Saké Production

A Late Period saké brewery produces saké in two principle stages, the preparation of the moto - the initial combination of rice, koji rice and water - and the fermentation process. The ingredients are mixed together and the resulting moto is divided and placed in separate wooden tubs called hangiri, and then kneaded by hand for two hours to remove all the lumps. The next day, the moto is stirred with wooden paddles called kai, and when the moto has thinned somewhat, the hangiri are emptied together into a larger tub, or moto-oroshi, and covered. After a few days, the moto is then heated by lowering a conical closed tub called a kumume or daki, filled with boiling water, into the moto-oroshi, and is used to stir the mash, heating it as evenly as possible. This starts the fermentation. After three days of cooking, the moto is again placed in hangiri and allowed to cool before the start of the main process.

The main fermentation process is broken down into three parts: soye, naka, and shimai. The first, soye, is where the cooled moto is placed into larger tuns called sanjaku-oke - literally three-foot tubs - and stirred every two hours for two or three days. The moto is then divided in half and placed in separate sanjaku-oke, where fresh rice, koji rice and water are added and the mash is again stirred for two days. This is the naka stage and afterwards, the moto is left standing for a day before a final division and addition of fresh ingredients is made - the shimai stage. The moto is moved to a huge vat called roku-shaku-oke, about three time larger than the sanjaku-oke, and left the stand and ferment for three days. The fermentation will stop in this time period, and after a while the saké will be filtered and barreled.

For filtering, the fermented moto, now called moromi, is placed in hemp bags and set into a huge wooden press and put under high pressure for twelve hours. Then, the bags are flipped over and pressed again. The saké flows out of the press into a container set in the and is then placed in large wooden vats with two holes near the bottom. After two weeks, the saké is drawn from the top hole. After a while, the bottom hole is unplugged, and more saké is drawn off.
Before barreling, the saké is heated on the 88th night in the ceremony called hachiju-hachiya, and is then barreled in large wooden containers and sealed round with paper and glue. This basically pasteurized the saké prior to storage or shipment, a procedure hundreds of years ahead of European brewers. Later on, after the containers had been broached, the saké would also be heated when it started to spoil, killing the bacteria and thereby extending the drinkable life-span of the sake. This process is called hi-ire, but since the pasteurized saké is returned to its original and unsterilized container, where the bacteria just starts over again, it has to be repeated until the saké is unsalvageable. It wasn't a perfect process, and it didn't do much for the saké during the hot season, but it was better than what they had before and was used until the end of the 19th century.

In the Late Period, the leavings of the press were used for the production of two other alcoholic beverages, shochu and mirin. For shochu, a rice spirit, the pressings are added to the left husks from the cleaning process and distilled using a rambiki, or Japanese still. What was left after the distillation process was sold to farmers as compost. Shochu was use in Period to make mirin, a sweet rice liqueur made with rice, koji rice, water and shochu. Mirin nowadays is a cooking sake, supersaturated with salt and sugar and used to make teriyaki and sukiyaki.
Today, Japan's saké production has changed much from early times. Since the end of World War I, it has been against the law to ferment beverage over 1% alcohol without a license, so little homebrewing was carried on in modern Japan. The Second World War also altered saké production. Rice shortages forced brewers to develop new ways to increase their yields. By government decree, pure alcohol and glucose were added to small quantities of the moto, increasing the yield by as much as four times. 95% of today's saké is made using this technique, left over from the war years, though connoisseurs say that the best sake, junmaishu, or pure rice sake, is still made with just rice, koji rice and water only. By the way, U.S. saké brewers like Hakusan produce only junmaishu, as the U.S. tax codes favor unfortified sake.
There are saké houses in Japan, izakaya, sort of a combo saké bar and microbrewery, where you can be entertained and served there, or purchase bottles for your own collection. Microbrewed sake, called jizake, is almost always preferred over the larger national brands.

Today the brewing process starts with a special type of rice called shinpaku-mai, a short grain, pearled rice that is husked and polished down 50%. The rice is then washed, soaked, steamed and cooled. Koji rice and fresh spring water is then added, and the resulting mixture (called moto), also known as the mash or wort to brewers, then ferments for 25 days. After fermentation, the moto still has to be filtered, skimmed and pasteurized before it's bottled. The saké is then stored, and should be consumed with the next seven to eight months. Quality ingredients are very important, and most of the premium saké producers in Japan are in areas that have produced quality saké for hundreds of years, that is, near good rice fields and clear springs of fresh water.

Ingredients