Supapich kys

Sato

Sato is Thai rice wine which does not go through a distillation process. It is usually made from Thai sticky rice and starter culture (Look-pang) which are bacteria and yeast. Look-pang is used to transform rice flour into alcohol. Fermented Sato will be 15 alcohol degrees or less. Sato is similar to Sake (Japanese rice wine) but Sato has sweet taste while Sake taste more dry. Thai rice wine fermented bacteria and yeast in the same time but Japanese rice wine separate flour with bacteria first then add yeast later.

Process of making Sato

Rice selection

The rice can be any kind but normally Thai people use sticky rice to make wine. Other grains that can be used are corn and millet. The sugar from sugar palm tree and coconut tree is also used to make Sato.

Rice Cooking process

Cooking the rice by steaming has two advantages. The first one is to kill bad bacteria that come with rice, and the second one is the cooked rice will transform into sugar and alcohol more easily. In fruit wine making process, the bacteria killed by using heat is also possible, but the fruit smell probably disappear or change.

Starter Culture making (Look-pang)

Look-pang is made from sticky rice and herbs. The sticky rice will make all ingredients stick together and also be food for bacteria and yeast. The herbs that are usually used to make Look-pang are shallot, garlic, galangal, long pepper, or lemongrass. All of these herbs have the same properties which are health nourishing and carminative. Normally we keep half of Look-pang to mix with the new one to connect the starter then put to sun dry.

Fermentation

Make the starter (Look-pang) in small size as thumb tip and grind perfectly. Then mix it with sticky rice which has cooked and has already cool down. Ferment in a large earthen jar for 3 - 5 days. When the rice flour has changed into brown, pour double amount of water as existing rice inside and wait for another 5 - 7 days after the yeast turns sugar into alcohol. In this state, percolate the remain rice out and we finally get Sato.

Preservation

To keep Sato for long, it needs a sterilisation by heat or Potassium metabisulfite. Then we put it in clean bottle or earthen jar, after that seal the container perfectly. If we want Sato to have clear colour, we have to leave it to precipitate before pouring in the bottle and that takes many months to be done unless adding the same chemicals in the wine.

Refining Sato

The refined Sato is rice whisky. Normally it will have 30 - 40 alcohol degrees, but in the refining process the alcohol might be from 60 alcohol degrees in the early bottles then decrease in the next bottles. The degree will decrease since there is no taste of alcohol, so they mix the liquid averagely. The rice whisky can be kept for long and is not spoiled because of high alcohol degrees.

Reference

1. wikipedia. (2017). เหล้าพื้นบ้าน, 7 February 2018. https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/เหล้าพื้นบ้าน

2. Sura Thai. (2011). ลูกแป้ง ความลับที่ไม่ลับ, 20 February 2018. https://surathai.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/lukpang-secret/

3. wikipedia. (2016). สาโท, 14 February 2018. https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/สาโท

4.บ้านลุงทอม. (2009). มารู้จักสาโทกันเถอะ, 20 February 2018. http://www.chaopraya.biz/index.php?lay=show&ac=article&Id=539152524&Ntype=6