2021 California Farm Rice Harvest Sake Wine

Ingredients

• 4 cups sushi rice
• 2 Tbs Koji fungus (amazon), or fermented rice from last batch
• 4 yeast balls to start fermentation (amazon), or fermented rice from last batch
• 2 gallon food grade plastic tub with lid and gasket
• Airlock
• Small mason jar to save fermented rice for next batch
• bag Nylon cheesecloth, funnel that fits bottle, or,
• Table top fruit press
• Bottles 3 reclosable pint bottles
• Vivosun heating pad (Amazon)
• Infrared Thermometer (amazon)
• Wine hydrometer to measure alcohol, if preferred (amazon)
• Rice $0.45 per pound, Costco
• Koji $0.70
• Yeast balls $0.33
• Reuseable bottles, $0.00

Steps

1. Rinse four cups of rice, soak 2 hours, drain.
2. Sanitize tub with boiling water, rinse, dry.
3. Boil six cups of water, add rice, cover, let sit an hour to kill wild yeasts and other contaminants. Put in sterilized airlock container.
4. Cool rice to 85F, (26 C), using laser remote thermometer to measure, crush four yeast balls, add 2 Tbs koji powder, work evenly through the rice. Save 1 Tbs of rice mixture in 2 Tbs cold boiled water in small mason jar in fridge to use to ferment next batch.
5. Install airlock, seal with cooled boiled water, ferment airlock container on heating pad, 72F degrees, two weeks. You can also make your own airlock by bending a boiled hot drinking straw in “S” shape and cooling it in that shape and keeping the bend filled with cold boiled water. See airlock on right.
6. Rice will have liquified. Filter through bag into bottle, or press
7. Guess alcohol by tasting or measure with wine hydrometer, if preferred. Mine comes in at 15% alcohol.
8. Store in fridge, drink cold. We share one bottle a month. Gets better with age. Enjoy! Kanpai!
9. Warming pad