tap.) Also cooking 4 cups of Thai jasmine rice in my rice cooker with 6 cups water and 1 rounded tsp of yeast nutrient. Will be cooking more rice as I have a 2 gallon cookie jar I need to fill up.
I could put some ARL in there too, but I want to save that and use JUST ARL and RYR sometime to see what it does.

 

[jak1010]

It seems yeast consistency isn't. Two identical batches at different times, one sour, one sweet. I take notes too.

BTW, is that yeast dust harmful?

Very different results from different types of yeast and different types of rice. Depending on the water amounts used and cooking method of the rice, temps during fermenting, etc. you can get many different results. I don't believe the yeast dust is harmful. Unless you're inhaling a lot of it.

 

[jak1010]

Anybody ever test their tap water and find that the ph level interferes with fermentation? Interesting enough, there's someone who noticed a problem with it and decided to do a second batch and substituted rainwater for tap water. I'm not sure of the end result but fermentation took off.

Anybody else?

I'm now tempted to try a batch using rainwater...

 

[MarcusKillion]

just filtered off my large jar which I think was a whole bag of rice . got 3 1/2 pints of nice clear ( yellow in color ) wine and a few with a lot of rice crap still in it ( white ) . i am letting it sit in fridge to settle out some more and then I will suck off the clear and toss the rest .
I set it all in fridge for several hours and then used a turkey baster to suck off the clear that went to the top .

Planning on using Tupelo honey to flavor it after it ages for a few months . going to toss in half a campden tablet and seal it up at room temp.

 

[Bidwell]

I made a 4 cup batch of sweet rice and purple sweet potatoes. Rice and potatoes steamed together for 45 minutes, cooled, then mixed 8 of my yeast discs. Into the dark at 84°F. Anyone try this?

 

[FatDragon]

I made a 4 cup batch of sweet rice and purple sweet potatoes. Rice and potatoes steamed together for 45 minutes, cooled, then mixed 8 of my yeast discs. Into the dark at 84°F. Anyone try this?

My tea-wine is my first foray into altering the recipe, and still a couple weeks from harvest time, but I like this in theory. The starch content of the potatoes is going to be high enough that your end product should be at least as sweet as pure rice wine, maybe even more so. It'll be interesting to hear what flavors you get from the potatoes, and whether or not the wine picks up the potatoes' color.

 

[WesleyS]

I made a 4 cup batch of sweet rice and purple sweet potatoes. Rice and potatoes steamed together for 45 minutes, cooled, then mixed 8 of my yeast discs. Into the dark at 84°F. Anyone try this?

With a little bit of soy sauce, that looks like a good option for dinner.
Let us know how it progresses.

 

[MarcusKillion]

I just finished filtering my 1 bag batch . Came out with 3 quarts . nice clean and yellow . Now I will add in campden tablet and age for several months .
found out what that sting is when you drink this stuff . it is from not being fully aged .

 

[Gar]

Ok i just found a bottle i had forgot about/had no idea it ever existed. i must have bottled it while i was drinking because when i tried this bottle about 6 months ago it tasted bad and i hadnt even relized it was ryr rice wine. i thought it was one of my other experiments so i popped the cap back on with my thumb and set it on the back porch till i figured out what to do with it. well i needed the bottle today so i picked it up and started to pour it out and thought hay why not try it all i gotta say is wow this aged well very sweet and fruity and no burn. this bottle sit on a porch with only a awning protecting it from the elements. amazing this stuff

 

[MichaelBrock]

I just finished my first batch today and I thought I would add to the data. I cooked 5 cups of Kokuko Rose sushi rice according to the directions on the packaging (I added the water & rice to a pot, brought to a boil then set to the lowest temp until done). I did not soak or wash the rice. I crushed 3 of the Hang Hing Marine Products brand yeast balls and added that to the rice in a 1 gallon jar. Within a few days I got a bit of fuzz on the top layer of rice that was exposed to air. 3 weeks later (today) I poured it all out through an old t-shirt and ended up with about 800ml of rice wine. Surprisingly sweet but delicious! I bottled it and put it into the fridge. The top few inches have cleared over the last 4 hours and I think it would all drop clear after a few days. I don't mind the haze though. I'll compare the clear to the not-clear and see how much of a difference there is.

 

[Bidwell]

I was bottling some rice wine (2 weeks) and had some ginger left over in the food processor. I put several tablespoons in the funnel/strainer and poured my wine over it. Wow, what a great flavor! Brings back the memories of the original Cock & Bull ginger beer of the 50s.

You know when you drink something sweet, then eat something sweet, it tastes like crap? Not with sweet rice wine. Why?

 

[Bidwell]

I was bottling some rice wine (2 weeks) and had some ginger left over in the food processor. I put several tablespoons in the funnel/strainer and poured my wine over it. Wow, what a great flavor! Brings back the memories of the original Cock & Bull ginger beer of the 50s.

You know when you drink something sweet, then eat something sweet, it tastes like crap? Not with sweet rice wine. Why?

 

[Newsman]

So I cooked 5 pounds of dry jasmine rice in a rice cooker Sunday afternoon (took all day, but I did it!) and mixed in about a cup of Red Yeast Rice that I soaked for a couple hours. Then I crushed up two packages of Vietnamese yeast balls (about 5 yeast balls per pack, each about half the size of a dime) along with 1/4 cup of dry RYR and mixed it in with the cooked rice. That was Sunday afternoon. I then put it in my "fermenting chamber" (read: freezer with an external temperature controller set to 65 degrees Fahrenheit). This morning I went in to look at it and it's already got a lot of liquid showing! This is looking to be a GREAT experiment!

 

[elkshadow]

So I've been out of this thread for a while because I got the beer brewing going again but I wanted to post a couple pics. 8 dry cups of generic "jasmine rice" from the grocery, rinsed and cooked on the stovetop in a 1:1.5 ratio. Then here's the funny part. When the rice was still warm I put it in a bucket and left it for 3 or 4 days because I forgot about it. It's funny to me that a few days days went by and not once did I think, "Hm, I wonder what's in that bucket right next to the stove?" I probably looked at it at least 5 times a day.

Anyway.....

Finally, when I remembered "holy **** there's rice is in that bucket!!!" I remembered somebody talking about rolling it into balls instead of just packing it into the jug. I opened the bucket after a few days and there were about 10 or so rice kernels with some green mold starting to grow on them (yum lol) so I picked those out and went ahead with it. Definitely not throwing away 3 dollars worth of moldy rice. hahahahah

I crushed two large chinese balls (haha) with a hammer and ran the chunky powder through my coffee/spice mill to make a fine powder then mixed the powder evenly into the bucket of maybe/probably-funky rice. Once I had the yeast mixed in, I mixed in about 1.75 cups RYR and continued mixing until everything was the same consistency.

I made one fermenter into balls and just packed the other one and here is the result after 2 days:



Bottom line: Balls are better. LOL

 

[MarcusKillion]

I just started another batch . Black rice . I think this should taste quite good , or bad . Also some more sweet rice .

by the way I saw a couple propane burners in this store . Did not see the btu but they are big like my 210K only on a tall stand with a really big ring for a large wok I would guess . 50 and 80 bucks . Made in china of course .

 

[MarcusKillion]

Not sure of the temps. But, I've been stirring/shaking my batches between days 7-15 to keep the top of the rice fresh. It has prevented mold and other growth.

As for temps, I've made batches in the upper 80s and as low as 68-72....so far, all the same end result.

I just finished filtering off all of mine and no mold ever grew on it . i also shook it up once in a while .

 

[MarcusKillion]

This turned out like oat meal and any rinsing would wash everything down the drain. I just picked at it with a fork and spread it in the jar with yeast balls powder.

The first (steamed) batch that I rinsed, was dryer and just starting off, and it's 2 days older, and used yeast discs.

It does resemble oatmeal only very sticky . Put it in a strainer and flood it with cold water while stirring . It comes out looking just like regular rice .

 

[Newsman]

So I cooked 5 pounds of dry jasmine rice in a rice cooker Sunday afternoon (took all day, but I did it!) and mixed in about a cup of Red Yeast Rice that I soaked for a couple hours. Then I crushed up two packages of Vietnamese yeast balls (about 5 yeast balls per pack, each about half the size of a dime) along with 1/4 cup of dry RYR and mixed it in with the cooked rice. That was Sunday afternoon. I then put it in my "fermenting chamber" (read: freezer with an external temperature controller set to 65 degrees Fahrenheit). This morning I went in to look at it and it's already got a lot of liquid showing! This is looking to be a GREAT experiment!

That was 10 days ago. I just checked on it and the volume of rice has already dropped by about half. I took a big plastic cooking spoon and stirred up the rice a bit because the top was drying out.

Do you guys think this is ready to harvest or should I leave it until the full 3+ weeks?

 

[jak1010]

Damn, I have to admit I'm a bit jealous. Nice work! I would say to try and get a sample and judge by the taste. 10 days sounds a bit too soon too generate alcohol (or much of it) but if it tastes good, that's what counts.

From the sound of your ingredients, I bet it's going to taste and look awesome. Please post pics if possible.

 

[MarcusKillion]

here is a pic of my latest batches at 5 days . the big one was filled to the top and then it swelled up and I had to remove a few inches .
The red ones are black sweet rice . They are not doing much . Perhaps since they still have the hull on them they need more water or more time to ferment.
the small red jar is fermented Srirachi hot sauce , sort of . made with sweet peppers and then Trinidad Scorpion peppers ( the hottest pepper in the world ) for that real hot feeling .

 

[FatDragon]

That was 10 days ago. I just checked on it and the volume of rice has already dropped by about half. I took a big plastic cooking spoon and stirred up the rice a bit because the top was drying out.

Do you guys think this is ready to harvest or should I leave it until the full 3+ weeks?

Seems like an easy experiment:

Make five cups of rice, put one cup each in a separate jar and pitch an equal amount of yeast, harvest at various times (i.e. one at three days, one at seven, one at ten, one at two weeks, one at three weeks, one at four weeks). Measure volume and take a hydrometer sample of each at harvest, then do a taste test after harvesting the final batch.

Volumes, numbers, and times are all up to you, but that basic formula should give a pretty good idea of when you've reached maximum attenuation from your yeasties.

Of course, it's not a bad idea to taste at harvest as well so you can see the effects of age on the wine, but to really get a good side-by-side comparison there you'd have to do a second experiment on the side, making new batches at the same intervals from harvest time, and harvest and taste them on the final day with the others (i.e. make a new batch at the three week mark, harvest at the four week mark, and taste it side by side with the batch you harvested at the one week mark).