How To Brew Sake at Home

The Beginner's Recipe to Home Brew Sake

This initial guide is for anyone who wants to learn the basics of sake brewing, and how to brew sake at home. There are a LOT of guides out there and I can tell you from making over 100 of these little batches in a commercial setting, that this is a much better way to get started. I use this to conduct comparative testing and the results are extremely enlightening. With the method described below you can actually have a finished batch at about 14-19% ABV in about 10-15 days.

The greatest challenge you have in making sake is actually contamination. So we’ll help you avoid that by simplifying the amount of times you have to open the container and try to make sure your yeast outpaces the bacteria.

In this recipe,  you produce about 2-3 liters (~half gallon) of filtered sake for the first go and then we’ll teach you how to scale it up.

We'll try to give you enough Amazon links and cheap home-remedy alternatives that you can get underway asap. So… let's get started.

Sake Recipe and Step-By-Step Instructions

Supplies Needed

  • For the purposes of this brew, ensure you clean the container VERY well with soap and water. You can also check out cleaning options on the brewing materials page for alternatives.

  • Refrigerated area (~5C / 37F) that can fit your container

  • Room temp area (~20C / 66F) where your container can sit during the day

  • Short Grain Rice (alternative: any sushi rice, or really ANY white rice, but short grain is preferred)

  • Pre-made Koji - 300g (alternative: make it yourself, but its adds 2-3 days and requires koji-mold spores )

  • Sake Yeast #9 or #7 ( alternative: kviek, or other high-attenuation, low temp tolerant yeast )

  • Distilled Water - 2 L (alternative: if your know your tap water is low in iron and manganese you can use that)

  • Lactic Acid - 1 mL

  • Steamer Pot (alternative: anything insert in a normal pot that keeps the rice above the boiling water)

  • Wooden Spoon to stir with with (alternative: a very clean hand, like VERY clean)

  • Something to press your sake with (cotton bag or pillow case works for drip filtering, you'll want some rope to hang it up)

Before You Start

  1. Purchase / Gather supplies

  2. Success. Have a pint, mate. You're basically done.

Day 1 (Brew Day)

  1. Clean a bucket with soap and water very well. Combine the following and stir:
    - 1.6 L of water (try to measure accurately)
    - 270g Koji
    - 0.4mL of lactic acid
    - 1 tube of White Labs yeast or 1 pouch of WyEast sake yeast (alternatives are okay, just keep it to 5-10 grams of some yeast that has a very high attenuation ability. We need to get up past 14% abv, so .. it needs to be able to handle it.

  2. Wash 1100g of rice in a bowl using tap water (just gently move your hand around to free the powder stuck to the grains and then pour the water out. Careful not to let the rice fall out. I usually do this over a strainer just in case). Repeat this for about 1-2 minutes or until the water is relatively clear. (Just make sure the water is not opaque)

  3. Fill the water up after washing it so it covers the rice. Let it soak for about 1 hour.

  4. Now drain the rice again.

  5. Start your water boiling in the steamer. When ready, lay down a mesh bag or you can even use the pillow case to put the rice on. Steam for 1 hour, starting the timer when the steam comes up from the top of the rice. 

  6. Cool the rice till it is at room temperature and THEN add it to the mixture in your 4L container and stir well.
    - cooling is easier if you leave it on the cloth you steamed it with and just mix by hand. Be careful it comes out of the steamer at around 100C (212F).

  7. Cover the container and put it in somewhere at room temp. It is important to let the ferment sit at room temp for a couple days to “melt” or dissolve the rice. So just leave it on a counter and stir everyday with a clean spoon (soap and water is fine, just clean well)

Day 3 - start cooling it everyday

  1. Clean a spoon with soap and water and mix the sake

  2. Put the container into the fridge overnight

Day 4-6

  1. Take the sake out of the fridge for 2-4 hours every day (this just helps get that yeast going)

  2. Clean a spoon with soap and water and mix the sake daily until it is fairly liquid.

Day 7-20

  1. Keep the container covered and refrain from opening the lid (you’ll let it oxidize and create more acid).

  2. Around day 11-20, it will start to get to reach 10-14% ABV. You’ll want to press it when it tastes good to you. It’s okay if you press the first one too sweet. It helps to get a sense of what it “just right” for you. Maybe split it into two pressings so you can see the difference one day makes.

Day 20ish (Pressing day)

  1. Take your sake out of the fridge.

  2. In a large pot, boil some water to sanitize the pillow case. Just dip it in for a few minutes and then wring it out. Pour the water out of the pot (you just cleaned that too)

  3. Over the large pot, pour some of your sake mash into the pillow case and squeeze it into the pot. Repeat this until you have a few liters of sake. 

  4. Pat yourself on the back, you just made sake.

  5. Drink it or put it in the fridge. If you filter it through coffee filters it will be even cleaner. Alternatively, if you let it sit in a container in the fridge, the sediment will fall to the bottom.

Try to drink it all within about a week. It will start to change as it is exposed to air, so you’ll want to keep it in an airtight container.

And don’t forget… sharing is caring.