The Outsider's Guide to Sake Production
This guide will show you the outlines of two methods for making approximately 3-4 gallons of sake.
At it's most basic, sake is really just a beer made with rice, while beer is made from barley. The starch from the rice is converted into sugar, and the added yeast ferments the sugar, producing carbon dioxide and alcohol, just like with beer. The main difference comes from the fact that barley supplies its own enzymes that convert the starch to sugar. Rice provides no enzymes of its own. Instead, the enzymes are provided by a special mold, called Aspergillis. This mold can either be purchased as a starter, or pre-innoculated on a rice base as a product called koji.
When I wrote this bit about how to make sake, I thought that I'd done a pretty good job. However, in the intervening years, I've discovered that I left something rather important out of the description: where to find Koji. Here's what I've been telling all of the people who have asked me where to find it.
For my first batch of sake, I went to the largest Asian grocery store in my area, and simply asked for it. They kept it in a cooler, near the tofu and other bean-or-rice-meal-made-into-something-almost-edible section. I think that the person that I first asked didn't even know that they had it, so don't be afraid to ask, and to ask for somebody that might even actually know.
For my second batch, I went all out, making my own koji. I was interested in growing my own mushrooms at the time, and while I never did have any success with that particular project, I did encounter a company that sold mushroom and fungal cultures, and among their wares was Aspergillius Oryze. That company was G.E.M. Cultures, out of California at the time. I'm not sure if they're still in business or not. I found them by going to the library and seeking out a mycological magazine. There were a lot of ads in the magazine for different companies that sold fungal starters: I suggest that you try one of them to see if they have the fungus that makes koji.
Because the mold is vulnerable to higher temperatures, the mashing process takes place at temperatures closer to the average room. Heat, added when adding hot rice, makes the mix warm, but never hot enough to kill the enzyme producing mold.
The basic process involves adding rice, koji, and water in such a way so as to double the size of the mash at each addition. Each step has a traditional Japanese name, which I use in this guide.
There are two methods for making sake, with the details being mostly in how often the mash is stirred, and the quantities of additives used. I have provided these two methods here in outline form...
Yamahai-Moto (Original style yeast mash)
Day 1
- Wash 1.5 cups of rice and soak overnight in fridge at temp = 40 deg
- Add 1/2 cup Koji to 2.5 cups cold water, 3/4 tsp yeast nutrient, and a pinch of Epsom salts. Mix together, and store overnight in fridge.
Day 2
- morning - Steam the rice, and add the hot rice to the cold Koji mix. Blend well and store, maintaining temp = 74 deg
- afternoon - Stir the mix.
Day 3
- morning - Stir the mix.
- afternoon - Stir the mix.
Day 4
- morning - Stir the mix.
- afternoon - Stir the mix. Place the mix in the cold place, temp = 50-60 deg
Day 5
- morning - Sprinkle yeast on the mix, but do not stir in. Cover and maintain temperature.
- afternoon - Raise temperature of mash to 68-74 deg, and stir yeast into mash
Day 6
- morning - Stir the mix.
- afternoon - Stir the mix.
Day 7
- morning - Stir the mix.
- afternoon - Stir the mix.
Day 8
- morning - Stir the mix.
- afternoon - Stir the mix.
Day 9
- Stir the mix
Day 10
- Stir the mix
Day 11
- Stir the mix
Day 12-15
- Lower temperature to 50 deg, and allow to rest for 5 days.
Day 16
- Wash 2.5 cups of rice and soak overnight in fridge at temp = 40 deg
- Add 1 cup of fresh Koji to Moto and stir.
- Prepare a water mix of 1.25 tsp Morton Salt Substitute into a little warm water, then add water to make 2.75 cups of water. Chill this water to temp = 40 deg overnight.
Hatsuzoe (the first addition)
Day 17
- morning - Steam the rice, and add the hot rice to the chilled water and salt substitute mix. Blend well and cool, achieving temp = 85 deg. Place this mix into the Moromi vessel.
- Add the Moto to the Moromi vessel. Mix thoroughly, maintaining strict sanitization. Stir the Moromi every 2 hours for 12 hours. Maintain the fermenter at temp = 70 deg
Odori (the dancing ferment)
Day 18
- morning - Stir the mix
- afternoon - Stir the mix
- Wash 6 cups of rice and soak overnight in fridge at temp = 40 deg
- Add 1.5 cups of Koji to the Moromi vessel and stir the mix.
- Place 8.75 cups of water in the fridge at temp = 40
Nakazoe (the middle addition)
Day 19
- morning - Steam the rice, and add the hot rice to the chilled water mix. Blend well and cool, achieving temp = 85 deg. Add this mix to the Moromi vessel, and stir for 30 min. Should now have about 3 gallons.
- Wash 10 cups of rice and soak overnight in fridge at temp = 40 deg (*Note: for dryer and sweeter sake, delay adding 1.5-2.5 cups of rice and an equal amount of water for adding at Yodan)
- Place 1 gal of water in the fridge at temp = 40
- Add 2 cups of Koji to the Moromi vessel and stir the mix.
- afternoon - Stir the mix
Tomezoe (the final addition)
Day 20
- Steam the rice, and add the hot rice to the chilled water mix. Blend well and cool, achieving temp = 85 deg. Add this mix to the Moromi vessel, and stir for 30 min.
Moromi
Day 21
- morning - Stir the mix. Try to achieve temp = 50 deg
- afternoon - Stir the mix.
Day 22
- Leave the mix alone. Maintain temp close to 50 deg.
Yodan
Day 34
- Either add water or rice or don't. (*If adding water or rice, wait 3-5 more days for Moromi ferment to be completed.)
Day 37 or so
- Rack to secondary fermentation container. Press the rice lees to extract all possible liquid. Be careful not to aerate the liquid or contaminate the lees.
- When fermentation stops, wait 10 more days, then rack and add finings.
- When the jiu is clear, rack and pasteurize. Cool and store for 3 weeks to 2 months at 50-60 deg.
- Protect the jiu from light by bottling in brown containers. Another 2 months aging is recommended.
Kontoka Shubo-Moto (latest style yeast mash)
Day 1- Wash 1.75 cups (12.5 oz) of rice and soak overnight in fridge at temp = 40 deg
- Place 5 oz of water in the freezer.
- Steam the rice
- add the following to 3.25 cups (26 oz) water: Stir to dissolve, heat to 140 deg. 3/4 tsp yeast nutrient 1/8 tsp Epsom salts
- add the steamed rice to the warm water mix, and establish temperature of 131 deg
- heat 1/3 lb koji to 131 deg (do not microwave) and add to rice mix. maintain temperature for 12 hours.
- afternoon - cool the mix to 122 deg using the 5 oz frozen water
- add 6 ml of 75% liquid lactic acid or 1 tsp dry citric acid to moto. Mix thoroughly and reduce heat to 68 deg. Add yeast and hold at temp for 2 days.
- raise temperature to 77 deg. hold temp for 4-5 days
- Wash 3.4 cups (24 oz) of rice and soak overnight in fridge at temp = 40 deg
- Add 0.7 lbs of fresh Koji to Moto and stir.
- Prepare a water mix of 1.5 tsp Morton Salt Substitute into a little warm water, then add water to make 3.75 cups (30 oz) of water. Chill this water to temp = 40 deg overnight.
Hatsuzoe (the first addition)
Day 9- morning - Steam the rice, and add the hot rice to the chilled water. Blend well and cool, achieving temp = 85 deg. Place this mix into the Moromi vessel.
- Add the Moto to the Moromi vessel. Mix thoroughly, maintaining strict sanitization. Stir the Moromi every 2 hours for 12 hours. Maintain the fermenter at temp = 70 deg
Odori (the dancing ferment)
Day 10- morning - Stir the mix
- afternoon - Stir the mix
- Wash 7.1 cups (50.5 oz) of rice and soak overnight in fridge at temp = 40 deg
- Add 1 lb of Koji to the Moromi vessel and stir the mix.
- Place 10 cups (80 oz) of water in the fridge at temp = 40
Nakazoe (the middle addition)
Day 11- morning - Steam the rice, and add the hot rice to the chilled water. Blend well and cool, achieving temp = 70 deg. Place this mix into the Moromi vessel.
- Wash 6.2 lbs of rice and soak overnight in fridge at temp = 40 deg
- Add 1.4 lb of Koji to the Moromi vessel and stir the mix.
- Place 21 cups (168 oz) of water in the fridge at temp = 40
- afternoon - Stir the mix
Tomezoe (the final addition)
Day 12- morning - Steam the rice, and add the hot rice to the chilled water mix. Blend well and cool, achieving temp = 70 deg. Add this mix to the Moromi vessel, and stir for 30 min. Should now have about 4 gallons. Stir the Moromi every 2 hours for 12 hours.
- morning - Stir the mix
- afternoon - Stir the mix
- morning - Stir the mix
- afternoon - Stir the mix
- morning - Stir the mix
- afternoon - Stir the mix
- morning - Stir the mix
- afternoon - Stir the mix
- morning - Stir the mix
Moromi
Day 17- afternoon - Stir the mix. Lower the temperature to 50 - 60 deg, the lower the better.
- morning - Stir the mix
- afternoon - Stir the mix. Can take gravity readings on 18th and 22nd day. Racking will stop fermentation
Yodan
Day 32- Either add water or don't. Adding no water yields a sake with 19% alcohol. Adding 32 oz of water yields a sake with 16% alcohol. Adding 72 oz of water yields a sake with 14% alcohol. Adding 127 oz of water yields a sake with 12% alcohol. Adding 166 oz of water yields a sake with 11% alcohol.
- Rack to secondary fermentation container. Press the rice lees to extract all possible liquid. Be careful not to aerate the liquid or contaminate the lees.
After fermentation stops, wait 10 more days, then rack and add finings.
When the jiu is clear, rack and pasteurize. Cool and store for 3 weeks to 2 months at 50-60 deg.
Protect the jiu from light by bottling in brown containers. Another 2 months aging is recommended.
After I published this outline on the Home Brew Digest (R.I.P.), I receved some comments from some other home-made sake makers. You can see our dialoge here.
