Making Chinese Rice Wine

[Kerry Beal]

It's fermenting season and this year I decided that it was time for something new. A bit of reading on some home-brew sites resulted in a cobbled together recipe.

 

I used thai glutinous rice, chinese yeast balls as well as some red yeast rice. I found the red yeast rice easily enough in the aisle of one of the asian groceries in Hamilton - but was having trouble finding the yeast balls. I pulled up a picture on my phone, showed it to the store owner who pulled a handful of them from a candy jar right next to her on the counter! I tried to say I wasn't after candy - but indeed it was the yeast and we had a good laugh. 

 

 

Alternating layers of steamed rice and a sprinking of a mixture of the ground up yeast ball and the red yeast rice. Day 1. No water is added.

 

 

3 days later - look at all those lovely mycelia. 

 

The fungi will convert the carbohydrate in the rice to alcohol and a certain amount of liquid will form. It already smells quite wonderful. 

 

I've filled the better part of a 10 litre stainless container - I suspect I'll get around a litre or perhaps more of rice wine. It should finish in 30 days or so. Then I'll figure out how I'm going to strain and perhaps cold crash to clarify. 

[dcarch]

"-----Then I'll figure out how I'm going to strain and perhaps cold crash to clarify. ---"

Actually, you eat and drink everything, the fermented rice as well as the wine, It's also served hot.

 

dcarch

[Kerry Beal]

I know you can use the remaining rice as a dish - but I think that the wine does need to be separated out.

[Norm Matthews]

Many years ago I made some rice wine for my then father in law. After the primary fermentation, I syphoned the liquid away from the rice into a carboy and attached a fermentation lock until it was still and cleared, then bottled it, again with a syphon above the sediment. 

ps I used a wine yeast.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Norm Matthews (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Many years ago I made some rice wine for my then father in law. After the primary fermentation, I syphoned the liquid away from the rice into a carboy and attached a fermentation lock until it was still and cleared, then bottled it, again with a syphon above the sediment. 

ps I used a wine yeast.

Something like that should work. Then apparently I can pasteurize it as well.

[hummingbirdkiss]

nothing fancy at all but really good and I love the smell of home made rice wine

this batch was a mix of Calrose Jasmine sticky rice and Korean yeast (I like to mix it up with different yeasts and rices but basically just make it in a big glass kimchi jar then keep it in plastic bottles 

 

as you can see I use a very fancy, many would object ..but it is how I was taught and no one I know puts it in glass bottles 

 

I do not drink this unless I am feeling queazy then I put ginger in it and it helps a lot!

 

=my husband and kids love it and drink it at the table ice cold with Korean food

 

 and I can not imagine not having some on hand to cook with 

 

/

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Don't forget to carbonate it and report back on the results.  If you are able.

[Kerry Beal]

The rather disappointing results of my experiment here - at least so far!

[Wild_Yeast]

On October 11, 2015 at 0:46 PM, Kerry Beal said:

The rather disappointing results of my experiment here - at least so far!

@Kerry Beal hi there, I was curious how you came across this type of rice wine coz it's not the popular but it's pretty good, it's a natural tonic for blood circulation and it's served (cooked in dishes) to postpartum women and uhmm...ladies who have the visitor for the month...  to "move" stagnated blood and out of their system. 

 

A little background to it. It's called Ang Chow/紅酒/Red Wine, the translation is quite literal. It's primarily made at home and indigenous to the Fujian household. The Chinese diaspora caused by the cultural revolution, forced a lot of the coastal Fujianese to flee to neighboring island nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan. Hence, you see more of this Angchow presence in these countries versus it's country of origin. It's also not mass produced I think because of the cost. Glutinous rice is more expensive, Angkak/ red rice yeast unlike koji is much more limited and also pricey. Each household normally would have a batch at hand just for general usage but also, mother in laws would start making batches of these within hours of news of their daughter in laws pregnancy. When the baby is born, there will be celebration, Angchow will be offered for toasts, the mother will get hers cooked in her postpartum dishes, and the food will be red(good luck color) because the wine lees are also used as seasoning and coloring agent. Nothing wasted. 

 

You were on the right path with your ingredients but water is also needed. 

Here's my family's recipe's ratio if you're interested in making it again:

 

4lbs. Glutinous Rice

5 pcs yeast ball starters 

3 oz red yeast rice

1/2 c purified water

 

-Soak rice overnight, rinse and drain. Distribute the rice loosely in several cake pans no more than 2 inches deep, poke several holes in the rice with a finger all the way to the bottom of the cake pans. Make sure your pans and utensils are grease free, but I'm sure you know that already. Then steam the rice on high for an hour. 

 

-After an hour your rice should be cooked through, test some from the center of the pan to make sure all grains are cooked. If so, turn it over a jelly roll pan, separate the grains with a spatula and let it cool completely.

 

-While rice is cooling, grind the yeast ball starters and the red yeast to a powder, as fine as you can get in a food processor, coffee grinder or mortar & pestle. Transfer to a shallow bowl you would use for dredging and set aside.

 

-When the rice is completely cooled through, get the 1/2 cup of water close by. Dip you hand in the water, grab a handful of rice, form roughly into a ball, and dredge in the pink yeast powder mix. And place in your sterilized jar. Repeat process till all the rice and powder is gone, at this point it's ok to have pockets in between the stacks of rice balls.

 

-Now you should have some remaining water from dipping your hands, if not get another 1/2 cup purified water, rinse your hand, and the bowls holding the yeast powder and  the rice. Get every single bit and pour it over the rice balls in the jar. Tidy the mouth and cover with cloth. Don't use cheesecloth or muslin, the holes are still big enough to let fruit flies pass through. Use an old t-shirt of course sanitized and air dried first. Cover the top with the cloth and secure with rubber bands. 

 

-7 days later you'll need to stir the mash really good. Try to get the bottom to the top and vice versa. Clean the mouth of the jar again and put the cloth back over the jar and let the magic happen for the remaining 23 days. It's not a strict fermentation rule so you can go past 23 days if you're feeling lazy, but no more than a week past that. 

-Separate the wine from the lees and bottle it up. You can enjoy it now or you can let it mellow out for up to 2 years. I don't pasteurize mine coz it doesn't last long and I don't find it necessary, but you're more than welcome to. This beverage does not produce fizz, it's pretty flat like sake but a bit syrupy, sweet and slightly acidic. I hope you'd try it again and give this another shot! 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2016 by Wild_Yeast (log)