[hrothgar]

As promised, here's instructions on homebrewing sake. I learned most of what I know about sake brewing from this recipe (plus 3-4 years of practice). It should provide almost all the information that you need to get going. Few quick comments, however:

1. Brewing is 1% inspiration, 49% perspiration, and 50% quality control. Brewing sake is very process oriented. Don't try to get creative. Focus keeping everything sterile and make sure that you have good temperature control.

2. Sake brewing is a two stage process. The first stage is a warm ferment that that starts at about 64 degrees farenheit and eventually reaches about 74 degrees farenheit. The second stage is a cold ferment, which takes place at different temperatures between 44 and 48 degrees. I invested in a "Brewer's Edge" termperature controller, which I strongly recommend. http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/k...ts-pid-E54.html

I do the warm ferment in a igloo type plastic cooler. I use a spare refridgerator for the cold ferment. (You could use you're "real" friedge if you had enough room, however, you need to be very careful that you don't have an smelly food in the fridge. Garlic, onions, fish, etc are right out. Sake is very delicate and will pick up weird flavours very easily.)

3. I get my rice, yeast, and koji from Steinbarts in Portland. They can mail order everything you need.

4. Brewing sake isn't cheap, but its fun. More importantly, each batch you make will get you (roughly) 3.5 gallons of VERY good sake. They stuff that I make right now is better than most anything that I can buy in the US. Someday, when I sell my new startup for bucoo bucks, I might consider opening my own little sake brewpub down in Houston.

Here's the recipe. Drop me a line if you have any questions. Eckhardt is also really good at responding to email.

http://recepty.verus...khardt-sake.pdf