Brewing Process

Soaking

Over-soaking turns all efforts to froth.

After polishing, the pearl-like rice is transferred to the sakagura (brewery), where it is washed and soaked. Although the purpose of soaking the rice is simply to allow it to absorb the desired amount of water, achieving just the right water content is quite a tricky business. The more the rice has been polished in the previous step, the faster it will soak up water. Unlike ordinary table rice, whose 90% seimai-buai (milling rate) means it can be soaked far less carefully, our rice has a seimai-buai of 60% or less, so if it is carelessly left to soak for too long, it will become too soft during steaming and cannot be used to produce fine sake. To avoid this, our brewers time the soaking down to the minute, and continually modify the design of the soaking equipment to achieve the optimum soaking rate.

Steaming

Firm outer surface, soft center.

Early the next morning, rice with just the right water content is put into the continuous rice steamer and steamed for 50 minutes. In order to make ideal koji (rice malt) and to ensure proper fermentation of the mash, the rice kernels must be steamed in a way that results in a firm outer surface and a soft inner core. The same care given to soaking the rice is also devoted to steaming -temperature and pressure are precisely controlled and the steaming equipment is constantly being adjusted- all to achieve this magic combination of firmness on the outside, and softness within.