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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Japan

Sake (base flow: junmai, sokujo starter)日本酒

Clear rice wine, about 15 % alcohol after dilution; undiluted genshu is 17–20 %. Made in 13 steps over 7.6 months – 14 months. The longest step, mature, takes 6–12 months (Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association and…) and runs at 10–15 °C (Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association and…). Aspergillus oryzae and Saccharomyces cerevisiae sake strains do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step6–12 monthsReported[jss-nrib2011]Mature
Temperature10–15 °CReported[jss-nrib2011]Mature
AciditypH 4–4.5TypicalMultiple parallel fermentation
DocumentedAlcoholic drinks7.6 months – 14 monthsMore alcoholic drinksMore from Japan

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
polished rice
water
rice koji
Starter: koji/qu/mold-starter (rice koji) + yeast starter (shubo/moto)

Total time across the recorded steps: 7.6 months – 14 months

Start
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What changes: Milling grinds away the outer layer of each grain

Step 1 of 13
Polish the rice
Time
2–3 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Aspergillus oryzae
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Yeasts
Lactobacilli

Output: polished rice.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

Made the sake way

Safety

Hiochi bacteria (Lactobacillus fructivorans, L. hilgardii) spoil unpasteurised sake, so namazake is kept at 5 °C or below.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Sake probably dates from the Nara period (710–794). In the Muromachi period Shōryaku-ji (Nara) used polished rice, three-stage brewing, bodaimoto and pasteurisation. Winter-only brewing was ordered in 1673. The national brewing institute (now NRIB) was founded in 1904, Brewing Society (Kyokai) yeasts have been sent out since 1906, yamahai-moto and sokujo-moto were invented in 1909, and the first national new-sake competition ran in 1911.

  1. [jss-nrib2011] Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association and National Research Institute of Brewing 2011, A Comprehensive Guide to Japanese Sake, 1st ed.gov
  2. [mlit-sake] Japan Tourism Agency 2022, Sake Brewing: Part One and Part Three, multilingual explanation databasegov
  3. [wp-sake] Wikipedia, Sake (outline only)wiki
  4. [tamang2016] Tamang J.P., Watanabe K., Holzapfel W.H. 2016, Review: Diversity of microorganisms in global fermented foods and beverages, Frontiers in Microbiology 7:377paper