How to Make Rice Wine (or sake) at Home - Part Two!

We made rice wine at home! Yay. Today we give an update on our progress. Rice wine and sake are more or less interchangeable terms, but there are a few differences, mainly in the bacterium used to convert the starches. We made rice wine. Some might still say it's sake too, but, we aren't that concerned with labels, we just want to make a nice rice wine! So, we received a lot of feedback on our making rice wine at home video and took that all in, found out even more information, and put it all together. But, in the end... did we make alcohol in our rice wine? That makes all the difference here. Find out in our rice wine or sake at home update!

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Little Big Mouth Bubbler (found on Northern Brewer)

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[DrCiju]

Aspergillus Oryzae (or even Rhizopus for that matter) is not a bacteria, but a fungus which is not quite a yeast. This type of fungus converts the complex starches in the rice to simpler sugars which are then fermented into alcohol.. that explains the sweetness and the alcohol with fruity flavor. Great videos guys. Thanks.

[thehainanchannel]

This video just popped up in my feed, I'm living in Hainan Island China, my wife is local, and my mother in law makes this wine. This wine is famous here, the local minority groups are well known for their rice wine, and it can be bought in just about every local village. Some small differences, they dont use a water lock, just a damp clean t-towel over the jar. They don't add water, simply spread the sachet contents over the rice. The rice itself is simply known as sticky rice, (it's also used in many sweet desserts), everything else is more or less the same. The rice breaks down a lot and the final product can be quite cloudy if not allowed to settle. The alcohol content is (usually) not very high, and the wine is used more for medicinal purposes. Even on the island though there is a lot of variation as to how it is made with some of the (more professional) guys producing wine with a kick. Nice video, well done guys.

[joeysonson]

I think the reason why we all love your channel is because your methods are not only approachable but also rivals traditional or proper ways to do things.

[seraph]

I have never been more excited for a part two of something.

[MerceC]

Glutinous rice always gives you sweet rice wine. I prefer this over normal sake cause it's very easy to drink

[marcusking]

My family is from the Northern Luzon (Pangasinan) region of the Philippines. We make a Filipino local version of this rice wine. We don’t use a sticky rice, but use a good quality rice such as Calrose. We use a local yeast ball which looks like the Chinese ball.
We add no water. We get a right much liquid wine, but we also start eating the rice usually after about 2 days of fermentation.
The wine and the rice in it are both very tasty.

[braynechoblue]

This is really interesting. I've never done this but I have grown koji many times to make soy sauce, miso and other experiments. The koji fungus is really interesting. It creates very unique enzymes that are capable of breaking down amino acids to make them taste wonderful. Koji grown on rice or barley to me tastes fruity but also like ham. Koji is sold as spores but the leavening you bought is koji rice (also known as malted rice) that has been ground up. This malted koji rice is a fermented product but because of the enzymes produced in the harvested koji it is also capable of another kind of fermentation. The enzymes can be added to other things (like grains or even to cure meat) and will break down amino acids to produce umami flavors. That's how soy sauce and miso is made. I've never made rice wine but I am fascinated by koji and I hope that helps. I appreciate all your efforts!

[chocolaterose]

I strained my rice wine today, started it 3 weeks ago and it is wonderful. Its so sweet, creamy, touch of tang, i love it. Ps. It's a tad heady so be careful. Now its in the fridge doing its thing. I cant wait til it's done so I can share it.
I love your channel and thank you for sharing your brewing journeys with us all. God Bless.

[haroldfelton]

My attempt at rice wine following your example is one week old. Like you, I wanted to check for presence of alcohol. After watching you extract some of the liquid with a baster, I had an idea to use a small, long handle ladle to press liquid up the side of the fermenter into the ladle minus the rice. It worked really well. I got a clear liquid sample. Yes it had alcohol, and yes it had a really sweet fruity flavor. Love it! Thanks for your awesome videos. I have made many brews from your list. My rice wine is now resting for an undetermined amount of time before racking and bottling.

[Anamericanhomestead]

I'm pretty sure that a trip to Japan is in order to nail this all down.

[tmtx]

From where I came from (Philippines), we do this in easier way. We just boil (or cook/steam) the rice, add the yeast and let it ferment for three days. The smells is so good and alcohol scent is very strong. The difference from what you do is just take the liquid(ized) fermented liquid.. what we do is put it in a big colander with cheese cloth and let the liquid drips. And this is weird, to consume it, we put the fermented rice (or scoop it) into a bowl, drizzle with some of the fermented liquid and eat the whole thing (lol). But I'm telling you you get a big buzz just for a cup of around ten ounces. Very good video, thanks for sharing it and good luck.

[jonyricardo]

I love you guys! Even after so much time together, there's still stuff that you didn't know about eachother, that makes you go "Oh wow!" just like at 3:07

[erics]

On a linguistic note, in Japan, if you say go into a bar and ask for sake (which you usually pronounced osake - oh- sah-kay, the O is an honorific added to certain nouns, and it is sometimes rude not to add it) They usually will know you mean rice wine, this is because even though it means liquor, when you ask for other types of liquors you usually use loan words like uisukī for whiskey or jin for gin.

That was my experience anyway.

Great video by the way, I 've been making rice wine for about a year now, and have never gotten around to aging any of it, its just too tasty, lol

[stephaniedunning]

I made rice wine myself about 3 weeks ago going off of my own research. Watching your video cleared up a lot of my doubts and questions. My rice wine was made just like yours! This is a wonderful and informative video. Thanks!

[ronaldsabourin]

Molecular Transfomigulation sounds like something from Calvin and Hobbes.

[Tim_the_Enchanter]

8:09 you're doing everything perfectly right. Rice wine is made using a different method than fermented fruit wines or malted grain beverages. Its clear you're unfamiliar with the method from your commentary, but your execution is flawless so far.

[Anamericanhomestead]

The yeast carries the fruit notes. Thats why rice wine with no fruit has those notes.

[TheBeaumarisEcho]

The label will read Sticky or Glutinous rice. My Mum-in-law makes it in Thailand, great stuff. You did it right, I asked her! She makes 5 galls at a time, muslin cover, ready for parties, drink it young!

[taylorhocutt]

I've been wanting to try and make rice wine for a long time, but I've always found everything online pretty confusing. I'm so glad you guys are doing this!

[HolyPineCone]

How interesting! I won't make this, for lack of time and knterest but man was it interesting. Fruity flavor out of rice? Increadible! Great video