Sake

Ingredients

• 10 lbsakamai (premium short-grain rice)
• 2 ozkoji-kin (Aspergillus oryzae spores)
• 1 gallonfiltered spring water
• 1 packsake yeast (Kyokai #9 or #7)
• 3 tspcitric acid
• 0.5 cupbrewers alcohol (jozo-alcohol)

Instructions

1. 1
   Polish rice down to 50–70 % of original grain size, rinse until water runs clear, then soak for 1 hour and drain for 30 minutes.
2. 2
   Steam rice in bamboo trays for 45 minutes until translucent but firm. Cool to room temperature on sanitized trays.
3. 3
   Sprinkle cooled steamed rice with koji-kin starter, making a crosshatch pattern; incubate at 86 °F for 48 hours, stirring twice daily to develop shimpaku (white mycelium balls).
4. 4
   Prepare yeast starter (moto): combine 2 cups of cooled steamed rice, 1 cup koji, 500 ml water, and sake yeast in sanitized glass jar. Stir daily for 10 days at 60 °F to create active yeast culture.
5. 5
   Build moromi mash in 3 additions over 4 days: add equal parts rice, koji, and water to the moto each day while maintaining 50–55 °F.
6. 6
   Ferment moromi for 2–3 weeks at 55 °F, monitoring daily with hydrometer until gravity drops to 1.000 or below.
7. 7
   Press sake using traditional cedar fune or fine mesh bag to separate lees from clear sake.
8. 8
   Optional: Add 30 % brewers alcohol to stabilize and halt fermentation (for honjozo style).
9. 9
   Cold-age pressed sake in sealed glass carboy at 32 °F for 2 weeks to settle fine lees (racking if needed).
10. 10
    Pasteurize sake once by heating to 140 °F for 30 minutes, cool rapidly, then bottle in sanitized glass.
11. 11
    Rest bottles for 2 months for flavors to meld. Serve chilled at 45 °F for dry, crisp notes, or warm at 104 °F for mellow, aromatic experience.