Rice Flashcards
When does newly harvested rice arrive at the brewery?
October to early spring, roughly 7 months.
What is the one big advantage of rice over grapes?
Rice can be stored for weeks or even months without rotting or severely degrading which means the rice harvest can be processed in small batches throughout the season.
All five catgegories of rice can be found within a single paddy.
T or F
True
Name the five categories of rice.
Santoh (grade 3)
Nittoh (grade 2)
Ittoh (grade 1)
Tokuto (special grade)
Tokujo (higher special grade)
Broadly, there are what two type of rice?
Japonica (short)
Indica (long)
Name four features specific to sake rice:
- large grains
- low protein content and the presence of a well-defined, large Shinpaku. Ideally linear in shape.
- Good water absorbency and high solubility during the brewing process.
- Low ratio of rice cracking.
Why is rice cracking undesirable?
It leads to a less effective separation of starch from undesirable components.
The features specific to sake rice make what three things possible?
- The separation of a large proportion of desirable starch away from undesirable impurities.
- Help the water penetrate deep into the grain during washing, soaking, and steaming.
- Water penetrability also helps the rice ‘melt’ easily, making its starch available for conversion to sugar and then fermentation into alcohol.
What are the two most important varieties of Shuzo-koteki-mai?
Yamada-nishiki
Gohyaku-mangoku
Yamada-nishiki and Gohyaku-mangoku make up what percentage of sake-specific rice production?
Over 60%
How much of Japan’s rice production is used for sake, and of that, how much is sakspecific rice?
5% of Japan’s rice production is used for sake, and of that one quarter is Shuzo-koteki-mai
How many stages of drying rice are there?
Three
The bran and outer layers of unpolished rice contain large amounts of what?
Fats, proteins, vitamins, lipids, and minerals.
What happens if there is an overabundance of fats, proteins, vitamins, lipids, and minerals?
It can accelerate the fermentation and kōji propagation and could cause problems with the fermentation. It also makes it more difficult to achieve the precise and elegant flavours that arise from a long, slow fermentation.
Why must rice polishing be done slowly and gently?
The grains can become heated, dry out, or crack from the heat and friction.
To polish 600kg of brown rice to semibuai of 70% takes how long?
And what level is this?
10 hours
Junmai
To polish 600kg of brown rice to reach 50% semibuai takes how long?
And what level is this?
45 hours
Daiginjo
A course emery is used for how much of the rice polishing?
85% semibuai
What happens immediatly after milling?
Polished rice is rested to cool down and restore moisture level in order to avoid the risk of cracks caused by an immediate temperature change in water.