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Alcoholic drinks from Japan

Nigori, origarami, jikagumi and doburoku濁り酒

Nigori is cloudy sake. The mash is brewed like other sake but pressed through a coarse mesh or net, so some yeast and fine rice particles stay in the bottle. Origarami and jikagumi are lightly cloudy cousins, and doburoku is not pressed at all.

Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks21 days – 28 daysFamily: Sake (base flow: junmai, sokujo starter)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceStandard brewery ratios for the main mash, by weight of polished rice. A tank holds from under one tonne to more than 10 tonnes of rice.
Steamed rice80 (as polished rice)Standard ratio for the main mash[jss-nrib2011]
Rice koji (Aspergillus oryzae)20 (as polished rice)[jss-nrib2011]
Water130[jss-nrib2011]
Yeast starter (shubo)[jss-nrib2011]
Starterkoji/qu/mold-starter (rice koji) + yeast starter (shubo)

Total time across the recorded steps: 21 days – 28 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countYeasts8–18 °CStarchSugarAlcoholCO₂

What changes: Koji dissolves the rice while yeast turns its sugar into alcohol in the same tank

Step 1 of 4
Brew the main mash as for sake
Time
21–28 days
Reported
Temperature
8–18 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts

Output: moromi (main mash).

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

koji enzymes dissolve the rice while yeast ferments the sugar in the same tank

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

Nigori is cloudy sake. The mash is brewed like other sake but pressed through a coarse mesh or net, so some yeast and fine rice particles stay in the bottle. Origarami and jikagumi are lightly cloudy cousins, and doburoku is not pressed at all. Made in 4 steps over 21 days – 28 days. The longest step, brew the main mash as for sake, takes 21–28 days (Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association and…) and runs at 8–18 °C (Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association and…). Aspergillus oryzae and Saccharomyces cerevisiae do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step21–28 daysReported[jss-nrib2011]Brew the main mash as for sake
Temperature8–18 °CReported[jss-nrib2011]Brew the main mash as for sake

What makes this one different

Nigori is brewed like other sake. The only change is at the press, where a coarse mesh or net replaces the fine cloth, so yeast and fine rice solids stay in. It is still legally sake. Doburoku goes one step further and is not pressed or strained at all, so it is not classed as sake.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Origarami, usu-nigoriLess cloudy than nigori; pressed like ordinary sake, with the settling step left out so lees stay in the bottle.
  • JikagumiBottled straight from the press without going through a tank; generally effervescent.
  • Sparkling nigoriNigori that is unpasteurised and still fermenting is effervescent.
  • DoburokuNever pressed; see the doburoku entry.

Safety

The NRIB guide says nigori in which yeast is still fermenting froths up more easily than clear sparkling sake. Chill the bottle in a refrigerator for several hours before opening, do not shake it, and pour slowly. The guide's 5 °C figure is its rule for namazake (unpasteurised sake), not for nigori in particular.

History and sources

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

Wikipedia says most sake before the 1440s was nigorizake made by a different process, and that clear seishu became established after the methods developed at the Shoryaku-ji temple. The NRIB guide says nigori in the past was unpasteurised and contained living yeast, and that much of it is pasteurised today.

  1. [jss-nrib2011] Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association and National Research Institute of Brewing 2011, A Comprehensive Guide to Japanese Sake, 1st ed. (sections 2.7, 2.10, 3.3.1, 3.3.6, 8.9)gov
  2. [klinkaew2023] Klinkaewboonwong N. et al. 2023, Targeted mutations produce divergent characteristics in pedigreed sake yeast strains, Microorganisms 11(5), 1274 (abstract and introduction)paper
  3. [WP:Sake] Wikipedia, Sake (outline only)wiki