Long Vacation and New Start

Havent posted in a long time mainly due to a vacation in China.

I went to visit some family over there and really enjoyed the time.  Enjoyed it so much that I plan to move there.  Only one small problem with that, blogger got a big red no sticker from teh Chinese authorties.

So it looks like the idea for a Busan brewers club never really took off.  And I wont be able to update the site with any of my new expiriments when I'm in my new home.

Good luck to everyone and I hope you have fun brewing.

(Sweet) Apple Makkoli #2

I still had some apples leftover so I felt it’s a good thing to use them up so here’s a new recipe for Apple Makkoli with sweet rice.

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked sweet rice

5 apples

1 chunk of Nuruk

Step 1: Cooking - Mixing

Very simple.  Cook the rice with a little extra water, I put enough water in for 2.4 cups of rice.  Allow it to cool so it is warm to the touch and mix in the Nuruk.  Chop the apples small enough to fit in the fermenter, and when its near room temperature put it all in the fermenter.  This time I did not add any yeast to see how it would react.

This time I also sanitized the fermenter, lid, cloth, and stirrer with a bleach mixture of about 20 to 1.  I want this one to be nice and sweet with the high sugar and don’t want any bugs making it sour.

Step 2: Fermenting

Biscute, my girls little doggie standing guard for lactobacilli

I have a new fermenter, a Kimichi jar. I like it because it has a very wide mouth and it will be easy to clean.  It cost me about 5,000 won. I can also keep the seal a little better with the lid half screwed on over the cloth.

I’m in the middle of this step and it is starting slower without the yeast.  I’m also trying a cooler ferment, average temperature of about 65 degrees. After the first day I can see a slow bubble at the bottom in the rice and a nicer ferment at the top with the floaters and apples.

The aroma is very nice and really smells of apples. (and a little bleach smell from the rag.)

Fermented for 4 days and the taste is great, but it has a little sour taste again.  I ate some sweet cookies with it and didn’t notice a thing.  Part was from the full ferment, a little was from a sneaky lactobacilli.  It was nice and squeaky clean, but I think a secondary non yeast ferment starts after 3 days, it might even be in the Nuruk and a natural process.

The most fun of this batch was watching the rice dance up and down from top to bottom fermenting zones.  On the 2nd day it was fast enough to watch outright.
My recommendation is to take it out and bottle it as soon as the dance slows down, or stops for no sour taste.

I guess Makkoli is kinda like microwave popcorn?

Also, it’s very high in alcohol.  One normal glass left me feeling very happy.
Going to let it cool down all proper and mix a litte water in tomorrow and try it again.  Pretty sure that will help the little dry - sour taste.

First Two Batches: Lessons and Lightbulbs

After finishing off my first two batches I thought I would take a moment to share some of the things I noticed in the process.  Mistakes I made, things I learned, and insights or things I might do different in the future.


The first thing is that cleanliness is most important to brewing.  Even very forgiving mashes can turn out with a sour tint with just a little of the wrong bug getting in.  Make sure everything is clean, and you are in a clean area when you mix and load the fermenters.  It’s not that you have to worry about making the product undrinkable, but it cuts back on enjoyment quite a bit.
I was quite disappointed in myself when I tasted the sour bottle, but everyone makes mistakes.  Wasn’t my first one brewing, and won’t be my last.


The next thing is that it is possible to make Makkoli with nothing more than a will to do it.  When I made my batch I just used stuff lying around the kitchen, and old plastic bottles.  It turned out just like Makkoli, although more dry than what you get in the store.
-Bought the sweet pearl rice this time, the one they make Dok and other sweets from.  Extra insurance is good.

I have found a pretty reliable source for the Nuruk.  Apparently someone my girlfriend knows at college has family that makes their own Dwenjang and she can get some Nuruk.  At least she should be able to get us some.  So anyone nearby who can’t find it on their own I can probably get it for you.


I also learned that the alcohol content and time thing is very dependant on the conditions where it ferments.  I should have bottled and drank it when it was still going and smelled like fruity Makkoli rather than waiting for it to slow down.  My batches really ate sugar that last day.  So although that day to percentage guide isn’t far off, it is certainly just an estimate.


An interesting thing is that the plastic and glass containers were indistinguishable from each other.  So the kind of fermentation container makes little difference in the short term.
Mixing fruit and other vegetables will change the Makkoli taste and it is possible to mix just about anything into Makkoli as you ferment it.  My recipes are for a light taste.  You really smell the apples and they are in the finish, but it’s still all Makkoli in flavor.


As for what’s next, I have a couple ideas.
I want to start mixing more grains into the Makkoli and see how a hybrid beer would work out.
If I can find one cheaply I want to see if a traditional clay container makes any kind of difference in the end product.
Attempting to use a bubbler instead of cloth to ensure that no outside infection can enter the fermentation.  I have read that rice and corn mashes need more oxygen while they ferment so I left it open to the air.  I also didn’t have the hose or stoppers required to make a poor mans bubbler.


So that’s the first two batches.  I made Makkoli, with a little of it going sour on me, yet I'm very happy that it worked out this well.  Anyone who wants to try can do it at home with little trouble.
Just make sure you clean everything well.  Don’t be afraid to filter it and toss it in the fridge when it smells really good even if it is bubbling away.  The refrigeration stops most of the fermentation and pressure shouldn't be a big issue.

This setup worked for me, it can work for you.

Recipe #2: Wild Apple Makkoli (사과 마걸리)

Ingredients:

1.5 cups uncooked rice

1 cup uncooked black wild rice

5 apples (add a couple more if you really like apples)

1 sq inch (approx) of Nuruk

1/2 teaspoon of yeast (optional)

Step 1: Cooking - Mixing

In a rice cooker cook the wild and standard rice together with enough water for 2.5 cups of rice.  The wild rice requires more water so it will leave the whole batch properly cooked and a little firm. Let it cool until it is warm to the touch, but not hot.

Peel and chop the apples very fine.  The size really doesn’t matter, as long as you can fit the apple chunks into your fermenter you are fine.  I use old water bottles, so I need to make little tiny pieces.

Mix the rice, apples, yeast and Nuruk with some water so it can be poured into the fermenter(s) easily.  I recommend that you use some yeast if you have it for this recipe as the apples are sweet and more susceptible to infection.  Divide the mix equally if necessary, and then fill the fermenters to full.  This batch was also enough for 4 liters.

Note: Fermenting Apples

Apple seeds do contain a small amount of poison, amygdaline which changes into cyanide when digested, so make sure you keep the seeds out of the mash.  It would be a very small amount of poison and the seeds are only dangerous if the coating broken, but better safe than sorry. (it is possible to swallow the seeds safely when they have no damage to the coating, but who wants to anyway?)

Apple skins and the tougher parts near the core give a bitter taste when fermented as well, so it’s best to peel them and cut the apples as if you would eat them.

Step 2: Fermenting

Follow the standard fermenting procedure as seen in recipe #1.  This mash should start fermenting faster because the fruit has simple fermentable sugars in it naturally.

With many fruit based fermenting mashes the overall fermenting time is quite varied.  Different fruits have different amounts of fermentable sugars, and all fruit will have more sugar the riper it is.  Therefore the ferment time to alcohol content estimates are not going to be as useful.

However as the apple is mainly for taste in this recipe it is not much of a concern.  Just leave a little more time in your estimates.

In my batch I am getting a very sweet apple, rice smell from the fermentation after only 6 hours so I hope your batch is as happy as mine.

Step 3: Filtering – Enjoying

When using fruit as a fermentation base I usually recommend a good filtering for the finished product.  In my experience the fruit degrades into many pectin compounds leaving bitter chunks when fully fermented out.  Different fruits will give different results, but I always filter the leftovers out as if I’m making a beer.

So I recommend you treat it as a standard Makkoli and filter out the big chunks, just don’t recommend mashing them up and adding back to give the thick consistency.

Very purple, and this was the unclean batch as you can imagine.

Update:  Bottled and finished it.
One bottle turned out more sour than I had thought, but that was my fault.  I was a little confident with the last batch and how easy it was to make so I got lazy.  I didnt do everything completely sterile, and I just left a clean rag over the top, litterally a paper towel.  So it got a little lactobacteria infection.
Goes to show you that cleanliness is always step one.  I shoulda just got a clean rag, cut a piece out and washed it good like I did in the past, but I was lazy.

Recipe #1: Goguma Makkoli (고구마 마걸리)

Ingredients

2.5 cups uncooked rice

4 medium sweet potatoes

1 sq inch (approx) of Nuruk

1/2 teaspoon of yeast (optional)

Step 1: Cooking - Mixing

Cook the rice in a standard rice cooker, but only use enough water for 2 cups of rice.  This way the rice is a little firmer and closer to steamed rice.

Cook the sweet potatoes until they are cooked and ready to eat.

Let the potatoes and rice cool to just above room temperature, it shouldn’t take long and you can add a little water to the rice and rinse the potatoes in cold water to speed it up.  Don’t wash the rice in cold water.

Peel, smash, and mix the potatoes with the cooked rice.  Break up and soak the Nuruk in the mash.

Step 2: Fermentation

Clean two 2 liter bottles, or other 4 liter container.  I just used some old water bottles I had in my house.  Pour the mash equally into the containers, then fill them up to nearly full with water, tap water is fine.  Cover the inlet hole with a bubbler or just use very clean cloth.

Set the container(s) in a warm place in the room (60-75 degree range).  Sunlight doesn’t matter and moisture isn’t good, but it isn’t a major concern.  The only concern is temperature and cleanliness.

Fermentation should begin within 20 hours.  If it has not begun within 40 hours add some fresh Nuruk and yeast to the container.  If it is another 20 hours with no change it may have been infected.

Fermentation may be slow or fast, but in a clear container you will see pockets of gas in the rice and that gas should break free and rise to the top periodically.  My batch started a good ferment within 8 hours.

The next part is up to you.  The longer the Makkoli ferments the higher alcohol percentage you will achieve.  If ferments well with a good amount of sugar it is possible to get up into the 13-17% range of sake.  Most companies will stop the process early and maybe even add water to the finished product to keep the 6-8% seen in commercial Makkoli.

According to recipes and experience the drink is ready after fermentation has gone for 1 day.  There are many drinks made from the weak Makkoli mash in Korea, China and Japan.  However I’m not doing this for a weak drink.
-We tried this after 2 days and it tasted exactly like a traditional breakfast porridge in China, kinda neat.

I’m going to leave one bottle to ferment through and will put the other in the fridge after filtering it 4 days after fermentation began. The temperature and strain of yeast or Nuruk you use will change the results in alcohol, but a rough guide is:

2 days – 4-5%

3 days – 5-8%

4 days – 8-10%

5 days – 10+%

Step 3: Filtering – Enjoying

Although not necessary to filter, Makkoli is a very chunky drink if unfiltered and many may be put off by that. What I recommend is to pour the fermented Makkoli through a standard wire colander then serve the liquid you catch.  Its ready to drink at any time, but I prefer to chill it in the fridge before I drink.

You can then smash the leftover rice and add it back to the drink for a chunky texture, or save it for the next batch as it will make a great starter for fast fermentation.  Just remember the more old starter you put in, the less Makkoli you get out.

If you like a very fine drink you can wait for the Makkoli solids to separate, or pour it through a cheesecloth filter after getting the solids out, but that is more like Sake than Makkoli.

After about 4 minuets the liquid had drained and it looked like cheese.

You can also add water to it to cut down the thickness and alcohol.

Note: Pressure

After you filter the Makkoli into the final container make sure that you do not seal it tight.  Put the cap on, but don't wrench it tight. I like to put my brews into a container built to withstand pressure, or drink it within a day or two.
So a good tip is to use old pop and beer bottles (plastic is OK).

Most commercial Makkoli is still alive and producing CO2 also.  That is one reason why some of it is all leaky and most caps, even with the tamper ring is good will drip if held sideways.  If the cheap plastic bottles were 100% sealed they could explode from the pressure the yeast makes.  You will notice a big difference in the quality of caps for carbonated and non carbonated Makkoli.

In fact that is why beer was traditionally bottled in a Champagne bottle.  The beer was flat when put in then the carbonation occurred naturally.  If you talk to an avid homebrewer I’m sure they can all share an exploding bottle story with you.

Have fun, sit back and enjoy the new brew made by you.

Finding Nuruk (누룩)

This will most likey be the only difficult task in making Makkoli for most people.  It isn't the most common ingredient as very few people ever have a reason to find it. It is used to make soy sauce, miso, dwenjang, and any other products that has fermented rice or beans.  However its not popular to make your own, not even all that popular to homebrew makkoli yet.

What I did was to search all over the open air markets until I found someone who even knew what Nuruk was, then they sent me to a different market where people buy the ingredients to make different foods at home.  Funny thing was the proper stores advertising "homemade dwenjang" didnt even know what Nuruk was (even though you cant make dwenjang without it).

When I got to the right market, it was pretty interesting as they had many things I haven't seen before and I love to cook at home.  They had all kinds of Nuruk and even the bark it grows on in the wild, but there was one problem.  Apparently Nuruk has become very popular as a face scrub of some sort and the kind they wanted to sell me was just that kind.  I didnt want to make cosmetics, I want to make Makkoli.
-When yo try to shop for Nuruk online you get links to the cosmetic products, another thing that made finding some difficult.

Eventually I did find someone who pointed me in the right direction and I was the proud owner of a 14 inch disk of dried Nuruk.  I have to tell you it was an interesting adventure and I felt proud as hell when I did find the person who could get it for me.

*On a side note so many of the shriveled, grumpy old ladies in these markets get very angry at you when you ask them a question.  The consumer is more of an annoyance than a source of income in the eyes of Ajuma.  Strange culture here, very strange.

The couple I bought from were nice as all hell and I will be going back there with a bottle of my finished product as a thank you to them.

Just what is 마걸리?

Makkoli (마걸리) is a rough equivalent to rice beer, its an alcoholic drink made from fermenting rice.  It is similar in process to beer, and in alcohol percentage as well.  The drink looks just like milk and has surprised a many of people as the taste is not very similar, however calling it rice milk wouldn't be too far off.

The drink is made by first using a mold that converts the complex carbs into easily fermentable sugars with a Koji mixture called Nuruk in Korea.  Next the yeast you add, or a wild yeast can settle in and ferment the sugars preventing other bacteria or mold from infecting the mix.  It is quite an easy process used for thousands of years.

The taste that results is generally grainy with fruit and nut hints.  It can range anywhere from sweet to downright sour depending on the strains of yeast or nuruk used and the ingredients fermented.
In Korea there are many different kinds available commercially and I recommend that you give them a try to see what you would want to make.

Brand New and Bubbling

As a home brewer I really enjoy making and tasting my own beers and other fermented products, so when I came to Korea I was a little disappointed that I couldn't find what I wanted locally.  There are different sources for the products required over the Internet, but to me half the fun of brewing is playing around with it.

So I decided to cast all common sense aside this year and start playing around with the fermenting.  Hence this blog.  I'm making Makkoli (마걸리) in my little apartment in Korea with the absolute minimum of equipment to see just how everything turns out.

It is my hope that I can meet other brewers and inspire some first timers to give it a try.  Makkoli is much more forgiving than beer in its production and easier to care for as its nearly a natural accident.  In other words its hard to not make Makkoli if you pour Nuruk (누룩) in rice.
The hardest part of this was just finding the Nuruk.

Please enjoy everyone as I also hope to create a good way for those in Busan who are interested in brewing to communicate with each other and possibly share the final product of our fermented labor.