Perhaps someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong.
This is my third attempt at rice wine. My first batch came out perfectly, but the two subsequent batches seem to have developed infections.
I have brewed 10 batches of beer and apfelwein, and have never had an infection. Perhaps something is wrong with my process? I don't know.
Here's my process:
Jasmine rice, about 4 cups dry for this last attempt, cooked in 2 batches (rice cooker only holds 2 cups).
Let rice sit in water for 2 hours, then rinsed.
Cooked first batch, and placed it in a plastic bowl rinsed with starsan solution (first issue here, the bowl is a rough and porous plastic).
Cooked second batch and dropped it into the sanitized glass jar while still very hot.
Added first batch on top with sprinklings of crushed yeast balls throughout.
Now, about 4 days later, I have several dark, fuzzy spots near the top (pictured), and there is a huge amount of white fuzz on top (difficult to see in the background).
There were dark spots in my last batch, and I ended up tossing it before asking any questions.
I imagine this is not normal. Should I toss this batch now and try again with some tighter sanitation practices?
Thanks for the help.
Lots of people report some mold on the rice after a short period. There are several posts in the thread about this. White fuzz is the mold in the yeast balls taking hold.
I'd give it time and see what happens before chucking it.
I'd also be careful about adding yeast balls to "still very hot" rice to avoid killing the yeast.
If you *don't* get mold, you're doing something wrong. The mold is necessary to enable breaking down the rice starches so they can be fermented by the saccharomyces.
I do agree that you shouldn't be adding stuff while it's hot. You are killing off yeast (and other stuff, probably) when you do that. Let it cool to room temps before you start screwing around with it.
Perhaps someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong.
This is my third attempt at rice wine. My first batch came out perfectly, but the two subsequent batches seem to have developed infections.
I have brewed 10 batches of beer and apfelwein, and have never had an infection. Perhaps something is wrong with my process? I don't know.
Here's my process:
Jasmine rice, about 4 cups dry for this last attempt, cooked in 2 batches (rice cooker only holds 2 cups).
Let rice sit in water for 2 hours, then rinsed.
Cooked first batch, and placed it in a plastic bowl rinsed with starsan solution (first issue here, the bowl is a rough and porous plastic).
Cooked second batch and dropped it into the sanitized glass jar while still very hot.
Added first batch on top with sprinklings of crushed yeast balls throughout.
Now, about 4 days later, I have several dark, fuzzy spots near the top (pictured), and there is a huge amount of white fuzz on top (difficult to see in the background).
There were dark spots in my last batch, and I ended up tossing it before asking any questions.
I imagine this is not normal. Should I toss this batch now and try again with some tighter sanitation practices?
Thanks for the help.
I recommend giving it the full 4weeks. I am no expert but mine was awesome and I did not seem to have the continued fermentation after letting settle and straining off the majority of particulates. Still cloudy but yummy! ;-)
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Whats one more week... ill wait
That's the spirit!
Question: why rinse the rice, since probably some of what you are fementing will get rinsed off. It's not like we are prepping this to eat it. More fermentables means more alcohol, right?
I brew because I must.
It's how some people learned to make rice - and it's as contentious as using a secondary fermenter or not. Some believe you HAVE to rinse, some don't ever ... either way you'll be fine.Question: why rinse the rice, since probably some of what you are fementing will get rinsed off. It's not like we are prepping this to eat it. More fermentables means more alcohol, right?
It's how some people learned to make rice - and it's as contentious as using a secondary fermenter or not. Some believe you HAVE to rinse, some don't ever ... either way you'll be fine.
Im glad thats the case. I've been not rinsing because thats how I make rice... without rinsing... I thought a little extra glutton couldnt hurt anything...
I hope you don't mean gluten... rice doesn't have any gluten in it. Now if your rice is full of chubby people that can't stop chowing down, it may have gluttons. Then again creamy is usually pretty intelligent and rarely serious so this could be a form of trolling or joking...
Actually this time you give me too much credit, grok. My brain must not have been firing on all cylinders. Ultimately, though, the theory behind it is the same... rinsing starches (and any fortifications that might have been added during processing) seems like one would be removing "stuff" we'd want to keeep in the wine. I'm happy to see that even if my theory was incorrect, it wasnt incorrect enough to cause trouble with the process.
So far I've been pouring rice of all kinds directly into the steamer (or pot in the case of the red cargo), adding my water and then adding heat. Let cool, add in big tennis ball size clumps of rice... shake on powdered yeast balls, repeat repeat repeat.
Question: why rinse the rice, since probably some of what you are fementing will get rinsed off. It's not like we are prepping this to eat it. More fermentables means more alcohol, right?
I brew because I must.
Oh no! Chefrex, Did you even taste it? It looks like it was starting to fall. But flavor is good even with particulate. My last batch is now gone. ;'-( It never had a chance to fully seperate. Two more weeks till another bigger batch is ready. Need to get another started.
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Anyone have anything negative to say about using a gallon clear plastic food storage jar to ferment in? No problems with taste or alcohol affecting the plastic?
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I brew because I must.
Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere in the thread (I'm only 100 pages in :cross but I've got a bit of a paranoia...
Anyone find any concerns re: botulism in homebrew rice wine? I've pretty much lost my fear when it comes to wine and mead, but after having to be so careful with my home canning I can't help worrying. Hope someone can alleviate my paranoia.
Going to start my first batch tonight!
(Question is a little more academic than essential, I suppose, as enough people seem to have this recipe working for them that I'm willing to try)
Anyone have anything negative to say about using a gallon clear plastic food storage jar to ferment in? No problems with taste or alcohol affecting the plastic?
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I brew because I must.
My favorite brew jar for this is one of those large plastic containers that Costco sells full of biscotti.
It's lightweight, food grade, see-through, and I just back the lid off a twist to let the CO2 escape. I've never had any sign of weird growing stuff in it.
Ok, so my last batch came out to be about 17% abv. I shared two 750ml bottles with my family and they all thought it was grape wine. They were surprised by how dry is was compared to my first sushi rice batch. It was dry and a sour with a bit of sweetness at first taste.
View attachment 198677
SCORE!!!!!
Should have over a hundred of those elusive little wonder balls of fermentation. Question though have two brands one says rice flour, water, and yeast. Other brand just says rice and water. Both look the same is it a packaging difference or do you think one is really lacking yeast? The two packs say yeast it's the bigger one that doesn't.
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Two batches on 18 days old the other 16 big difference.. my forst batch is clearer than the smaller 2nd batch but the second batch seamed wetter when I put it in the jar any ideas... drink both?
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