I admit, I am addicted to fermentation. If you remember, a while back, I was caught up with making my own beer (beer brewing) which ironically, I seldom drink. I am...
I admit, I am addicted to fermentation. If you remember, a while back, I was caught up with making my own beer (beer brewing) which ironically, I seldom drink. I am not really an alcoholic fiend, unlike some of my friends who actually enjoyed the end product more than me. For me, it is all about the process of getting the base ingredients and transforming them into a toxic brew for my friends to enjoy. Fermentation is fun!! Anyway, making beer can be quite costly. Although it is much cheaper than purchasing from the stores or at the coffee shops (Singapore alcohol tax is pretty high), nevertheless, I can’t really afford it in the long term. And making beer takes a lot of effort and time, something which I am currently lacking. So I have been stuck making yogurt and kefir, both through the wonders of (mainly) bacteria fermentation as opposed to yeast fermentation (which produces alcohol). But now, I have “rediscovered” the ancient art of rice wine making! And the end product (which is the rice wine) is quite tasty - sweet, aromatic and the alcohol is not overwhelming. And oh, the rice wine is supposed to have a lot of amino acids and vitamins and whatever. It is good for you, maybe even better than those grape wines. Of course, over-consumption is never a good thing, in my opinion.
Making a basic Chinese Rice Wine is pretty easy and straightforward. No, seriously, it is not difficult at all. All you need is glutinous rice, water and the wine starter (Jiu-Bing aka Wine Biscuit/Cake). The rice provides the starch which the mold in the wine starter converts to sugar and then the yeast in the rice wine starter converts to alcohol. Simple right? The wine starter is usually a small ball of lees left over from the previous batch of rice wine making which have been dried and resold as “Jiu-Bing” at the traditional Chinese medical stores. According to some sources, the Jiu-Bing was actually balls of rice flour, ginger and some other ingredients, left outside to attract the desired molds and yeast. Makes more sense I guess. I have been searching high and low and found that most medical shops in Singapore sell the same brand of Jiu-Bing. Price of one Jiu-Bing ranges from 40 cents to 60 cents. Kind of overpriced if you ask me. They are just left-over remains of rice wine making. They are just pieces of dried rice flour. If you buy extra, remember to keep them in a clean and cool place, like in a clean plastic bag placed in your fridge or your cupboard. You see how many times I used the word “clean”.
These Jiu-Bings are a dried mix of different types of mold,yeast and probably rice flour, ginger and so on. And they do smell a bit weird – like vomit actually. If you have searched through the Internet, you would have found that quite a number of people claim that the mold is Koji-kin (Aspergillus oryzae mold). Those are used by the Japanese to make Sake. I really doubt it. It is probably a mix of different types (strains) of mold, just like the Ragi used in Indonesia/Sarawak to make their own version of rice wine. And considering that the Jiu-Bing we have in Singapore most likely came from Malaysia (and not Japan or China), the species of mold should be very close to Ragi. Anyway, unless someone analyst these Jiu-Bing, we would never know. It would be very difficult for the Jiu-Bing to just consist of only 1 type of mold, considering that they are not produced in a cleanroom type environment( and they are sold from big jars where the store owner basically uses his fingers to pick the Jiu-Bing). There are numerous mold, yeast and bacteria hanging everywhere, you know. Surely some of them will bound to get into the Jiu-Bing.
I guess the “difficult to find” part of the ingredients list is over. The rest of the ingredients are just glutinous rice and water. When raw, those glutinous rice looks opaque instead of translucent like other types of rice. I am guessing the reason why glutinous rice is used instead of other types of rice is because glutinous rice absorbs more water than the other types of rice when cooked. And glutinous rice is easily available in the region, not to mention they are cheap. In Singapore, you can buy glutinous rice at our local supermarkets or at the smaller provision shops. Yes, we used them to make those delicious rice dumplings with all sorts of fillings called “Zhang” or “Zong Zi”.
Ingredients and equipment needed:
- 500g Glutinous Rice
- Water
- 2 Jiu-Bing / Rice Wine Starter
- Steamer or rice cooker
- Cheese cloth or linen (if using a steamer)
- Glass Container large enough to fit the cooked rice and with a loose fitting lid
- Towel
- Glass bottle for storing the rice wine
Make sure everything that comes in contact with the rice is thoroughly cleaned. That includes your hands! I cannot stress how important it is to ensure everything is clean – the glass container, the bowl, the spoon you use to scoop the rice, your hands……Remember, you are doing fermentation here. You want the right organisms to produce the alcohol for you. Okay? Understood? The night before, soak the rice in enough water to about 3-4cm above the top of the rice. Add more water if necessary. On the day you are making the rice wine, drain the water from the rice and rinse them till the water turns clear. You probably need to wash them a few times. Then using the steamer or rice cooker, cook the rice. When properly cooked, the glutinous rice should be translucent (not white). When you bite into the rice, then rice should be firm and chewy. Make sure the rice is all cooked through. Uncooked rice leaves a very unpleasant taste and a murky end product – trust me, I have went that way before. For 500g, it should take about 20 minutes or so.
Using a can or something, pound the hell out of the Jiu-Bing (in a clean plastic wrap). You need them in powdered form. Keep them somewhere clean like in a clean bowl for easy access later. After the rice have been cooked, you will need to cool them down. Some prefer to cool the rice down using running tap water. I prefer to cool the rice by leaving it in a covered wide mouth container for about 1 hr (you can also leave them spread on a clean sheet of food wrap. Either way, make sure that the rice is cool enough for your hands to comfortably handle them. If not, you will kill the mold and yeast from the Jiu-Bing! Never mix the powdered Jiu-Bing with hot rice!! Even if it feels cool, the interior rice might be too hot for the yeast, so make sure it is properly cooled first. Okay, once the rice have been cooled down sufficiently, get your clean glass container and mix the powdered Jiu-Bing with the rice with your clean hands. Try your best to get the powdered Jiu-Bing mixed well into the rice without breaking the rice too much. The more thoroughly mixed the Jiu-Bing and rice, the better the results will be. The reason is simple – the mold and yeast need to get to the rice in order for them to do their magic. If they can’t reach the rice, all your efforts are for nothing.
After you have mixed the Jiu-Bing with the rice, put the mixture into the clean glass container. Please, make sure the glass container is clean! If you drop some of the rice/Jiu-Bing mixture on the floor, for god’s sake DO NOT pick them up. Just throw them away. Being clean is very important! You would not want to introduce other bacteria or organism into your rice wine now, do you? The results might be disastrous for your (or your friend’s) health! Once you are done, cover the glass container with the loose fitting lid and wrap a towel over the lid. This is to prevent insects or other critters from entering your container and destroying your nice little brew.
By the next day, you should start to see pools of pale yellowish liquid forming on the bottom of the rice. And oh, you will be greeted by a very aromatic smell coming from your container. Nice. The smell of success! You will also notice that the rice turns a bit yellowish. That is the mold converting the starch in the rice to sugars. In a few days time, you will find the liquid (which is your green rice wine) has increased tremendously and there will be bubbles. This is normal. Fermentation of sugar to alcohol produces carbon dioxide (hence the need for the loose fitting lid). Let this continue to ferment for about a month. After that strain the resulting mess, store in a clean glass bottle and you will get rice wine (about 200-300ml for 500g of glutinous rice)! Of course, it is cloudy. Let it stand for a few days and the clear rice wine will form on the top while the sediments will be at the bottom. It is now time for you to enjoy the wine. Easy right? Much much easier than making beer or other forms of wine. The most, it took me about 1 hour minus the waiting time.
Remember, if it smells weird or funky, throw the “rice wine” away. If it tastes like crap or looks off, throw the “rice wine” away. No point risking your health for a few bucks. The rice wine should be slightly sweet and have a sour aftertaste, which I assume is from the lactic bacteria in the Jiu-Bing. You should keep the rice wine in the fridge for long term storage. But seriously, 200ml of rice wine, you should be able to finish in a few days time. I heard people saying that rice wine works great as a marinate for chicken as well. So if you are into cooking, you can have a go at it.
As for the lees (remaining rice mash), you can eat them. From what I hear, they are considered a delicacy. But I normally just throw them away. Nobody in my family appreciates the rice lees. Too bad. I will be writing another recipe for slightly more advanced rice wine brewers in the near future. I myself have made about 5 batches of rice wine already. One major failure though – very likely due to the Jiu-Bing quality – the rice turned yellow but no wine was produced, which could mean the yeast in the Jiu-Bing are dead. Sad, but this is expected. There is definitely no quality control when it comes to the Jiu-Bing we have here in Singapore. Well, I don’t consider myself an expert, just trying to share my experiences. Anyway, this is the very basic recipe, so please stay tuned.
