[ Rice Polishing ]
The carefully selected sake rice is polished
with a rice- cleaning machine. Some premium
sake requires the rice to be polished to
35%, leaving just the core of the rice. It
makes the sake smooth, mild, and flavourful..
[ Rice Steaming ]
After the sake rice has been drained,1000kilograms
of rice is steamed in a large wooden
vat,
called a "Koshiki".This stage
is
called "Joukyo".
[ Koji(Malted Rice) ]
 In the sauna like "Muro"
room,
steamed rice is sprinkled with "Kojikin"
which are yeast spores.
Over a period of about 48 hours, it
becomes
"Koji" or malted rice.
Koji is a vital ingredient, and greatly
affects
the quality of the sake.
[ Fermentation ]
 "Moromi"
"Kaiire" |
The next stage is "Moto". Water and steamed
rice are added to the Koji to make seed mash known as "Moto"..Moto
is sometimes called "Shubo" meaning "Mother of Sake".
To make "Moromi" or unrefined sake, more steamed rice and water are
added to the Moto. This process is done in three stages.
The brewers use long wooden poles to stir the seed mash.
This helps the yeast to grow and keeps the temperature constant
throughout the vat.
This action in the picture is called "Kaiire".
[ Filtration ]
"Clear fresh sake that
flows from the Funakuchi" |
After about 30 days, the final "Moromi" mash
is packed into bags and pressed to produce fresh sake, After
pressing, only the sake lees remains.
Now it is the birth of the clear fresh sake that flows from the "Funakuchi".
After bottling and labeling, we bring our
delicious hand-made sake to the customers.
|
We have been using the traditionl hand-made
methods for more than a hundred years.