I can’t really tell from this. Clearly the koji was doing something if you get a nutty odor. Did you see the mold covering the rice, completely or in part?

A good way to test koji is to make amazake with it, or some of it. To do this you can combine freshly steamed rice (140F or so) with koji. and keep warm for about 6 hours. This should produce a very sweet rice porridge; use maybe 1/3 koji to 2/3 rice.

A couple of articles that might help are: Amazake – it ain’t sake and Making Koji for Sake.

Keep in touch

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtZdSKPWDE31dExJOXE5MEpVc3VqcURqb0FGdWxkR2c

Note: the uploaded document can be downloaded if you intend to use it

Great study. Would you be able to answer a question please? I tried the Vision koji on sweet rice (~85F/40hr). It did have a nutty odor but no taste. After fermentation (Farmhouse sake recipe @ 16% alc), it did not have much alcohol. The fermentation was slow for the 10 days and was clearly done at that time. Taste is okay…but there seems to be little alcohol content. Should I assume the koji did not grow? Thanks, Rene

High quality sake, those that are “special designation sake” are made with rice, koji (a rice covered with a special mold), yeast, water and in some cases brewers alcohol. The flavors and aromas are largely from the yeast but not entirely. Koji add some and rice does as well to a lesser extent. So, sticking with the yeast; the type of yeast and the temperature of the brewing process will cause various fruits to be expressed in the flavors and aromas. One interesting thing is that the sake yeasts tend to create more aromas at lower temperatures, while ale yeast tend to produce more aromas at higher temperatures.

Thanks

I list a tiny bit of history but the majority is restricted to brewing. Actually, in the beginning I planned to have a chapter on the history but this was growing rapidly; so I decided to not include it (there are several posts though). That was pretty early on, now, as I am trying to finish it I have had to remove several items that I would have liked to include. Including them though, would have meant, maybe, another year.

I have not included the material in the 1880s paper you are referring to.

If enough people like the book I may do another book or a second edition with the parts that I have had to leave out of this book. Anyway, I think this one should be available within a month or two.

Thanks and here is the Table of Contents:

Table of Contents
Introduction 1
How Saké is Brewed 5
Brewing Equipment 11
Quick Start Saké Brewing 23
Rice – Kome (米) 37
Koji (麹) 47
Yeast – Kobo (酵母) 57
Water – Mizu (水) 65
Nihonshu-do (日本酒度) or Saké Meter Value (SMV) 71
Sando ( 酸度 ) – Acidity 77
Amino Sando (アミノ酸度 ) – Amino Acid 79
Protecting your Homebrew Saké from light 81
Sanitation 85
Seimai (精米) or Rice Milling / Polishing 89
Rice Preparation 101
Koji Making 105
The Moto 111
The Buildup – San-Dan-Jikomi (三段仕込み) 135
The Main Ferment – Moromi (諸味) 145
So you like the Honjozo (本醸造) 151
Time for Shibori ( 搾り ) 157
Final Steps in Saké Brewing 161
Measuring Your Homebrew Saké 163
Spoilers and Trouble Shooting 189
Glossary 191
Links and Contacts 209

Awesome! I did not know that you were in the progress of writing a book, but it is such a relief for me that soon there will be an up-to-date book for sale on the market. Where is the preorder button?

This should also make the report I have to write by june on the sake project I am about to make so much easier as I can refer to your book on the more history based parts. I expect that you will include those as well?

Do you have a table of contents as of yet? Will be nice to see what can be expected.

I found this paper written about Sake from 1881 or something, which is titled “Chemistry of Sake” as far as I can recall. A large part of it was descriptions of him visiting some high profile sake breweries and describing their methods. Is this something that will be included in the book?

But most of all I think a demystification of the additions added throughout the production of Sake would be a welcome section

Regards,
Claes Nilsson

Another thought: I read someplace that the Japanese are also growing rice for sake Hydroponically. Something like that might provide a cheaper option for aqcuiring those other strains of rice in quantity.

Thanks. It really helps to see what people are interested in.

There is a possibility of getting strains of good sake rice but it would have a high price. Higher than it seems people are currently willing to pay. This may change as more people get into sake brewing. As for the milling rate, we have a similar issue with price. I did a couple articles around the TwinBrid personal milling machine that can be used if you want it bad enough. However, based on the TwinBird I believe we can make a reasonable mill that will handle about a batch of rice all at once. If I make such a thing, I will do an article on it.

Warmed vs. chilled sake, this is good. I did an article on this. In part the emphasis on chilling good sake by the experts is an attempt by the experts to keep the message simple for beginner sake drinkers. A warmed sake can be very nice. One guy that really appreciates warm sake and covers it regularly is: http://sakeandkimono.blogspot.com. Check him out!

Thanks again.

I’m a fan of your site from a while back. I believe I even bought Fred Eckhardt’s book after reading about it on your site.

I’m very interested in what you might have to say about the soft/hard water issue, as well as any other water qualities. I’ve read a couple of John Gauntner’s books, and he mentioned one region in particular (which I can’t remember right now) in Japan famous for great water for sake, and I believe he said that Montana had water with the same qualities.

I’m also curious about the fesability of aquiring various strains of sake rice from Japan. Related to that would be the question of highly milled rice.

Also, again from Gauntner’s book, he describes a sake brewery that does a slow drip straining for their daiginjo. I’m guessing that is related to what you are talking about regarding oxidation.

Finally, (and forgive me if you’ve weighed in on any of these subjects before, I haven’t had a chance to fully catch up on some of the articles I’ve missed), it’s seems, if what I’ve read is to be believed, that the sake industry is more and more heading toward producing sake that is meant to be served cold to enjoy all of the finer flavours, which I can appreciate, but I really enjoy warm to hot sake – is anyone pioneering sakes that are better suited to heat? Do you have any insight?

Thanks!

-Trevor from Montreal