I have a 2nd go at wine making... having learnt my first lesson, I pray to make good progress this time round. I envisaged the end to end process and made a note of all the equipments that I would need. When in doubt, prepare more than you thought you need.
I cooked the rice as normal and left it to dry for more than half a day. When it is ready to be fermented with the yeast, I wore a rubber glove (also sterilised, heehee) and used 2 spoons to hold the rice and compacting them in the glass container. In the 1st try, the 250g rice was filled to the rim of the horlicks bottle, so this time round, I prepared another container - the porcelain type that chinese used for double-boiled soup.
Today is day 2... and see some water droplets on the top of the glass wall. But it is very very little... not what I expected. But let's see how it goes when I get home to check it out this evening.
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Day 3:
Things were looking up at the end of day 2... I saw bubbles at the bottom of the bottle! Anyway I ended up not taking any pic on day 2 cos I learnt from another forummer that she covered her bottles with garbage bag.... I suppose that mean no flash for these little things.
I simply loosen the lid to release the pressure built up in the bottle. I can sniff the aroma of the wine.. I'm jubilant!
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Day 4:
But another batch which looked ok on day 1, didn't looks so right today:
Can you see the white specks on top? Specifically at the 8 and 10 o'clock position.
I will be going back to KC to ask for the shi-fu's opinion!
Or anyone here?
Hi there! Thanks for popping by my blog. Sharing with you what I did. Currently I am starting on a new batch. You are right about sterilising the equipment. It is important. This time round, I did not mix the rice and yeast together before putting them into the container. Instead, I put a layer of rice, then a layer of yeast. However, I find that this method is slower in reaction. I only saw 1cm of wine after 3 days. Previously, by 2nd day,, there will be 1 inch of wine at the bottom. But layering method is less messy.
ReplyDeleteThis time, I used the rice scoop to scoop the rice into the container then use a potato masher to to push the rice down (wrap it in a clean plastic bag 1st). No need to contact with hands or wear gloves at all. :D HTH.
Hi Rei, thanks for sharing. I just cooked another batch of rice this morning. I will incorporate your method for this batch.
ReplyDeleteActually I wear glove for "just-in-case" only. I use 2 spoons to scoop and press down the rice.
I just posted a pix of the top of the wine lees... not sure if you can see clearly. Do you think the white thingy is normal? My neighbour (who had seen her mum done it before) said that's normal and not mould. But I can't be sure.
In all case, Good luck to you (and me)!