Barley Shochu Brewing with a New Method of Material Treatment

Abstract

Effects of a new method of treating materials in barley shochu brewing, in which barley is steeped with a restricted amount of water (RW method, This Journal, 89 149-154, 311-314 (1994)), on the fermentation and the quality of shochu obtained were studied by applying the method to shochu making on a plant scale.The moisture content of steeped barley coincided with the desired value, and koji made by the RW method had good quality comparable with that made by the ordinary method. Considering that sugars were eluted from barley in washing process of ordinary method, this result suggested that the load in the waste water treatment was reduced by the RW method. It was estimated that the volume of waste water and BOD were decreased by 14% and 44%, respectively, in the case of the factory treating 20 ton barley/day.