Moon & Lion Brewing

I'm starting my journey into infusing different ingredients during the brewing process. This move in inspired by a new book I picked up 술 만들기, and a recent delivery of ingredients from the in-laws. I'll post more info on those ingredients soon, but for today... Green Tea Makgeolli  녹차 막걸리 For this brew I used a starter instead of pitching yeast in with the rice and nuruk. The starter is called seokim (석임) and was introduced in a previous post here . I'll explain how to make seokim below using the ratio from the previous post.  The green tea used was a gift from my aunt, a delicious Jeju green tea blend. I've been enjoying the tea itself for some time now and thought it would be a good compliment to this recipe.  Here's what you'll need: For the seokim 석임 starter 250g rice flour 50g nuruk 2.5g wine yeast 25g wheat flour  300~400ml water (boiled) In a large bowl, mix the rice flour with the boiling water. Add a little bit of water a...

석임 For the upcoming brew I decided to do something a little different. Usually I steam the rice, making godubap 고두밥, and to that I add nuruk 누룩, yeast, and water. This is normal for me and it's what I've been doing for years (except for that year in Korea when I didn't use yeast). This time I will use what is called seokim 석임 . What's seokim? Seokim is a starter that can be used to brew makgeolli. It's started a few days ahead of the actual brew, and is added to the primary fermentation ingredients in place of yeast. What's seokim made of? It's actually pretty simple. Seokim uses all of the same ingredients as a makgeolli brew, just in a smaller size and different ratio. For example, the seokim recipe I used calls for 250g rice flour, 50g nuruk, 2-3g wine yeast, 25g whole wheat flour, and about 500ml water. Freshly made seokim Using seokim the brew hits the ground running, powered by yeast that are primed and ready to go....

Coming soon to a hangari near you, green tea makgeolli!

You read it right: carrot and pine makgeolli. This recipe was adapted from a recent addition to my makgeolli library,  HOT CRAFT 08 -아름다운 우리 전통: 술 만들기 . This book is simply titled, "Making Sool," and it appears to be part of a series called HOT CRAFT about traditional Korean arts. For those who didn't get to read my other posts regarding "sool", it is a generic term in Korean for alcohol, encompassing many varieties and styles. The book has many interesting recipes for makgeolli and cheong-ju, so this should be the first of many experiments with new ingredients. The original recipe calls for 2 kg rice, 200 g carrot, 10 g pine needle, 200 g nuruk, 2.5 l water, and 500 ml starter (yeast). I halved the ingredients to make this version.  The above pictures show the preparation of the rice and nuruk, pine needles, and yeast. The rice an nuruk soaked for about 3 hours and the rice was drained before steaming. Pine needles were harvested from a tree in a...

Coming soon... Makgeolli for the bunnies

On a recent trip to Korea I stopped for dinner at a restaurant serving slow food and Makgeolli: 해달밥술 (Haedalbapsool). My friend had wanted to take me to a place that serves Makgeolli since she found out about my hobby and this blog. We walked around Yeon nam dong (연암동) in Seoul for a while looking for somewhere that serves Makgeolli. The first place we went to was only serving soju; they have Makgeolli on a seasonal menu, but not this season!  We searched and walked some more to the second place, which was temporarily closed. We thought it was a bummer because they supposedly had house made Makgeolli. On we walked, following my suggestion to go to a place near Hongdae station where I remembered seeing a Makgeolli restaurant two years back. We didn't find the place I had remembered; instead we stumbled upon 해달밥술. From the exterior it looks like a humble 식당 with simple tables and stools and a...

Claire from YVR has brought to my attention an interesting product from across the northern border. Hwajoodang's Makgeolli Pack ! Claire had posted previously about her makgeolli experience on her blog here . Judging from her post, she had the opportunity to try some unique, high-quality makgeolli. At the end of her post she resolves to make her own batch of home brewed makgeolli, which led her to the package pictured above, and below.  I won't steal her thunder by posting pictures of her brew in the works. Please check out her blog and watch for her makgeolli post in the near future.  On to the pack... The makgeolli pack is a prepackaged kit of all the ingredients needed to make makgeolli. The website doesn't have too much info on the product, such as ingredients or how much of each ingredient is in the pouch, but they do publish a how-to here . Thanks to Claire's contribution, we also have the above picture of the directions from the back of the pac...