But you should be able to skip the 6 month step since that yeast already has the bacteria in it right?

Let me know how it goes, I've thought about making it, but heard it is best fresh. I couldn't put down 5 gallons or 1 gallon for that matter myself.

I tried to make it a few years ago, but it didnt work; It didn't ferment. I have a 'kit' here waiting to be made and in it is the nuruk AND some yeast. The way I understand it is the nuruk is the enzyme to convert the starches in the rice, but you still need some yeast. I could be wrong, but my guess is traditionally there was either some wild yeast in the nuruk or it just spontaneously fermented. Either way, on my next attempt I will add some yeast in addition to the nuruk.

I think thats the joy of it. It can vary widely in taste, especially the good stuff you get at a small hof out in the country. When I used to live in Jeollanam-do, there was a hof near by that brewed it's own and it was soooo good. I should really brew up mine as well. I think small batches are the way to go because you basically just brew it and drink it straight away. Sara and I had some last week and it was bottled the same day we drank it. If it's too old, it can kill you (a few old dudes died in the spring from drinking some past its due).



EDIT: Actually, all this talk of it....i'm going to brew it up right now. Double batch of stout in the morning and a small batch of makkoli in the evening. A busy day. :)

I may have to try this once my mead is ready for secondary and I have a free 1 gallon jug.

Where did you get the kit? What kinds of rice flour?

"daxdefranco" wrote: Last night I cooked 100 grams of rice in 300mL of water. I added 1200 mL of water to this and let it sit in the rice cooker overnight. I was planning to throw it out, actually, since I thought I'd make a bigger batch, but after reading a bit more this morning, I decided that a small batch is better.



I took what was in the rice cooker (water and rice) and dumped it in a sanitized glass jar. I stirred in 20 grams of crushed nuruk and ~5 grams of bread yeast I had in the cupboard (anyone's guess as to the viability of it, but it's dry yeast so i reckon it should be okay). It's been sitting on my hot floor since this morning, and I took the lid off about an hour ago to promote a bit of outside bacteria. I'll cap it again tonight before I go to sleep. Fingers crossed it will at least ferment, but I've really no idea what to expect in terms of taste.

Good Luck with that.



I took a 막걸리 class at the Susubori Academy one Saturday. They're recipe was different than yours. :D



They gave me a hand out with directions that I should scan for everyone. It was very basic though. At the class, the most interesting part was that their are 3 types of 막걸리, which involves fermenting for 2 days and adding more rice to the fermentation. They said most 막걸리 brewers dont do this, though, because it's too expensive.



After your rice is finished fermenting, there should be a yellow layer of alcohol on the top that you seperate and then you strain the rice. After you strain the 막걸리, it should be ~15%. So, when you bottle, add half 막걸리, half water to bring it to ~7-8%.

Here are the directions from Susubori Academy.

So I'm guessing you can just keep adding ground up glutinous rice until you've hit whatever percentage of alcohol you like? Anyone have any numbers on how much alcohol one gets from, say, a kilo of rice?



Also, interesting: I had seen instructions suggesting one cook it and then mix with nuruk, without a pulverizing stage. I wonder if that's for some other sort of rice liquor? (It said it worked for dongdongju as well as makkeolli.)

Hahaha!



I wonder whether a different yeast would make a nicer liquor, dax? I'll let you know what I think of my results, when I get around to making a batch. (Maybe start one tomorrow morning, I dunno?)

Aren't you supposed to pasteurize it and back-sweeten with sugar or something? I remember reading that about modern versions. At least they taste sweet to me.

Hi everyone

I just joined this forum to add to this discussion.

I lived in Korea for 5 years and tried to gather up as much info about Makkoli for the inevitable...I would leave.

I have made about 20 batches of makkoli now and 15 have been undrinkable.



My best success has come from mixing two batches together. One that fermented 7 days with yeast and one that was only nuruk and rice and about 2 days old. That way the rice converted to sugar but not to alcohol and I mixed them to sweeten the bitter makkoli.



Another theory I have is the alcohol has to get high enough that it kills the yeast and the nuruk continues to convert the rice to sugar.



One recipe I have calls for sugar to 6% of the mash but I think mixing sugar into the makkoli is what gives the reputation of producing terrible headaches.



Some rumours i have heard:

most important is how the rice is cooked. Steaming seems to be the preferred method.

All different nuruks will give different makkoli. From bitter like lemonade to sweet and everything in between. Different areas in Korea make different nuruk.



I like it a little bit tart. It is refreshing. Unfortunately bitter makkoli makes it harder to share with others.



Here's a recipe for my latest batch. I'm Canadian so I mix imperial and metric

3.5 pounds of rice (washed and soaked for 4 hours steamed for 50 minutes)

200 grams nuruk (mixed into cooled rice by hand, hands washed in hot water without soap)

3 litres water ( I added in more water after the rice absorbed some, just enough to have a bit of water above the rice)

Lavlin yeast (half a pack, I need to research what yeast has the lowest alcohol tolerance)

stir daily for 5 days

Strain

cool

drink



Very drinkable, slightly sour, no headache

"Kunkemonster" wrote:

I'm gonna try to bottle it tonight...no reason to give up on it, but my expectations are very, very low.

How did it turn out?

absolutely atrocious. i remember describing it to my friend as tasting like 'post-marathon balls.'

Just as a follow up The smell decreased each day and by the third day post fermenting, the wine turned most excellent. In fact, I just finished the last of it as it was so good. Starting a new batch tomorrow.

I was planning on it, but I want to make sure it is reproducible before I recommend it. The basic recipe so far is:



1) soak 1kg sweet rice overnight

2) steam/cook rice (about an hour)

3) at same time grind and soak enzyme with packet of yeast in small amount of warm water

4) Mix cooked rice with filtered water to a cup shy of a gal.

5) add enzyme and yeast mix



I used a brewers airlock poked through the lid of a gal glass jar. It was helpful for watching fermentation. Everything clean, always.



Fermenting started within hours and lasted for 3 days. Stirred it once about 1.5 days/



6) Filtered and squeezed into another container.

7) Added small amount of agave (used in tequila) syrup to sweeten and produce carbonation in final jar.

8) placed in fridge



Notes:



a) 1st date, smelled very moldy but tested fine.

b) by 3rd day, smell almost gone, taste is very very nice.





Tomorrow I am going to try the same thing with red rice yeast and see how it turns out.

"gordsellar" wrote: What's "red rice yeast"? And where did you get it? :shock:

The label says it is rice + yeast and it has a deep red color. I read that people used it to make sake, Korean and Chinese wine. However, I could not find a recipe so I am winging it. It is very commonly available at Chinese grocery stores.



Thomas

The red rice yeast did not ferment in the 1st 24 hours, so I added a different yeast. This batch is just a scratch, but I try it. I have a new plan for the next batch.

Ooops. Wikipedia has it... if what you bought is red yeast rice, which sounds more likely. That link is worth a read, btw...

"sunsetbrew" wrote: I think Sake yeast is the best option, but it is too expensive for use in sweet rice wine. I want to keep the cost down to about $3-$4 per gallon including the rice. The sake #9 yeast is $6-$8 alone compared to $.60 for the red star.

I'm admittedly ignorant about makolli production as i've only made it once and it was awful...but - could you not reuse the yeast like in beer making?

I am sure you could harvest the yeast and keep running with it. I have not done this but would definitely have to to use Sake #9 yeast. I read that preserving yeast in a freezer with a defrost cycle won't work without extra protection. Once I "establish" a reliable method for Makkoli, I might take on the extra work. As with anything there is an investment of time and money. I am trying to build a system that has low cost and low materials.



And yeah, the last batch with baker's yeast was a flop. But I had to try it since the setup was already there. Here's to a better week next week. :)

"gordsellar" wrote: Another possibility would be to culture yeast from a commercial makkeoli that you enjoy: the few bottles I've bought (of the sort that is unfiltered) had huge sediments at the bottom, and I'm guessing at least some of that is viable yeast.

That's a good idea, never thought of it. Just like people who culture bugs or yeast from commercial beers they like.

Yeah, though of course you'll have no information on what kind of yeast it is. Plus I found myself wondering how much of that stuff is rice powder, as opposed to yeast. Best to wash the yeast like one ought to do anyway, and build it up on some sugar or something.



Also, you have to choose the unfiltered makkeollis, for obvious reasons. But this makes it harder to know whether you're getting a high-alcohol tolerant yeast, since a lot of the unfiltered makkeolis spoil in a week (still fermenting, good sign) but also aren't so high in alcohol. Right?



Anyway, the reason I thought of it was because the makkeoli I tried at the corner of the L -- where they had the SCOBY and Susubori Academy signup sheets -- reminded me of a commercial version I've had. I thought, "I bet they cultured the yeast from bottles!"

It's not that big of a deal if your sanitization is good. Plus you can do things like washing yeast or acid washes to extend the life of your yeast.

Just as a followup in my rice wine adventures. The brew I made with the Korean brown sweet rice turned out every bit as good as the premium white sticky rice. I am now doing the same recipe with black glutenous rice. I believe it to be the same a purple stick rice but I could be wrong. My wife is from Vietnam and she says they make wine with the purple rice over there. One thing I can say is that the rice is truly beautiful during fermentation. I am on my 3rd day and I just stirred it up to go two or three more. One thing is this rice ferments very slowly.



Having made a couple good batches so far. My one take away is that it is best to let the wine rest in the refrigerator at least 3 days before attempting to drink even a drop of it. It really mellows out settles into a very clear yellow wine. I once saw a video of a guy drinking it right after fermentation which I believe was a mistake as it can be rather unpleasant at that stage.

I just racked the black rice brew and took my 1st glass. It is a very very nice brew. Fruitier than the others I think. But to be fair, my process is also steadily improving. In this batch, I actually took out my beer making siphon to rack it rather than drink out of the secondary bottle. The point of this is to mostly eliminate the cake on the bottom. As I learned from a Sake brewer, the taste and smell of the mold is a distraction from the wine. Like that doesn't take a rocket scientist, it definitely made the case for a clearing additive.



I am currently brewing another premium white short-grain sweet rice just so I keep the comparison going. The white ferments faster and in fact behaves different as it settles to the top during fermentation where the brown and black tended to be a mostly even distribution. If I had to guess, the white is probably more fully processed during fermentation and therefore stronger.



I ordered a vinometer to test strength, Sake #9 and some bensonite for future brews. I want to analyze the strength of different rices and compare Sake yeast to the stuff I am using and use bensonite to gain a cleaner sample for analysis. I don't expect that the premium Sake yeast is going to make much of a difference, but we will see. Hence, I will have many more reports in the future. I hope to eventually make a premium version of the wine.



Cheers!