Amazake Recipe/甘酒のレシピ

Today, I posted an amazake recipe to COOKPAD. Here's a translation of it. It's a simple, workable recipe, so I hope you consider trying it when you ever decide to make amazake.
今日は、クックパッドに甘酒のレシピを載せました。その翻訳です。簡単で実際的なレシピなので、甘酒を作る時は、試してみて下さい。

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Making amazake with koji and leftover rice in a thermos/vacuum flask

Put koji and leftover rice in a thermos/vacuum flask to make amazake. Just keep them at 60 to 55 degrees C for 8 to 12 hours.

Ingredients
400 g fresh koji
400 g cooked rice (same amount of koji)
1200 ml hot water at 65 degrees C (3 times the amount of koji)
Small amount of boiling water (about 200 ml) for warming the thermos flask
Thermos flask with a capacity of about 2 liters
Thermometer REQUIRED.

Fresh koji, cooked rice, and water ratio = 1:1:3

1 My beloved thermos flask. One that won't get the water out when I press the button. Rather than just throwing it away, I use it as an invaluable tool for simmering soybeans, azuki beans, and so on. I have removed the tube (inside).

2 It's easy to handle because the lid is detachable. The capacity is 2.2 L. For a portable thermos bottle with a capacity of about 1 liter or so, use about 200 g of koji.

3 My favorite, locally produced fresh koji. 400 g. The koji, cooked rice, water ratio is 1:1:3, so for 200 g of koji, use 200 g of cooked rice and 600 ml of hot water.

4 On the back of the bag, directions for making amazake are written. The recipe uses no cooked rice. In that case, amazake can be made in 2 hours.

5 I've never used dried koji, so I'm not really sure but you may want to <1> Soften with hot water and/or <2> Add some extra hot water.

6 Crumble koji in the bag (into individual grains).

7 I took mine out of the fridge and placed it on the kitchen counter. 30 minutes later, it was 15 degrees. I wanted to wait until it reached room temperature (around 20 degrees), but I went on to the next step.

8 Bring 1,400 ml of water to a boil, and put 200 ml of it in the flask. Cool the remaining 1,200 ml to 65 degrees.

9 400 g of leftover rice. Microwave it. Cool it to around 70 degrees, by checking with a thermometer.

10 Drain water from the flask.
(I checked the temperature inside the flask, and it was more than 80 degrees, so I waited until it went down to around 70 degrees.)

11 Put koji in the flask.

12 Add 1,200 ml of water at 65 degrees. Add rice, too. Mix well with cooking chopsticks.

13 Check the temperature. Ideally, it should be 60 degrees. This time, it was 57.

14 I added some 70-degree water, and put on the lid. The flask was full!

15 Take care not to increase the temperature to 65 degrees or higher. Otherwise, the enzymes will be deactivated. Once deactivated, they will never be activated again when the temperature goes down.

16 The kojikin (Aspergillus oryzae) itself dies at around 50 degrees. It's not the kojikin but the enzyme produced by it that turns starch into sugar.

17 Amazake contains more than 100 types of enzyme. When you consume them, however, they will be decomposed in your body.

18 I placed a note so that my children wouldn't touch it.

19 This time, I made it at 8:00 p.m., and when I checked the temperature at 6:00 the next morning (10 hours later), it was 53 degree. Not bad. If it is 50 degrees or lower, you may want to reheat it (after transferring it to a pot).

20 You must reheat it up to 60 degrees. At 8:00 a.m. (12 hours later), it was 51 degrees. I decided to stop the fermentation.

21 I transferred it to a big pot.

22 And, then, to plastic containers. This time, I accidentally put a little more water than necessary, so I got a large amount (more than 2 liters).

23 Sweet and tasty. If the texture of the rice grains bothers you, you may want to <1> Make the cooked rice into congee and/or <2> Process it in a blender after it's made.

24 If you want to stop the workings of the enzymes, heat the amazake to 65 degrees or higher to deactivate the enzymes in step 21.

25 Personally, I like to put it in the fridge when it gets cool, rather than heating it, and use it up in, say, 7 to 10 days.

Tips:

Temperature control is the key to amazake making! A thermometer is a must!!! For success, be sure to use one!

How and why this recipe is created

When I studied amazake making, I found a lot of ways to keep the temperature to 60-55, such as using a yogurt maker, rice cooker, and kotatsu (traditional Japanese heating device), and I thought that among them, a thermos flask should be the easiest to use. As for a ratio, I wouldn't be able to get a lot without adding rice, and I settled on a ratio of 1:1:3.