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Posted: **Fri Feb 17, 2023 2:52 pm**

OK, let’s face it. I’m not the sharpest tack in the box.

That said, I’ve spent a good portion of the past few hours exploring about making alcohol from rice, mostly from YouTube videos… and candidly, I’m apparently missing something.

Some context…I’ve been doing all grains and some sugar washes for several years, so feeling pretty comfortable with using my current tools: mostly a small pot with several variations of columns or

: My little Alembic

my little Alembic or one of my pot still’s columns

: 2”x32” column

My whole tool line is 100% copper. I’m thinking about using rice, in combination with my Cracked corn and ground White Wheat, to make a whiskey.

What I’ve learned is that, at one time, some guys in Louisiana took a similar route, but I can’t find any hints about how they did it. The review of the traditional methods from the Far East seem to be not something that would lend itself to my tool cluster, not my mind set for mashing, fermenting and distilling.

Is there a way to simply grind the rice, maybe mixing it into the corn, giving it a traditional cook to gelatinize it, toss in some enzymes, and use a (semi) standard fermenting process?

Are there any other options that might blend into our traditional whiskey making processes? Anyone have a recipe they’d offer?

Posted: **Fri Feb 17, 2023 4:33 pm**

You want to use a particular enzyme for rice, aspergillus niger, to convert the startch. It's basically a fungus that can be bought concentrated or as a combo with yeast known as a Chinese yeast ball.

Use the Aspergillus for conversion like malt. Good news, it will also convert the corn!

there are rice posts here on this site.

Posted: **Fri Feb 17, 2023 6:04 pm**

My rice whiskey didn't turn out very flavorsome, so I don't know that I would combine rice with other grains for the conversion and ferment. It would be a bit like adding sugar to your AG whiskey ferment, diluting the flavor.

Posted: **Fri Feb 17, 2023 6:09 pm**

Get some “yellow label Angel Yeast” from an Asian grocery store (google it). This is an easy way to ferment rice. It will even work if you just dump the rice in hot water, rather than cooking it all the way first (note: for this shortcut to work you’ll need to mill the rice)

Posted: **Fri Feb 17, 2023 7:10 pm**

For my rice whiskey I use Booners Casual All Corn recipe from the tried and true section of this forum. I just use rice flour instead of corn. Same protocol for everything else. I get 50lb bags of white rice flour through my local restaurant supply store for pretty cheap. About the same price as cornmeal. I get a slightly better yield with rice flour than I do with cornmeal pound for pound. I thought the resulting whiskey was pretty good white. It had a clean flavor. Definitely unique but not bad in my opinion. I have a gallon on oak that's about 6 months old. I haven't tried any of it yet so I can't speak for that. I'm also using an all copper alembic pot still by the way. I run the rice whiskey through twice.

Posted: **Sat Feb 18, 2023 3:24 am**

You absolutely can cook (gelatenize) your rice and use normal enzymes for conversion. I've done both the cook and convert and the no cook Angel Yellow Label methods. I think the flavour of the former is milder and lends itself to a vodka, while the latter is more bold and better for a light whiskey.

Posted: **Tue Feb 21, 2023 11:33 am**

OK, not sure anyone actually cares but here we go…

I milled up 7lbs (TS cracked) corn, 3lbs of Farmer Wolfe’s fine Pennsylvania grown White Wheat, and 2lbs of Goya Long Grain Brown rice, using that sorry a_sed Chinese mill I bought last month. (Actually had a mishap using the mill, and it chewed off the tip if my right index finger in the exposed turning gears. #$#$#@#&$#*).

Mashed the rice and corn with 5 gallons of boiling water, 3 gallons initially,
stirring-resting 10 minutes, adding another gallon, stirring- resting 10 minutes,
adding 1 Tbls Alpha Amalase at 180°F.
Rested 45 minutes, till temperature dropped to 165°F, stirred in the Wheat, added 2 Oyster shells
Rested 60 minutes, till temperature dropped to 150°F, stirred in 1Tbls Glucoamalase.
Allow to rest overnight, 7 hours, temperature dropped to 110°F
OSG 1.045, pH 4.5, negative Iodine test, and about 6” of clear liquid above grains.
Added 2Tbls (new) DADY yeast. Sealed Fermenter, venting through final tube into Plastic grain bin (CO2 kills the bugs that are hatching in the grains).

At 24 hours, mash is pumping away, and I anticipate running the beer this weekend.

This is my first AG without Malted Barley, and I suspect (based on the low OG reading) I might have oughta used a larger grain bill. Going to Costco to buy rice this week, and plan
Bump the rice portion to 4lbs for the next mash, and back out 2lbs of corn. My research suggests the rice has higher carbohydrate value than the corn, and Costco’s price for the rice is $0.51 per pound, about the same as Tracktor Supply’s cracked corn.

Posted: **Tue Feb 21, 2023 12:19 pm**

I plan on doing a rice mash soon, waiting to go to town for yeast.I wouldn't add gluco any higher than 135. I do 130 with good results. Oh, and watch those fingers.

Posted: **Tue Feb 21, 2023 6:42 pm**

Thanks Brad,

I was following instructions came with the bottle.

As th fingers, I’ll be building a shroud to restrict access to thos bloody gears…and never cease bad mouthing the DY Mill people. Very sub-standard gear…

Posted: **Tue Feb 21, 2023 7:01 pm**

BoomTown wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 6:42 pm Thanks Brad,

I was following instructions came with the bottle.

As th fingers, I’ll be building a shroud to restrict access to thos bloody gears…and never cease bad mouthing the DY Mill people. Very sub-standard gear…

Hmmm. Well maybe follow the supplier suggestions. Not sure if there are different glucoenzymes and temp ranges. Mine doesn't say a temp so iv been following what's suggested on the forum by a couple guys. Interesting though

Iv had some close calls with loosening stuck grains in my hull wrecker. I now use a peice of wood. I hear they don't grow back.lmao

Posted: **Wed Feb 22, 2023 11:39 am**

Bradster68 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 7:01 pm
BoomTown wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 6:42 pm Thanks Brad,

I was following instructions came with the bottle.

As th fingers, I’ll be building a shroud to restrict access to thos bloody gears…and never cease bad mouthing the DY Mill people. Very sub-standard gear…
Hmmm. Well maybe follow the supplier suggestions. Not sure if there are different glucoenzymes and temp ranges. Mine doesn't say a temp so iv been following what's suggested on the forum by a couple guys. Interesting though
Iv had some close calls with loosening stuck grains in my hull wrecker. I now use a peice of wood. I hear they don't grow back.lmao

The milling £¥€{£}^§£¥ gears are slightly out of line with the power shaft, causing a vibration only noticeable when the hopper is loaded and the mill is running. I’d turned away for a few seconds to pickup a small bucket of grains to add to the hopper, and turning back, discovered the mill creeping off the catch bucket, so (not thinking twice) I reached down to grab the center housing just as the mill tipped away, swinging the open gear meshing up where it grabbed my index figure. Lost about ⅛” inch of the tip and mucked up the nail some. It’s a very ugly looking wound, and awkward to deal with now it’s bandaged…..I should have sent the mill back, but I’d seen a YouTube video about how to fix it, and managed to correct 90% of the misalignment…obviously not quite enough.

It really would have been a lot simpler had I gotten what I’d expected when I bought it. The vender is a reseller, and chooses to ignore its shortcoming, claims the ‘technician’ says it works like it’s supposed to. The mill comes from China, and is substandard to everything else I’ve ever gotten from Ali_express. But dangerous as the little bugger is, it does a pretty clean, rapid grind, quietly at about 2 lbs per minute . I’ll put a shroud over the gear meshing area, but am not quite finished with tinkering with the alignment between the drive and the grinder’s master shaft yet. Have to wait for the finger to heal….

A wooden piece wasn’t an option.

Posted: **Wed Feb 22, 2023 2:44 pm**

BoomTown wrote: ↑Wed Feb 22, 2023 11:39 am
Bradster68 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 7:01 pm
BoomTown wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 6:42 pm

As th fingers, I’ll be building a shroud to restrict access to thos bloody gears…and never cease bad mouthing the DY Mill people. Very sub-standard gear…
I’ll put a shroud over the gear meshing area, but am not quite finished with tinkering with the alignment between the drive and the grinder’s master shaft yet. Have to wait for the finger to heal….

A wooden piece wasn’t an option.
A little bit of modification and it'll probably be better than the original product.

Posted: **Wed Feb 22, 2023 3:11 pm**

Bradster68 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 22, 2023 2:44 pm
A little bit of modification and it'll probably be better than the original product.

The finger or the mill ?

Posted: **Wed Feb 22, 2023 3:24 pm**

greggn wrote: ↑Wed Feb 22, 2023 3:11 pm
Bradster68 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 22, 2023 2:44 pm
A little bit of modification and it'll probably be better than the original product.

The finger or the mill ?

Lmao.

.maybe both

Posted: **Wed Feb 22, 2023 4:18 pm**

Rice made a wickedly smooth neutral for me. YMMV

Posted: **Wed Feb 22, 2023 7:08 pm**

So RD71, was yours a solo rice mash, and ferment?

Wonder if anyone else has mixed corn and rice? Tasted the fermenting just now, it’s sweeter than I expected at 4 days in, and the cap hasn’t fallen either. By end of day five, my usual traditional bourbon mash’s yeast activity fades away fast, and the solids begin to settle.

I’m planning to mash this same recipe Again Saturday, hopefully capturing some dunder to flavor the beer with as a sour mash. Maybe won’t need it, but it’s engrained in me to believe that’s how to magnify flavors and stabilize the taste characteristics one batch to the next. Planning to make enough of this for five 15 liter beer runs, hoping to collect about 3 liters of low wines from each, enough a spirit run.

My little 16 liter copper rig runs a 2”x 32” column with one perforated plate at 20”, that works as a doubler. Using Hi heat from my 15Amp Kadco, it produces a pencil lead stream of 80 to 85% ABV. Takes most of three hours before the output crashes to Tails dripping at 2 drops per three seconds, usually at around 20% ABV. I try to catch and Chuck the initial pint from each beer run. The rest is captured as low wine straight through until it samples at 20% or less.

God willing I have enough fingers to make 5 batches of mash, and will still have one good hand for pouring my self a little taste of the final White somewhere round end of March.

Will keep you posted…

Posted: **Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:43 am**

i like rice personally, its a light flavor but good , I'm doing an all corn mash right now, but used the backset from a rice run and the taste is interesting so far. I will report back when done distilling.

Posted: **Thu Feb 23, 2023 9:07 am**

squigglefunk wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:43 am i like rice personally, its a light flavor but good , I'm doing an all corn mash right now, but used the backset from a rice run and the taste is interesting so far. I will report back when done distilling.

Hreat! Thanks Squig…looking foreword to hearing how that works…

Posted: **Thu Feb 23, 2023 1:54 pm**

squigglefunk wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:43 am i like rice personally, its a light flavor but good , I'm doing an all corn mash right now, but used the backset from a rice run and the taste is interesting so far. I will report back when done distilling.

Are you using the rice for a neutral? Or mixing with corn for whiskey?

Posted: **Thu Feb 23, 2023 5:31 pm**

BoomTown wrote: ↑Wed Feb 22, 2023 7:08 pm So RD71, was yours a solo rice mash, and ferment?

Yep! 100% rice. But I have been wondering what kind of whiskey an evenly balanced mash bill of grain varieties would make. Rice, barley, oats, rye, wheat, corn -- 16% of each. May have to wander down that path soon & find out...

I did one batch & made a whiskey out of it. It was... interesting? Different mouth-feel, different flavor than any "typical" whiskey grain mash. Not bad, just different. For me it was a 6 on the 10 scale. I'll drink it, but if there's something better, it will just gather dust. I used most of it to mess around with a variety of Olive Nation extracts for flavored spirits.

The other batch I made a neutral. The SWIMBO, who's not much of a spirit drinker, really liked it. I have 3 gallons of low wines in a corny keg I need to find the time to do another neutral.

Posted: **Thu Feb 23, 2023 5:51 pm**

rubberduck71 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 5:31 pm
BoomTown wrote: ↑Wed Feb 22, 2023 7:08 pm So RD71, was yours a solo rice mash, and ferment?
Yep! 100% rice. But I have been wondering what kind of whiskey an evenly balanced mash bill of grain varieties would make. Rice, barley, oats, rye, wheat, corn -- 16% of each. May have to wander down that path soon & find out...

I did one batch & made a whiskey out of it. It was... interesting? Different mouth-feel, different flavor than any "typical" whiskey grain mash. Not bad, just different. For me it was a 6 on the 10 scale. I'll drink it, but if there's something better, it will just gather dust. I used most of it to mess around with a variety of Olive Nation extracts for flavored spirits.

The other batch I made a neutral. The SWIMBO, who's not much of a spirit drinker, really liked it. I have 3 gallons of low wines in a corny keg I need to find the time to do another neutral.

Very interesting

Posted: **Thu Feb 23, 2023 7:25 pm**

I am in the middle (I actually think it finished today but had to do my taxes) of a fermentation of long grain rice that I didn't mill I tried to do it as easy as possible without yellow label angel yeast, which I intend to strip an redistill into a neutral. So far my favorite neutral has been made from 100 oats so I can't wait to compare

Posted: **Fri Feb 24, 2023 5:31 am**

Bradster68 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 1:54 pm
squigglefunk wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:43 am i like rice personally, its a light flavor but good , I'm doing an all corn mash right now, but used the backset from a rice run and the taste is interesting so far. I will report back when done distilling.
Are you using the rice for a neutral? Or mixing with corn for whiskey?

I dont really make or have a need for "neutral" as it's described on this forum... "ethanol" is not the flavor I'm looking for lol. I am probably going to oak most of this rice/corn mash ... so yeah mostly brown, but keep some white dog as a "control sample" as per my usual process these days

Posted: **Fri Feb 24, 2023 6:28 am**

squigglefunk wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 5:31 am
Bradster68 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 1:54 pm
squigglefunk wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:43 am i like rice personally, its a light flavor but good , I'm doing an all corn mash right now, but used the backset from a rice run and the taste is interesting so far. I will report back when done distilling.
Are you using the rice for a neutral? Or mixing with corn for whiskey?
I dont really make or have a need for "neutral" as it's described on this forum... "ethanol" is not the flavor I'm looking for lol. I am probably going to oak most of this rice/corn mash ... so yeah mostly brown, but keep some white dog as a "control sample" as per my usual process these days

That's the info I needed. Imma make a batch and try it out.
Thanku sir1

Posted: **Sun Feb 26, 2023 4:58 am**

Well, used my little wine press to recover 5 gallons of beer from a 6 gallon fermenter. The mash was that corn/wheat/rice batch I wrote about earlier.

Interesting numbers so far: the OSG was 1.043 when I added the yeast un, was expecting a 4/5% beer, but it measures 9% ABV, with final SG of -.049 at 80°F. The Glucoamalase must have had more work todo when the yeast was added.

Will be running the Beer run tomorrow. Expecting 3.5 liters, will toss the first 250ml as tribute to the Viet Cong that didn’t kill me back in ‘68, and because that just how I roll.

Meantime, have a 2nd corn/rice/wheat grain bill all set to mash tomorrow.

I’m hoping for a whiskey with a light mouth feel, nutty, vanella,sweet, slightly peppering spirit, when cut to 90p. Will snag an ounce or two during the Harts part of the run, but most will become low-wine for a soon-to-be spirit run after I collect 20/25 Liters.

Posted: **Sun Feb 26, 2023 11:06 am**

Well the jury’s back on that 1st mash/ferment/beer run. Disappointed by actual results.

The Mash returned merely 900 ml at 40% ABV. Hoping to improve that with this next mask. Have changed the grain bill to 6 lbs Corn, 4 lbs Rice, 2 lbs Wheat, 6 gallon water to the fermenter.

Planning for Corn and Rice in boiling water, held above 175° F for 40 minutes, with 1 Tbls Hi-Temp Alamase stirred at 20 interval

Allow temp drop to 155° F, stir in wheat, confirm 145° then add 1 Tbls Glucoalmalase.

Rest overnight, or until 100° F. . Confirm and record results of Iodine test, pH, and OSG.

Suspend in 80°F controlled room until fermentation stops. Record results of Iodine, pH, and SG.

Run in 2” x 32” copper column (no thumper in line) from 15L Pot at high heat. Chapter and discard first 150ml as waste. Combine with earlier low wines collected until low wine volumes exceed the 15L pot limit.

Posted: **Mon Feb 27, 2023 7:17 am**

This thread has my mind wandering, especially after finding out that sprouted brown rice is a thing. Has anyone tried that? As far as I can tell, it would be called malted rice in the brewing world, right?

Posted: **Mon Feb 27, 2023 8:39 am**

My rice whiskey turned out pretty good. Has a scotch flavor IMO, single-grain, little to no sweetness. But couldn't have been easier;

Calrose 60% rice steamed in a basket on the stove until sticky.
Mixed in with Koji Rice Spores and Liquid Sake Yeast.
Put in a bucket, inside a fermentation chamber, held at 85 degrees.
After 2 weeks, cooked more rice, put that in there. Let it sit another 2 weeks

Strained it, and ran it. It was like a paste at the start of the process, but all but liquid at the end.

Ran once through a pot-still, low and slow. I've read its supposed to be 1x but I felt like a 2nd would improve it. That or I needed to run even slower.

Posted: **Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:47 pm**

BlueSasquatch wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 8:39 am Ran once through a pot-still, low and slow. I've read its supposed to be 1x but I felt like a 2nd would improve it. That or I needed to run even slower.

My rice "whiskey" was 2x. I still have some white that might be a year old now. May have to go sample some...

My very first batch of anything with YLAY was kokuho rose, and I swear I got it at Costco. Now they don't carry it anymore

I swear it was medium grain. I do remember it made absolutely delicious rice wine that cleared beautifully.

Posted: **Tue Feb 28, 2023 7:12 am**

rubberduck71 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:47 pm
BlueSasquatch wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 8:39 am Ran once through a pot-still, low and slow. I've read its supposed to be 1x but I felt like a 2nd would improve it. That or I needed to run even slower.
My rice "whiskey" was 2x. I still have some white that might be a year old now. May have to go sample some...

My very first batch of anything with YLAY was kokuho rose, and I swear I got it at Costco. Now they don't carry it anymore I swear it was medium grain. I do remember it made absolutely delicious rice wine that cleared beautifully.

Calrose 70% Milled
https://www.morebeer.com/products/calro ... -sake.html

White Koji - Already propagated on rice, no need for the spore powder growth and that added complication
https://www.morebeer.com/products/white ... g-bag.html

Sake specific Yeast; WY4134
https://www.morebeer.com/products/wy413 ... yeast.html

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