Production

Sake Production Long Read/Essay

Rice Polishing

• One of the most important operations is the rice polishing as to reduce the level of fat and proteins, in same time the polishing percentage will give the grade or “appellation”, the higher the polishing the higher the grade, Futsuu (regular saké), Sanzõshu & Junmai saké do not have a minimum milling, Honjozo have at least 70% remaining, Ginjo and Junmai-Ginjo have 60% minimum and for the top sakés, Daiginjo & Junmai-Daiginjo 50%.

Rice Washing

• Next the rice is washed

Rice Soaking

• Then soaked

Rice Steaming

and after steamed,

Koji Rice Making

from there 1/3 of it will be set aside in a Koji room, this room is 35°C high in temperature and 85% high in humidity, the rice is laid down over a long table and the koji, which is an enzyme, is sprinkled over the rice in order to break down the starches into glucose. This operation takes two days and it is called the saccarification.

Shubo Making

After two days the rice becomes crystallized, and is used to make the Shubo (starter mash) in a small tank.

There is 2 types of Shubo (Moto) methods, Kimoto (Allowing lactic acid bacteria occurring naturally) and Sokujo (Adding lactic acid)

Kobo (Yeasts)

Yeast is a tiny living organism measuring 5-8 microns (1/1000 of 1mm), which carries out alcohol fermentation.

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After, this koji-rice is brought back to the original tank and water is added with some yeasts. The process is unique through the transformation of the starches into glucose and from the glucose into alcohol; this is called a multiple parallel fermentation.

Fermentation last 1 month while for the wine it is 4 to 15 days. This longer fermentation at low temperature (11-13°C) will produce twice more amino acids than wine. Those are important in the perception of Umami.

At the end of the fermentation the saké hold an alcohol content of 20%. This will be naturally reduced by addition of pure spring water. Saké’s average alcohol content is between 15% and 16%. From there we get to the two categories of saké: Junmai saké are pure rice and Ginjo mean there is a little addition of alcohol, not brings up the alcohol content but to make the saké fuller bodied and more complex while Junmai tends to be drier and more delicate.

Then it is filtered, pasteurised and bottled.

The majority of saké is stored for 6 months before it is ready to be sold though certain Ko-shu (aged saké) can be left to mature for 3 to 10 years for example.