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The above should be 70 litres used for cooking and about 10 litres added for a total of 80.

It seems to have stalled at 1020. It got off to a very healthy start. It is still bubbling very lightly but has stayed 1020 for days.

An aquarium heater has kept the temp between 20 and 24 degrees C. Iodine test doesn't change colour. If my pH paper is correct, it has a pH of between 2 and 3 which seems too low to me. Shouldn't 4 ish be more like it?

If it is a pH problem, what's the best way to raise the pH? Is there an ammonia problem adding bicarb, sodium or calcium carbonate to a wash or is that just if the pH tips higher than a certain level?

Baking soda shouldn't throw things off much at all if you don't add too much and it works off...

Hi yall. Looks like it's time to revive this thread with a question. I do not have a pot big enough to do this in. I do however have a 13 gallon boiler but it is electric. Can the rice be boiled in a straining bag in the boiler or is this a bad idea? Thanks

BB

Well I did it! Almost. And I sure hope the end result is great because it was a PITA. I followed the recipe to the letter with th exception of how I boiled mt rice. To boil the rice I used a 36" straining bag in my 13 gal milk jug boiler secured bag by the 3 clamps that hold my tower fitting. Now the smarter people reading this are asking themselves right now " How do you get 8kgs of cooked rice in a bag out of that small neck hole?" I of course am not in that group and didn't consider that until after it was cooked so unless you like scooping out a boiler full of 200+ degree rice one scoop at a time I reccommend another method. After getting all the mash in the fermenter it took 2 days the get to pitching temp. It is summer here. I pitched the yeast and after about 12 hours I could hears sizzling when I stuck my ear against the fermenter. My yeast has been sitting out at room temp for about a year so I was suprised it worked, but it did. It took about 2 days til I saw any bubbling in the airlock but once it took off it was going gangbusters. Bubbled great for 2 more days then back down to sizzling and my ear against the fermenter. By Wednesday of the following week It had stopped completely. I let it sit until Saturday, today, to settle a bit and make sure it was done. Because the mash was like cream of wheat when I stuck it in the fermenter, I am not sure what my initial SG was but final was .995. Now the fun part. I racked a total of approx 56 liters of wash. The first 25 or so were as normal. Siphoned into my 10L jugs after that I hit the sludge. I spent about 3 hours draining the rest in my small straining bag and gently squeezing the rest. As I said I ended up with about 56 liters total. There is no way this would have settled, it was just too thick. I've got it in my storage room with the A/C on 60 to settle and hope to run it next week. Here is a pic of the leftovers after squeezing. BTW, the wash really smells good. Even my wife commented how good it smell so I am very hopefull. Thanks for letting me share. As much of a PITA as it was I really had a good time doing it and if the product is tasty I will definitly do it again.

I had a quick question before trying this recipe out. I have a 50 lb bag of blue ribbon long grain rice that I wanted to use (cycling my food stores and this is near expiration). I read http://www.jircas.affrc.go.jp/english/p ... 69-075.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow here that you can soak a crushed rice with the same effect as cooking it before ferment. This would make life so much easier and was wondering exactly how you crush your rice? Do you need a grain mill or do you just use a food processor to chop it up a bit?

Never mind, I figured out that I can buy an attachable mill to my kitchen aid mixer. Should do the trick but the question is... Should I crack the rice? Anyone do this yet?

Hey all. Haven't been here in a while. Sounds like this rice vodka been working out good for a lot people. Just did a spirit run on a couple of stripped batches the other week. What I did this time is put the final product through about a 3' carbon filter. A friend and myself tied into a jug of it last night and wow, I'm talking a vodka with absolutely no aftertaste at all and no burn going down and most importantly no hangover today I would put this product up against a bottle of Grey Goose any day of the week, and it was made in a pot still not a reflux still. Rice is such a good grain to work with, it just does not produce the esters of other grains or fruits.
Happy distilling everyone!

Uncle Remus wrote:I would put this product up against a bottle of Grey Goose any day of the week, and it was made in a pot still not a reflux still. Rice is such a good grain to work with, it just does not produce the esters of other grains or fruits.
Happy distilling everyone!

Sounds good to me Uncle Remus.

What is the latest and/or best recipe you've used so far?

Based on UR original recipe, I am doing the following for a 5 gallon wash:

Hi Guys , I am new to this fourm ....all the way from down under in New Zealand......just put a brew of Uncle Remus rice vodka into the fermenter , had some trouble finding Gluco Amylase so didnt put in with the start of the fementation, found some the next day in a packet of vodka yeast so added it and hoped for the best , dont know if the extra yeast will be a problem. Brew was active for a day then seemed to die right down to hardly anything , Day 4 and you have to wait 10 min for a bubble . Would the addition of a second lot of yeast make it ferment out that quick ? ...............anyway I found a company that sells Alpha Amylase and Gluco Amylase ..attached are the spec sheet , then thing of interest is the temp tollerance and optimum temp range , if I read it right the Gluco Amylase should be added first at mid 60c with the Alpha Amylase at mid 50c ...........your thoughts ?

F6Hawk wrote:Based on UR original recipe, I am doing the following for a 5 gallon wash:

Code: Select all

Water	     5.0	Gallons		
Rice		   6.1	Lbs		
Amylase      1.4	Tbs	(4.1	Tsp)
Sugar        3.4	Lbs		
Glu Amylase  1.4	Tbs	(4.1	Tsp)
Yeast        2.0   Tbs   (17 g active dry)

What kind of rice are you using?

RonH3154 wrote: What kind of rice are you using?

I don't think the type matters, but I have both Jasmine and Calrose long grain (the cheapest I could find).

I'm curious... are you guys having issues with your rice burning on the bottom? I haven't scorched rice in years, but with my induction cooker set on power 2, I am getting stuck and browned rice.

Seems like no one is doing rice these days, but I have another question for anyone with experiences with rice.

I let mine ferment for a couple of weeks (cooler temps, slower ferment), and I learned just how messy an AG can be. Took me a while to separate and squeeze all the water from the rice, and when I did, the wash seemed full of (what I assume to be) starch. Couldn't even get it to flow thru a pilowcase. I let it sit outside a few days, and racked it off tonight. Each 5 gallon bucket had about 2.5 gallons of clear wash, then I got into the milky white stuff again. My washes are about 1.001 FG.

So I'm wondering...

1) Do I just toss about 1/3-1/2 of my wash to not mess with the white junk?
2) Do I let it sit longer and try to let it settle out?
3) Do I just put it in the boiler, white junk and all, and run it?
4) Should I add some sugar and yeast and try to "eat" up more of the (starches?)??

I wasn't sure if I went with option 3, would it cause any off flavors?

Or did I do something else wrong? And looking at my numbers above, I did not go with the 4.1 tsp of amylases in the original recipe, instead used about 2 tsp each according to the seller's recommendation.

I have been wanting to try a Vodka recipe but until this thread I thought you needed a reflux still. I am all over this recipe on my next venture.

so it looks like the main difference between a shine and a vodka is the grain right? The shine I have been making started with a sweet feed but switched to cracked corn. Off to look for Alpha Amylase and gluco amyase...sure wish I could pronouce them hahahaha.

I left out a question I had about the recipe....when Uncle Remus says he used 4 tlbs of alpha amylase..... is that 4 tablespoons?

Yeah Antean i believe that's what is meant here, the abbv. for tablespoons is actually tbsp but hey its close enough. I am actually making up a 10 gal batch of this starting tomorrow which will be my first experience with rice( when it comes to brewing or stilling that is). Hopefully all goes smoothly.

Man talk about a fast and furious fermentation (illiteration is fun ) i have never had a ferment go this crazy before, even with my rum. Had to toss a few frozen water bottles in my fermenter cause this stuff was staying at 86°F.Even with those in there it only went down ro bout 83°F. And it sounds like one hardcore bowl of rice crispies. Mine is a 12 gallon batch but a slightly altered recipe, 10 gals water, 6lbs brown rice, 6 lbs white rice, 10 lbs sugar and a small amount of nutrients. Smells really nice, even my fiancee who normally dislikes the smell of ferments thought so.

Did you cook the rice, or just add the grains for flavor?

Antaean wrote:I left out a question I had about the recipe....when Uncle Remus says he used 4 tlbs of alpha amylase..... is that 4 tablespoons?

1 tablespoon is more than enough for a 5-6 gal batch of grain. Too much shouldn't hurt anything except your supplies, but just saying. This does make on tasty drink.

Yeah i did alter uncle remus' recipe a wee bit and that was one of the changes i made, i used 1.5 tbsp each of alpha and gluco amylase instead of 4 tbsp each. And yeah F6hawk i got my water up to a boil and added my rice, then cooked for 20 mins before killing the heat and letting it cool to proper temp for alpha addition, round 152°f

I have been working on rice ferments for some months now... there is no need to buy expensive enzymes. The Chinese yeast balls, or Jhiqui, contain various molds and yeasts that produce their own amylase, this breaks down the rice starches into sugars. These same organisms then consume the sugar and produce ethanol. I know one of them is Aspergillus, probably oryzae, but they are made by exposing damp dough balls to airborne spores native to asia, so it's hard to say exactly which molds and yeasts are present. You can use the Chinese yeast balls alone and they will perform all of the functions of breaking down the rice. I bash them in a plastic bag with a spoon to make a powdery mix that distributes more evenly. Shorter grain rices have shorter carbohydrate chains and are easier for the organisms to convert. Don't use brown rice, as the organisms have difficulty penetrating the husk. The yeast balls do not seem to do well in a high sugar solution, but still have a high tolerance for ethanol. I say this because they have failed to take off in the sugar washes I've tried, but they still generate 16-18% ethanol in the rice wines I've made. I am currently experimenting as well with Beni- Koji, red koji, or red yeast rice. It contains monascus purpureas, and behaves in a similar fashion to the Chinese yeast balls. The best results I have had with the rice is using both the yeast balls and the ryr to produce a sweet and dry red rice wine that you would swear was made with fruit if you didn't know better. I'm working my 4th batch now, and when I get 5 gallons together I'm going to distill it.... if I can stop drinking the damn stuff! It's so damn good
Other things I've found:
- Rinse the rice well before cooking, until the water runs clear not cloudy.
- Don't add water. Just cook the rice and stir in the stuff. The liquid it produces will be your booze.
- After you strain out your solids, cook some more rice! Mix the leftover solids into the cooled rice to reuse your organisms and yeasts
- All the Chinese stuff is cheap as hell at the Asian grocery stores... About 3 bucks for a 2lb bag of red rice yeast, and about 5 bucks for a 4oz (113.5g) bag of yeast balls. There are a yeast ball snack they eat, don't get that by mistake. They are usually not in the same aisle. Your biggest expense will be the rice.
- Pitch these Asian yeasts like.... well like yeast! They have the same issues with rehydrating as every other yeast you've ever used. Soak them in warm water for a little while before you stir them into the rice.
-
That's not all I've learned using these, but maybe it will save you a few bucks. I'm currently experimenting with trying to get these little buggers to use their awesome amylase producing powers on corn. So far my failures have been Epic. However, lately I'm having promising results using nixtamilized masa, and I may still someday produce the Awesome Red Corn Whiskey of Awesomeness..... which is my real goal.
Cheers!
-TDS

Thanks for all the info TDS very helpful if i can ever find some yeast balls. There are no asian markets near me and enzymes really are not that expensive as a little goes a long way

This place has them for 4.50 a bag, they ship from Washington state, not sure what shipping costs. These are the ones I use, although I buy them locally. One Bag will do about 30 lbs (dry weight) of rice. Takes about 21 days.

http://importfood.com/nrhf0401.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

F6hawk I have not found a solution for the sediment. It is a problem, for sure. In the wines I filter some and accept the rest, usually the very bottom stuff I stick in a jug and make red rice wine vinegar for my Mom. Still have to filter the sludge, but no worries for sanitation or time... a slow drip through a series of filters. You have to be careful storing the wine because they continue to ferment slowly even after 16-18%, even after refrigeration, cold crashing, whatever. Spectacular Bottle Bombs are entirely possible, I have seen them Only pasteurizing at 160f or so seems to work You're right though, it doesn't settle enough. I do see a greater concentration of sediment vs a greater amount of clear liquid in larger containers... the bigger the container, the greater the split after settling, with larger containers having a smaller sediment layer and more clear liquid, while vessels of 1 gallon or less seem to settle at around the 25-30% mark and require multiple filterings. I hope I am saying that right. I have never used bentonite but I hear it only semi works with the rice solids.
(usually with the wine I shake it up and drink deep )
I currently have about 3.5 gallons stored, I'm trying to get up enough for a five to seven gallon run, but it's so damn tasty it might take me a while. The solids taste good, so I'm not as worried about them as I am a lot of other solids.... Of course I'm going to try not to scorch them, but if I do it normally and bring the heat up low and slow, I think it's going to be alright. I'll let you know in a month or so.

Friend of mine used bentonite dissolved in hot water, stirred it in then cold crashed overnight Friday, says it worked good, cleared it, just fyi. He doesn't run it just drinks it like that.

Well my first batch of this is ready to run, i will be taking care of it tomorrow. I've never had a batch finish so low, its at 0.992 a first for me. I will be running it on my CM upgraded pot still, hopefully its up to the job

F6Hawk wrote:Each 5 gallon bucket had about 2.5 gallons of clear wash, then I got into the milky white stuff again. My washes are about 1.001 FG.

Switch to medium grain and don't bother with squeezing and you'll get much better compression of your lees. Long grain is indeed much less expensive, but you'll get better overall performance with the medium grain.

I don't squeeze anymore as it just adds too much of those solids that you don't want anyway. I use a colander. Swish it around like you're panning for gold & flip the mass like you're making a meatloaf, then dump the spent rice into a bucket with a false bottom. Once you're done with the colander you'll have maybe another liter below your false bottom where you were dumping the spent rice. My false bottom is just a bucket-in-a-bucket with some sanitized screen lining the bottom of the inner bucket (the one with the holes drilled in it).

As for the amount of enzymes to use ... that will depend on a lot of things. When I use BA-100/GA-100 it's 4 tsp of each for 16 pounds of medium grain rice (no added sugar). I don't apply them at the same time. I'll liquify for about 24 hours, then saccharify for another 24 hours after adjusting the temp and pH for both applications. For 16 pounds of rice I'll get 23 L at an OG of around 1.092. The FG will of course depend on how well you did. I never did any better than 1.005 using BA-100/GA-100. With the SEBstar/SEBamyl my FG is always about 0.094.

If you start with medium grain, get a decent conversion, don't squeeze, and use a yeast like EC-1118, and rack it at least once, you'll end up with a nice, crystal clear wine ... you shouldn't need any clearing agents. It won't be colorless, but rather slightly yellow ... a bit like a white wine. And the lees should compress very nicely as well.

If you're going to run it through your rig you may not want to bother with clearing. I've done it both ways (cloudy and clear). There's not a huge difference as far as I've been able to tell. The cloudy wash has a bit more flavor, the clear wash is a bit more delicate (for lack of a better term). Personally, I prefer clearing before I run it ... but try it both ways and decide for yourself.

Something else ... age it with some medium+ oak. Then you can do a small batch and clear the syrup in the fridge. Make sure it's nice and clear. Then boil it down (it'll turn brown). You can use a bit of the condensed syrup when you dilute. You can also save a little bit of the cleared wine to use when you dilute. The syrup and wine are great if you like playing around with flavoring after you age ... and it's fairly unique.

Thanks, TDS. I was thinking I would rack what I could, then pour the rest into a pillow case hung up over a 5 gal bucket to catch the drips, and add THAT to my next rice run. Just one more step in the process, but simple because as you said, it's just time spent dripping.

That's exactly what I did with my rice wash and out of the 10.5 gals I put in, I got around 9.5- 10 gals out. Good enough for me and so far its turning out a fantastic neutral

F6Hawk wrote:Thanks, TDS. I was thinking I would rack what I could, then pour the rest into a pillow case hung up over a 5 gal bucket to catch the drips, and add THAT to my next rice run. Just one more step in the process, but simple because as you said, it's just time spent dripping.

Lol, I hang my solids from a guitar stand in a mesh bag. The bag hangs inside a 7.5 gallon bucket. Still get a ton of sediment. I'd post a pic but it's a pain to resize everything here. I understand it, not complaining, just can't do it right now.
Edit - Ok, I guess it's not that hard. Wah!