I would like to share with you something I have been experimenting with
and making booze with for about a year or so now.
Now I know this gets confusing, but for the record,
* All Molds are Fungi, but not all Fungi are Molds.
* All Yeasts are Fungi but not all Yeasts are Molds.
* Some Organisms are all three, Yeasts, Fungi, and Molds.
And THAT is what this post is all about. 2 Organisms in particular.
Aspergillus Oryzae and Monascus Purpureas.
You have probably heard of Apergillus Oryzae, or Kojii. It is used in the production of Sake.
You may not have heard of Monascus Purpureas, or Beni-Kojii, Red Kojii. It was also used to produce a type of Sake, Akaisake or
Angak. Beni-Kojii was used in southern asian regions because of it's higher tolerance for heat. And it produces lovastatin, a cholesterol lowering drug.
What's amazing about these little buggers is that either one, all by itself,
can handle seamlessly the conversions we all love...
From Starch to Sugar, and then, from Sugar to Ethanol.
All by themselves, all in one step.
No added other yeasts. No added enzymes.
They produce Amylase enzymes to convert the starches, then they feed on the sugars produced
and make ethanol.
These are the Asian Amylase producing Molds, Fungi, Yeasts. They are adapted to live on Rice.
The Asian cultures have been making booze and getting drunk for thousands of years,
using just a little cooked rice and one or both of these.
Now you might be thinking, Kojii kin, that stuff is expensive!
I assure you, only us western cultures experience this, and only because we lack the
knowledge of traditional asian booze making. Asians living in the US have no trouble locating
these things for short money.
The Chinese make a thing called a "Qhu". Here is a cut and paste from wiki that explains it a little bit.
for our purposes we won't be discussing Rhizopus or Mucor fermentation, although both of these are also endlessly fascinating...
The Qhu or qui is made by exposing damp flour paste to airborne yeasts, then forming it into balls and drying it.
Of course, this is imprecise. Some batches may have yellow aspergillus as the dominant mold, if your batch turns yellow it's OK!
From wiki:
Xiaoqu
Xiaoqu or "small starter" (Chinese: 小麴, 小曲; pinyin: xiǎo qū) is rice that had been cultured predominantly by molds of the Rhizopus (Chinese: 小麴菌, pinyin: xiǎo qū jùn or 根霉菌, pinyin: gēn meí jùn) and Mucor (Chinese: 毛霉菌, pinyin: maó meí jùn) genus, as well as yeast and other bacteria. The mixture generates less heat, so they are mostly used in the tropical South of China.
Daqu
Daqu or "large starter" (Chinese: 大麴, 大曲; pinyin: dà qū, or 麥麴, 麦曲; pinyin: maì qū) is wheat that had been cultured predominantly by Aspergillus oryzae (Chinese: 麴菌, 麴霉菌, 曲霉菌, pinyin: qū meí jùn, Japanese: 麹菌, koji-kin), other molds, yeast, and bacteria. Almost all famous alcoholic drinks in China use this starter. Drinks made from a small starter is usually finished using large starters for flavor.
Hongqu
Hongqu or "red starter" (Chinese: 紅麴, 红曲; pinyin: hóng qū) is rice that had been cultured with yeast and Monascus purpureus (Chinese: 紅曲菌, pinyin: hóng qū jùn) or other red rice molds of the Monascus genus. This starter gives the drink a purple red colour and is used to give drinks a unique colour and flavour.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiuqu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
Interesting sidenote, Resveratrol can be produced from its glucoside piceid through the process of fermentation by A. oryzae.
Is there anything they CAN'T do?
Any asian supermarket will have the ingredients discussed here, and for very little money.
A bag of Red Yeast Rice costs me about 5 dollars for 2 lbs, and a 4oz/113g bag of qhu or yeast balls is 2.25 USD.
For under 8 dollars you can go all year, they can be reused like traditional trub.
Here is a picture of what you should look for:
Although either of these can be used alone, and although I have produced booze using both of them by themselves,
I usually use both together. It just tastes better to me. Also, monascus alone takes a lot longer than aspergillus alone to ferment.
Using both is faster and tastier. I'm sure a biologist could tell you why, but I only know that's how it works for me.
Together they create a rice wine that you would swear tastes like it was made from fruit.
This rice wine can be drunk straight from your bucket, and it tastes so good it's hard to save any for a run!
I usually get about 16%
Here is my basic recipe for the red rice wine/wash :
1 - Cook some rice, let it cool
2 - Add the qhu and the red yeast rice
3 - Cover, airlock, wait 21 days
4 - Strain off the liquid. Run, or.... Drink!
It's really that simple.
The qhu and the ryr are just like any other yeasts, use as much or as little as you choose.
They will propogate.
Some things I find helpful:
- Cook the rice in a ratio of 1:2 rice to water.
- Crush the qhu into a powder, I use a Ziploc bag and smash it with the round side of a ladle
- Soak the ryr and the qhu in some warm water for a few minutes before you mix it in
So that's it. Hope you like it!
I am currently trying to get these critters to work their amylase magic on corn,
but that's a thread for another day....
Someday I will present to the world "The Red Corn Whiskey of Awesomeness"...
Hopefully.
Meanwhile, enjoy some Asian Flavors!
And here are some pics. I know we all love pics!
