The sake saga continues. Over the past couple days I went from chilling the sake porridge (moromi) in the root cellar at 50 degrees for five days to adding more koji and steamed rice and warming it back to 70 degrees. As I have continued on in this process, I have added three more batches of koji and steamed rice. Each time an additon was made, I cooled the steamed rice by stirring it in cold water and then adding it to the moromi. After this, I had to stir the rice/ yeast/ koji mix for a half an hour non-stop with my hands to break up any clumps of rice. Yes that's right- I was elbow deep in lukewarm in rice porridge. At first, it was kind of boring to sit there with my hands in a bucket of mushy rice, but I have to say after the third addition of rice, I was actually sad I didn't have to do it again. The mixture was pleasantly warm, and smelled deliciously of rice, yeast, and alcohol. As I stirred, a fizzy creamy foam of bubbling of yeast comes to the surface. It smelled so good, I found myself wanting to take a bath in the stuff. I thought it would be kind of like an oatmeal bath- a very expensive, labor intensive, oatmeal bath that is. And now- 3 weeks in the root cellar, which means only 3 more weeks until nigorisake! I really hope it stays cold enough. Note to self: start sake one month earlier next time! The Japanese usually brew this type of sake in winter for the express reason of keeping it cold during the initial fermentation process (they think they are sooo smart). Anyhow, if I was smarter and more motivated I would have done the same and brewed in winter to avoid biting my nails next to the root cellar thermometer every day.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Moromi Magic
The sake saga continues. Over the past couple days I went from chilling the sake porridge (moromi) in the root cellar at 50 degrees for five days to adding more koji and steamed rice and warming it back to 70 degrees. As I have continued on in this process, I have added three more batches of koji and steamed rice. Each time an additon was made, I cooled the steamed rice by stirring it in cold water and then adding it to the moromi. After this, I had to stir the rice/ yeast/ koji mix for a half an hour non-stop with my hands to break up any clumps of rice. Yes that's right- I was elbow deep in lukewarm in rice porridge. At first, it was kind of boring to sit there with my hands in a bucket of mushy rice, but I have to say after the third addition of rice, I was actually sad I didn't have to do it again. The mixture was pleasantly warm, and smelled deliciously of rice, yeast, and alcohol. As I stirred, a fizzy creamy foam of bubbling of yeast comes to the surface. It smelled so good, I found myself wanting to take a bath in the stuff. I thought it would be kind of like an oatmeal bath- a very expensive, labor intensive, oatmeal bath that is. And now- 3 weeks in the root cellar, which means only 3 more weeks until nigorisake! I really hope it stays cold enough. Note to self: start sake one month earlier next time! The Japanese usually brew this type of sake in winter for the express reason of keeping it cold during the initial fermentation process (they think they are sooo smart). Anyhow, if I was smarter and more motivated I would have done the same and brewed in winter to avoid biting my nails next to the root cellar thermometer every day.
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1 comment:
"It smelled so good, I found myself wanting to take a bath in the stuff."
This is why I do it, and certainly why I recommend doing it in the guide. =) It's not really necessary if you use your hands to break up the clumps when mixing the hot rice with your cold water for each addition (hatsuzoe, nakazoe, etc.), you could get away with just mixing it up with your charismatic spoon...but who would want to?
Get in there with your hands! You can thank me later. =)
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