Rice Wine Recipe - How To Make Homemade Rice Wine (2024)

FAQs

How to make wine from rice at home? ›

Crush 1 wine yeast ball into a fine powder and mix it into the cooled rice. Place the rice and yeast mixture into an airtight container and store it at around 82ºF (28ºC) for 5 days. Ferment the rice wine for an additional 10-20 days before drinking it or using it for cooking.

Rice wine is made by the fermentation of rice starch that has been converted to sugars. Microbes are the source of the enzymes that convert the starches to sugar. Sake in Japan, Mijiu in China, and Cheongju and Makgeolli in Korea are some of the most notable types of rice wine.

Yeast #1 through #6 are no longer in use, as apparently the acid produced was too strong. Yeast #7, #9, and #10 are perhaps the most important these days. Yeast #7, discovered by Masumi of Nagano, is the single most commonly used yeast in the country, with its mellow fragrance and robust strength during fermentation.

Homemade rice wine, also known as "sake" in Japan or "makkoli" in Korea, typically takes around 1-2 weeks to ferment, but the exact time can vary depending on factors like temperature, yeast strain, and desired alcohol content.

While both are made from rice, rice wine and rice vinegar are very different products and should not be used interchangeably. Pale dry sherry or dry white wine make good substitutes for rice wine, while apple cider vinegar makes a nice replacement for rice vinegar.

Made of brown glutinous (sweet/sticky) rice plus a touch of wheat, Shaoxing rice wine is one of the earliest types of liquors produced in China.

During the whole process, there is an increase in the availability of several nutrients, such as calcium, iron, and magnesium. By fermenting rice overnight for 12 hours, its iron content is increased 21 times compared to regular cooked rice. This is why fermented rice is considered healthier than the rest.

You can of course still use bread yeast as all yeast performs the same function – converting sugar to alcohol – but your wine will likely have a much lower alcohol content than normal. The yeast best suited for baking has a lower alcohol tolerance, so it will stop fermenting after alcohol levels reach about 8%.

Increasing Alcohol Content: If you add sugar to rice wine during fermentation, the yeast will consume the added sugar and convert it into alcohol. This is often done in the early stages of fermentation to boost the alcohol content of the wine.

Each single yeast ball can ferment about 2kg sweet rice into sweet rice wine! For this particular distiller's yeast, it's ideal to maintain the fermentation temperature at 30°C (85 °F) for 48 hours. When the temperature is higher than 40 °C, the yeast will die and the fermented rice will taste sour.

How much alcohol does rice wine have? ›

In rice wine, the starch in the rice is first changed into sugar. This sugar is then fermented. This process is more like the fermentation as it is done in beer. The rice wines made in this manner have more alcohol in them than normal wines (18–25% alcohol compared to 10–14% for normal wines).

Rice wine is a generic name referring to alcoholic beverages made from cereals, mainly rice, in east Asia. The beverage is known as 'rice wine' in the West because its alcohol content is approximates that of a wine. Rice wine is called sake in Japan, cheongju in Korea, and shaosingjiu in China.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), baked or simmered dishes that contain alcohol will retain 40% of the original amount after 15 minutes of cooking, 35% after 30 minutes and 25% after an hour. But there's no point at which all of the alcohol disappears.

In summary, Shaoxing rice wine is primarily intended for drinking, while Chinese cooking wine contains added salt and spices, making it unsuitable for direct consumption.

If you're using a pot, bring to a boil over high heat. Then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until the rice has reached the appropriate texture and the water has been absorbed, about 20 minutes. It will take longer by steaming. Uncover the rice and set aside until cool enough to handle, about 45 minutes.