Posts in Category: Fermentation

Simple Kombucha Recipe

On February 7, 2026 0 Comments - Cooking, Fermentation

What is kombucha?

In it’s simplest form kombucha is black tea fermented by a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) in the presence of sugar. There are probably thousands of good articles out there that explain this process in great detail…so I won’t add to the pile. In this article, I only want to provide a simple recipe with a clear process for myself and anyone else who might want to try making kombucha.

Why kombucha?

In addition to having a long and mythical history, kombucha is purported to have many health benefits (the final ferment contains live probiotic bacteria). I make it because it is fun, it makes my kitchen smell interesting and funky and it is delicious and refreshing. It is a terrific substitute for soda when you are eating anything heavy or greasy. It’s great with pizza and burgers but even works with more delicate flavours like sushi and sashimi.

Ingredients:

  • 1 SCOBY
  • 6 black tea bags (I am using orange pekoe)
  • 1 cup regular white sugar
  • 12 cups of water

You can’t really “make” a SCOBY. You will have to buy one online or get one from someone who is brewing. Once you have one, it will grow with every batch and you can peel off layers to share with fellow brewers. I got mine from my lovely downstairs neighbour.

You can just use cheap everyday tea bags. I am using orange pekoe bags from the grocery store. Use black tea and avoid anything flavoured (for now). I like these round Tetley brand ones…they are very strong and brew up to a nice colour and aroma.

kombucha scoby
Sugar, SCOBY, cheap tea bags….a simple recipe for fermentation magic.
kombucha scoby in tea
A side view of my SCOBY. It is a jellyfish-like collection of bacteria and yeast suspended in a mat of cellulose. You can see a few layers here. Every time you brew, a new layer forms.
Top view. I keep my SCOBY in a round wide-mouthed storage jar. The SCOBY will grow into the shape of whatever container you keep it in. I think it looks like the planet Venus.

Process

fill pot with water
In a clean pot, bring 12 cups of water to a rolling boil.
add tea bags
Once the water is boiling, drop in the tea bags.
steeping tea for 15 minutes
Turn off the heat and let the tea brew for 15 minutes. It will be quite dark.
removing tea bags
After 15 minutes, remove the tea bags and discard.
adding sugar
Add sugar and stir well to dissolve.
cooling brew in ice bath
This brew needs to cool down to room temperature. Now is a good time to fold the pile of laundry in the corner of your room, call your mom or take a nice long walk until the brew cools off completely. If you don’t have time or patience to let this happen naturally, you can use an ice bath like I did above.
pouring brewed tea into fermenting container with kombucha scoby
Once cool, pour the sweet tea into a fermenting container (usually the one in which the scoby lives).
side view of full container
Here it is…scoby meets sweetened tea.
shows breathable cloth and elastic band used to close top of container
Cover with a breathable net or piece of fabric. Secure it with an elastic band to keep out insects. As with any ferment, insects (especially fruit flies) will be interested in launching a full investigation.
Make sure that the ferment can breathe. I use a cork to keep this lid open and circulate air. You don’t have to use a lid at all. I just happen to have one around. Let your kombucha rest for a week and then start to taste it daily. When you can barely taste the sugar and it has a slight tart flavour, it is ready for bottling. My apartment is cold in the winter so this usually takes around 2 weeks. If the environment is warmer, it will ferment faster. Taste it!

Time to bottle

Mine did take exactly two weeks….
finished brew in container 2 weeks later
This tastes and smells a little sweet and a little sour.
removing scoby
Remove the SCOBY. Make sure you wash your hands and that your bowls etc are clean. This is a very robust collection of beneficial microbes…you don’t need to sanitize everything but make sure it is freshly washed with soap and water.
Drop the SCOBY into a clean bowl.
removing 2 cups of brew to keep scoby in later
Measure out about 500ml (2 cups) of the fermented tea from the brew. This is the SCOBY’s home. It will need to be in this liquid to survive.
adding brew back to scoby
Add the 500ml tea back to the SCOBY and set aside for now.
shows glass bottles with swing tops
Prepare clean bottles for the brew. I am using glass, but plastic soda type bottles are probably safer. I know that my brew will likely not ferment much more in the bottle. Not enough to break glass anyways. If your brew has more residual sugar than mine, it may continue to actively ferment in the bottle and cause it to burst. If you do choose to use glass, these swing top beer bottles are designed to withstand a certain amount of pressure.

Additional Ingredients / Second Ferment

You can bottle your fermented tea just as it is. It will be delicious. Or, if you like, you can also add some aromatics as you bottle. I almost always add fresh ginger and dry hibiscus flowers to mine. The ginger adds a little sweet snap to the brew and the hibiscus add a little tang and a beautiful rosey colour.

Over the years I have tried citrus peels, cinnamon sticks, all kinds of herbs and spices and I always come back to ginger and hibiscus. It is a winning combination with the fermented tea. You can usually find whole dried hibiscus flowers in any spice shop, asian grocery store or Mexican grocery (where it is called Jamaica). It may also be under the name Rose of Sharon. It is all the same thing and definitely worth seeking out.

ginger and hibiscus
Fresh ginger and dried hibiscus flowers.
sliced ginger
Peel and slice the ginger. One thick slice per bottle (around a teaspoon).
ingredients portioned for bottling
Cut the ginger into matchsticks. It is much easier to get it into and out of the bottles in this shape. I have enough brew for around 5 bottles so I like to sort my aromatics into 5 piles to make sure they are more or less evenly distributed.
adding fresh ginger to bottles
Place the aromatics into the empty bottles.
adding brew to bottles using funnel
Fill each bottle leaving a little space at the top.
shows bottles full, 2cm from top
Like this…
bottles are closed
Make sure caps are clean and tight. These bottles are going to stay at room temperature for another 3 days. During that time, the sugar in the ginger or any residual sugar in the brew will reinvigorate the ferment to some degree.
storing bottles in metal pot
Because I am using glass, I keep my bottles in this deep metal steamer basket just in case one bursts.
Cover on too, just in case. There is not much of a risk of a bottle rupturing but, if one of them is chipped or cracked, it is possible. And it makes a huge mess.
Store in a cool place…I keep mine in a lower kitchen cabinet out of the way. You might consider setting a reminder in your phone calendar so you don’t forget about them. Mine will stay in here for 3 days or so.

Scoby Storage

putting scoby back into washed container for storage
Give the fermenting jar a good wash with hot soapy water, dry it and put the SCOBY back in.
Add back the 500ml of fermented tea from the brew.
shows scoby in liquid in container on shelf for storage until next brew
Cover and store at room temperature. I usually brew at least once a month. At that rate, the SCOBY stays happy and healthy at room temperature. If you are going to leave it for longer, brew up a small amount of sweet tea to refresh the liquid every 4 to 6 weeks.

3 days later…

After 3 days in the bottle at room temperature, place the bottles in the fridge. The brew is done.

shows finished kombucha sparkling in a wine glass
This turned out well. The colour is a nice rosy amber, it smells sweet and tart and the flavour is potent but also refreshing. It’s just a little fizzy. I am not the type of maniac to drink kombucha out of a wine glass, but these are the only clear glasses i have to show off the colour.

The finished brew is perfect as is but, feel free to add a squeeze of lemon or a few drops of honey or anything else you might want to try. If the flavour is too intense, you can cut it with bubbly water. I often do this if I am drinking this with more subtle flavoured foods.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please leave them below. I always look forward to hearing from you. If you enjoy the content and would like to contribute towards website maintenance and development, you can make a donation here. Thank you for reading TigerSalad.

,

How To Make Vinegar

On January 11, 2026 0 Comments - Cooking, Fermentation

How does fruit become vinegar?

If you throw a bunch of sweet fruit into a container, natural yeasts already present on the skins will eventually consume the sugar in the fruit and produce alcohol. This alcohol will then get consumed by acetic acid bacteria in the environment and produce vinegar. Nature does all the work.

The problem with letting natural yeast go wild is that it is hard to know what flavours will result (good or bad), how much time it will take, and how much alcohol will result. Because the final acidity of the vinegar depends on the alcohol content, it is worthwhile to use a yeast with a known strength and flavour profile.

As for conversion of the alcohol into acetic acid, we could just leave a jar of fermented fruit juice covered with a cloth and allow naturally occurring acetic acid bacteria in the environment do the work. The problem here is that it takes a long time…several months at least. To shorten this time, we can inoculate our alcoholic fruit juice with a splash of live culture vinegar to get it started and provide it with a steady supply of oxygen via an air pump.

Making pear vinegar at home

In this recipe we will take ripe bosc pears and, over a month or so, ferment them into pear vinegar. I am mostly following a recipe from this excellent book by Rene Redzepi and David Zilber:

Noma Guide to Fermentation book

Ingredients:

  • 4 kilograms ripe pears
  • 35 millilitres liquid saison yeast (or another brewers yeast)
  • live culture (“contains the mother”) pear or apple cider vinegar for inoculation

Equipment:

  • A container large enough to hold your pears and leave at least 25% extra space. For this recipe I will be using two separate 4 litre / 1 gallon glass jars with lids and airlocks.
  • A tight lid and a brewers airlock (more on this below) for each container.
  • a strainer or fruit/cider press
  • a small aquarium air pump, hose and air stone (any pet shop will have these)
  • a blender or food processor is helpful but not necessary

Sanitizing Equipment:

Everything that comes in contact with this brew should be sanitized. Wash everything with soap and hot water, then sanitize whichever way you find convenient. Boiling, steaming and weak bleach solutions will work, but for convenience, I use a sanitizer called Star San.

Star San is available at home brew shops or online. You can mix a tiny amount with fresh water in a spray bottle for very effective and easy sanitizing. My local home brew supplier sells tiny bottles. Unless you are brewing huge amounts with massive equipment, a small bottle will last forever. I dilute it at about 2.5 millilitres per litre of water…that’s around 1/4 teaspoon per spray bottle…a tiny amount. This makes more than enough sanitizer for this whole process. It comes in a few different sizes and looks like this:

Star San sanitizer

Process:

This recipe is divided into 2 parts. In part 1, we make alcohol. In part 2, we make vinegar.

Part 1: making alcohol

tray of ripe bosc pears
Choose a sweet variety of pear and leave them at room temperature to ripen until the fruit yields to light pressure. I bought these hard unripe bosc pears and it took almost a week at home for them to ripen up. If your pears happen to have stickers on them, just leave them on until they are ripe. I have tried removing stickers from unripe pears in the past and it often pulls up the skin leading to bruising or rot.
a packet of liquid saison yeast
I bought this yeast from a local home-brew supply store. You can also buy it online. I am using “saison” yeast as suggested by the Noma Guide to Fermentation but I think you could probably use another beer yeast if you can’t find a saison.
showing star san and spray bottle used for sanitizing
This is a tiny bottle of Star San and a 1 litre spray bottle. That 1/4 teaspoon is enough Star San to make a full spray bottle worth of sanitizer, probably enough to do this recipe 2 or 3 times.
all equipment spray sanitized including bowls and blender
Sanitize all your equipment before starting. Bowls, blender, spoons, ladles…whatever will touch the fruit.
pears with stems and blemished removed
Once the pears are ripe and soft, cut or pull away the stems and remove any stickers. If there are any signs of rot or mold, cut these out and discard.
cutting pears
If you are using a blender or a food processor, cut the pears into chunks. Don’t forget to sanitize the knife.
pears in a bowl, chopped into large chunks
Chopped up into big chunks. Seeds, cores and skins stay in.
pears going into blender
Pear chunks go into blender or food processor.
full blender
Full house…
pureeing pears at low speed
Blend on slow speed and push the pears into the blades with a plunger.
chunky puree inside blender
We want rough chunky mash not a smooth puree.
finished mash in a bowl. chunky with seeds and skin
This looks (and smells) good. If you don’t have a blender, you can chop your pears by hand or even run them over a sanitized grater. It can be a little chunkier than what you see above. Do it over a tray so you don’t lose any juice.
adding liquid yeast to pear mash
Pour 35ml of brewers yeast into pear mash.
stirring in yeast thoroughly
Stir very well to ensure even yeast distribution.
fermenting jars, airlocks spray sanitized
Sanitize your container(s), lids and airlocks.
filling jars with mash
Pour the mash into sanitized container(s).
two glass jars with an even fill of pear mash
These are the glass jars I am using. I like them because they are easy to clean, it is easy to see what is going on inside and I can also use them for Part 2 of the recipe. Whatever container you use, you need to leave some space at the top. When the mash ferments, it will expand a surprising amount. The first time I did this, I figured that all the mash would fit into one jar (which it just did). But…when it started actively fermenting and expanding, it blew out of the top of the jar through the airlock and made a huge sticky mess. Leave space…at least 20% of the container.
top view of lids showing holes and seals for airlocks
These lids have a rubber gasket underneath to seal the jars and holes with rubber seals in the centre to accommodate an airlock. An airlock is a one-way valve that allows fermenting gasses to escape without allowing fresh air (and microbes) into the jar. These jars, lids and airlocks are available at home brew suppliers or online. There are a couple of different kinds of airlocks. Since I am using 2 jars, I will demonstrate both.
fill line for s airlock
This is an S-type bubble airlock. Water halfway up the chambers allows bubbles to escape as pressure builds up inside the fermenting container. Advantages: Simple, fun to watch, makes a gurgling sound, water doesn’t usually need to be monitored or refilled. Disadvantage: difficult to clean, especially if you happen to have an overflow as I have had. To use it, simply fill it from the top with sanitizer liquid until both chambers are at the fill line then put on the little perforated lid.
fill line for bucket airlock
This is what I call a bucket airlock (some will call it a 3 piece). An inverted little bucket pops up and allows pressurized gas to escape while keeping outside air from entering. Advantages: Very easy to clean thoroughly. Disadvantages: visuals and sounds are less entertaining, a little more complicated to assemble (not really), water may evaporate and need a top up (but not often). To use this one, fill with sanitizer solution until it is in between the 2 fill lines. Then….
putting together bucket airlock
…insert the little perforated bucket upside down, on top of the centre shaft, then…
…put on the perforated lid. Done.

Once the jars are filled, the lids are on tight, and the airlocks are assembled…move them to a spot that is not in bright light and is at a cool room temperature. Around 20 Celsius or even a little cooler is ideal. Sometimes a basement works, or a garage. I have one or two poorly insulated outside walls which stay at a perfect 18-20 degrees in the winter so that is where I do my fermenting.

First Signs of Life

first signs of life for pear vinegar. Foaming and bubbling mash
After one day, the mash has separated into layers and there is very active bubbling happening.
This is a time lapse to demonstrate how the two different airlocks work. This is obviously sped up but they are producing a good bubble every few seconds at real life speed. Below is a sound recording..
The ticking sound is from the bucket air-lock and the deeper gurgling sound is the S air-lock. I think the S lock is more fun to watch and listen to…but they each do the job : )
shows mixing of pear vinegar mash
Once a day, open the lids and give the mash a good stirring with a sanitized spoon. There is a tremendous amount of foaming and fizzing going on in the first two days. It is very active.
pre vs post mixing of pear vinegar mash. one has clear layers, the other does not.
Undisturbed on the left. On the right…after a thorough stirring.
When you are done stirring, replace the lids. Give the spoon a taste every time you mix it. Eventually you will notice the sweetness decreasing and the hotness (alcohol) increasing. Stir and taste and smell everyday until the bubbling slows and the mash has an obvious alcohol taste while still retaining some of the residual sweetness and “pear flavour” of the fruit. This will probably take 7 to 10 days.

Fermentation slows down…

For the first 2 days, fermentation was very active with both airlocks bubbling constantly. Towards the end of the second day the fermentation has slowed noticeably. The airlocks will bubble up a couple of times a minute at most. There is less fizzing when stirring and there is a slight taste and smell of alcohol on the spoon. By day 3, fermentation was very slow. Apparently, this very active initial fermentation followed by a very slow and steady period is characteristic of “saison” yeast. If you are using a different brewers yeast, the fermentation may be more consistent over time.

shows how waterline in s airlock shows that fermentation is active
The S airlock, with it’s 2 chambered design, clearly shows that there is pressure from fermentation gasses even if it is not bubbling constantly. This is an easy visual cue and another advantage of the S airlock. On the other hand, the bucket airlock needs a lot less pressure to force a bubble so, given the same activity, it will bubble a lot more often. One device you can see easily, one device you can hear easily. I kind of like having both going.

Keep stirring once a day, tasting for sugar and alcohol balance. Monitor activity at the airlocks.

Day 7:

By the 7th day, there is little to no detectable fermentation happening…no bubbling, no sounds, and the pressure in the S-airlock is equalized with both chambers showing the same water level. The mash tastes and smells of alcohol but the sweetness and perfume of pears is still there. This is perfect. It is time to strain the mash and move on to vinegar fermentation.

Straining the Mash

This is probably the most difficult part of this whole process. After doing this a few times, what you see below is the method I prefer but, it is not the only way. The goal is to separate the fibrous parts of the mash from the liquid so as long as you accomplish this, any method is fine.

two jars of pear alcohol. First stage of pear vinegar is done
Here is the pear mash on its last day of fermenting into alcohol.
sanitized tools for straining pear vinegar mash
Before starting, sanitize all equipment. For now, I will be using a coarse mesh strainer, a fine mesh strainer, a ladle, rubber spatula and a clear container to catch the juice. All of this was spray sanitized with Star San in a spray bottle.
two strainers
Set the fine mesh strainer over the bucket and the coarse mesh strainer inside the fine one. I find it is best to strain in stages where the first strainer will catch all the big stuff like seeds and peels and core fibres and the fine strainer will filter out anything smaller than that.
Here they are nested together.
mash ladled into strainers
Ladle the mash into the coarse strainer leaving enough space to push and stir without making a mess.
demonstrating stirring and pressing to get mash through strainers
Stir and press the mash against the strainer to force all the liquid and smooth puree through. This is a lot of work. It takes time.
Only a very smooth puree gets through the bottom of the coarse strainer. Keep pushing and stirring until there is only seed, skin and rough fibre in the top strainer.
left over pulp and seeds from strainer
The remains. Put this fibrous stuff aside for now.
liquid coming out of bottom strainer
While working the mash up top, liquid will slowly seep through the fine strainer below.
The pulp in the fine mesh strainer will also need some stirring and pushing to get it through to the bucket underneath.
more leftover pulp
When you have pushed most of the liquid through the fine mesh strainer, you will end up with a coarse puree. Put this aside too.

The Fruit Press

If you don’t have a fruit press, don’t worry. Take your strained juice and skip down to “Neutralizing the Brewers Yeast”. If you have a fruit press or if you are interested in how one works , please read on…

this is a fruit press or a torchietto
This is a fruit press (this one is made in Italy and called a torchietto). I am going to use this to press out the last drops of liquid from the remains in the strainers. If you have a large enough fruit press, you can put all the mash through press right from the start and skip the strainers. I have tried that with this press and, it just isn’t big enough to process that volume without doing multiple batches and making a huge mess. I find that using the strainer method and then extracting one batch of juice from the already drained mash is much easier and yields more liquid in the end.
perforated basket inside bucket with spout. the inner part of fruit press.
The press has a perforated basket sitting inside a bucket with a spout at the bottom.
lining press basket with cheesecloth
Line the basket with a few layers of cheesecloth.
filling basket with mash pulp
Layer in your fibrous mash from the coarse strainer and your pulp from the fine strainer.
folding top of cheesecloth over the mash
Fold over the top of the cheesecloth.
shows press in action. A hand screw mechanism pushes a metal plate against the mash.juice flows from the spout at the bottom.
Here, the basket is inserted into the press. The hand-screw pushes a metal plate down onto the mash, pressing with great force. The juice slowly trickles through the cheesecloth, through the perforated bucket, out the spout and into a waiting container.
When you can no longer crank the handle with a reasonable amount of force, you are done.
shows a damp cake of spent mash after it comes out of the fruit press
When you remove the mash, you are left with a damp cake of pulp and fibre,
fruit press gave 500ml of juice from the strainer pulp
By using the press, 500ml more juice was extracted.
bucket measuring our total of 2.5 litres of pear alcohol to make into pear vinegar
Added to the liquid from the strainers, there is somewhere around 2.5 litres of viscous juice. It is quite thick.

Neutralizing the brewers yeast

pouring pear juice into a pot on stove
The alcoholic juice may still contain live brewers yeast which we do not want in the next fermentation. By heating the juice to 70 celsius for 15 minutes, any remaining yeast will be killed off.
heating juice to 70 celcius
I am using a probe thermometer here to measure the temperature. If you don’t have one, bring the liquid up to the point where it is steaming gently but not hotter. No boiling. Once up to temperature, cover the pot and leave it for 15 minutes.
after heating, cooling the pot to room temperature
Afterwards, cool to room temperature.

Part 2: Making Vinegar

In this second part of the recipe, the pear alcohol will ferment into vinegar with the help of acetic acid bacteria (AAB). We will kick start the fermentation with some live culture vinegar and then aerate it with a pump and air stone until it reaches a pleasant level of acidity.

an aquarium air pump and air stone which will be used in the fermentation into pear vinegar
This is a regular air pump, air stone and vinyl tubing from the aquarium section of a pet store. The tube and stone have been sanitized with Star San spray.
weighing pear juice
Weigh the finished liquid. In this case, the original 4kg of bosc pears has produced 2549 grams of alcoholic juice. This is one of the original glass jars from Part 1, washed and sanitized.
weighing live culture vinegar
To kick-start the ferment (aka “back-slopping”), add 20% of the juice weight in live culture vinegar. In this case, my juice weighs around 2550 grams, so 20% would be 510 grams of live culture vinegar. I am using some pear vinegar that I made last year for this. You can usually find live culture apple cider vinegar in many grocery stores or health food stores. Just look on the label for something that says “with the mother” or “contains the mother”. This works perfectly too.
510 grams of last years pear vinegar to “back-slop” this new batch.
pouring live culture vinegar into pear juice
Pour the live culture vinegar into the pear alcohol.
inserting the air stone into the pear juice jar
Drop in the sanitized air stone, making sure it rests on the bottom.
jar sealed with mesh and elastic to keep out the flies
To keep flies out (especially fruit flies) you need to seal the top of the jar with mesh and elastics while still allowing the air hose to exit. This is tricky to get right. I am using some fine plastic mesh, elastic bands and an office clip to keep everything as tight as possible. Tape can also help seal gaps. Eventually you will need to be able to get in here and taste it and then put it all back together so keep that in mind when you are assembling this.
jar on shelf bubbling with air from pump
The jar sits over on a shelf with the air pump close beside.
The aeration setup.

The alcohol should turn to vinegar within 2 weeks. I will leave this bubbling away for a full week before I taste it. In the meantime, I will give it a good sniff everyday to see how the acidity is developing. Once it begins to smell like mild vinegar, I will open it up once a day for a taste.

After a few days, there is a layer of sediment at the bottom of the jar, shaped by the current from the air stone. Once the vinegar is done fermenting, this sediment layer can either be stirred back for a thicker, more viscous vinegar or it can be filtered out for a more watery, light mouthfeel.
After 7 days, it is starting to smell sour. It tastes great. Good acidity but still fruity and sweet. I have pH test strips around so I tested just to see…
The pH reads right around 4. This is in the right range of 3.5 to 4. I want it to taste a little stronger, a little more acidic, so I will leave it another day or two.
When I pulled up the air stone to have a look, there are little blobs of vinegar mother (acetic acid bacteria and cellulose) forming on the stone…where the greatest concentration of oxygen is.
After 9 days of fermenting, the vinegar tastes perfect to me. It is a little more sour than a couple of days ago but still with a fruity aroma and flavour.
The air stone has grown a slightly bigger colony of AAB bacteria and cellulose as well.
One last strain will catch any heavier sediment.
The colour, taste and smell are perfect.
Just like before, this will need a stir to keep it moving and to keep the fine mesh from clogging up.
Total yield from 4kg of pears is somewhere around 2.5 litres.
Just for fun, I dipped a test strip and it came out around 3.5pH, which is indeed a little more acidic than a couple of days ago and right in the perfect range for vinegar.
Bottled and labeled, i will store these in the fridge to keep the flavours as fresh as possible.

Now what?

Compared to most store bought vinegars, homemade vinegar is surprisingly delicious. Use it on salads, spritz it over cooked veggies, use it in sauces…it will brighten up almost any dish. You can even drink it straight up or put a few splashes into soda water for a refreshing and healthy drink.

This is a truly fun and fairly easy fermentation project. There is a small initial investment for a little bit of specialized gear but once you have it, it can be used over and over. Just about any sweet fruit can be made into vinegar using this process. In the past I have made vinegar out of ripe persimmons and it was also delicious. I think I will try plum vinegar next, berries in the summer.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please leave them below. I am always happy to hear from you. If you enjoy the content and would like to contribute towards website maintenance and development, you can make a donation here. Thanks for reading TigerSalad!

,

Makgeolli

On December 25, 2025 6 Comments - Cooking, Fermentation

What is Makgeolli / 막걸리 ?

Makgeolli is a Korean alcohol (or sool 술) made by fermenting rice with a natural starter called nuruk (누룩, sounds like noo-rook). I have heard it called “rice wine”, “rice beer” and “Korean sake” but it has very little in common with any of those. Makgeolli is its own thing. A few good ingredients and a complex, multi-layered, simultaneous fermentation by a large variety of bacteria and yeasts make this a uniquely Korean sool. It has its own distinct flavours, textures and history. It is unlike any other rice ferment.

The recipe below is not the most simple but the preparation and process are fairly straightforward. My goal was to make the recipe easy to follow so I have included lots of pictures and even some sounds.

Important considerations before you start

There are 2 stages to this recipe and, from start to finish, this brew can take anywhere from 3 weeks to a month. In Stage 1, during the first three days or so you will need to stir it up a few times. In Stage 2, you will need to stir it again for a few days after which it is mostly just waiting and tasting occasionally.

Each stage of this recipe takes several hours to prepare. In Stage 2, you will spend 5 hours just washing, soaking and steaming rice. It’s best to plan ahead so you have enough time to get through the process in one shot.

Temperature is important. You will need to find a spot that is room temperature or a bit cooler for fermenting this brew (20-25C). Higher temperatures can cause your brew to ferment too quickly and may cause some off-flavours. Cooler is always better.

Equipment

You will need a glass or pottery container to hold your brew. 8-10 litres is a good size.

You can find these glass jars at many Asian grocery stores or supermarkets.
These ceramic onggi jars are sometimes for sale in Korean grocery stores or markets.

I think most people use glass. I have ceramic onggi jars around the house so that is what you will see in the pictures but either will get the job done. You will also need a piece of fabric or cheesecloth and an elastic band to cover the top of your jar. This ferment needs to breathe and will release a lot of gas. A fabric cover will let it vent and keep insects and dust out.

You will need a steamer of some kind. Bamboo steamers are cheap and very useful. I have a medium size one with two decks that I will use to steam rice for this recipe. If you have a pot with a stainless steel steamer insert, that will also work. Lastly, you will need a piece of cheesecloth or other fabric big enough to wrap the rice in the steamer.

Ingredients:

There are only 3 ingredients here: rice, water and nuruk.

Nuruk is made by forming moist cakes of grain (usually some combination of wheat and barley and rice) and hanging them in open air to attract wild yeasts, bacteria and mold as they dry. These are then pounded into rough granules to use as a fermenting starter. Bags of this powder can be found at Korean grocers under the english name “Enzyme powder” or just look for the Korean name “누룩” on the bag. There is a picture of a bag of nuruk in the ingredients below.

You can make makgeolli with many different kinds of rice. For this recipe I am using a short grain sweet rice called chapssal (찹쌀). I think that this rice is most likely to make a successful and easy drinking first brew.

Here is what we need:

  • 500 grams sweet rice flour (this is just rice milled into a fine powder)
  • 2 kg sweet rice (chappsal)
  • 2.5 litres filtered or spring water
  • 250 grams nuruk plus another 250ml filtered or spring water to hydrate it
ingredients for making makgeolli
Sweet rice flour, nuruk and sweet rice.

Process:

The recipe is broken into 2 parts. In Stage 1, we will ferment the rice flour for a number of days (around 3). In Stage 2, we will add steamed sweet rice and finish the ferment over the next few weeks. A two stage recipe like this is called “Iyangju”.

Stage 1

rice flour and water
Measure out 250 grams rice flour and 2.5 litres of spring water.
mixing rice flour and water in pot over medium high heat
Combine rice flour with water in a heavy bottom pot and heat on medium-high while stirring constantly. This takes some time to come up to temperature but it is important to keep it moving so that it doesn’t burn. We want this to come up to boiling temperature. It will be thick and steamy when done.
Eventually, as the mixture nears the boiling point, it will get very thick. Once it is very thick, take it off the heat. The video here shows just how thick it should get. This thick rice slurry is called juk (죽), sounds like “jook”.
finished juk for first stage of makgeolli
Transfer the juk to a clean bowl and let it cool down to room temperature (no hotter than 25 celsius). Stir it from time to time to release some heat from the centre. This takes a long time, maybe a few hours. You can speed this up by putting the bowl into an ice bath and stirring until it cools.
weighing nuruk
While the juk is cooling, weigh out 250 grams of nuruk.
nuruk mixed with water
Add 250 ml of spring water and allow it to hydrate. At this point, give the nuruk a good sniff. I think it smells like a dusty antique book that was abandoned in a damp basement for years. If you get any other interesting impressions, please leave them in the comments.
steam sanitizing a clay onggi jar
In this picture I am sanitizing a clay onggi jar with steam. I have these jars around so that’s what I use. Most people will use a glass jar instead (8-10 litre/2 gallon capacity). Whichever container you use, make sure to wash and sanitize it by steaming, boiling or using a food safe brewers sanitizer like Star-san. We are looking to sanitize not sterilize so filling your container with boiling water and letting it sit for 10-15 minutes is fine.
mixing nuruk and juk
Once the juk cools to room temp (25C or below), combine it with the hydrated nuruk in a clean bowl.
nuruk and juk after mixing
Mix very well. If you stir long enough, the thick juk will eventually become more liquid making it easier to pour into your container. This can take 5-10 minutes of stirring.
pouring mixture into onggi jar
Pour all of the mixture into your sanitized container.
first stage of makgeolli ready to ferment
It will rest in here for the next few days as the first stage of fermentation gets under way.
I like these clay jars because they don’t allow any light inside. I can keep them anywhere. If you are using a glass jar, try to keep it somewhere dark or cover it with a towel. The yeast and bacteria are happier away from light. IMPORTANT: place your container somewhere where the temperature is between 20 and 25 celsius. Higher temperatures can result in very fast fermentation and unwanted flavours. Room temperature or a little cooler is ideal. This ferment also needs air so, cover the top of your container with some cloth and seal it with an elastic band to keep out insects and dust. Do not put on a tight lid.
shows need to cover fermenting jar with breathable cover of mesh or cloth
I found this cover at a Korean supermarket. It looks like a mesh shower cap made specifically to fit these jars. Any piece of fabric or towel sealed with an elastic band works just as well.
stirring twice a day
Twice a day, open up the container and give it a good stir, making sure to get all the sludge in the bottom mixed in.
first bubbles show active fermentation
There will probably be a little raft of bubbles starting a day or so into the ferment. These are the first signs of life.
more bubbles the next day
This is after around 2.5 days. My brew is very active with lots of bubbles and a strong sweet scent. I dropped a microphone over the edge and put the cover back on and made a recording. The field recorder and mics are sensitive so they pick up every pop and fizz.
This is the sound of a very active ferment. It sounds almost like running water or something frying in a pan. This level of activity means this needs a little more time. Once it settles down, you can plan to start Stage 2.
This is a day later, about 3.5 days in to Stage 1. You can hear that the activity has slowed down quite a bit compared to the first sound file with just a little fizzing and popping. It is now ready for Stage 2.

Stage 2:

In this stage we will wash, soak, drain, steam and cool our 2kg of sweet rice. And, afterwards, we will add it to our fermenting container.

Start of stage 2 for makgeolli: washing rice
Place all the rice in a large bowl and fill it with fresh cold water.
Wash the rice by hand. Be gentle here. Try not to crush the rice or grind the grains too much. Just gently swish it around with an open hand from bottom to top.
pouring off water while washing rice
You will likely need to wash the rice at least 10 times. Mix it with lots of fresh water, dump out most of water, refill with fresh water and repeat…The goal is to wash it until the water is mostly (like 80%) clear. The first few washes will be very cloudy like this one and then gradually it will clear up with each wash.
clear water after 12 washes
I washed my rice 12 times and this is the last drain. You can see that it is much clearer than the above picture but there is still a little sediment. This is fine.
rice soaking for 3 hours in bowl of fresh water
Cover the washed rice with fresh water and let it soak for at least 3 hours at room temperature.
rinsing rice
After soaking for 3 hours, drain the rice into a big strainer or colander. Rinse it with fresh cold water.
draining rice for makgeolli
Let it drain for around an hour. It will still be damp but not dripping wet.
sample of a bamboo steamer
Prepare your steamer. I will use this double deck bamboo steamer.
lining bamboo steamer with cheese cloth
Whichever steamer you use, line the baskets with a large square of clean fabric or cheesecloth.
filling steamer with rice for makgeolli
Fill with rice. For best steaming, don’t pack them tight right to the top. The rice and steam need a little space to cook properly.
Fold over the cloth to cover the rice.
Bring water to a full hard boil before putting the steamer over it.
Once the water is rolling, cover with the steamer.
rice in steamer over pot of boiling water
If all the rice fits in a single steam basket (bigger than mine), set a timer for 40 minutes and let it steam hard. Make sure to start with enough water so that it doesn’t boil dry or check half way through and top it up. If your steamer has 2 decks like mine, set a timer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, switch the top and bottom trays and set a timer for the remaining 20 minutes. Switching the trays will make sure the top and bottom rice steams evenly.
While the rice is steaming, prepare a cooling tray by lining it with a fuzz-free towel or cloth. Wet the cloth in water and squeeze it out as hard as you can so that it is just damp not wet. This will keep the cooling rice from sticking to it. I am using a baking sheet covered with a linen tea towel.
After 40 minutes, remove the basket(s) from the steamer. The rice should be cooked but dry. It will be translucent and have a bouncy texture when you chew it. Korean brewers call this steamed rice “godubap”. It will fuel the fermentation for Stage 2.
finished rice cooling on tray
Empty the the steaming baskets onto the tray and spread the rice out to cool to room temperature. This will happen pretty quickly, 10-15 minutes. Rice will stick to the rice basket cloths..do your best to pick it off by hand but don’t worry if you can’t get it every grain. The rice should not stick to your damp towel cooling tray.
adding steamed rice to the brew container
When the rice has cooled to room temperature, add it to the fermenting container.
It will seem very full and dry but over the next few days the rice will break down and start to liquefy as it ferments.
Stir it very well, seal the top with cloth and elastic and return it to your cool and dark fermenting spot.

Stage 2, Day 1

brew after 1 day
The rice has absorbed almost all of the liquid. It looks just like a pile of cooked rice. Over the next few days, this will change as the rice gets broken down. Listen to this:
It is bubbling and fizzing. Not as much as in the first stage but still sounds pretty active.
It feels just like very wet cooked rice. Continue to stir twice a day…

Stage 2, Day 2

brew on day 2
The rice looks softer and wetter than the first day.
After stirring, you can see how the rice is starting to breakdown and liquify. It looks like hot oatmeal.
Moderate amount of bubbling…it has a thicker sound to it.

Stage 2, Day 3

brew on day 3. Rice is plump and breaking down
The rice is even more plump and wet. There is a somewhat thinner raft of rice on top and more liquid underneath.
After stirring, it is obvious that the rice has broken down and there is more liquid than solid in the mix. This is the last time we will stir this brew. Clean up the sides up your container as much as possible above the brew. Use a rubber spatula or a damp cloth to give it a wipe. There is an alcohol smell now. I can also taste alcohol on the spoon after stirring.
A steady moderate amount of bubbling.

Now we wait

For the next 2 to 3 weeks or so, open up the jar every few days and listen for activity and monitor any changes on the surface. Smell it and taste it for alcohol strength by sticking a spoon or chopstick into the mix.

The Match Test

By lowering a lit match into your container, you can get a visual cue for how much fermentation is going on. An actively fermenting brew will give off carbon dioxide. This will snuff a match quickly. The brew below is around 10 days into Stage 2. The match test shows that it is still actively producing CO2. The match goes out as soon as it gets past the rim of the jar. Eventually, as fermentation slows, you should be able to lower a match right to the surface without it going out.

This is just a fun measure of how active the fermentation is.

Stage 2: 2 weeks after adding rice

The brew is starting to have a nice boozy sweet smell. There is a thin shiny layer of liquid forming on top of the rice mash.

Stage 2: 14 days after adding steamed rice.
Over the last 2 weeks, the bubbling has become much slower but the brew is still active.

Brew is showing signs of being done

We are now 18 days into Stage 2 (3 weeks total fermentation time measured from the start of Stage 1). The bubbling has practically stopped with very little activity (not enough to even get one bubble during a 10 second sound recording). The brew smells and tastes of alcohol. Compared to a few days ago, there is now a very clear layer of liquid on top.

brew is finished fermenting as indicated by clear layer of liquid on top of rice
In this picture there is a clear glassy layer of liquid above the surface of the rice.

The Match Test Take 2

Unlike the first time we did this, the match stays lit even if I hold it right against the surface of the brew. This is good indication that little to no fermentation is happening and the brew is ready for filtering.

Filtering the brew

This is a very useful tool in the kitchen. Premium kitchen stores sell them but they will probably be cheaper at a restaurant supply shop. This particular strainer is called a “fine mesh chinois”. The mesh is fine enough to strain makgeolli without filtering through a cloth or bag. Cloth filtering works great and is more common. I prefer this just because I have the chinois around and I find it a little less messy.
Before filtering give your brew a good stir to get the sediment off the bottom.
It should have a very creamy texture with little chunks of rice and nuruk suspended inside.
The onggi jar is awkward to work with here so I will dump everything into an open top container first.
Getting every last drop.
straining brew through fine mesh strainer
With my fine strainer over a second clean container, I can begin transferring the brew and slowly filtering it.
Milky liquid and fine sediment will pass through but the heavier, thicker remains will not.
The mesh will eventually clog up so you will need to stir it constantly and gently scrape up the inside walls of the strainer to keep the liquid moving through.
This will take a little time…
jigemi: the leftover solids from brewing makgeolli
When it gets really thick, you can gently press the contents of the strainer against the sides to squeeze out the last drops. What you are left with is a very damp rice mash called “jigemi”. Most people will toss this out but, if you have a look online you may find uses for this boozy mash. I recently learned that you can make another drink out of this called “moju”. I will probably try this in the future and post up a recipe.
bottling the finished brew
Once the straining is done, transfer your brew to bottles for storage. I recommend plastic soda bottles. They are safer. If your brew is still fermenting it will continue to produce gases which can break a glass bottle if the pressure gets too high. I like to use these plastic Perrier bottles. Before filling each bottle give your brew a good stir. This will keep the sediment even from bottle to bottle.
Mission accomplished. You can drink this right away if you like. Mine will go in the fridge for a few days.
picture shows the separation of clear alcohol and sediment after 48 hours
After a couple of days, the brew is starting to separate into a clear layer on top and a milky layer of sediment on the bottom. It will continue to settle over the next week or so.
This is around 2 weeks after this brew was bottled. There is now a layer of clear liquid above and thick sediment below.

Terminology around nuruk-fermented rice alcohol and how to enjoy your brew:

Depending on a few different factors, there a few different categories of rice alcohol. Without going into a lot of detail, here is a basic list:

  • Makgeolli: sedimented brew with less than 10% alcohol
  • Takju: sedimented brew with more than 10% alcohol
  • Yakju: clarified rice brew (the clear top layer in the above picture)

Our two-stage brew, long-fermented in a cool environment will almost certainly have more than 10% alcohol by volume. This means that it is a “Takju” and I think it is best to drink it as is. Gently turn the bottle over a few times to distribute the sediment and enjoy.

If you leave the bottles to rest, after a week or so, all of the sediment will settle to the bottom and there will be a very clear sediment-free layer on top. This is “Yakju”. You can pour it off slowly so as not to disturb the sediment and enjoy just the clear alcohol on it’s own. You can also pour it off, rebottle only the clear layer and age it indefinitely. It will change and develop new flavours over time.

If you pour off the Yakju, and dilute the sediment with fresh water, you will end up with a weaker drink in the under 10% alcohol range: this is Makgeolli. OR..you can also dilute your Takju with water to lighten it up and bring the alcohol concentration down…this would also be Makgeolli.

If I want something really refreshing and thirst quenching to drink with spicy food, I will often dilute my Takju with sparkling water. The brew is lighter and slightly fizzy and the flavours open up in a little different way…similar to the way an ice cube or a little water affects Scotch whiskey.

Commercial Makgeolli:

This looks familiar…

You have probably seen plastic bottles of commercial makgeolli at your local liquor store or in convenience stores in Korea. This cheap and tasty drink has it’s own charm but it does not have that much in common with a traditionally fermented brew like we have made. This commercial Makgeolli is usually fizzy, watery, has very low alcohol content and it surprisingly sweet, almost like a soda. It is sweetened with aspartame to make it more palatable and to prevent further fermentation in the bottle (and pressure related accidents while it is transported).

In contrast, our home brew has little to no fizz, a much higher alcohol content and is not especially sweet. In fact, it will lean closer to the dry and tart side with complex rice-y, boozy flavours and a thick creamy mouthfeel. You will taste and feel the alcohol very quickly. It is delicious! And, it is unlike anything else. Korean rice alcohol is entirely it’s own thing and it is next to impossible to compare it to any other brew.

The home made brew is thick, creamy, tart and strong.

Commercial brewers making traditional Korean sool

Over the last 5 years or so, some commercial brewers of traditional Korean sool have emerged. The first in the US was Hana Makgeolli, founded by Alice Jun. Alice and her team have produced a range of small-batch rice brews ranging from traditional Takju to, most recently, a potent full-strength Soju 60. I have linked a video below of Alice explaining the range of traditional Korean sools as well as Hana Makgeolli’s current offerings.

It was probably close to 10 years ago that I had the pleasure of meeting Alice in New York City when she was still developing recipes in her Brooklyn apartment. I got to sample an early brew “under the table” over Poke-bowls at a Manhattan SunriseMart. To this day, it is still one of my best New York experiences! Alice is one of the loveliest and most generous people I have met and she has a deep understanding of Korean rice alcohol, learning first-hand as a child helping her dad with traditional home brews. I highly recommend having a look at the above video for a comprehensive Sool School and if you are lucky enough to be able to try Alice’s brews in person, don’t hesitate to visit her shop and brewery.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please leave them below. If you try this recipe and like the results, please let me know. I hope you enjoy making your own rice brew as much as I do. Cheers! : )

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