[Kkaiza1217]

Hello all,

Sake brewing beginner here hoping for some advice. Everything is going well so far, koji cukture successful and fermentation is a week under way. Only problem is that my recipe called for citric acid, and it gave it an unpleasant citric acid flavor that almost ruins the sake. Does anyone know how i can neutralize this flavor? Would a small amount of sodium bicarb be okay? Sugar?

[reverseapachemaster]

How much citric acid did you add per gallon and...why? I'm not an expert by any means in sake or similar rice fermentations but I've never seen a recipe call for adding citric acid. I know you need to drop the ph early in the process but typically that is done biologically with lactobacillus. I guess citric acid is one way to accomplish that goal but citric acid comes in a lot of forms and dilutions.

As far as solutions go I would pull a sample and try adding different alkaline salts to adjust. Maybe calcium carbonate. Basically try it out on a sample to see which fixes the ph with the least flavor effect and then scale up in the full batch.

[Kkaiza1217]

5g per gallon, it was what my recipe called for - visionbrewing

[kramerog]

I do make sake.   

If you build up the volume of the sake as is traditional, you will dilute the citric acid and the sake will most probably be fine in the end.  Also your sake could finish sweet so the citric acid could provide balance.   Do not attempt to neutralize the citric acid during fermentation because the enzymes work better in a very acidic environment and also to control bacteria! If the citric acid is too much at the end of fermentation, it is OK to neutralize some of it with sodium bicarbonate. 

Next time use lactic acid, not citric acid.

You must be doing something right because I never had success making koji from koji-kin (koji culture). My koji always turned green.

[Kkaiza1217]

If your koji turned green, it is likey that you made it correctly but let it grow too long. The white fungus and the green fungus are the same species (most likely and as long as it was white before green) just at different life stages. Thanks for the advice! I hope this helped as well

[kramerog]

I looked at vision brewing's instructions (http://tibbs-vision.com/sake/instrct.html) and I see that it does not increase the size of the fermentation unlike traditional sake brewing.  So you will probably have to neutralize some of the acid at the end unless your sake is sweet. 

[kramerog]

Also don't add any sugar until fermentation is over because the sake may be naturally sweet.  During fermentation, sugar will ferment out.