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Alcoholic drinks from Korea

Makgeolli (takju, nongju)막걸리

Steamed rice is fermented with nuruk, a wheat cake starter that carries moulds, yeasts and lactic bacteria, often in two stages. The mash is strained cloudy, usually thinned with water, and drunk young and cold.

Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks8.3 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe two-stage (mitsul plus deotsul) laboratory batch of Wong et al. (2023), which gave makgeolli of 7.8 % ABV and pH 3.62. Home and brewery recipes vary; commercial makgeolli is usually thinned to about 6–8 % ABV.
Non-glutinous rice, milled to powder400 gFor the seed mash, cooked 15 min with the water below[wong2023]
Water for the seed mash1.25 L[wong2023]
Ground wheat nuruk200 gAdded to the seed mash once it cools to 25 °C[wong2023]
Glutinous rice2 kgWashed, soaked 3 h, drained 1 h and steamed 120 min[wong2023]
Water for the main mash1.5 L[wong2023]
Seed mash from the first stage1 L[wong2023]
Starterkoji/qu/mold-starter (nuruk; some recipes also add yeast)

Total time across the recorded steps: 8.3 days

Start
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25 °C

What changes: Steam cooks the soaked rice, which then cools to 25 °C

Step 1 of 5
Wash, soak and steam the rice
Time
6 h
Reported
Temperature
25 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: steamed rice.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Steamed rice is fermented with nuruk, a wheat cake starter that carries moulds, yeasts and lactic bacteria, often in two stages. The mash is strained cloudy, usually thinned with water, and drunk young and cold. Made in 5 steps over 8.3 days. The longest step, main mash (deotsul), takes 7 days (Wong B 2023) and runs at 25 °C (Wong B 2023). Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomycopsis fibuligera do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step7 daysReported[wong2023]Main mash (deotsul)
Temperature25 °CReported[wong2023]Main mash (deotsul)
AciditypH 3.6–4.4Reported[wong2023]Strain and thin

What makes this one different

Makgeolli is the cloudy brew; yakju and cheongju take only the clear layer from the same kind of mash. It starts from nuruk, a wheat cake starter that carries moulds, yeasts and lactic bacteria together. Live makgeolli is sold young and unpasteurised.

Related ferments

Variants

  • One-stage (Wong's 1SF-N)All the rice goes in at once; a nuruk-only lab batch reached 13.0 % ABV at pH 3.73.
  • Two-stage (Wong's 2SF)One seed mash, then the main mash; the lab batch reached 7.8 % ABV.
  • Three-stage (Wong's 3SF)Two seed-mash stages before the main mash; the lab batch reached 12.6 % ABV at pH 4.14.

Made the makgeolli way

Safety

Korea's Food Code limits methanol in takju to 0.5 mg/mL. Live makgeolli is unpasteurised and keeps changing, so keep it at about 4 °C. WHO says no level of alcohol use is safe for health.

Hazards the sources name: Enterobacteria (Pantoea agglomerans, Enterobacter cloacae) identified in the nuruk used for gayangju, a related house rice wine, and gone as fermentation went on.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Rice wine has been brewed in Korea since the Three Kingdoms era (1st century BCE to 7th century CE). The Samguk yusa records cloudy rice wine (yorye) brewed in Silla in 661. In the Goryeo dynasty the drink was called ihwa-ju, and it was brewed at home for centuries as a farmer's wine (nongju). Under Japanese rule (1910-1945) brewing was licensed and taxed, and home brewing was banned by 1934. A ban on brewing with rice began in 1965 because of rice shortages and was lifted in 1990; wheat was used in between.

  1. [wong2023] Wong B., Muchangi K., Quach E. et al. 2023, Characterisation of Korean rice wine (makgeolli) prepared by different processing methods, Current Research in Food Science 6:100420paper
  2. [song2022] Song Y.R., Lim B.U., Baik S.H. 2022, Microbial diversity and volatile flavor changes during Gayangju fermentation, a traditional Korean house rice wine, Foods 11(17):2604paper
  3. [chang2026] Chang C.C., Pak J., Bae S., Kim G.D., Son H.S. 2026, Impact of low aging temperature on the microbial and metabolic dynamics of rice wine during long-term storage, Current Research in Food Science 12:101294paper
  4. [mfds-food-code] Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Korea), Food Code (식품의 기준 및 규격), Chapter 5, 15. Alcoholic beverages, takju (definition; methanol 0.5 mg/mL or less)gov
  5. [who2023] WHO Regional Office for Europe 2023, No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health (statement published in The Lancet Public Health; news release, 4 January 2023)gov
  6. [wp] Wikipedia, Makgeolli (history and names only)wiki