Yong Ha Brews

02/09/2025

This mother and daughter pair needs a loving home. Mocha is the orange one and Darkness is Mocha’s daughter. Mocha is a feminine cat with powerful paws. Darkness is quirky and an excellent hunter. She grunts more than she meows.

Please contact me if you are interested in loving my cat friends. I am leaving the country soon and they need a loving home. They live outdoors now but can become indoor cats as well.

03/18/2024

2주전 .con 구아바 입 단양주 막걸리 만들기 발표하고 오늘 술 채주해서 남은 지게미. 술 지게미 향 얌얌.

Strained the guava danyangju makgeolli batch presented 2 weeks ago for .con and the jiagemi(spent)smells so nice. Tonight I will exfoliate my face with some of the jigaemi—the probiotics and polyphenols should help. No need to buy skincare products when you brew your own probiotics and polyphenol filled alcoholic beverage.

#단양주 #피부미용

01/17/2024

Rising dough smells similar to the beginnings of fermentation at the foundational first stage called mitsool in Korean brewing. Smells like yogurt, doughy, a little sour—yeast and lactic acid bacteria are going for it. Oh the connections of sool and other beautiful human and microorganism intersections!

06/28/2023

Holding up on the left the spent/lees some Korean brewers refer to as 지게미 (jigaemi).

When the jigaemi is less than 10 percent of the sool (alcohol) yield you know the nuruk (fermentation starter) was very productive. Translates to a very high abv for this batch.

This particular batch isn’t great to drink as is but could be delightful as soju when distilled.

04/24/2023

Mugwort (쑥) is growing nicely thanks to . Soon I’ll incorporate into my sool and rice cake (떡).

#쑥 #술 #떡 #전통주

03/01/2023

02/28/2023

Looking forward to tomorrow’s .con presentation on Korean alcohol by Dr. Lee Yoon Hee. She will provide an overview of Korean alcohol (sool) and discuss the health benefits of living microorganisms in unpasteurized sool made with traditional nuruk (wild fermentation starter), and the theory and practice of making nuruk (fermentation starter) and makgeolli.

I thank , kojicon@, and for their openness to share Korean mold-based fermentation knowledge from a perspective rarely given voice to in the English speaking fermentation world. It is an honor to provide English translation for Dr. Lee tomorrow. She was always so encouraging and helpful when I was scrambling around South Korea from Seoul to the countryside to learn all I can about sool. Moreover, Dr Lee was one of the very few mentors I met in Korean to promote traditional Korean alcohol while encouraging innovation based on tradition. It was also with Dr. Lee I first made koji.

#술 #문화유산 #탁주 #약주 #전통주 #누룩 #가양주

01/23/2023

It’s windy today so I’m letting my nuruk—Korean fermentation starter— get ☀️ on the couch facing the window. My new hack on windy days.

03/06/2022

How fun and rewarding it was to speak about sool (Korean alcohol) fermentation with koji lovers! Notwithstanding the major differences between nuruk and koji, we can appreciate the mysteries and numerous possibilities enabled by our fungi friends. It was a joy to share a bit of the wonders of nuruk, the historically wild fermented grain fermentation starter used to make sool (Korean alcohol). I didn’t mention this as it wasn’t directly related to sool but nuruk is used by a few South Korean artisans to produce soy sauce and dwenjang. When appropriate, this aspect of nuruk application is something I’d like to share as well at some point in the future. And those wanting to learn about Korean savory ferments should definitely check out the presentation by . Thank you .con

02/18/2022

Thank you .con for inviting me to present on Korean alcohol brewing for the second annual Kojicon: Changing Food for Good, a virtual, interactive conference, February 21st to March 6th 2022. Join me and fermentation experts from around the world in our live demonstrations and discussions on edible molds—koji and cognate mold-based ferments—and their cultural, historical, and health significance. Visit www.kojicon.org for more information and tickets.

03/11/2021

Discussing microbes, Korean fermentation, and the history of
makgeolli with historians Charles Kollmer and Victoria Lee this Saturday at 12pm. Join us! Free registration link in bio.

#막걸리 #술역사 #역사