digitS'
Garden Master
You would think that an olde, clumsy North American could make a good beer if these sophisticated Japanese women can make sake ...
Well, I can!
It's just been years and years. And, I had Dad to help me with the better stuff.
That all ended about 15 years ago and I tried wine (again) for awhile. What worked best for me there was a rice and raisin recipe and that is why this sake story reminds me. But, I didn't get into wine-making to make rice wine. Besides, these women know so much more about rice than I do! What I wanted to do was use garden produce - I came up almost empty handed.
My final wine attempt was adding winter squash to the rice and raisin recipe. Oh! What a beautiful color ... but it adding nothing to the flavor nor, I suspect, to the fermentation.
I knew better than to cook the squash for wine but now I'm wondering, in a minor way, about adding winter squash with the malted barley in the brew pot. Wort is boiled. My best beer recipe had raisins so this all is somehow connected.
That beer is remembered as tasting a good deal like Alaskan Amber. ! I should find the recipe and share. You haven't a real steep learning curve in brewing. Beer is bread, some folks have said, and the addition of raisins actually made it even more foolproof. And, I'm proof of that!
Steve
Well, I can!
It's just been years and years. And, I had Dad to help me with the better stuff.
That all ended about 15 years ago and I tried wine (again) for awhile. What worked best for me there was a rice and raisin recipe and that is why this sake story reminds me. But, I didn't get into wine-making to make rice wine. Besides, these women know so much more about rice than I do! What I wanted to do was use garden produce - I came up almost empty handed.
My final wine attempt was adding winter squash to the rice and raisin recipe. Oh! What a beautiful color ... but it adding nothing to the flavor nor, I suspect, to the fermentation.
I knew better than to cook the squash for wine but now I'm wondering, in a minor way, about adding winter squash with the malted barley in the brew pot. Wort is boiled. My best beer recipe had raisins so this all is somehow connected.
That beer is remembered as tasting a good deal like Alaskan Amber. ! I should find the recipe and share. You haven't a real steep learning curve in brewing. Beer is bread, some folks have said, and the addition of raisins actually made it even more foolproof. And, I'm proof of that!
Steve
Have you seen the prices those berries fetch on the open market ? 
Digit, send me a bottle of sake or one of your beer , or just give us your recipe so I can make a few gallons to drown my sorrows. 
