I've read this thread in its entirety, but I haven't actually had any
sleep in the last 24 hours. So I may be going a bit crosseyed as I read your posts. Sorry for any misunderstanding this causes. ~.~
Let me see if I can put together a coherent reply. Beware! Much quoting ahead!
percival said:
yep, sry about that, but reading the thread further you'll be able to work out that my response was far being 'such a negative response' infact i thanked you for it a couple of times because it was constructive (even if not entirely humble) and complimented your website too. i've also posted on the thread welcoming you with an apology. take the time to read the thread for the bits you missed (thanks and compliments), and also the apology in your welcome thread.
Okay, I admit I misunderstood your aim. Possibly because you didn't actually say who you were responding to. It's all good, though. Glad you like my site, my aim is to have the most clearly written sake homebrewing guide on the web, and Google says I've pretty much achieved that aim. Yeah, I know, not very humble of me...but what can I say? I'm proud of my accomplishment and glad that so many more people are finding it to be useful every day!
percival said:
I have also mentioned the use of a fungus to break down the sugars in the rice in true sake. and i may be wrong about it being a fungus, it could be a bacteria.
It's a filamentous fungus (mold) called
aspergillus oryzae that just happens to produce lots of amylase and proteolytic enzymes without the nasty mycotoxins and aflatoxins that other members of its genus produce.
percival said:
And we could also argue about the difference between a sugar and a starch, or whether there is any difference, or whether the difference is simply nomenclature, old system vs new ones, categories and subcategories. blah blah blah.
Carbs are carbs are carbs. When it comes to brewing the real question comes down to: can brewer's yeast metabolize it? That's more than just a difference of nomenclature.
percival said:
I don't want to come across as bolshy or know it all, but the short way that people are are entering into this thread is unlike anything i've seen elsewhere on this forum
Blah, I'm already coming across as a know-it-all, so I might as well just keep going, right?
I know you specified "this web site," but you might find it interesting to know that I've
seen that recipe before. Evidently it's been around for quite some time, a holdover from a time when
nobody knew how sake was really made, I guess.
percival said:
my actual comment was "but if you rummage about the website above you'll find homebrew sake is pretty much impossible". its well qualified, stopping short of being plain impossible.
What? You mean this one?
percival said:
Nice website for all you want to know about sake
http://www.esake.com/Knowledge/knowledge.html
so yep, this is far from authentic sake. but if you rummage about the website above you'll find homebrew sake is pretty much impossible.
I actually have a link to that site from my own web site, so I'm pretty familiar with that shop and its sister site
Sake-World. I correspond with the creator of both sites, John Gautner, on a fairly regular basis, usually pestering him with obscure questions like "where do I buy a SMV scale hydrometer?" and "what percentage of
beni koji is used in the production of
akaisake?" Dropping a name like that probably makes me look like a total ass, but it's not meant that way.
What I'm getting at is this: real sake is
not impossible to make at home. It's not even difficult. All you need is access to the right ingredients (short grain rice,
koji or
koji-kin, and water), good note-taking skills, and basic wine making techniques and equipment (a calendar really helps, too). Certain types of sake, however, might be harder to make than others.
Ginjo sake, for example, is impossible to make without either a rice milling machine of some type or a source for 60% polished rice. Fortunately for Americans,
F.H. Steinbart Co. sells
ginjo grade rice and professionally-made
koji both manufactured by the SakéOne brewery in Portland, Oregon. I have no idea if they ship out of the country, but it couldn't hurt to ask.
percival said:
Having said that commercial brewers can be very precious about the stuff and want to dissuade folks from having a go. it seems from your experience that this is exactly what was happening.
Actually, Japanese sake brewers aren't all that stingy with information about how sake is made, as evidenced by blog pictorials like
this one. The real problem is that homebrewing is
illegal in Japan, which makes information on the home production of sake in the beverage's homeland just about impossible to find. But Japanese web sites about it
do exist.
percival said:
as for my disability i can't even wear an artificial limb, so the hopping about wasn't exagerrated. of course i use crutches but when juggling stuff in the kitchen using crutches is far too time consuming and clumsy (putting them down, picking them up again etc) not to mention the possibility of infection from stuff on the grips each time i handle them. so hopping is the efficient way. in this regard brewing is more effort, considerably more, than popping down to the shop with a ruck sack on my back (and sometimes my front too if i need to get a lot of stuff).
i would like to reassure you the main gist of your post was appreciated again. and if i wanted to i could make you feel equally uncomfortable, but also be informative, by an equally 'humble' offer to correct you in using such terms as handicap and also telling me how well i can cope with brewing a genuine sake given my disability. Instead i will leave it to your imagination as to how that would be phrased. and then factor in the fun and games i had in the early hours of this morning.
You've already gone to the trouble to say that you're not interested in putting forth the effort to make real sake, preferring instead to make "quick, simple beverages." I'm cool with that, it's your hobby. I apologize for offending you by suggesting that missing a leg might not entirely prevent you from making sake. Most of the actual work in making sake can be done while sitting down, though, and handling "gallons of boiling water" isn't required in any step of the process. It might be pretty tough to steam rice from a chair, but the rest of the mixing and stirring can be done while seated.
I'm going to drop the subject now because you seem understandably touchy about it. I suppose that's in large part due to the kind of morning you say you've had, so I'm just going to let it sort of roll off my back. Hope your day gets better, man.
BrewStew said:
thanks!
I might give that a go sometime
If you ever have any questions about the techniques, ingredients, etc. described on my web site, don't hesitate to give me a shout. You know how to contact me and I'm always happy to answer questions or help troubleshoot a brew. :ugeek:
Same goes for you, steve_flack, since you also seem to have an interest in homebrewing sake.
Kampai!