Ok I have tested the incubator with a loaf of bread and it works great!
Good news is temperatures I need to incubate Sake mould is lower than that needed to rise a loaf of bread.
If this works out I'll end up with 5 to 6 cups of Sake mould rice. When done I will take it to the next level and create spores so I can keep making Sake rice for the rest of my life
To make spores I have to make Sake rice and this is where most of you that don't like the idea of having clouds of mould spores around them will stop as this is where you freeze your Mouldy rice until needed to brew Sake!
Q. Why is mouldy rice needed?
A. Rice is not malted to saccharify so the yeast can eat the sugars.
Q. Does all the rice need to be mouldy rice to brew Sake?
A. No, just as with barley malt, their is enough converting power in the enzymes in the mouldy rice to convert normal
rice, you could push up to four times the volume converted!
Q. Mouldy rice sounds nasty, is it?
A. No, it's quite sweet and clean smelling, like chestnuts.
Ok you do get sulphur elephant farts smell in the first 24 hours of incubation but this gives way to a nice chestnut smell rapidly after the first day of incubation.
How to make:
I'm running out of battery so I'll keep it short.
We need to make proper steamed rice. Not rice made in a rice cooker or boiled on a stove! Do this and it will liquify into a mess when the mould starts growing.
Q. So how do you make steamed rice, proper steamed rice?
A. You wash the rice and soak in a container until it absorbs about 30-33% of it's volume in water. Then some muslin or coarse weave cloth in a cheap bamboo steamer will let you pour the rice on the cloth and gently steam the water soaked rice for the required one hour.
Q. Is rice type important?
A. Yes and no
If making mould spores you can use any rice. If making Sake you want short grained rice. In old days gone by in Japan Sake was made from brown rice. The extra bran and nutrients made for a different tasting Sake than today. Today short grain white rice is used. You even get polished rice which will effect your ABV and flavour.
Q. Is real Sake clear?
A. No, all rice even white has remnants of bran and husk materials even if ever so slight. This imparts a yellow color to final Sake. Like modern fascination with filtering you can filter Sake to make it clear but like all brewers know, filtering removes flavoirs and aromas from the Sake. If you want clear Sake you might be better buying commercial megaswill Sake. Like home brew beer we like a final drink with flavour aroma and quality above the commercial offerings.
500ml of rice in a marked container. Once it reaches 500 * 1.33 which is approximately 670ml measurement line I will note the time. This will take about one hour or more.
Then steamer bamboo basket on a pot of water to steam the rice. Be sure to put enough water in the pot to keep the steam going this long.
To be continued...
Cheers,
Brewer Pete
