Red Glutinous Rice Wine II

They look pretty, don't they? That is why I call them Red Gems. I hope I have captured the clarity/beauty of it before giving them or consuming them. I showed off my wine and wine lees to my aunts like a proud parent and they wanted to have some too. I promised them that I will make for them. So I used the remaining 1.5kg of glutinous rice that I have. This batch of Red Glutinous Rice Wine actually gave me a scare. I thought I had to throw away the entire batch away and start anew.

Ingredients
1.5 kg Glutinous Rice （糯米） – weighed before cooking
180g Red Yeast （红糟） – blend into fine powder
1-1/2 pc Wine Yeast （酒饼）– mash into fine powder
2 Tbsp Sugar （糖）– optional

For preparation and method, please refer to here. The only difference is that I did not mix the ingredients together. Instead, I tested out with the method stated here, by alternating layers of cooked rice, red yeast and wine yeast. I wrapped a potato masher with plastic bag to help me push down the rice. It is much, much easier! No more struggling with sticky gloves!



I find that the fermentation progress for layering method is slightly slower than the previous method. For my previous batch, by the end of day 1, some wine has already started to collect at the bottom. However, for this trial, even by Day 3, the wine collected was miserable. Probably less than 1 cm. I panicked for the first 2 days as I thought this batch would not make it. The only consolation I have is that it started to smell like wine and that there are no moulds in sight. By Day 4, everything started to accelerate from there, finally, to my relief.



I was able to see alot of active bubbles. A good sign to show that it is fermenting. As there are blotches of reds (red yeast) and whites (rice) all over the place, I discussed with my parents who discouraged me from stirring the mixture. Do not fix things that are not broken, they said.



Being the same old stubborn me decided to give it a stir to see if there is any difference. I did not stir the mixture on the 7th day for my first batch.



More even, don't you think? The rice sank to the bottom again, but it will separate itself again.



I decided to harvest it on Day 28, being a Saturday night. I can finish bottling by the next day. Some of the rice fell to the bottom again during transport.



Left this on the table overnight to let the residue settle.



This batch yielded about more than 2 litres of wine and 900g of wine lees (I mixed in more wine this time). All these will be given to my mom and aunts. I have reserved 1 bottle of wine and some wine lees for Yuri when we meet up. The taste of the wine is sweet and my mom commented that the wine lees are much more fragrant than those store-bought.

Before I harvested this batch, my friend M, messaged me to say that her confinement lady commented that the wine and wine lees I gave her was good! That, coming from a confinement lady, it must be good! (self brag) Ahahaha~~ Then her friend wanted some too. Looks like I have to make another batch again.

それじゃ～～