Looking for a Red Rice Ale Extract Kit

You aren't going to find this in the US - extract kits usually do not use adjunct grain, and I'm not sure how to make it sake-like. From the description, I think it will be challenging to clone.

 

I googled "red rice malt extract" and came up empty. This would seem to indicate that no one makes red rice malt syrup, in which case it would be pretty much impossible to brew an extract version of this beer (at least, in terms of incorporating the red rice aspect).

I don't know how similar red rice is to other kinds of rice. Regular rice malt syrup is readily available and can be used in extract brewing (though I've never done so and I don't know what it would be like). My general impression is that rice malt syrup is basically pure maltose and as such is highly fermentable, so it does not add a tremendous amount of character but instead lightens the body of the beer. But others can weigh in if I am incorrect about that.

Throwing one other thought out there: it is not really that hard to do a mini-mash, the equipment requirements are minimal. You could probably get your hands on some red rice, and then do a mini-mash with something that has a lot of diastatic power. You could use ordinary malt extract to round out your fermentables, and specialty grains to dial in the character you want. If you go this route, make sure you understand how to make the starches in the rice available for enzymatic conversion in the mash (this is something I've never done - I assume you can boil the rice for a while to gelatinize the starches). This approach would definitely be a bit of a leap into the dark but it might be fun and rewarding. If you go this route, definitely let us know how it goes.

I was going to suggest using Arkansas-grown red rice as a way to use local ingredients, but a Google search reveals that red rice is considered a weed in Arkansas!

[Edited to add: I agree with @pweis909 that your chances of cloning this beer with a high degree of fidelity are fairly low. But my own view is that this shouldn't stop you from experimenting - if you use proper techniques, and your recipe design is reasonable, the results should be tasty even if the beer doesn't resemble the Hitachino Nest beer very closely.]

 

Thanks for providing more detail than I did. I definitely don't want to discourage experimenting. My read of the description (sake like flavors) made me wonder if they incorporate elements of the sake process (I'm not too up on that). That, plus the need to do some sort of cereal mash for the rice, made me think it is not an "off-the-shelf" project but one that will require a lot of experimenting. But I never had the beer, so I may be assuming too much.

 

Malts: Larger (aka lager malt)
Hops: Chinook
Adjuncts: Red Rice, Flaked Barley
Original gravity: 1.070
Alcohol Vol: 7.0%
IBU: 26
Color: Smoky Pink

You can do it. Use light malt extract and do a mini cereal mash and mini partial mash with some 6 row. I bet it uses a lot of red rice. Like maybe 30% or more.

You can buy red rice on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Dragonfly-Red...=UTF8&qid=1424633236&sr=8-2&keywords=red+rice

 

Okay, so, it sounds as though you'll need to table this idea for a while. But if you do decide to proceed, here is how I would do it.

If you go the extract route, you are limited to ordinary rice malt extract (not red rice). First, find an extract kit for a Belgian strong pale ale, or something similar. Here are a few: Belgian tripel, Belgian strong golden ale, "Lefse Blonde." Or, hey, from my local homebrew store: Belgian golden strong, Belgian tripel. (Note that those last two kits do not include yeast, which you would need to purchase separately.) Then replace any sugar in the recipe with an equivalent amount (in terms of contribution of fermentables) of malt rice extract (like this). For this purpose, you will need to figure out the gravity contribution of a unit of rice malt extract vs. a unit of sugar - which I don't know. You might also replace a portion of the malt extract with rice malt extract, so that your total use of rice malt extract is in the 20-30% range. To be honest I think this approach would be nothing like the Hitachino Nest and would probably just make a pretty standard Belgian ale. But there is nothing wrong with a standard Belgian ale!

The other thing to do is to read up on partial mashes and/or brew-in-a-bag (BIAB). Then find a recipe for a Belgian ale and replace some of the pilsner malt with red rice, making sure you process it so that its starches are available for conversion. (Look up "cereal mash.") This is really not a very challenging approach and if you need help we can walk you through it. It would be a good way, in fact, to expand your skill set. (With all due respect, I would not use Chinook hops as suggested by @Brew_Betty. I would use noble hops from Europe, something like Saaz or Tettnanger.)

But I understand if you are not ready to take on that kind of project, in which case I would say make sure you write this idea down so you don't forget it when you are ready to try more advanced techniques. It sounds like a fun experiment that would definitely be unique. I am almost tempted to try it myself.

 

Chinook is what the brewery uses. The ingredients I listed were found at their website.

 

Ah, that also explains the "larger" malts. Anyway fair enough. Personally I would rather use noble hops and risk not getting as close to the original, but I can see the argument for adhering to Hitachino's recipe.