Amazake, Take 1 = FAIL

Okay, so my first attempt at making koji rice resulted in an utter failure. But that's okay! I think I at least know the places where I went wrong, so I plan to try again next week. The starter packet I bought had enough spores to make 2 batches of 6 cups of rice each, and my only real regret is that I actually tried to make one full batch my first try. Next time I will make a batch of 3 cups, so I have enough for one more 3 cup batch if this one goes awry.

My main problem this time around was at the VERY BEGINNING... one of the instructions is to STEAM the rice for 50 minutes, with the explanation that at the end of 50 minutes the rice will be "a hot rubbery lump." Well, at the end of 50 minutes (and 2 hours, and 2 1/2 hours...) the rice was NOT a rubbery lump, so I kept steaming it thinking I wasn't cooking it correctly because it seemed barely cooked. I cooked it until it was, indeed, a hot rubbery lump of rice. BUT then my problem throughout the rest of the 2 days was that instructions kept talking about breaking up any clumps that stick together, and that at the end of 2 days I should be able to crack open a grain of rice to check it... but I had one huge gooey lump of rice. So next time around, I think I'll have an easier time of steaming my rice with half as much in the pot, and then I am going to stick with that 50 minute window and whatever my rice looks like at the end of 50 minutes will be what I am going to assume it should look like, and we'll just move forward from there.

But I also think I learned this time around what works and what doesn't as far as my methods for incubating the rice to keep it at the right temperature, which is really only about 85 degrees... it turns out it was surprisingly difficult for me to keep the rice at just a few degrees above room temperature, but I think I've got it worked out now.

At first I felt pretty crummy about having such a massive failure on my hands after telling "Teh Internets" about my big plans. But then I happened upon this clip from Sesame Street (completely on accident) and now I feel alright about my practice run. :-)