Recipe For Making Lao Khao?

[Sourdough Al]

Hi:

Does anyone have a good recipe for making Lao Khao?

I'd like to give it a try!

[realthaideal]

"Does anyone have a good recipe for making Lao Khao?

I'd like to give it a try!"

Alot of us drink it, but I doubt any of us have made it. Right now in the dry season it's brewing up out in the country all over Thailand. Your best bet to really learn the process is to go out to the country with a good Thai friend - a guy, or that special girl who wants to show you her village, and go watch the rice harvest.

The making of Lao Khao is now illegal and they are very protective of it when they make it. It is essentially moon shine, you know. But it doesn't take much to get a line on some once you go spend a day or two in the country. Isaan and Chiang Mai for sure have tons of people making it. You just have to.

But be mellow when you ask about drinking or buying some. They don't want to get turned in to the cops. Out in Chiang Rai where I buy mine, the lady at the small convenience store denies that she knows anything about it. Then when I identify who my friends are in the village, she takes me out across the street, and behind a fence of an abandoned house. There, in liter soda bottles, she keeps the good stuff. And it's dirt cheap, no need to do the home brew.

I once went out to take rice harvest pix and the farmers were so excited to see me they invited me to their lunch and made me drink some with them between rice threshings. They had two kinds - one is the half fermented sweet, and syrupy version with lower alcohol content, and the other is the straight up Lao Khao - white lightning. It really does a number on you in 90F heat midday when you think you're just taking a walk out int he rice fields, next thing you have to walk the windy paths back out of the field without tripping.

Ok, and from what they tell me, I do know this: you put the rice and some sugar in a big jar with an airtight seal for a few days to a few weeks. But the actual magic that makes it happens is beyond me as I haven't done it yet. But I'm sure if you get the trust of a few people in a village, that they wouldn't mind showing you how it's done. Again, they won't talk about it much, but THEY'RE ALL DOING IT !

[rgs2001uk]

Ok, and from what they tell me, I do know this: you put the rice and some sugar in a big jar with an airtight seal for a few days to a few weeks. But the actual magic that makes it happens is beyond me as I haven't done it yet. But I'm sure if you get the trust of a few people in a village, that they wouldn't mind showing you how it's done. Again, they won't talk about it much, but THEY'RE ALL DOING IT !

rice and sugar in a big jar, is called the mash, have to wait for it to ferment, time dependant on quantity and temperature.

the actual magicthat makes it happen is when it is distilled, pot still (pressure cooker) or reflux still.

the smell will alert everyone to what you are doing, there is no disguising it.

if you want to test the product for purity, pour a little in a saucer and set fire to it, the good stuff will have a flame that burns blue, and will have no water left.

inferior ( cut versions) will burn yellow and have residue.

as with any kind of distilling, cleanliness is everything, you cannot rush it or cut corners.

for a greater understanding, google the blue flame.

[britmaveric]

Awful stuff!!!!!

[Briggsy]

Recipe for disaster!

[farangsay]

Awful stuff!!!!!

No it's not.

Redolent of poteen.

But in both cases you should only buy from a recommended source.

[Rinrada]

Or Sidiki......."Sid" in the old Saudi days....other names include white lightning...flash...surf...blue....(middle east -Libya etc)and Poteen...hooch.......and of course ....good ol "Moonshine"....

Almost every country that I have been to has some sort of "loco" but a lot is PURE POISON...Dangerous....India...Kenya...Pakis.....all add Methanol plus other stuff....Malawi,Zambia,Nigeria...etc... come in Milk Tetra pacs......but.......dear dear...

Process usually all much the same ..fermented Suger,Potatoes ,Rice,Palm Leaves......boiled up and distilled then tapped off and re distilled to improve alc level.......but as above needs CUT to reduce before drinking....

Couple of lads i knew in a camp in SA (1977) tried for the famous 4th run.....and blew themselves up...kaput.....ra wang....

[A_MIKE_U_LIKE]

..Try 1 x eardropper full of Slightly Rice Flavoured water 1 x Gallon of Benzine 2 x medium sized Bottles of Red Bull Deaung ..Leave it a week come back light a match but stand well back ..If you survive that it should be safe to drink ..Seriously DONT TRY THAT AT HOME just kidding ..Never had a good experiance on that stuff much similar to German Korn ..But everyone to there own taste i guess . ..I don,t think i would like to get caught by Thai Police making Moonshine/Hooch .. But sure sounds like a adventure to me .. .. Good Luck

[Chung noi]

Anyone I ever seen get ripped on it spent the next two days under the coconut tree. I think see-sip degree is about the same ain't it? with no explosive diarrhea.

However it is interesting to home brew.

Good luck

Chung

[bazmlb]

I have seen a drink called absinthe sold in some nightclubs here it sure beats lao khao, just dont drink to much, does anybody know if its available in shops anywhere?

[farangsay]

Absinthe was illegal for many years in Europe but

these laws have steadily been revoked and it is

now being produced commercially again.

The distinguishing ingredient in absinthe is

wormwood , it gives the flavour.

Wkipedia gives the following on wormwood.

Pure wormwood oil is very poisonous, but with

proper dosage poses little or no danger.

Check your dosage.

[bazmlb]

Kinda knew all that but has anyone seen it for sale here in Thailand, the QBar had it there

[Rinrada]

Correct ..it was banned in Europe for many years but not supprise supprise in the UK...

Usually the other way around but nobody ever asks for it and must admit that I have never seen it on home ground for sale.

Last time i tried it was a few months ago in a restaurant over in Calais...very smart joint...cuisine nuvo..etc and it was absolutely delicious.

Most of my fellow diners were English and reconned that they couldnt take it (foreign muck maybe....in a French Rest.... ) so I ended up with theirs....luvly jubly ...

Nearest normal comparision in most gin joints would be with Perniod-"Per-No "(France)or Ouzo (Greece-Cyprus)..Raki in Turkey/Lebannon........add a touch of H2O and it turns white...bit like Lao K........

[britmaveric]

Have a bottle of Absinth in me bar stock. Fking jet fuel. Light it and drop a sugar cube on a teaspoon and carmelize it. Then down the hatch. Czech bird had a good laff at me and a mate in Prague - served it to us neat.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Awful stuff!!!!!

It'd kill a soi dog.

[Robski]

Awful stuff!!!!!

It'd kill a soi dog.

If it's cheaper than rat poison I might need to get some.

[jts-khorat]

Ok, and from what they tell me, I do know this: you put the rice and some sugar in a big jar with an airtight seal for a few days to a few weeks.

What you are talking about is the making of Sato; easy enough done by yourself, in a plastic bucket in the kitchen as a fermentation tank (can be smelly the first couple days) as it is essentially prison wine. You can buy the yeast in any bakery or in Tesco Lotus, but it would be bread yeast and as such gives it not the nicest taste and inferior alcohol levels.

How the process of distillation goes on from here to make Lao Kaow out of this, frankly I do not know.

http://nakhon-ratchasima.com/guides/Thaila...t%29/shopping/:

The ingredients for Sato (Thai rice wine) are simple: 1) sticky rice; 2) a starter culture, a mixture including sugar and some nutrients (substances needed to help living things to grow); 3) yeast (a substance that causes other ingredients to grow); and 4) water.

Traditionally, a starter culture known as look pan, a small ball of starch rich in various microbes, is used to assist in fermentation.

The actual manufacturing process is not difficult. Steamed rice is mixed with look pang rich in yeast and kept in a fermentation tank for three days as starch in the rice changes to sugar.

Clean water is added to the tank and second fermentation takes about another week before fresh rice wine is squeezed from the material. It is then filtered.

Edited January 20, 2007 by jts-khorat

[Sourdough Al]

Ok, and from what they tell me, I do know this: you put the rice and some sugar in a big jar with an airtight seal for a few days to a few weeks.

What you are talking about is the making of Sato; easy enough done by yourself, in a plastic bucket in the kitchen as a fermentation tank (can be smelly the first couple days) as it is essentially prison wine. You can buy the yeast in any bakery or in Tesco Lotus, but it would be bread yeast and as such gives it not the nicest taste and inferior alcohol levels.

How the process of distillation goes on from here to make Lao Kaow out of this, frankly I do not know.

http://nakhon-ratchasima.com/guides/Thaila...t%29/shopping/:

The ingredients for Sato (Thai rice wine) are simple: 1) sticky rice; 2) a starter culture, a mixture including sugar and some nutrients (substances needed to help living things to grow); 3) yeast (a substance that causes other ingredients to grow); and 4) water.

Traditionally, a starter culture known as look pan, a small ball of starch rich in various microbes, is used to assist in fermentation.

The actual manufacturing process is not difficult. Steamed rice is mixed with look pang rich in yeast and kept in a fermentation tank for three days as starch in the rice changes to sugar.

Clean water is added to the tank and second fermentation takes about another week before fresh rice wine is squeezed from the material. It is then filtered.

Thanks jts-khorat!

I was hoping to cook up a batch Lao Khao back home when the weather warms up over here. I will not be able to find any of the look pan in the States, but if I start out with a decent wine yeast, I might get something that would be worth drinking.

[phibunmike]

Correct ..it was banned in Europe for many years but not supprise supprise in the UK...

Usually the other way around but nobody ever asks for it and must admit that I have never seen it on home ground for sale.

Last time i tried it was a few months ago in a restaurant over in Calais...very smart joint...cuisine nuvo..etc and it was absolutely delicious.

Most of my fellow diners were English and reconned that they couldnt take it (foreign muck maybe....in a French Rest.... ) so I ended up with theirs....luvly jubly ...

Nearest normal comparision in most gin joints would be with Perniod-"Per-No "(France)or Ouzo (Greece-Cyprus)..Raki in Turkey/Lebannon........add a touch of H2O and it turns white...bit like Lao K........

Absinthe is illegal in many places because not only is it alcoholic but also hallucinogenic. It is still available in the Czech Republic; I didn't know about the UK, but suspect that might be a doctored version - and it is available by mail order from www dot seborabsinth dot com.

As for making Lao Khao - well, it seems to me that it is cheaper to buy than the bottle would cost As for the concept of it being "worth drinking", well, you are a better man than me

Pernod, Ricard, Ouzo and the rest are all aniseed drinks, which although delicious, I would not equate with Lautrec's ruin...

[tijnebijn]

Oh no,nonononono.......So bad for ya,almost killed me onetime.

[realthaideal]

"Absinthe is illegal in many places because not only is it alcoholic but also hallucinogenic. It is still available in the Czech Republic; I didn't know about the UK, but suspect that might be a doctored version - and it is available by mail order from www dot seborabsinth dot com.'

I fly EVA Airlines back n forth to The States n just saw it for sale duty free in Taipei. Am regretting not buying it now !!

"As for making Lao Khao - well, it seems to me that it is cheaper to buy than the bottle would cost As for the concept of it being "worth drinking", well, you are a better man than me"

Methinks the stuff is great. Does some damage, but when you want to cut loose, just a couple shots n you're feeling fine. And F*$%d up !

[therichman]

I like fresh tamarine!!

Edited February 16, 2007 by therichman

[pampal]

In Iran I tasted the local firewater called Arak, 75 percent

Made from raisins, got me wasted

[mrt273nva]

in mongolia i drank fermented horse milk called "arig" or something like that. it was a nice break from all the vodka. the stuff i drank in the countryside tasted a bit like grass and was quite nice. the stuff i had in ulanbataar tasted like something out of a toilet.

[dttk0009]

I was under the impression that absinthe was illegal in Thailand. I love the stuff. If it's legal I'll most likely have a bottle ordered online right away

[Sourdough Al]

I found an interesting article on Wkikpedia (where else!) that provides quite a bit of information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sato_%28rice_wine%29

Apparently the stuff is also called Sato.

Now I wonder where I can find the starter or look pang?

Does anyone know what is in the stuff?