Newbie sake questions esp. koji

So I have been a home brewer and cider maker for many years and for the hell of it i decided to that I wanted to make sake. So I purchased the basic kit with instructions from NB, 10lbs of Kohuho Rose Sushi rice, and #9 yeast. Now the basic method on the instructions included with the koji powder have you make a base kome-koji as a first step. They say that the rice should not look white but transparent after steaming. My rice looked white as soon as it was soaked for several hours. After steaming for an hour it still appeared white and slightly hard, which they say it should be slightly transparent. Was this my first mistake? under steamed or oversteamed? It states also to never let the rice become dry which it has not but felt firm still. I dont think it will dry out but it has been 48hrs and no white fuzzies yet. So i will try another batch tonight. They then state to use it or store it in a freezer, and i have also seen that some dry it out for later use. Any other info or this? I mean freezing should kill it, and then again you are subbosed to let it dry out either. If frozen do you just defrost it and pitch it? Sorry but i have alot of questions. I also have the book Brewing Sake but actually has very little about kome-koji production or storage.

Not to toot my own horn, but throw those Vision instructions away and use these
http://www.taylor-madeak.org/index.php/2008/10/17/growing-koji-for-homebrewing-sake
. If that doesn’t answer all of the questions in your post, or generates further questions, just say so and I’ll be happy to address them one by one.

The short answer, by the way, is that you understeamed your rice. I can’t really offer any advice on how to fix it until I know more about your steaming equipment, though.

Ok Thanks for replying! I had read your article during this process but only the sake brewing part not koji article. Thank You!

So here is what i did. I steamed the rice in a metal strainer over a large pot of water, only a couple inches. Strainer was completly submerged in pot but not touching water. Covered with a towel to allow to steam. I steamed for an hour and rice was white not transparent but has the consistency of whats stated in your article.

First batch never developed spores, which i think was due to low temperature. Started a second batch 2 days later and used a little more koji spores and warmer temp in the cooler. The rice did start to develop white fuzz but was not completly covered. So i left it in for a couple days monitoring its progress and it seems like it went from mostly covered to covered in yellow green spores that exactly match your pic of tane-koji. Which are the only acceptable colors other than white. Its slightly moist still though.

Can it be used for sake? or should I make another batch? can this green spore be used make further batches?

Make another batch. As koji matures it begins to produce kojic acid, which is toxic. Koji that is producing spores is fully mature…you can see where I’m going with this. You don’t want that in your sake.

Yep! Just let it dry out and store it away. I keep mine in a big metal salt shaker I picked up from Wal-Mart years ago.

Sounds like I let it set too long.

Pretty much. I’m not kidding or suggesting an optional step when I state in my guide that you have to check on and stir the incubating koji every ten hours. Believe me, you have to do that! Otherwise you’re going to sleep in one day at a critical stage and next thing you know…green koji. Personally, I set a timer with a loud alarm right next to the koji incubator. If it goes off at four in the morning (and it often does), I get up and tend to the koji.

By extension, this means that making koji when you’re going to be away from the house at work or whatever for the day is not a good idea.

[quote=“Taylor-MadeAK”]Pretty much. I’m not kidding or suggesting an optional step when I state in my guide that you have to check on and stir the incubating koji every ten hours. Believe me, you have to do that! Otherwise you’re going to sleep in one day at a critical stage and next thing you know…green koji. Personally, I set a timer with a loud alarm right next to the koji incubator. If it goes off at four in the morning (and it often does), I get up and tend to the koji.

By extension, this means that making koji when you’re going to be away from the house at work or whatever for the day is not a good idea.[/quote]

I managed to make fine koji with only stirring every 24th hour and ending the process after 48 hours. When that is said, koji needs air in order to grow and if you have a small incubator then you will have to refresh that air more often. But as a good rule of thumb, if you have the proper temperature, then 48 hours should be fine for some nice koji growth.

With regards to your rice, as Taylor said, the rice is not steamed enough. Try turning up the heat of the stove in order to generate more steam.