How is rice wine made

Huangjiu is a kind of wine that has been passed down since ancient times. The brewing method of this wine is very unique. It is brewed with rice, but it cannot be formed in one go. Instead, it needs to be brewed repeatedly. After brewing, it needs to be steamed in a pot. After steaming, it needs to be stored in a special place for a period of time before the fragrance of the wine can be released. So how is Huangjiu made?

How to make glutinous rice wine

Take the glutinous rice of the year, repeatedly grind it with a rice mill several times until the rice grains lose about 5% of their outer layer, and soak them in clean water for 2 days; remove them, put them into a steamer, and steam them over high heat. After the steamer starts to steam, keep it for 15 minutes; (during this period, rinse and turn it over once with 80℃ hot water, and steam until the rice grains are hard on the outside and soft on the inside, with no raw core)

Then cool it to 25℃ with cold air or cold water, put glutinous rice: wheat koji: yeast: water in a ratio of 10:1:1:32 into a jar and mix evenly, seal and ferment for 12 hours until the temperature reaches about 31℃;

Keep warm and ferment for another 4 days, stirring frequently during this period, then remove the mash and cool it down to below 18°C, then put it back into the tank for fermentation for about 25 days, then put it into the bag for filter pressing, and let the filtrate stand for 3 days;

The upper clear liquid was sucked out, and the lower clear liquid was put back into the bag for filter pressing. The clear liquid and the filtrate were combined, heated to 75°C in a water bath, and sterilized by stirring for 20 minutes. The heating was stopped, and the mixture was allowed to stand for sufficient stratification. The upper clear liquid was siphoned out, and the mixture was put into a sterilized glass bottle, and sealed to obtain the finished product.

How to make glutinous rice wine

1. Soak some glutinous rice for 5 hours (or longer such as overnight)

2. Filter out the water and pour the soaked glutinous rice onto the gauze in the steamer.

3. Cover the steamer.

4. Steam for 2-3 hours until the rice becomes soft and cooked.

5. Loosen the steamed rice, let it cool to about 35 degrees, and pour it into a very clean large water tank. Or an enamel basin, stew pot

6. Add a small amount of clean water into the water tank, such as cold boiled water.

7. Add appropriate amount of wine cake fermentation agent, which can be purchased. Different yeasts can produce different wines. Some are sweet, some are strong. Sweet wine has less yeast, and strong wine has more yeast. (You can also use the lower half of a mineral water bottle, poke a hole, insert it into the center of the glutinous rice, add a small amount of warm water to the reserved sweet wine koji to dissolve, and pour it into the bottle inserted in the middle of the glutinous rice, which can accelerate the fermentation)

8. Cover the wine jar, wait 6-8 days in winter and 3-4 days in summer, and the fragrant rice wine will come out. Keep the temperature at around 30 degrees.

9. At this time, the wine is raw and needs to be heated. Some people use a funnel-shaped bamboo filter to filter out the wine from the lees, then put the wine into a sealed jar and heat the jar in smoldering rice bran.

10. Some people add the brewed wine to the rice grains for brewing next time to brew it again...The most common one I have heard of is Jiuchong wine.