Rice Wine/Sake/Makgeolli Yeast Koji Starter-Culture

Rice wine / Sake are a symbol of Asian culture and cuisine. Almost every East Asian and South Asian country has dozens or more styles of Rice wines.

 

Usually, Chinese Rice wines can be overwhelmingly alcoholic (15% - 20%) compared to Japanese Sake (13%-15%), however, Sake tends to be more aromatic in flavour. These are only generic observations though since, some Varieties of Chinese/South Asian Rice wines can be extremely fragrant and highly prized.

 

CHINESE RICE WINE RECIPE

 

Even though any variety of rice can make Rice Wine/Sake it is advisable to use sticky-fragrant-gluttonous rice since it produces best taste and flavour. Thai Sticky rice and Japanese Sushi rice are common examples.

 

Method of Preparation:

 

Cook

• Wash 2 to 2.5 kg or rice and soak for an hour. Cook it until fairly soft.
• Once cooked, spread the rice evenly on a clean and sanitized tray or plastic sheet and cool.
• Once it reaches 30°C sprinkle the koji evenly and mix properly with rice. You can use gloved hands or some clean and sanitized utensil.
• Make bolls of rice and fill it in your preferable container  - Glass / plastic jar. When making a large quantity you can use a PPCP sake making bucket with tight lid. Close the lid tightly.

 

Primary Fermentation

• For the first three days, use a sanitized utensil to mix the content and push down if the rice starts floating.
• Keep it warm for the first 5 days. Between 27°C to 32°C.
• After 2 weeks, use a clean and sanitized  brewbag or cheesecloth to filter out the liquid into a jar or fermenter with airlock.

 

Secondary Fermentation

• If you wish to make a strong rice wine add 150g of glucose or 100g sugar per liter of wine you are making (glucose is more preferable for a cleaner taste but if using sugar make sure it’s organic and it’s mixed in twice the amount of water, boiled and cooled under 30°C  before adding to wine).
• Ferment for 3-4 weeks and chill it to under 20°C for 3-4 days before bottling.
• You can use fliptop bottles to store the wine if you don’t like crowning or corking.

 

Storing & Enjoying

• Store the wine in a cool and dark place.
• Wine is ready to drink at this stage and tastes delicious but for a refined taste you can choose to age it for a month. Some people like to age it for over 6 months.
• Rice Wine is best enjoyed at room temperature (sometimes even warmer) but NEVER chilled.
• Rice Wines can be very alcoholic so we suggest you to go slow if it's your first time since you can get reasonably drunk before you realize.
• Rice wines pair really well with Asian cuisine and is usually served with dinner.

• All our equipement and non-consumables are covered under our "no questions asked" refunds policy exluding postage, if returned within a month of receipt in an undamaged condition.    
• All damaged on arrival equipement are fully refundable including postage, if confirmed within 24 hours of receipt.
• Damaged on arrival consumables will be replaced/reshipped on request if confirmed within 24 hours of receipt. No extra shipping costs.

• Next day shipping on all items. Equipment is shipped through Indiapost, while all the consumables are shipped via DTDC. 
• In such a case, where Indiapost takes longer or is unservicable to a particular location we would post via DTDC or vice versa without notifying the customer beforehand, just to speed things up.