Ichika Japanese Sake Style Rice Wine is a nice quick and easy to mix and ferment Rice Wine. Moderate in alcohol and high in purity and taste this will have you coming back for more. Ichika comes from the land of 1,000 flowers and she relishes her afternoon walks through the cherry blossom trees and finds peace in the quiet areas surrounding her local temple. At night Ichika likes to go out with friends enjoying some fine food and her favourite local sake. Ichika sometimes goes on on to karoke until the wee hours of the morning with her best friends. Ichika comes to life after sunset!
Kanpai | Cheers
Vital Stats:
- SG Target: 1.078
- FG Target: 1.000
- ALC: 11%
- Batch: 20 L
- Boil Time: 0 mins
Fermentables:
Yeast:
- LALVIN | EC-1118 5g Sachet x 1
Aids:
Recommended Equipment (Not Included in Kit):
Method:
Make Koji Starter
- Sterilise all equipment with alcohol or vinegar.
- Soak rice in water for 12-24 hours.
- Steam 2kg of rice until cooked (Do Not use rice cooker, as rice will be too soggy).
- Sprinkle 3g of Koji Starter over cooled rice and mix thoroughly.
- Ideally keep in a warm humid environment until fermentation begins (approx. 24 hours at 35-38℃).
- Keep Koji moist using a damp cloth.
- Keep temperature under 40℃, breaking up and mixing Koji if needed.
- After 50 hours the Koji should start to give off sweet chestnut smell, it is now ready to use or store. Can be stored in freezer for up to 3 months.
- Healthy Koji should have lost its opaqueness and white on the surface. When not mixed it should be packed into blocks and taste sweet.
Make Rice Wine:
- Steam the remaining 7kg of rice. Once cooked allow the rice to cool to room temp before mixing in the 2kg of Koji you prepared earlier.
- Add the Koji / Rice mixture to your fermenter (recommended to use a BIAB) and top up with 20L of water - you should end up with approx. 27L of total solids and liquid in your fermenter.
- Rehydrate 5g of LALVIN | EC-1118 yeast by dissolving the sachet in 50ml of 30-37℃ Water. Leave standing for 10-20 minutes before pitching into your fermenter.
- Hold temp between 15-25℃ the lower the temp the longer the fermentation the better the end result. (recommended 16-18℃ for 3 week fermentation)
- Regularly aerate the wash for the first couple of days and perform a staggered yeast nutrient on days 2, 3 and 5 (20g of Still Spirits | Light Yeast Nutrient).
- When FG reaches 1.000 and fermentation has stopped cold crash for 24-48 hours to let yeast and koji settle at the bottom and top.
- Syphon out or filter out the liquid, avoiding the koji rice and yeast deposits floating at the top and bottom of the liquid.
- Now sit back and relax and enjoy your fermented rice wine (Sake) with some sashimi. ABV 11%