Dongdongju (동동주, Floating-Rice Wine)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •4 to 5 liter wide-mouth glass jar, onggi, or food-grade fermenting bucket
• •Steamer lined with damp cotton cloth
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Sanitized coarse sieve
• •Clean cloth, loose lid, or airlock
• •pH strips, optional but useful

Instructions

1. 1

   Wash and soak

   Rinse the glutinous rice in cool water 6 to 8 times, rubbing the grains gently between your palms, until the water is mostly clear. Soak the rice in plenty of fresh water for 8 to 12 hours, then drain it in a colander for 1 hour. Wet rice makes a heavy, muddy ferment; rice that is not soaked through leaves hard centers that the nuruk cannot digest evenly.

2. 2

   Steam the rice

   Line a steamer with a damp cotton cloth and spread the drained rice in an even layer. Steam over a brisk boil for 40 to 45 minutes, until the grains are translucent and chewy with no chalky center. If the rice looks dry after 25 minutes, sprinkle up to 1/2 cup boiling water over it and keep steaming. This is godubap, hard-steamed rice. Do not use soft rice-cooker rice here, because it breaks into paste and gives you wine with no clean floating grains.

   Dongdongju lives or dies by this rice texture. Each grain should be cooked through but still separate, so the drink can ferment cleanly and carry the grains on top.
3. 3

   Cool and sanitize

   Spread the steamed rice on a clean tray and cool it to 25°C or lower, about 45 minutes. While it cools, sanitize a 4 to 5 liter wide-mouth jar, your spoon, sieve, and anything that will touch the ferment with boiling water or no-rinse sanitizer. Hot rice kills the yeasts in nuruk. A dirty vessel invites the wrong sourness. 정성이 첫째예요, sincerity comes first, and in brewing it begins before the ingredients meet.

4. 4

   Mix the ferment

   Pour 1.6 liters cooled boiled water into the sanitized vessel and stir in the crumbled nuruk. Add the optional brewing yeast only if your nuruk is old or commercial and mild. Add the cooled rice and mix with a sanitized spoon or very clean hand for 5 full minutes, breaking apart clumps so every grain is wet. Fill the vessel no more than two-thirds full, then cover with a clean cloth, loose lid, or airlock. Do not seal it tight; fermentation needs to release gas.

5. 5

   Ferment the first days

   Keep the vessel at 20-22°C, out of direct sun. Stir twice a day for the first 2 days with a sanitized spoon, pressing the rice cap back under the liquid each time. The mixture should begin to bubble, smell grainy and lightly sour, and turn cloudy. Stirring early helps the yeasts wake evenly and keeps dry rice from sitting on the surface where spoilage starts.

6. 6

   Judge readiness

   From day 4, taste a teaspoon each day with a clean spoon. Dongdongju is ready around day 5 or 6 when it tastes sweet-sour, clearly alcoholic, and the rice grains are tender, with some bobbing at the surface. If it is still very sweet and thick, wait another day. If you see fuzzy black, blue, pink, or orange mold, or smell rot instead of grain, tartness, and alcohol, discard the batch. Do not rescue spoiled rice wine.

   If you use pH strips, the ferment should fall below pH 4.2 by the second day and finish around pH 3.5 to 4.0. That number is not decoration; it tells you the right acid has taken hold.
7. 7

   Strain lightly

   Sanitize a coarse sieve and set it over a large bowl. Skim off about 1 cup of intact floating rice grains and reserve them. Pour the ferment through the sieve, pressing gently but not wringing hard, because harsh squeezing pulls bitterness from the nuruk solids. Stir in 1 to 2 cups chilled boiled water only if you want a lighter, more pourable drink. Return the reserved grains to the strained wine so they float on top. That is the name of the drink, not a garnish tossed in later.

8. 8

   Chill and serve

   Chill the dongdongju at least 4 hours before serving. Stir or swirl gently before pouring, then ladle it into small bowls with a few rice grains in each. Taste before you sweeten. If it is too sharp for your table, stir in 1 tablespoon sugar or honey per liter only for what you will serve that day. Store leftovers in the refrigerator in a loosely capped jar or plastic bottle with headspace, and vent daily. Never seal active rice wine in glass.

Chef Tips

• •Fresh nuruk should smell grainy, yeasty, and a little mushroomy, never dusty with colored mold. Buy from a Korean market with turnover, and keep it sealed in the freezer if you will not brew within a few weeks.
• •Temperature is the seasoning here. Below 18°C the ferment goes sleepy and thin; above 25°C it can race sour before the rice sweetness is properly converted.
• •The optional gram of brewing yeast is a modern concession, not a new dish. Use it when your nuruk is weak or you are brewing in a cool apartment. Do not use bread yeast unless you have no other choice; it gives a coarse smell.
• •Dongdongju is lightly strained. A tight cloth and hard squeezing make a smoother makgeolli-like drink and leave the floating grains behind, which misses the dish's own nature.
• •This is an alcoholic drink, usually around 6 to 8 percent after dilution. Mark the bottle, keep it cold, and serve it to adults with food.

Advance Preparation

• •Begin 5 to 7 days before you plan to serve. Wash and soak the rice the night before brewing, then steam and mix the next day.
• •For a Chuseok table, strain the dongdongju the evening before, chill it overnight, and give the bottle a gentle turn before pouring so the rice grains distribute evenly.
• •Finished dongdongju keeps 5 to 7 days refrigerated. It will continue to sharpen slowly, so vent the container daily and drink it while it still tastes round.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 220g)