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How to make SHOCHU What is Shochu? Shochus are spirits made, in principle, by distilling sake, and are popular in Japan. The procedure of brewing shochus is similar to that of sake, but there are differences also. Shochus are produced mostly in warm regions of Japan, namely Kyushu and Shikoku. On the other hand, sake is brewed in winter in northern parts of Japan. This makes the procedure of fermentation for shochus somewhat different from that of sake. Furthermore, unlike sake which is made from rice, various different materials are used to make shochu. Popular raw materials to make shochu include (1) sweet potatoes, (2) barley, oat, or rye, (3) rice, (4) chestnut, (5) buckwheat, and (6) millet. Explained here is the recipe of making shochu from rice. The recipe of barley shochu will be explained later. If you are interested in making shochu, please look at another page, titled How to Make Sake, because there are so many commonalities between sake making and shochu making. Ingredients · White koji made from 4 cups of rice (2LB) · 8 cups rice (steam cooked) · 16 cups water (1 gal) · Turbo yeast or Champaign yeast. · 1 teaspoon citric acid Photo of koji · Ratio of water to rice is higher than for sake, which makes fermentation faster. · Turbo yeast, Champaign yeast or even bread yeast may be used. · Tab water can be used rather than bottled water. Ratio of water to the amount of rice here is set higher than for making sake. The reason is that, for making shochu, the alcoholic content after fermentation can be lower than sake because distillation can make the final alcoholic contents as high as desired. Furthermore, by increasing the ratio of water low, the time of fermentation will be shorter than for sake. Taste of shochu is less sensitive to the yeast used. Therefore, turbo yeast, Champaign yeast or even bread yeast can be used. Of course, with sake yeast, the shochu’s taste will become the best. Example of Champaign yeast Shochu can be made in summer, but if in winter, yellow koji may be used. Fermentation · Put all ingredients in a fermentation vessel (5 gal fermentation vessel is recommended) · Keep the vessel at room temperature (up to 40C) · Stir the contents at least once a day · When fermentation is completed (about 3 to 4 weeks later), filter the contents in a brew mesh bag.
Author’s still pot Distillation · Distill the fermented fluid in a pot still. Discard the head which is the first 5% of distillate. · Keep the heart, and discard the tail which comes after the alcoholic content becomes less than 20% (or boiler temperature reaches 98 C. |
