And the rice wine games have begun! This morning I started by rinsing the rice until the water ran clear and then I let it sit covered in water for a good 2-hour soak. The 2 lbs bag of Thai Jasmine rice I got at target was about 6 cups of dry rice or 913 g (which means I actually got 6 g for free). I measured the water for cooking the rice out by weight for a 1:1 ratio of water:dry rice. I had a little bit more, i.e. 948 g, but left it at that.
Yesterday I received the Jiuqu I ordered on ebay and these seem to be Chinese, whereas the ones I bought locally were Vietnamese. With that in mind I decided I'd do a little experiment. Given that 1 lbs of dry rice cooked should fit in the half gallon ball jars, I'd use one jar with the Vietnamese and the other with the Chinese rice cakes.
Yesterday I received the Jiuqu I ordered on ebay and these seem to be Chinese, whereas the ones I bought locally were Vietnamese. With that in mind I decided I'd do a little experiment. Given that 1 lbs of dry rice cooked should fit in the half gallon ball jars, I'd use one jar with the Vietnamese and the other with the Chinese rice cakes.
This afternoon I poured off the water from the soaking rice and rinsed it once more after which I threw it all together in a pot on the stove. The heat was turned up about 75% (it goes up to 8 and I dialed it in at 6). I didn't want full blast as I was afraid I might scorch the rice on the bottom. From what I've read online scorched rice doesn't contribute very nice flavors. As soon as I noticed that it was boiling, I turned the heat down to Low, covered the pot and let it sit there for 25 minutes. Then it was time to take it off the heat completely and let it sit for another 25 minutes (the steam cycle). I was quite pleased with how the rice came out. I've never made Jasmine rice before and it was definitely much stickier than what we normally use (brown rice).
Now it was time to be super sanitary! I washed my hands really well and sanitized them with good old Starsan (I happen to use that for beer brewing as well). I spread everything out on the foil-covered cookie sheet I had stored in the chest freezer the previous night. While the rice cooled down considerably, it was still too hot to mix the yeast cakes in. The clumped rice was often still 100-130 F, so I put the entire tray in the freezer for about 40 minutes (I checked every 15 minutes or so). While waiting I smashed the yeast cakes in plastic bags with a rolling pin.
More hand washing and sanitizing followed (I had already cleaned and sanitized the mason jars), before I added the crushed Jiuqu to the rice. Afterwards it was just a matter of dumping the rice in the jars, adding a little cavity in the center and closing the jars. One jar I closed with sanitized cheese cloth underneath the lid so CO2 can escape, while I'm using an airlock in the other. Both jars went in an empty closet on the ground floor as I want to keep the jars separated from any fermenting beers which I keep in the basement (I don't need mold or rice yeast in those) and it's also a little warmer here (75-79 F vs 70 right now in the basement). Darkness seems to be an important factor from what I've read to prevent overly enthusiastic mold growing too vigorously.
I'll report back in the next few days and weeks with rice wine status. Hopefully everything works out okay (no infections, no acetone smells, no vinegar). Although, if it turns to vinegar, we'll have a nice rice wine vinegar and that wouldn't be a total loss!
Now it was time to be super sanitary! I washed my hands really well and sanitized them with good old Starsan (I happen to use that for beer brewing as well). I spread everything out on the foil-covered cookie sheet I had stored in the chest freezer the previous night. While the rice cooled down considerably, it was still too hot to mix the yeast cakes in. The clumped rice was often still 100-130 F, so I put the entire tray in the freezer for about 40 minutes (I checked every 15 minutes or so). While waiting I smashed the yeast cakes in plastic bags with a rolling pin.
More hand washing and sanitizing followed (I had already cleaned and sanitized the mason jars), before I added the crushed Jiuqu to the rice. Afterwards it was just a matter of dumping the rice in the jars, adding a little cavity in the center and closing the jars. One jar I closed with sanitized cheese cloth underneath the lid so CO2 can escape, while I'm using an airlock in the other. Both jars went in an empty closet on the ground floor as I want to keep the jars separated from any fermenting beers which I keep in the basement (I don't need mold or rice yeast in those) and it's also a little warmer here (75-79 F vs 70 right now in the basement). Darkness seems to be an important factor from what I've read to prevent overly enthusiastic mold growing too vigorously.
I'll report back in the next few days and weeks with rice wine status. Hopefully everything works out okay (no infections, no acetone smells, no vinegar). Although, if it turns to vinegar, we'll have a nice rice wine vinegar and that wouldn't be a total loss!