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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Korea

Yakju / cheongju (clear Korean rice wine)약주

Yakju is the clear wine taken from a rice mash fermented with nuruk, the Korean wheat-cake starter, and yeast. Steamed rice, water and nuruk ferment for about two weeks, often with more rice added in later stages, and only the clear wine is kept, not the cloudy mash. It is stronger than makgeolli, about 15 % alcohol or more. Made in 5 steps over 12 months. The longest step, age (some wines), takes 12 months (Kang J.E 2018) and runs at 45 °C (Kang J.E 2018). Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the main alcohol-making yeast and Aspergillus oryzae and other moulds of the nuruk, which turn rice starch into sugar do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step12 monthsMeasured[kang2018]Age (some wines)
Temperature45 °CMeasured[kang2018]Age (some wines)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceA laboratory yakju batch from Kang and colleagues (2018), built on 492 g of steamed rice. Household and brewery recipes vary, and many add rice in two to four stages.
492 gSteamed rice · Washed, soaked 1 h, drained 1 h and steamed 40 min[kang2018]
8.2 gNuruk, ground · Mixed with 300 mL of the water first[kang2018]
800 mL in allWater · 300 mL with the nuruk and 500 mL added with the rice[kang2018]
0.1 % of the total weightYeast[kang2018]
Starterkoji/qu/mold-starter (nuruk) plus yeast

Total time across the recorded steps: 12 months

Start
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What changes: Washed and soaked rice is steamed until cooked through

Step 1 of 5
Soak and steam the rice
Time
40 min
Measured
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Yeasts
Aspergillus oryzae
Moulds
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: steamed 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

What makes this one different

Yakju comes from the same kind of nuruk mash as makgeolli, but only the clear wine is taken, not the cloudy mash. It is brewed in more stages, matured longer and cooler, and ends about twice as strong.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Two-stage house brew (gayangju)A seed mash of 1 kg rice cake, 7 L water and 1.0 kg nuruk ferments about 36 h at 25 °C, then cools; 8 kg of steamed glutinous rice is added for 48 h at 25 °C, and it matures 35 days at 15 °C before cloth filtering, reaching 19.2 % alcohol. Song and colleagues call it a makgeolli.
  • Gyodong beopjuGlutinous-rice yakju kept by the Choe family of Gyeongju; now a full entry.
  • Hansan sogokjuSweet clear yakju of Hansan, Seocheon County; now a full entry.
  • Myeoncheon dugyeonjuYakju brewed with azalea petals; now a full entry.
  • Gwaha-juYakju fortified with distilled soju to keep through summer; now a full entry.

Made the yakju / cheongju way

Safety

Korea's quality certification for yakju sets methanol at 0.3 mg/mL or less and requires E. coli to be absent.

History and sources

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

More than 200 alcoholic drinks are described in Korean books of the 17th to 19th centuries, brewed in one to four stages. Japanese brewers industrialised rice wine in the late 19th century and brought pure-culture methods to Korea.

  1. [kang2018] Kang J.E., Kim C.W., Yeo S.H., Jeong S.T., Kim Y.S., Choi H.S. 2018, Effect of heat-treated nuruk on the quality characteristics of aged yakju, Food Science and Biotechnology 27(3):715–724, doi:10.1007/s10068-018-0306-4paper
  2. [song2022] Song Y.-R., Lim B.-U., Baik S.-H. 2022, Microbial diversity and volatile flavor changes during gayangju fermentation, a traditional Korean house rice wine, Foods 11(17):2604, doi:10.3390/foods11172604paper
  3. [fao1999] Haard N.F. et al. 1999, Fermented cereals, a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 138, chapter 3 (Korean alcoholic beverages, citing Lee and Kim 1993)gov
  4. [naqs2021] National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service (Korea) 2021, 술 품질인증기준 (liquor quality certification standards), Notice 2021-11, part II (yakju) and part III (cheongju)spec
  5. [kim2017] Kim S.H., Lee S.H., Yeo S.H., Lee S.H., Cheong C. 2017, Characterization of brewing microorganisms isolated from Korean traditional nuruk for cheongju production, Food Science and Biotechnology 26(4):959–967, doi:10.1007/s10068-017-0114-2 (abstract)paper
  6. [tak2024] Tak H.J., Lee N.R., Yang S., Kim S.Y., Lee C.H. 2024, Qualitative and quantitative metabolite comparison of Korean traditional alcoholic beverages, takju, yakju and traditional soju, Foods 13(6):956, doi:10.3390/foods13060956paper
  7. [WP:Makgeolli] Wikipedia, Makgeolli (outline only)wiki