Moon & Lion Brewing

One of my friends offered me a SCOBY to start brewing kombucha at home. I couldn't really pass it up as I usually buy a bottle of the stuff anytime I have a chance. At about $4 per bottle, that's an expensive treat.  I was given the SCOBY and picked up the giant glass jug with the spout at Target. You can see how big it is by comparing to the fermentation jar in the back that I use for makgeolli.  Since we have a lot a green tea at home, I'm making this batch with green tea using the guide here:  Paprikahead .  Here's  the SCOBY The SCOBY in a fresh green tea bath So far the most difficult thing was waiting for the tea to cool to room temperature. I left the thee quarts to cool overnight after dissolving the sugar. 

As planned, the nuruk was left to do its thing for 24 hours, and the yeast was pitched in the 24-48 hour window. I proofed the champagne yeast according to the instructions on the package (stir into warm water and let sit for ~15 minutes) and mixed it into the fermenter. There was already some activity going on and the nuruk-rice mixture gave off a familiar scent. I speculate that the smell is indeed the amylase enzymes breaking down the rice and not the scent of yeast, which is somewhat different. The fermenter was stirred once a day for 5 days, and on the 5th day the makgeolli tasted ripe for bottling. There was a slight hint of the sourness that develops when you brew makgeolli without added yeast. I attribute this to the 24 hour wait period before pitching the yeast.  There wasn't time to bottle immediately, so I put the fermenter in the fridge to slow down the fermentation. This is how the makgeolli looked before it went into the fridge. Looks like (동동주) dong-dong j

About a month ago we moved into our new place. It's a cozy single family home with enough space for us and our hobbies. We've been slowly unpacking and adjusting to the new location. We had a few leftover bottles of makgeolli when we moved, but I'm in the mood for a fresh brew, something to go with pajeon. This time I'm using 650 grams of rice and 100 grams of nuruk.  I tried something different for soaking the rice. After washing, I placed the rice in the steamer basket and submerged the whole basket assembly in water. That is what you see wrapped in the cheesecloth in the pictures.  The rice and nuruk were soaked for 3 hours, and the rice was cooked in the pressure cooker for 12 minutes after reaching pressure. When the rice was done, it looked a little under cooked in the center. One of the makgeolli texts said that it was ok to have al dente rice when making godu bap (고두밥). It shouldn't be a problem, but the rice seems to puff up a bit more i