Hi, can I ......

[pepper442]

Have made rice and raisin wine following this recipe:-

"Rice & Raisin
This is a medium wine that needs only the items you can easily by at the super market (excluding the wine yeast and wine filter of course).
The method used here makes two batches of wine, the second batch is a lighter wine. This not only allows you to have a variety for different taste but by blending the two you can home in on the balance you like best.
Ingredients
Rice (long grain) 5 lb (2.25kg)
Raisins 3 lb (1.5kg)
Sugar 10 lb (4.5kg)
3 Lemons
1 Orange (This can be substituted for the same quantity of pure apple juice)
1 cup of strong cold tea (Optional, this is to add the tannin normally found in wine)
Wine yeast and nutrient 2 oz 50g
Water 3 gallons 13.5 litres
Dissolve the sugar in some heated water taken from the 3 gallons. Now allow this liquid too cool and then pour over the rice and raisins (do not chop or mince the raisins). Then add the lemon juice and orange juice. (note you could use table spoons of citric acid instead). If you are adding a cup of cold tea do it now (no milk of course). Now add the remaining water and sprinkle on the yeast and its nutrients. Sir ands leave to ferment in a warm room. Stir daily for 21 days then strain through a fine sieve into three 1 gallon (4.5 litres) jars. Fit air locks and keep them in the warm room until fermentation stops. Filter the wine through a wine filter and it is ready to drink straight away. If you intend to keep the wine for more than a month or two then add 1 Campden tablet per gallon and leave for 9 months.
This is the good bit. Having kept the pulp of rice and raisin we are now ready to use this again to make a lighter wine.
Ingredients
pulp left over from above
Sugar 8 lb (3.5kg)
2.5 gallons water
2 Lemons
1 orange
1/2 cup of cold tea (Optional)
Dissolve the sugar in a gallon of hot water and pour on to the rice and raisin pulp left over from above. add 1.5 gallons of cold water plus the lemon & orange juice. If you are using cold tea add it now. Sprinkle on the yeast and its nutrients and follow the procedure as above. "

Could I, after the 2nd fermentation, reuse the rice and rasins and do a 3rd batch using 3 litre grape juice and some more raisins.

Any suggestions please.

Thanks.

[ms67]

i think the "cup of strong tea" is probably not needed as the raisins will do the job. You may want top consider sultanas instead of raisins tho, you'll end up with a paler coloured wine which may be preferred for this wine?

you may also want to use an aromatic rice, basmati for example tho there are others. they are way more expensive of course but you do get some flavour from them.

i guess that uncooked rice does eventually swell and go soft when left to soak, this will make it break up easily and leave you with a big sediment that will be a bit of a pain to deal with, or even give you a tricky time clearing the wine. For that reason i would be wary of trying for 3 runs. but if you are tempted then give it a go, check the rice out tho when your second run comes off it.

rice and raisin wine used to be one of my regular brews, i always made it strong and drank it warm. it made a great winter warmer. it probably would do if it wasn't made as strong aswell but i was newer to brewing in those days and got a great kick out of it anyway. It always cleared fast and didn't need finings etc too.

[pepper442]

Would you put some grape juice in to give it more of a "body" or "flavour"?

[David]

Could I, after the 2nd fermentation, reuse the rice and rasins and do a 3rd batch using 3 litre grape juice and some more raisins..

Bear in mind that those raisins would have lost a substantial amount of their sugar content and also absorbed a lot of liquid. I've checked this with chopped dried fruit (note that your's aren't chopped) and virtually all the sugar from the fruit went into the must, plus 2lbs of (chopped) raisins absorbed 1 pint of water, so some adjustment of sugar & water for re-use would be required.

[pepper442]

ok thanks.

[Omniata]

Sorry if I've misread but have you used any "Amylase" enzyme to breakdown the starch in the rice???


Jim.

[ms67]

i never had to use amylase to get a quick clearing wine. might have been the variety of rice, i might have washed it a bit first, can't remember. i could say perhaps i was lucky but i made this wine a number of times so if it was luck then it was probably down to the choice of rice, rather than conditions or processes.

[Omniata]

I wasn't thinking of it to "clear" but to breakdown the starch in rice into fermentable sugar...

I tried a little experiment using sushi rice once and quite a bit of amylase to break the huge amount of starch in it down...
It came out reasonably well and I didn't need nearly as much sugar as I usually use...

[lockwood1956]

i never had to use amylase to get a quick clearing wine. might have been the variety of rice

I am pretty sure you wont need the amylase because the starch is NOT being released, I suspect the rice is doing nothing at all in the wine, these starches would need to be converted to sugar to be effective in the process, and nothing in any rice and raisin wine recipe or method I have ever seen leads me to believe that the starch is being released and used...so I think you would get the same wine without the addition of the rice.

however, if you make it and like it......more power to you

regards
Bob

p.s. I think a third run is stretching it a bit, as has already been alluded to, you have milked the raisins well doing 2 batches, but worth a go for the addition of a bit of sugar, and if adding tannin, use wine tannin made from grapes, it gives better flavour

[lockwood1956]

I wasn't thinking of it to "clear" but to breakdown the starch in rice into fermentable sugar...

exactly!

[pepper442]

Hi, I've never used "Amylase" enzyme. never even heard of it!!

Ok I think I will have another go when the 2nd batch is done, as well as adding tannin do you think a couple of grape juices will help the flavour etc.

Thanks. Alison.

[Rich]

Hi, I've never used "Amylase" enzyme. never even heard of it!!

Ok I think I will have another go when the 2nd batch is done, as well as adding tannin do you think a couple of grape juices will help the flavour etc.

Thanks. Alison.

Hi Alison.

Have you actually tasted the first lot yet, before planning making more, maybe make sure you like it.

What sort of style wine do you enjoy drinking?

Not implying anything bad about your recipe there, but have you tried a wine #1, sometimes less is more and it makes a tasty drop with a lot less fuss. Some people have had good results with rice etc though (Wurzel was it?)

Rich

[ms67]

i dont think that amylase makes a sugar that yeast can use does it?

if you want to the real thing, sake, then you need a fungus i believe to break down the starches to fermentable sugars. seems like quite a different sort of brewing to me as you need to cultivate or at least grow the fungus too - if you can find it (specialist japanese/chinese supermarket i guess?).

and yeah, if you use ordinary rice then i have no idea what its in there for as you'll have to have pretty extraordinary taste to detect its presence. but if you use a fragrant rice then you do get some flavour, albeit delicate, and it comes out more when you warm the wine for drinking.

it is a good fun brew to do, i used to always enjoy making it. was always hassle free and quick for me.

[Omniata]

Hi, I've never used "Amylase" enzyme. never even heard of it!!

Ok I think I will have another go when the 2nd batch is done, as well as adding tannin do you think a couple of grape juices will help the flavour etc.

Thanks. Alison.

Funnily enough it's the main enzyme in your mouth...

Although, it prefers alkaline environments, it breaks most of the starch in the food you eat through chewing before it enters the lethal acid environment in your stomach

[Cellar_Rat]

......... I think a third run is stretching it a bit, as has already been alluded to, .....

Perhaps 'top them up' a bit by adding 30% new dried raisins in the 3rd run [a system often employed when reusing black grape skins]