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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Iki island

Mugi-jochu (barley shochu)麦焼酎

Mugi-jochu is a single-distilled Japanese spirit made from barley. Koji, water and yeast ferment first; steamed barley and more water are then added for a second, longer mash, which is distilled once in a pot still. Iki shochu uses rice koji and barley in a 1:2 ratio, while most other barley shochu uses barley koji. Made in 5 steps over 27 days. The longest step, second mash with steamed barley, takes 20 days (後藤優治 2012). Aspergillus luchuensis mut. kawachii (white koji) or A. luchuensis (black koji), which make the enzymes and citric acid and Saccharomyces cerevisiae shochu yeast do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step20 daysMeasured[oita2012]Second mash with steamed barley
Temperature40 °C → 30 °CReported[hayashi2021]Make koji

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceA pilot brew by the Oita Prefecture industrial research centre, with the koji at 50 % of the raw material and total water at 150 %. For the Iki indication, rice koji and barley must be about 1:2 by weight, with Iki water.
3.7 kgBarley koji · First mash[oita2012]
3.4 kgWater · First mash; a second recipe used 5.9 kg[oita2012]
40 mLShochu yeast · Oita or Kagoshima yeast in the trial[oita2012]
6.4 kgSteamed barley · Second mash[oita2012]
10.5 kgWater · Second mash; 8.0 kg in the second recipe, so that total water is the same[oita2012]
Starterkoji (white koji, Aspergillus luchuensis mut. kawachii, or black koji, A. luchuensis) with shochu yeast

Total time across the recorded steps: 27 days

Start
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40 °Cshapes, not to countAspergillus luchuensisSaccharomyces cerevisiae

What changes: Koji mould spreads over the steamed grain and fills it with enzymes and citric acid

Step 1 of 5
Make koji
Time
Not documented
Temperature
40 °C → 30 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Aspergillus luchuensis
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Yeasts

Steamed rice or barley is inoculated with koji spores; the temperatures are for shochu koji in general. Output: acid koji (rice koji for Iki, barley koji in Oita).

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

the warm early stage favours amylases; the cooler late stage favours citric acid

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

What makes this one different

Barley replaces sweet potato as the main ingredient of the second mash. Iki keeps rice koji at about 1:2 with barley, while most other regions make the koji from barley as well.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Iki (geographical indication)Barley as the only grain, rice koji only, about 1:2 koji to barley, Iki water; fermented, distilled, stored and bottled in Iki city.
  • Oita barley shochuBarley koji and barley; the prefecture's research centre has selected its own shochu yeast.

Safety

No safety limits specific to barley shochu were found. Japanese law caps pot-still (honkaku) shochu at 45 % alcohol.

History and sources

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

The Iki specification records that Iki is held to be the birthplace of barley shochu and the first place in Japan to make it. One theory has distilling reaching Japan from the Korean peninsula through Tsushima and Iki in the 15th century, when the two traded actively.

  1. [nta-iki] National Tax Agency of Japan, Product specification of geographical indication "Iki" (interim translation)spec
  2. [oita2012] 後藤優治, 佐野一成, 江藤勧 and 樋田宣英 (Goto, Sano, Eto and Hida) 2012, Research of evaluation and improvement of barley shochu yeast, research report of the Oita Industrial Research Institute (FY2012)gov
  3. [hayashi2021] Hayashi K., Kajiwara Y., Futagami T., Goto M. and Takashita H. 2021, Making traditional Japanese distilled liquor, shochu and awamori, and the contribution of white and black koji fungi, Journal of Fungi 7(7), 517paper
  4. [liquor-tax-act] Liquor Tax Act of Japan (Act No. 6 of 1953), Article 3, item 10, pot-still shochu, e-Gov law searchspec
  5. [WP:Shōchū] Wikipedia, Shōchū (outline only)wiki