Vous êtes sur la page 1sur 10

How to homebrew Sake

How to homebrew Sake

Homebrew Sake is very easy to brew using simple cooking tools and then you can enjoy the taste of Sake. Homebrew Sake called 'doburoku', rather than hazy Sake', is part of the culture of Japan. Even under the previously strict control of Liquor Tax law, some Buddist Temples and Shinto Shrines were brewing their own 'doburoku' to serve at their festivals or ceremonies. Following is one of the simple Sake brewing procedures for Homebrew Sake: Materials: * 1500g (3.3 lb) rice * 400g (0.9 lb) Kome-koji * 0.5g (0.02 oz) citric acid
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Foodpia/1751/sake.html (1 of 10)7/21/2004 4:01:21 AM

How to homebrew Sake

* 2.4 liter (0.5 gal) Water * 5g (0.18 oz) dry bread yeast. Or equivalent amount of Beer Ale yeast,Wine yeast or Wyeast Sake depending on your taste.

Following is for US people to understand better; (This is proposed by Dr. Jim Palmer. Thanks a lot, Dr.) *2 quarts of water *3 lbs of rice or 6 cups uncooked ( per example) *1 lb of Kome-koji *Juice of 1 lemon *1 package of yeast

You will be able to get Kome-koji made from Koji or Koji-kin, a kind of white fungi, together with steam cooked rice at your grocery stores or homebrew stores. If you only can get Koji or Kojikin, you can easily make your fresh Kome-koji together with steam cooked rice by yourself using your picnic ice box. Later I will show you how to make Kome-koji. Equipment: * Electric rice cooker (steam cooker is better) * Basket to drain water * 10 liters (2.6 gal) enamel or stainless steel deep cooking pot with lid (Equivalent plastic or glass container can be used) * Big spoon (stainless is better) Procedure: 1. Wash and soak the 1500g(3.3 lb) rice for about 30min.and then put the rice in a basket for at least 60minutes to drain the water.

2. Cook the rice with 1800ml(0.48 gal) water using the rice cooker. Steam cooking is recommended for better taste. I used a pressure cooker to steam cook rice using a stainless steel basket suspended in it. 3.After cooking,cool down the rice to 30 degC(86degF).
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Foodpia/1751/sake.html (2 of 10)7/21/2004 4:01:21 AM

How to homebrew Sake

4. Mix the citric acid with 2.4 liter (0.5 gal) water in the enamel cooking pot. Citric acid will prevent contamination by bacteria and add a slightly sour taste to your Sake. Depending upon your taste,you can reduce the citricacid. Also you can uselactic acid or a lemon or lime juice. 5. Add 400g Kome-koji and mix well by agitating with thebig spoon. 6. In 30 minutes, add the cooled cooked rice and mix well by agitating with the big spoon. 7.Add the yeast, place the lid on the pot and keep it at room temperature(lower than 25 degrees C or 77 F). Lower temperatures will cause slower and longer fermentation and will result in a better taste. 8.Stir it at least once a day.In two or three days you can enjoy a very nice Sake aroma. Be careful about bacterial contamination. I used 70% ethyl alcohol spray around the pot and on myself every time. 9.In two weeks fermentation will seem to end. 10.Filter the sludge using a sterilized basket or cheese cloth. 11.Enjoy the filtered Sake. Do not drink too much. Alcohol content is two to three times more than beer. Cooling the filtered Sake is the best way to taste it.If you want crystal clear Sake, separate the remaining sludge by decanting. This will greatly reduce the Sake Sake yield. 12.The remaining sludge can be used to make pickled vegetables in a refrigerator. A cucumber is the most suitable vegetable. Before pickling, sprinkle lightly with salt (about 2% weight of the cucumber)and place the cucumber in a dry container under two times it's weight for at least 2 days to squeeze out any excess moisture. Then immerse in the sludge and in two or three months, you will have sake tasting pickles. You can also put in white fish meat and then grill it. If you put soy bean cake (tofu) wrapped with cheese clothe into the sludge,in a week you will get a cheese like sake tasting food. The longer fermentation,the better the sakecheese like taste. Improved Kome-koji process for homebrew Sake

http://www.geocities.co.jp/Foodpia/1751/sake.html (3 of 10)7/21/2004 4:01:21 AM

How to homebrew Sake

http://www.geocities.co.jp/Foodpia/1751/sake.html (4 of 10)7/21/2004 4:01:21 AM

How to homebrew Sake

I had a sake brewing job experience at an old-fashioned and traditional sake brewery,Matsuya sake brewery, on Feb.7 1999. Thanks to the President Mr.Matsubara's openminded explanation about sake brewing and Komekoji process,
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Foodpia/1751/sake.html (5 of 10)7/21/2004 4:01:21 AM

How to homebrew Sake

I was successful to make my own Kome-koji at home,the same appearance and the same taste as that of the sake brewery. Key point is to steam cook rice as dry as possible by very short time of washing and soaking together. Equipment and materials I used: 1.Normal eating rice 2kg ( I used "Hitomebore"rice which is one of the tastiest rices in Japan.) The sake brewery used so called 60% polished special sake rice kind.(40% reduced from original rice.Material cost increased 40% plus polishing expence.) 2.Stainless steel bowl and basket to wash and soak rice. 3.Steam cooker. 4.Cotton cloth, a loose open weave.(Traditional Sake brewery uses hemp cloth.) 5.Thin wooden container or cooked Sushi rice container. 6.48L picnic cooler box. (US made. Labermaid) 7.A 60W tungsten lamp together with a small fan which is controlled by a Robertshow type temperature controller. 8.Dry Koji-kin or Koji-fungi.I got a pack thanks to the Sake brewery President,Mr.Matsubara. 9.Ethylalcohl spray to sanitize hands. Procedure: 1.From 13:00 on Feb.11.1999 Wash and soak the 2 kg rice for about 30min.in a stainless steel basket together with a bowl and then remove the bowl. Drain the water at least 60 minutes. 2.Wrap the rice with a cotton cloth and steam cook it for 60min with weak gas flame. Steam cooked rice looks slightly transparent and well separable,not white and not sticky, because of less content of water.

http://www.geocities.co.jp/Foodpia/1751/sake.html (6 of 10)7/21/2004 4:01:21 AM

How to homebrew Sake

3.Spread and separate the each rice on the other cotton cloth in a wooden container by hands to cool down the cooked rice to 30 degrees C(86degF) which I don't feel warm temperature anymore. 4.Wrap about a few gram of dry Koji-kin or Koji-fungi with a gauze. And sprinkle the Koji-kin or Koji-fungi on the cooled rice and well mixit by hands. (Disposeremaining rice ofdry Koji-kin or Koji-fungi in the gauze afterspinkling) 5.Wrap the rice with the cotton cloth in the wooden container and slightly moisten the cotton cloth with clean water spray. Put the rice together with the wooden container in a picnic cooler box with the temperature controller set at 30 deg C (86degF). 6.At 06:00 on Feb.12.1999 The rice started to stick together. Well separate the rice with hands. After wraping the rice with the cotton cloth. Moisten the cloth again. 7.At 21:00 on Feb.12. Kome-koji alreasy started to smell out side of the picnic cooler box. 8.At 06:00 on Feb.13. The Kome-koji stuck together. Well separate the Kome-koji with hands. After wraping the rice with the cotton cloth. Moisten the cloth again. 9.At 17:00 on Feb.13. Remove the already prepared Kome-koji from the picnic cooler box and cooled down to the room temperature by spreading the Kome-koji on the other cotton cloth on a clean table or plate. The uniform well separated beautiful white Kome-koji is made. Slightly sweet taste the same as that of Sake brewery. 10.Put the Kome-koji in a Ziploc and keep it in a refrigerator for homebrew sake or miso making. If real "Amasake" is available(sake sludge mixed with sugar is not real Amasake), directly pitch dry yeast on the Amasake in a bottle. You can easily brew homebrew Sake. In Japan, at present,fermenting more than 1% alcohol without a license is illegal. Before World War(I), I heard that every family enjoyed homebrewed Sake. It was the Japanese culture. But the war destroyed the culture too.

http://www.geocities.co.jp/Foodpia/1751/sake.html (7 of 10)7/21/2004 4:01:21 AM

How to homebrew Sake

At present, members of "Homebrew TSUSHIN(News Letter)" is only around 300. It is estimated that about ten thousand homebrewers exist in Japan. We do not only hombrew Sake but also homebrew beer. In 1992, the minimum amount of licenced beer production was reduced from 2000kl/year to 60kl/year by the pressure from the USA. It was the dawn of local micro breweries. We,most of Japanese homebrewers,are wanting more pressure from the USA for free homebrew and for free trade to get cheeper homebrew ingredients. Commercial Sake brewers use very expensive materials such as 50% polished special kinds of rice, which looks like very small crystal beads because of the excessive polishing process. The special rice kinds grown only for Sake are called Yamadanishiki, Miyamanishiki, Reihou, Gyokuei, Kamenoo and so on. We never eat such a rice, we usually eat slightly polished normal kinds of rice grown only for eating. When I visited a Sake brewer near my house, the manager told me that he tried to eat sake rice but that it was not tasty. Homebrew Sake is very simple to make and satisfactorily tasty if you do not compare it with commercial high class pure rice Sake. I heard that U.S.Sake brewers must produce only pure rice Sake because of U.S.tax laws. Pure Rice Sake means Sake only from rice. In Japan, tax law allows mixture of so called industrial ethyl alcohol into Sake within a certain percentage. Pure rice sake (Junmaishu) is very expensive. I hope you enjoy Homebrew Sake. Following is a copy of Mr. T. Takeshima's Home Page,just for your information. What is Koji? Koji is a kind of mold that has an enzyme to convert starch to sugar. Koji is used for making Sake (Japanese rice wine), Miso (soy-bean paste), Shoyu (soy-sauce), etc.
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Foodpia/1751/sake.html (8 of 10)7/21/2004 4:01:21 AM

How to homebrew Sake

As a mashing step is necessary to convert starch to sugar in beer brewing, the function of Koji is indispensable to make sake. In the case of beer brewing, fermentation takes place after starch conversion has finished. In making sake, on the other hand, starch conversion by Koji and fermentation by Sake yeast proceed in the same fermenter at the same time. In Sake making, Koji not only works as a starch converter, but also produces complexity in flavor of Sake. Rokurota-san's "KOJI to brew your own Sake." Where to find Koji in US There are at least a few (probably more) Koji makers in the US. Most of you can get rice Koji at your local homebrew suppliers. Here is a Koji maker of whom I have the address and phone number: Miyako Oriental Foods,Inc. 4287 Puente Av., Baldwin Park, CA 91716 Phone: 818-962-9633 Another way to get Koji is mail order. Here is the information for a mail order supplier: G.E.M. Cultures 30301 Sherwood Rd., Fort Bragg, CA 95437 Phone: 707-964-2922 Kushi Institute Store Toll-Free: 1-800-64-KUSHI (1-800-645-8744) e-mail: store@macrobiotics.org "The Sake Koji on-line Ordering Center" These companies make rice Koji fundamentally for making miso (soy-bean paste),soy-source and/or Amasake. I usually use about a 1 kg (2 lb) pack of dried rice Koji made by Miyako Oriental Foods when I homebrew my sake.

http://www.geocities.co.jp/Foodpia/1751/sake.html (9 of 10)7/21/2004 4:01:21 AM

How to homebrew Sake

According to the mail order catalog of G.E.M. Cultures, they seem also to provide Koji starter which enables you to make Koji by yourself at home. I hope you are succesful. Kampai with your Sake! Mutsuo Hoshido

mailto:

MAIN

http://www.geocities.co.jp/Foodpia/1751/sake.html (10 of 10)7/21/2004 4:01:21 AM

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi