六天総合 | 日本酒の作り方

How to make sake

Sake is a traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage. Its making process is unique. If you know how to make sake, you will enjoy drinking sake even more! For the sake beginner, we introduce how to make sake!

How to make sake

Rice polishing – Seimai 精米

The process of grinding rice is called “MIGAKU – polishing”.
The outer fat and protein that are perceived as miscellaneous tastes are scraped off.

Rice washing and soaking – Senmai, Shinseki 洗米・浸漬

Wash the rice and soak it in water.

Steamed rice – Mushimai 蒸米

The rice is steamed in a steamer called a koshiki.

Koji 麹づくり

The steamed rice is moved to the koji chamber.

Shubo 酒母づくり

Yeast and steamed rice are added to a mixture of koji and water, and fermentation takes place.
The state in which there is a large increase in yeast is called shubo (mother of sake). Since yeast is responsible for converting glucose into alcohol, sake cannot be made without a large amount of yeast. The yeast is increased to make the mother of sake.

Shikomi 仕込み

The mother of sake is transferred to a large tank, and koji, steamed rice, and water are added in three batches to make moromi. This process is called “three-stage brewing” or “brewing.

Shibori 搾り

Pressure is applied to the mash and it is strained (strained). This is called “squeezing.
By pressing, the mash is separated into water and solid matter. Simply put, the sake is separated into sake and sakekasu.

Roka 濾過

After the sake has been pressed, it is filtered.

Hiire 火入れ

Immediately after filtration, the first fire is performed.
Heat must be applied to deactivate the yeast in order to prevent fermentation from proceeding and altering the flavor because of the yeast remaining.

Chozo 貯蔵

Store for maturation.
Sake that has been stored and aged changes to a mellower flavor, making it easier to drink.
Sake is stored in tanks for about six months to a year after hi-ire, taking its time.

Chogo 調合

Matured sake is combined with or watered down (watered down) with sake from another tank.
The reason for this is that even if the same sake is made in the same way, each tank has a slightly different flavor.

Bintsume 瓶詰め

This is the final process of packing into bottles and packs. This process is also very important! We cannot let up until the very end!

Ingredients and people are indispensable for making delicious sake.

We have explained how to make sake, but there are two essential conditions for good sake.

These two are very important. Without good rice and water, no matter how skilled a person is in making sake, good sake cannot be made. In other words, good sake has both good raw materials and human skills.
In addition, rice, the raw material for sake, is produced by farmers.
Considering the process from the soil preparation of the rice, it takes a year at the earliest to produce sake. It takes about two years for the sake to mature. After a long time, sake is finally ready for consumption.
The Japanese people have a long history of labor and skill to produce delicious sake, and when you think that they are constantly updating their techniques, you feel sorry for the sake makers if you don’t take the time to enjoy it.
When you consider that countless sake products are released every year, it means that there are as many efforts and thoughts of the sake makers as there are sake products.
There are sake with many different stories, so when you drink it, I recommend that you look at the labels, flyers, websites, etc. and taste it together with the background of how it was made, so you can enjoy it even more.

Summary

How was it? Sake is delivered to us through a total of 12 processes.
After reading this article, I think some of you may want to actually see it.

Some sake breweries are offering programs to actually experience sake brewing and rice planting, so if you are interested, why not participate?

We hope you will enjoy “the sake life” by learning more about sake and Japanese culture.