Short grained porridge rice for rice wine?

[joakimlinden]

I live in Sweden and proper Sake rice is next to impossible to find, unless I import - which would be too expensive.

There is however an old Swedish traditional dish made from rice grains which are very short and fat. i have no idea about from where this rice originates or what it’s properties are. When cooked it become porridge-like, almost like Italian risotto rice. Very sticky and starchy.

I recently did a very crude rice wine experiment with this rice and regular fresh bakers yeast. The resulting beverage was quite alcoholic, judging from taste and it’s effects - probably around 15% vol.

I’m not going to go into details but I also made the koji from this rice, and it worked perfectly fine.

I’m wondering if any of you know about this rice variety, and if it’s suitable for sake or rice wine? It seems to behave like short grained rice I have read about for sake production, in that it turns semi transparent and slightly gummy when thoroughly washed, soaked and steamed.

I have a job and two children below the age of three, so I’m looking for a method which doesn’t require constant attention, but yields OK results. I.e. not proper sake, but rather a simpler homebrew version… Are there any such recepies?

[taylor_madeak]

[quote]I live in Sweden and proper Sake rice is next to impossible to find, unless I import - which would be too expensive.

There is however an old Swedish traditional dish made from rice grains which are very short and fat. i have no idea about from where this rice originates or what it’s properties are. When cooked it become porridge-like, almost like Italian risotto rice. Very sticky and starchy.

I recently did a very crude rice wine experiment with this rice and regular fresh bakers yeast. The resulting beverage was quite alcoholic, judging from taste and it’s effects - probably around 15% vol.

I’m not going to go into details but I also made the koji from this rice, and it worked perfectly fine.

I’m wondering if any of you know about this rice variety, and if it’s suitable for sake or rice wine? It seems to behave like short grained rice I have read about for sake production, in that it turns semi transparent and slightly gummy when thoroughly washed, soaked and steamed.[/quote]

It’s probably some variety of mochigome, which is also known as “sweet rice,” “sticky rice,” “waxy rice,” “pudding rice,” and any number of other descriptive monikers. It’s really not appropriate for brewing sake in that it contains far too much amylopectin that the koji enzymes can’t properly break down.

If your “crude” wine experiment contained any refined sugar, that would account for the alcohol content. Rice by itself does not contain any readily fermentable carboyhydrates.

I have a job and two children below the age of three, so I’m looking for a method which doesn’t require constant attention, but yields OK results. I.e. not proper sake, but rather a simpler homebrew version… Are there any such recepies?

There are plenty of recipes out there for doburoku. Brew that once and you’ll see why we don’t recommend it.

Seriously, don’t try to shortcut this. You’ll regret it.

[joakimlinden]

Thank you for the detailed reply. I have much respect for your insights ( I have visited your site a few times ).

First, I want to give a brief description of my experiment:

Day 1. I washead, soaked and steamed about 500 grams of this rice. When cooled to around 30 c. degrees I added about half a teaspoon aspergillus spores bought from Vision Brewing (diluted with organic stone milled white flour for easier coverage). Placed the inoculated rice in a pre-steamed and cleaned container in a warm place.
Day 2. Sterilised a spoon. Gently stirred the rice. Covered the container and put it back in the warm spot.
Day 3. White spores penetrates into most of the rice. Repeats steps from day 2. In the evening, temperature was really beginning to rise and the spores seemed to have penetrated most of the rice kernel. Placed rice in fridge.
Day 4. Steamed 1 kg rice. Mixed with clean water in a clean container together with koji-rice from the day before. Added about 15 grams of fresh bakers yeast. Added juice from half of an organic lemon.
Day 5. Some fermentation could be seen. Stirred with clean spoon.
Day 6. A lot of fermentatioj. Bubbling and foaming. Stirred.
I kept stirring daily for approx two weeks. By the end only minimal activity was seen. Filtered and pressed through pre-boiled cheese cloth. Transfered liquid to glass bottles. Stored in fridge for a few days before tasting. No sugar was added at any time. The recipe was derived from a homebrew style method on Vision Brewing.

Lastly, I want to express that I have a general interest in homemade produce - not specifically Sake. I’'ve semi-successfully made miso for instance and tried Korean Kimchi recipies. Cooking in general interests me, especially things that are regional and local specialties. Sake would be really nice to try, but I don’t think I have time or money right now to invest in all needed gadgets and materials.

Thanks again for the response!

[taylor_madeak]

How did the resulting shu taste? That will ultimately be the indicator of whether or not you can use that rice, my friend. =)