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2021 Batch 4 - Rice Wine 4.0

Since I've still got plenty of rice on-hand and plenty of yellow-label Angel Yeast, I decided to do a few more batches of rice wine.  I'll look for something fun to do with it later.  I've about got this down to a science.  Sanitize a fermenter, load it with 15 pounds of rice, add 178F water, wait until the temperature drops down to around 90F, and pitch the Angel Yeast.

Ingredients

15 pounds Nishiki rice
3 gallons of water at 178F
1/2 tsp. Gypsum
1/2 tsp. Fermaid O yeast nutrient
1 tsp. Alpha Amylase
1.5 gallons cold water
40 grams Angel Yeast

Note:  Gypsum is added for water conditioning.  Fermaid O and Alpha Amylase are not strictly necessary, but I've been adding them because I have a good supply of both.  I add the Amylase when I add the hot water, to help break down the rice some before I pitch the yeast mix.

Brewing process:

  • Begin heating 3 gallons of water to 178F
  • Sanitize 7 gallon fermenter
  • Dump 15 pounds of rice into fermenter
  • Add Gypsum, yeast nutrient, and alpha amylase to the rice
  • When water hits temp, put water over the rice
  • Stir well, then close up the fermenter
  • Leave at least one hour (I'm leaving it overnight) to hydrate the rice
  • Add cold water to the 5.5 gallon mark on the fermenter
  • When temp is 90F, add Angel Yeast and stir well
  • For the first three days of fermentation, stir well to degas and keep yeast in suspension
  • After 7-14 days, fermentation should finish
  • Strain liquid away from solids and apply finings, if desired
After that you can bottle it, barrel age it, or whatever you want to do with it.

Post-Brew Notes and Observations

03/11/2021:  Loaded rice and hot water into fermenter.  Wrapped insulation around the fermenter to keep it warm overnight.  Set my temp control for 90F, though with the hot water it was around 150F inside the fermenter initially.  I plan to leave this overnight.  Tomorrow I'll add more water to get to the 5.5 gallon mark and when the temp is right, pitch the Angel Yeast.

03/12/2021 (6pm):  Pitched the Angel Yeast and stirred well.  Fermenter showed signs of activity pretty soon afterward, when I went to do the first stir.

03/15/2021:  I've decided to stir only once daily, but for additional days, to see if this changes the yield in any significant way.  I don't really expect it to, as the Angel Yeast works exceptionally well for rice wine and seems to be pretty bulletproof.

04/04/2021:  Update... Although this batch did finish fermentation, choosing not to stir it appears to have been a significant mistake.  It stalled out at a gravity around 1.009 SG and never finished out.  It also picked up a pretty significant vinegary taste and aroma, which made it unpleasant to drink.  I don't recommend skipping the twice-daily stirring - and it's possible that this picked up a bacterial infection that caused the vinegar aroma/flavor, so be careful with your cleaning and sanitation on it.  I ended up tossing this batch.
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