Figaro Shakes
Cultural Ferment

Makgeolli Recipe: How to Brew Korean Rice Wine at Home With Nuruk

By Updated 2 min read

Discover how to brew makgeolli, Korea’s ancient milky rice wine, at home in 5-7 days. Packed with probiotics, B vitamins, and earthy sweetness—a living fermented beverage with 2,000 years of history.

At a glance

Makgeolli is Korea's milky, lightly fizzy rice wine: steamed rice is fermented with water and nuruk – a starter cake of molds, yeasts and lactic acid bacteria – for about a week, then strained and diluted to taste. Nuruk both turns rice starch into sugar and supplies makgeolli's dominant microbes. Some nuruk samples have exceeded Korea's aflatoxin limit, so buy it from a reputable maker.

  • Made from steamed rice, water and nuruk, fermented about 5–7 days at 22–26°C.
  • Nuruk supplies enzymes plus molds, yeasts and lactic acid bacteria.
  • Nuruk makgeolli has more lactic acid bacteria than koji-brewed makgeolli.
  • 14 of 61 nuruk samples exceeded Korea's 15 ppb aflatoxin limit; ~1.2% transferred to the drink.
  • Home brews are strong and are diluted with water after straining.

Ferment profile

Origin
Korea
Fermentation
Mixed (lactic + alcoholic)
Main microbes
From nuruk: molds (Aspergillus, Rhizopus, Mucorales), yeasts (Saccharomyces), lactic acid bacteria
Live cultures
Depends on preparation
Alcohol
High (over 6%)

Makgeolli (막걸리) is Korea’s milky, lightly sparkling, sweet-sour rice wine. Steamed rice is fermented with water and nuruk, a traditional starter cake of grain grown over with molds, yeasts and bacteria; the brew is then strained, often diluted with water, and drunk young, usually with savory pancakes (jeon). Commercial makgeolli is sold either unpasteurized (“live”, with a short shelf life) or pasteurized.

Nuruk: Enzymes and Microbes in One Cake

Yeasts can’t ferment rice starch directly, so makgeolli needs a saccharification agent – nuruk – to turn starch into sugar while yeasts turn that sugar into alcohol, both at once. Nuruk carries enzymes and a community of fungi and lactic acid bacteria. When researchers compared makgeolli brewed with nuruk against makgeolli brewed with Japanese-style koji, the nuruk makgeolli had a distinct microbial profile with a higher share of lactic acid bacteria, and the dominant microbes in each makgeolli seemed to come from its starter (Cha et al., 2023). In traditional wheat nuruk, sequencing found the molds Aspergillus, Mucorales and Rhizomucor dominating, with the mix depending on how the nuruk was made (Bal et al., 2016).

How Strong Is It?

Bottled makgeolli is usually a low-strength drink because it’s diluted. A home brew is noticeably stronger straight from the jar and is traditionally thinned with water to taste after straining, which is how you control the strength. Like any alcoholic drink, it isn’t for children, during pregnancy, or for anyone avoiding alcohol. Unpasteurized makgeolli contains live yeasts and bacteria, but it’s still an alcoholic drink, not a health tonic.

Nuruk Quality and Safety

Nuruk is a mold product, and some molds produce aflatoxin. In a Korean survey, 14 of 61 nuruk samples exceeded Korea’s limit for aflatoxin in cereal products (15 ppb); only a small fraction – around 1.2–1.3% of aflatoxin G1 – passed into the finished drink, and the toxin-producing strains found were weak producers (Yun et al., 2020). Buy nuruk from a reputable producer, store it dry and cool, and don’t use cakes that look or smell off. During brewing, a thin pale film can form; fuzzy green, black, blue or pink mold means discard the whole batch – don’t skim it and carry on.

Related rice drinks: Indonesian tapai, Philippine tapuy, Chinese jiu niang, and Korea’s sweet, non-alcoholic rice punch sikhye.

Recipe: Homemade Makgeolli

Makes
About 3 litres after diluting
Hands-on
90 min
Fermentation
5–7 days at 22–26°C
Temperature
22–26°C (72–79°F)
Difficulty
Moderate

Equipment

  • Steamer lined with cloth
  • 4–5 litre glass jar or crock
  • Clean cloth
  • Fine cloth or sieve for straining
  • Bottles

Ingredients

  • 1 kg short-grain or glutinous rice (washed and soaked 8–12 hours)
  • 100 g nuruk (from a reputable maker, crumbled)
  • 1.5 litres water (boiled and cooled)
  • About 1 litre cold water (for diluting after straining)

Method

  1. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear and soak it 8–12 hours. Drain well.
  2. Steam on a cloth for 40–60 minutes until fully cooked through.
  3. Spread out and cool to below 30°C.
  4. In the clean jar, mix the rice, crumbled nuruk and 1.5 litres of cooled water thoroughly with a clean hand or spoon.
  5. Cover with a cloth and keep at 22–26°C. Stir twice a day for the first 2–3 days, then leave it.
  6. After 5–7 days, when bubbling has slowed and it smells clean, sweet-sour and alcoholic, strain through a cloth, squeezing the lees.
  7. Dilute with cold water to taste, bottle with loose caps and refrigerate. Drink within about a week; open carefully, as it keeps fizzing.
  8. Discard any batch with fuzzy green, black, blue or pink mold or a putrid smell.

Frequently asked questions

What is makgeolli?

A Korean rice wine made by fermenting steamed rice with water and nuruk; it's milky, lightly fizzy and sweet-sour.

What is nuruk?

A traditional Korean fermentation starter: cakes of grain (often wheat) grown over with molds, yeasts and bacteria, which supply both the enzymes and the microbes for makgeolli.

How strong is homemade makgeolli?

Stronger than bottled makgeolli before you dilute it. Strain it and add water to taste; bottled makgeolli is usually a low-strength drink.

Can I brew makgeolli without nuruk?

You need an enzyme source. Koji plus yeast works, but gives a different flavor and fewer lactic acid bacteria than nuruk.

Is makgeolli the same as sake?

No. Sake is made with koji and selected yeast and filtered clear; makgeolli is made with nuruk and left cloudy and unfiltered.

How long does homemade makgeolli last?

About a week in the fridge. It keeps fermenting, getting drier, more sour and fizzier.

Is makgeolli healthy?

Unpasteurized makgeolli contains live microbes, but it's an alcoholic drink; any benefit doesn't outweigh alcohol's risks.

Sources

  1. Cha J et al. (2023). Effects of saccharification agents on the microbial and metabolic profiles of Korean rice wine (makgeolli). Food Res Int 172:113367. Link
  2. Bal J et al. (2016). Metagenomic analysis of fungal diversity in Korean traditional wheat-based fermentation starter nuruk. Food Microbiol 60:73–83. Link
  3. Yun J, Kim JH, Lee JE (2020). Influence of aflatoxin in nuruk on the safety of starch-based alcoholic beverage. J Food Sci 85(3):762–770. Link
#East Asia
Share:

More Global Fermented Foods