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Sake

Started by Dodge, June 06, 2014, 08:03:35 PM

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Dodge

I was asked a while back to post up the process I used when making some homebrew sake. After scouring the internet for info I decided to follow a recipe which would produce about 2 gallons of sake brewed more along the lines in what the traditionalist would follow ( I assume?)

This recipe will be divided into 2 parts

- Making Koji for Sake
- Making Sake

Equipment
- small 10l fermenting bucket
- large 25l fermenting bucket
- 2 x demijohns
and the usual items like bungs, airlocks, spoon, syphon hose, hydrometer

Importance with any brewing is the cleanliness. Making sure everything is kept clean and sterile just the same as any brewing process.

Step 1 - making Koji for Sake

Koji is used to provide flavour and aroma as well as provide the enzymes which will break down the protein and starches into dextrins and sugars.
Koji cultured at higher temps (40C) produces saccharification enzymes where as lower temp (20C)will emphasise protein degrading enzymes. We want to culture the koji at the higher temp range.

The mycelia produced from the Koji needs to penetrate deep into the rice grain. This is effected by the moisture of the grain. The deeper the mycelia penetrated the better the extraction of the sugars from your rice. So its important to follow the schedule in preparing the rice.
Basically we will be washing, rinsing, soaking, draining, steaming, cooling and then inoculating and incubating the rice.

Ingredients
- 1.13Kg rice
- 1 packet of Koji Kin (spores)

1. we want to rinse the rice until the water runs clear. This will remove any of the rice flour and surface powders present.
2. we want to soak the rice. Place the rice in a bowl and fill with cold water and soak for 1 hour min. This will increase the moisture content of the rice grains.
3. we will drain the rice. Place the rice in a sieve at let it drain for 1 hour
4. we will start the steaming of the rice. Place rice in a steamer, evenly layered and steam for 45mins. Make sure the steamer doesn't run out of water. The rice will become gelatinised all the way through.
5. remove rice from steamer and place on a tray of grease proof paper (spread evenly out) and allow to cool. Break up any clumps.
6. while the rice is still warm (37C) evenly spread about half the packet of the Koji Kin (5gm) evenly over the rice and mix well making sure that all the rice is covered by the Koji Kin spores which are a greenish colour.
7. wrap the mixture in a tea towel, place in a bowl ready to be inoculated
8. We want to place the rice in a warm humid area. I used my fermentation chamber to keep the temp between 32 and 35C. I also placed a cup of water to provide the humidity required to get the spores to grow
9. after 12 hours open the towel and stir the koji gently.
10. after 24 hours it may show signs of a white mold. If not check again on another 12 hours in which you should remove the glass of water.
11. keep checking the koji and don't let the temp rise above 37C
12. after 40 - 54 hours the koji should be complete. Spread the koji out to cool and then the koji can be placed in a container and refrigerated for use later


Step 2 - Making the Sake

Ingredients
- 4.54 kg rice ( since I couldn't locate proper sake brewing rice, I decided to use the next best thing, Sushi rice, bought at Tesco. The rice used is polished, ie its placed in rotating drums which would remove some of the outerlayer. I assume any rice could be used even brown rice but this would affect the quality of the finished product. Sake rice is a short grain rice and so went with Sushi rice being very similar
- 1.13Kg Koji
- 7.6l water the water used was soft water or in my case RO water. It is said that the water should not be hard and have very little iron. again this must affect the quality of the finished product
- 1 tsp Lactic acid or 4gm of Citric acid
- 4gm yeast nutrient
- sake yeast (wyeast or whitelabs)

The process follows a day/ night schedule to accomadate those that work and can be changed to suit any schedule

Yeast Mash day 1
Evening - prepare 600 ml water (RO or soft water), add lactic acid(1tsp) or citric acid(4gm), yeast nutrient(4gm). Stir thoroughly
separate 120ml and put in fridge. Cover remaining 480ml and store in cool place (15-18C)
Morning - wash and steep 340gm rice for 1 hour, followed by 1 hour drain
- add activated yeast to the 480ml water left  and let it stand whilst the rice is draining
- add 115gm of the koji to the water yeast mixture and stand for another hour. Do this while the rice is steaming for 45 min. Temp of the mixture shoud be around 20C
- steam the rice for 45mins. Place the steamed rice in a small fermenter, add the 120ml of fridge water to bring down temp of rice and add the water yeast koji mixture. stir gently. Temp should be about 24C
Evening - 12hours later stir the mash

Day 2 to Day 6 - stir the mash every morning and evening with a sanitised spoon ensuring the temp stays around the 22-24C range. Nott too hot and no lower than 15C. The yeast mash should be complete and the abv will be around 6%

Main ferment build up

we will be essentially doubling the volume by adding water, koji and rice. This will take place over about 3 weeks. It will be divided in to 3 additions

1st Addition

The night before the 1st addition of the main ferment buildup
- add 205gm koji into the yeast mash. add 355ml water and stir gently. bring mash temp to 15C. place 295ml water in the fridge for cooling the steamed rice
Day 1 - cool the yeast mash to 10C. Wash 570gm rice, steep in cold water for 1 hour, drain for 1 hour and steam for 45 mins
- spread the rice on a baking sheet to cool and dry the rice. Break up any clumps. Place rice in a sterilised container, add the 295ml fridge water to cool steamed rice and stir gently. Place steamed rice in to yeast mash and stir gently. Cover and cool to 13C (no more than 20c)
Day 2 morning and evening stir mixture gently
Day 2 evening - The night before the 2nd addition, add 320gm koji to the main mash and stir in gently. add 1.2l water as well. Place 870ml water in fridge for cooling the steamed rice

2nd Addition

Day 3 - wash 1360gm rice, steep in cold water for 1 hour, drain for 1 hour and steam for 45 mins
-  spread the rice on a baking sheet to cool and dry the rice. Break up any clumps. Place rice in a sterilised container, add the 870ml fridge water to cool steamed rice and stir gently. Place steamed rice in to yeast mash and stir gently. Cover and cool to 13C (no more than 20c)
Day 3 evening -  The night before the 3rd addition, add the rest of the koji to the main mash and stir in gently. add 2.4l water as well. Place 1.4l water in fridge for cooling the steamed rice

3rd Addition

Day 4 - wash remaining rice, steep in cold water for 1 hour, drain for 1 hour and steam for 45 mins
-  spread the rice on a baking sheet to cool and dry the rice. Break up any clumps. Place rice in a sterilised container, add the 1.4l fridge water to cool steamed rice and stir gently. Place steamed rice in to yeast mash and stir gently. Cover and cool to 13C (no more than 20c)

The next 2 days stir every 12 hour interval

Main ferment
the next 11-15 days the main ferment will take place rising the abv from 3% on day 1 to about 15-17% near the end

you can at the end of the 15day taste and either allow to fully ferment out giving a drier sake, or bottle and pasteurise.

Secondary ferment and maturation
pour the sake through a cloth strainer (brew bag) to separate the liquid from the lees. squeeze any excess out if you want. place the liquid into 2 demijohns. You can bottle and drink now but its best to let it settle and clear
let the Sake settle for a week to a month to clear.

This is were I'm at and will soon syphon the clear sake off the trub, taste and adjust




Rossa

Wow! Get that into the wiki. I'll have to read it a few times but great detailed instructions. Nice one!🎩 looking forward to hearing how it turns out.

mr hoppy

June 06, 2014, 08:25:49 PM #2 Last Edit: June 06, 2014, 09:23:10 PM by mr hoppy
Where do you get koji?

Eoin


Dodge

Quote from: mr hoppy on June 06, 2014, 08:25:49 PM
Where do you get koji?

You can by the Koji kin (spores) from the homebrew shops along with the yeast. Some places abroad you can purchase already made koji but here unfortunately not I think.

LordEoin

frontpage seems to be down just now, i'll wiki this later

Dodge

Quote from: LordEoin on June 07, 2014, 02:18:47 AM
frontpage seems to be down just now, i'll wiki this later

Thanks LordEoin. I'll update it along the way