I can’t resist – “Seishu!– Watashi wa sore o mezashite ikimasu!”
This will be fun!
I’m one of those here who considered the idea of making sake intriguing and put it on my list for “someday”. Yeah, it seemed crazy, complicated, and definitely outside my comfort zone as a country wine maker. But taking a step back to summarize the process it becomes very simple -
Grow mold that converts starch to sugar, add water, rice, and yeast.
Not much different from our wine making, right? It’s OK to be intimidated by Sake directions and recipes. Most of us were intimidated and apprehensive by our first wine and we survived. In truth, yes, there IS some work involved and there are details. A lot of details. And many of the details have details. Crazy but incredibly interesting!
This will be an adventure for all of us since I’m starting this post before the sake is completely finished. Fanfare, revelry and a parade….or crash and burn? We’ll see. Much more involved than making wine but a lot of fun, I learned a lot, and I’ll do it again. To those thinking about making sake, perhaps this will give you a nudge to start…or maybe scare you away forever.
Warning #1 - This will be a longer post than my other “Going for it!” wines. I decided to make as true a sake as possible, did a lot of research, and that’s what I’m sharing. If you’re expecting “mix ingredients, pitch yeast, rack, age” forget it, that’s definitely not sake. Stop reading now!
Warning #2 – There’s a lot of information here, too much for some, too little for others, but really it’s just the basics. I’ll try to include some of the “why” things are done and maybe remove some of the mystery. And as a bonus we’ll even learn some Japanese! If we’re making sake we may as well learn the jargon!
Warning #3 – This post is not a recipe. I included the major details to hopefully give a general idea of the effort involved. Gosh yes, there’s more details than I included. Seems to be no end to them.
Let’s start with some jargon – sake is “brewed” and the brewery is called the “sakagura”. The brewery owner is called the “kuramoto” and a brewery worker is called a “kurabito”, both of which I find incredibly coincidental since I go by “BigDaveK”. Was I destined to make sake?
And to be precise, I will (hopefully) be making “Seishu”, literally “clear alcohol”, a Japanese wine made from rice, water, and yeast. “Nihonshu”, literally “Japanese clear alcohol”, is also Japanese wine made from rice, water, and yeast but it’s only made in Japan and only using domestic Japanese rice. (Similar to wine’s “appellation”) What we call “sake” in the West translates to the generic “alcoholic drink” in Japan. For simplicity I’ll use the Western “sake”.
Some major differences with wine making - The calendar is very important, something we generally almost ignore. And temperature – multiple temperatures – very important. Most home made sake is done in the winter because of the low temperatures that are needed (50F or below). But early on higher temperatures (90F-ish) are needed. It all may seem intimidating at first, and can be, and sake makers usually say “You want easy? Make wine”.
This will be presented in multiple messages because I discovered there’s a character and photo limit to each post.
This will be fun!
I’m one of those here who considered the idea of making sake intriguing and put it on my list for “someday”. Yeah, it seemed crazy, complicated, and definitely outside my comfort zone as a country wine maker. But taking a step back to summarize the process it becomes very simple -
Grow mold that converts starch to sugar, add water, rice, and yeast.
Not much different from our wine making, right? It’s OK to be intimidated by Sake directions and recipes. Most of us were intimidated and apprehensive by our first wine and we survived. In truth, yes, there IS some work involved and there are details. A lot of details. And many of the details have details. Crazy but incredibly interesting!
This will be an adventure for all of us since I’m starting this post before the sake is completely finished. Fanfare, revelry and a parade….or crash and burn? We’ll see. Much more involved than making wine but a lot of fun, I learned a lot, and I’ll do it again. To those thinking about making sake, perhaps this will give you a nudge to start…or maybe scare you away forever.
Warning #1 - This will be a longer post than my other “Going for it!” wines. I decided to make as true a sake as possible, did a lot of research, and that’s what I’m sharing. If you’re expecting “mix ingredients, pitch yeast, rack, age” forget it, that’s definitely not sake. Stop reading now!
Warning #2 – There’s a lot of information here, too much for some, too little for others, but really it’s just the basics. I’ll try to include some of the “why” things are done and maybe remove some of the mystery. And as a bonus we’ll even learn some Japanese! If we’re making sake we may as well learn the jargon!
Warning #3 – This post is not a recipe. I included the major details to hopefully give a general idea of the effort involved. Gosh yes, there’s more details than I included. Seems to be no end to them.
Let’s start with some jargon – sake is “brewed” and the brewery is called the “sakagura”. The brewery owner is called the “kuramoto” and a brewery worker is called a “kurabito”, both of which I find incredibly coincidental since I go by “BigDaveK”. Was I destined to make sake?
And to be precise, I will (hopefully) be making “Seishu”, literally “clear alcohol”, a Japanese wine made from rice, water, and yeast. “Nihonshu”, literally “Japanese clear alcohol”, is also Japanese wine made from rice, water, and yeast but it’s only made in Japan and only using domestic Japanese rice. (Similar to wine’s “appellation”) What we call “sake” in the West translates to the generic “alcoholic drink” in Japan. For simplicity I’ll use the Western “sake”.
Some major differences with wine making - The calendar is very important, something we generally almost ignore. And temperature – multiple temperatures – very important. Most home made sake is done in the winter because of the low temperatures that are needed (50F or below). But early on higher temperatures (90F-ish) are needed. It all may seem intimidating at first, and can be, and sake makers usually say “You want easy? Make wine”.
This will be presented in multiple messages because I discovered there’s a character and photo limit to each post.
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