Batch size: 1.3 gallons (5 liters)
ABV: 6% ABV
INGREDIENTS
2.2 lb (1 kg) sweet glutinous rice
8.8 oz (250 g) nuruk
1 packet Fermentis SafAle S-33
4.6 oz (130 g) sugar, post-fermentation
DIRECTIONS
Wash and rinse the rice repeatedly until the water runs clear, then soak the rice in water for 2 hours in summer or up to 4 hours in winter. Drain the rice and allow it to drip-dry overnight. The next day, cook the rice in a steamer for 40 minutes, then allow 20 minutes to rest. Cool the rice completely—you can cool it faster by spreading it out on baking sheets. Once the rice is cooled, mix the nuruk and yeast into it thoroughly. Place in a clean, wide-mouth jar or similar vessel, add about 40 fl oz (1.2 liters) of filtered water, and cover with mesh or cheesecloth. Ferment at about 77°F (25°C).
For the first 3 days of fermentation, stir the rice twice per day. After Day 3, cover tightly with foil or close with a lid and airlock, limiting further oxygen exposure. Fermentation should be finished after about 2 more days—the bubbling activity will almost stop, and you will smell the alcohol. Filter through a cheesecloth, then filter it again through the cheesecloth. Mix in the sugar (to taste). Measure the liquid volume and add the same amount of filtered water to double the volume. Refrigerate for 2 days, then gently mix before tasting. (Makgeolli is coarsely filtered, resulting in fine rice sediment and a hazy, opaque appearance once properly mixed.)
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.”