Thanks to Alice Jun and Mirandi Pohl at Hana Makgeolli in Brooklyn, New York, for this recipe. Note that nuruk is widely available for purchase online and from Korean specialty markets.
For much more about making this unique and traditional fermented rice drink, see Meet Makgeolli.
Batch size: 50 fl oz (1.5 liters)
ABV: 12–14%
INGREDIENTS
2.2 lb (1 kg) sweet glutinous rice
3–3.5 oz (90–100 g) nuruk
DIRECTIONS
Wash and rinse the rice until the water runs clear, then soak the rice in water for 2 hours. Drain the rice of all water and allow 30 minutes to thoroughly drip-dry. Cook the rice in a steamer for 40 minutes (you can use a bamboo steamer lined with nonstick silicone mesh), rest rice in steam for 10 minutes, then spread out the cooked rice and allow it to cool.
Add the cooled rice and nuruk to a wide-mouth gallon (3.8 liter) jar, and mix with clean hands for 10 minutes. Add 34 fl oz (1 liter) of distilled water, free of chlorine or lead. Continue to gently knead the mixture to remove any big chunks of nuruk, mixing until there is no free standing water in the mixture. Cover the container with cheesecloth and place it in a cool, dry, dark place. Initially, the mix will look dry with no extra liquid; with clean hands or a utensil, mix twice a day for the first 3 days of fermentation. Allow 7–14 days to ferment. When the fermentation is complete, there should be a significant decrease in CO2 production, you should start to see two or three layers of separation, and the texture of the rice should be mushy between your fingers.
Once fermentation is complete, filter the mixture through a mesh bag or cheesecloth, squeezing out the liquid into a bowl. Transfer the liquid to sanitized plastic bottles or glass bottles with flip-tops that can handle carbonation. Note: Danyangjus tend to remain very active post-filtration. Open with care.
BREWER’S NOTES
Here are a few ways you can make adjustments:
- Allow fermentation to continue for longer, up to 28–30 days, to achieve a drier, stronger brew.
- Dilute with water to make the makgeolli lighter—use filtered water, do not dilute more than 40 percent, and age about 1 week so that the water and flavors can integrate.
- Sweeten to taste with sugar, honey, agave, or other sweeteners. Be wary of additional fermentation.
Scaling Up?
Inevitably, some homebrewers will want to experiment with making somewhat larger batches of makgeolli—for example, to fill up a five-gallon corny and put it on tap. Consider the quantities: For the Hana Danyangju recipe, that would mean steaming about 28 lb (12.7 kg) of rice—probably best done in batches. Boiling or cereal-mashing the rice will not lead to the same results.
“Steamed rice is necessary to prevent over-gelatinization, promote good saccharification, and prevent excess acetic acid development,” says Mirandi Pohl, production manager at Hana.
“Also it is best practice to use multistage recipes for larger scale brews,” Pohl says. “We find that a single-stage brew is not appropriate for anything above 2 or 3 gallons (7.6 or 11.4 liters). Because nuruk is a wild starter and a parallel ferment from Day 1, the larger the quantity of the rice, the longer you want to draw out the ferment to not overwhelm the yeast culture present in the nuruk.
“I think one of the important things about the brew is the concept of using your hands and working with a manageable amount of ingredients in a different way than [you] would brew beer. There’s plenty of room to experiment once [you] understand the taste and profile of the brew.”