Sake

I'll try making any sort of booze once but I will not brew sake twice. It was a huge pain in the ass and a long and tedious process for something that I like but not 5 gallons like. I should have stuck with the smaller batch recipes that are out there but I thought as long as I was going to go through the ordeal, I may as well make it worth my trouble. Well, it was a lot of trouble for 5 gallons of sake that I never drink.  I won't relive the experience by documenting my process but if you really want to make sake, The Mad Fermentationist outlined his adventure with sake brewing here. I got most of my assistance from the website, Homebrew Sake, and it looks like they now have video instruction. You can also purchase koji spores from this website. I think I ordered mine from Midwest Brewing Supplies. 

I bottled most of the Sake white and cloudy. This is the kind of sake I like, with Momokawa Opal Nigori being my favorite at Japanese restaurants. Sake, when left white with more rice solids, is referred to as Nigorizake (Nigori), it is higher in alcohol content and must be rolled to mix before opening. I left all of the rice beer still, not carbonating any. After continued racking of the sake to clear, I bottled the remainder. I gave away bottles to my friends that would take them. I finally decided I was wasting bottle space, so I ran 2 gallons of the clear stuff through a "magical apparatus" that condensed the sake to Shochu. I have a Korean sister, Juny, who brings me bottles of the Korean version, called Soju, and I thought it would be neat to let her try some home made rice liquor. She was impressed, saying that Korean's don't make their own Soju because it is too much work. I made two spice blends, adding them to two jars of diluted Shochu and added home canned peaches to two jars of Shochu, one with syrup, one without. I also left a little plain. I didn't record the specific herbs in one blend, but it tastes remarkably similar to Fernet. The other blend had mullen leaf, hibiscus, and mint.

In the end, Sake is a helluva commitment and unless you really love sake I wouldn't recommend it. If you are just really interested and want to understand the process, I would recommend brewing a small batch of one to three gallons. Be sure to start a journal with daily instructions for yourself throughout the lengthy process and keep good notes. If I hadn't made a daily outline of my sake duties I would have became extremely lost in the process.

The sake itself is pretty good and similar to the Opal Nigori I spend too much on while spending too much on sushi--but it doesn't have the same appeal at home for some reason. It smells like rice milk and although there is a tinge of alcohol heat, it is very smooth. Maybe the next time I make Asian food at home I will line the nigori up with a light homebrew and serve home made sake bombs? When I say sake, you say bomb!