Chinese, Japanese, Asian style rice wine (22%alc/vol ) Producing 750cc

Procedure

Soak 1 kilo of glutinous rice for 4 hours in 2 litres of water. Drain off the water and wrap the rice in a cotton cloth (see images).

Steam the rice without letting the rice come into contact with the boiling water as described in the Malt rice steaming instructions.

After 40 mins remove the cotton parcel of rice and place in a bowl containing 375 gm of water.

After the rice has absorbed this additional 375gm(cc) of water place it back in the steamer.

After steaming again for 40 minutes, remove the cotton parcel of rice and spread the contents on a large tray to cool.

Mix up a slurry of 250 gms (200gms dry weight) of previously prepared Malt rice with a cup full of water. Now the rice is sterilized, clean hands are essential when handling the rice

When the rice is cool (very important), place the rice in a clear sterilized container; glass, ceramic or stainless steel is recommended. Mix in your slurry of malt rice and 5 gm of of champagne or wine yeast. The final secret and essential ingredient is the placing (adhere with a silicone putty) of a shallot or small onion in the sealed brewing container high up on the side away from contact with the rice. Cover with a lid (or cling wrap) and keep away from light.

After one week the process will have finished. This delicious wine (22% alc/vol) can be filtered through a kitchen sieve. The remaining sweet alcoholic rice can be stored in the fridge and used as a desert. it is truly delicious.

Standard medium or short grain rice can aslo be used, however at the start of the fermentation process add 800 mls of extra water to the mix.

Further filtration can be achieved through coffee filters,fine cloth or bentonite; however the white residue contains wonderful flavors that might be better to leave in place.

A 2nd recipe involves doing all of the above and adding 2 liters of good quality water to the brewing container at the beginning of the brewing process. The fermentation should be finished in 7 to 10 days.This recipe will produce 2.5 liters of a complex sweet rice wine (16% alc/vol) with a hint of bitterness.

Rice Steaming Images:

Above shows the soaked rice in the cloth ready for wrapping and placing into a steamer with a cloth on top to prevent condensation dripping onto the rice.

This recipe, complete with the use of a shallot or a small onion, was demonstrated to me by folk who have been making rice wine for the last 900 years. The Shallot seems to be involved, as by the end of the week, the inside flesh of a previous firm vegetable had turned to paste. The other shallots of the same batch in the box still remained firm! At the moment no scientific explanation is offered.