Sake Experiment - homebrew batch #1

Memory card failure killed my shots of making kome-koji. This is actually not as catastrophic as I initially thought, especially since I kinda screwed up on the koji process. I never got the little white fuzzies on the rice and it started softening the rice up and looking like overcooked oatmeal. Kome-koji is supposed to look like rice with short cottony fuzz growing on it. Mine started out like rice and slowly turned into mush. But I know what I did wrong.

The recipe calls for the rice to be stored in a wet cloth. I used a bowl with a damp towel on top. I also lightly misted the rice with water thinking that the cloth needed to be regularly moistened. Koji apparently needs a drier environment than I had to make fibers. Mine was pretty moist so it ended up moving on to the next step.

I found a site that described what the taste of proper koji rice should be like. So I did a taste test of the rice. It looked all wrong, but smelled exactly as it should: like cheese. The taste test would be the deciding factor if I would make the first batch last night or start over.

I tasted it. The rice tasted like nigori sweetened with honey, just like it's supposed to. And let me say, sampling something that smells like cheese but tastes like honey is an odd experience. I'm not yet sure how I feel about it.

Next came the time to make more steamed rice. Yeah, it's rice, that's the easy part. Two hours later I mixed the kome-koji with the cooled rice, then slowly put it in the glass jug. That was a lot of fun. I ended up making a funnel from a cut open root beer bottle since the jug opening didn't exactly make stuffing this sticky bowl of rice in very easy. Another hour goes and I have a glass jar 3/4 full of sticky balls of rice shaped by the funnel.

I added the now-activated champagne yeast and filled the jug nearly to the top, leaving enough room for the yeast to foam up a bit.

I checked it this morning and it's starting to bubble. The rice has absorbed a lot of the water and the koji has made the remaining water cloudy.

This is damn exciting.

Brian

Edit: So apparently I made a variant of moromi instead of kome-koji. It looks like this stuff is used for some of the sweeter sakes like nigori.

Welcome to ClosetSake.com!

This blog is run by two friends who have an interest in both drinking sake and homebrewing.

Back in the dark ages (ok, 1999...) I was homebrewing mead. I stopped for several years and didn't pick it back up until 2005. I actually have some that I need to bottle right now. Oh, to have more free time...

One night about three weeks ago an idea hit me: combine my previous brewing experience and knowledge with my love for sake and homebrew it myself! Someone else has to be doing that too but I had heard all sorts of rumors about how difficult it is or that it's too complex for your average person. Yeah. Right. That's just the sort of thing that motivates me. ;)

After a bit of research to find out the basic process (especially the part about koji which I had NO clue) I contacted my buddy Brian about it, fully knowing ahead of time what he would say. I got a resounding "Hell yeah!" He's easy when it comes to things like this. Sorry, man! LOL

After gathering information from the internet and discussing some details, we understood the fundamentals of the process and found sources for the ingredients. To record all of our mad-scientist-sake-maker plans we decided to create this blog.

Closet Sake. It's like you're brewing sake in secret because don't want your co-workers to find out - unless it's REALLY good sake. ;)

So, again, welcome to Closet Sake. We'll be brewing and you'll be reading. Hopefully we can spread some sake homebrewing joy around the internet and you can make some too. Until then, stay tuned in and give us your comments!

Tim