Rice Wine

[jmcnamara]

I've had 5 lbs of sweet rice soaking in water for a few hours.
Starting batch 1 to steam it...this could take a while

 

[jmcnamara]

And 2nd batch of rice is cooking. Last one is in the pot. Now to sanitize and prepare the starter stuff

 

[jmcnamara]

As far as I understand, this is not nuruk. But the guy at the store said it would make rice wine so we'll see. Rehydrating it in a gallon of spring water. I know I'm going to regret the carboy when I go to add and take out the rice, but I really want to see what's going on in there

 

[sbaclimber]

definitely post more pics...
I am curious too!

 

[jmcnamara]

This is the starter liquid after a bit

 

[jmcnamara]

Last batch is cooling

 

[jmcnamara]

Stuffing the carboy

 

[jmcnamara]

 

[jmcnamara]

While I wait for the last batch of rice to cool, I'll go into the recipe and process (I use those terms loosely). See the recent article in zymurgy for better details.

5 lbs steamed sweet rice (I lined a vegetable steamer pot with cheesecloth and it worked great. Had to do 3 batches)
1 gallon of water
1 packet of yeast ball things (3 balls) this should have been nuruk, but I couldn't find it. I think it'll still make something

I mixed the yeast balls and water and let sit for about 30 mins. Then hand scooped the cooled rice into the carboy. Easy going in, probably a bear to get back out.

I'll let this sit at about 70f for 2 weeks, rocking it gently twice a day. Then I'll strain off the liquid and put into plastic bottles and place in the fridge

 

[jmcnamara]

And done. Quite possibly the easiest "brew" day I've had. Despite my 2 helpers...

 

[thunderwagn]

Cool man. Really interested to see how this turns out. I looked into making nuruk awhile back after hearing a podcast on Classic Brewing Radio about it. Sounds very interesting.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Quite a lot if rice to liquid ratio it looks I'm guessing the yeast will break eat sugars from broken down starch in rice. No mash required hey must be some enzymes in the yeast balls? A SYMBIOTIC process of some sorts.

 

[jmcnamara]

When I checked it last night before going to bed, the rice had soaked up all the excess liquid. The article did say its do something like that, but now I'm thinking of adding a little more water to keep it from being one big sticky rice ball

 

[jmcnamara]

I ended up adding another gallon of water on Monday. It was a gummy mess on the bottom. I sloshed it around as best I could.
I havent seen any visible activity yet, but it doesn't smell sour or anything.
I'll give it a proper stir with a racking cane later and post some pics

 

[Vallka]

Looks and sounds cool, going to have to follow this thread.

 

[jmcnamara]

Just finished stirring. Its viscous for sure, but I was still able to stir it fairly easy. Still no off smells

 

[GFHomebrew]

Just finished stirring. Its viscous for sure, but I was still able to stir it fairly easy. Still no off smells

View attachment 5978

And no krausen so to speak? Does it smell different in ferm vessel or still starchy? Gee I bet your hoping to get a few bottles out of it after all this work. How on Earth are you going to rack out of that slurry?

 

[jmcnamara]

No krausen and no bubbles that I can see (other than what I introduced when stirring).
To be honest, I think I'm smelling more of the carboy itself, but it's still a fairly neutral smell so far. Like smelling the water after the rice is done in the pot
And no idea on getting it out. Probably rig up some sort of sieve where I can pour some out, let it drain then compress it a bit. Its gonna take time, a whole lot of precious time. To do it, to do it, to do it right now

 

[GFHomebrew]

No krausen and no bubbles that I can see (other than what I introduced when stirring).
To be honest, I think I'm smelling more of the carboy itself, but it's still a fairly neutral smell so far. Like smelling the water after the rice is done in the pot
And no idea on getting it out. Probably rig up some sort of sieve where I can pour some out, let it drain then compress it a bit. Its gonna take time, a whole lot of precious time. To do it, to do it, to do it right now

Ha ha a whole lot a precious Tiiimeee. You know you gotta do it a do it a do it right. Right now yep through a sieve like a Biab Bag sieve ballooned around the end of transfer hose tied on by sanitized thread may do the trick?

 

[sbaclimber]

All grain brewing is starting to look easy...