Four-stage Preparation
Exquisite and Adventurous Method of Sake Brewing
There is a sake produced with neither brewer’s rice nor regular eatable rice. The Sake is brewed with glutinous rice. It’s very rare to use glutinous rice, and only a few breweries inherit the craftsmanship until this era.
Four-Stage Preparation
Usually, breweries use Three-stage preparation(Sandan Jikomi method). The gap is just one step more than the usual brewing method.
In the case of Four-stage preparation(Yondan Jikomi method), more steamed rice is added, and it takes one more day to prepare Moromi. This method makes the taste of sake richer and sweeter.
Glutinous Rice
Usually, steamed rice used to produce Moromi is cooled and added to the Moromi tank. However, just steamed hot glutinous rice is used in this method.
Because it’s a common sense that the sudden temperature change of Moromi tank causes the degradation of quality, it’s very bold and challenging way too.
Mechanism
Just steamed glutinous rice activates the yeast in Moromi tank and accelerates its fermentation and converting starch into sugar. Along with this process, glutinous rice melts into Moromi.
Four-stage preparation(Yondan Jikomi method) makes the taste of sake richer and sweeter.
Glutinous rice gives very mild and high-grade sweetness on Sake’s taste. The taste is sweeter than the other sake, but it’s not just sweet. The aftertaste is very clean and crisp due to its sourness comes after the creamy sweetness.