Japan's Top Inventions - Season 8 Episode 19 - Automated Ginjo Koji Makers - video Dailymotion

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Japan's Top Inventions - Season 8 Episode 19 - Automated Ginjo Koji Makers

Transcript

00:00He's behind renowned Japanese products. This is Japan's top inventions

00:07Today's topic is automated Ginjo Koji Makers

00:11Sake is a uniquely Japanese alcoholic drink made from rice and water

00:36Today it has many global fans and is enjoyed around the world

00:41Ginjo Sake in particular is regarded as a premium variety

00:52Known for its fragrant aroma and delicate flavor some Ginjo Sake brands have earned high praise at international competitions

01:01One important ingredient in determining the aroma and flavor of Ginjo Sake is Koji

01:10Making it requires highly skilled craftsmanship

01:16And for sake breweries with an aging workforce that expertise needed to be passed down

01:23Japan's largest maker of brewing machinery took notice of this issue

01:31And set out to mechanize Ginjo Koji production a task previously thought impossible

01:38The breakthrough came from a special fabric used in ski wear

01:44The breakthrough came from a special fabric used in ski wear

01:46I'm in Okayama Prefecture in West Japan

01:58To visit a manufacturer of brewing machinery

02:02Hi there!

02:06Hello! Welcome!

02:07Showing me around today is engineer Kariyama Masahiro

02:13First, the company cafeteria

02:20Amazing! This is all sake?

02:22Yes!

02:23The entire wall is lined with bottles

02:27How many in total?

02:29How many in total?

02:30About 200

02:31200

02:32200

02:33These are bottles from sake manufacturers who use our equipment

02:37Among them are bottles of premium Ginjo Sake

02:42What equipment do you use to make Ginjo Sake?

02:48Well, it's all about the Koji

02:53We make equipment specifically for producing Ginjo Koji

02:59Let's take a look at a sample of the Koji

03:03Is this it?

03:05You can see areas that are white and others that aren't

03:08It's speckled

03:11Here's how it looks up close

03:14The white part on the surface is the Koji mold

03:17For regular sake, the Koji is white throughout

03:22But for Ginjo Sake, the Koji mold grows unevenly

03:28Turning completely white is fine for regular sake

03:32But for making Ginjo Sake with a nice aroma and flavor

03:36It needs to be fermented slowly

03:38If too much Koji mold grows, the rice dissolves quickly

03:44So it's better if it's uneven

03:46This uneven growth is said to be especially difficult to facilitate

03:58The key lies in the moisture content of rice treated with Koji mold

04:03Highly skilled workers adjust the room's temperature and humidity

04:08Bringing the rice to a precise level of dryness

04:11Enabling the Koji mold to grow in a speckled pattern

04:16What does an automated Ginjo Koji maker look like?

04:23We've come to a sake brewery in Koji prefecture which uses these machines

04:29This is our Koji room

04:31Inside the room where Koji is made are box-like objects wrapped in blue fabric

04:37These are the machines that can make the speckled Koji

04:46How exactly is it made?

04:48First, rice is treated with Koji mold and placed inside the machine

04:54As the conveyor moves, the rice is spread in a 6cm thick layer

05:05Lastly, it's covered with a blue sheet

05:11Under the cover

05:16A thermometer is inserted into the rice

05:22A program to automatically regulate the temperature and humidity is launched from a control panel outside

05:28While monitoring the rice temperature water is sprayed around the room to raise its humidity

05:49The rice is automatically stirred at regular intervals creating an environment that allows the Koji mold to grow unevenly

05:5848 hours later

06:07The finished Koji

06:09The mold has indeed grown unevenly

06:16It's able to produce Koji of comparable quality to what we make by hand

06:22It's an essential machine in our brewery

06:29Behind the creation

06:32The story begins back in 1995

06:39At the time, sake breweries throughout Japan were grappling with an aging workforce

06:46Producing Ginjo Koji requires special skills

06:50Skills which needed to be passed down

06:52Some machinery manufacturers attempted to mechanize the Koji making process

07:05But getting the rice to just the right dryness proved difficult

07:10And success remained elusive

07:12Automation was considered impossible

07:14Was making Koji for Ginjo sake that difficult?

07:19Yes

07:20The surface of the rice needed to be dried just right

07:24This was carefully handled by skilled workers with years of experience

07:29Recognizing that was impossible

07:31Exactly

07:32One day, Kadiyama attended a local technology meetup

07:40There, a representative from a materials manufacturer showed him something intriguing

07:46A functional fabric used in ski wear

07:53It had a perforated resin membrane layered in nylon

07:59Which blocked wind while retaining breathability by allowing water vapor through

08:07Kadiyama had an idea

08:10This could be used for making Koji

08:17He got straight to testing

08:21He prepared a wooden box and a sieve

08:27Rice treated with Koji mold was placed inside the sieve and set in the box

08:32The top and bottom were covered with the special fabric

08:41The box would then be placed inside a testing device

08:44If the humidity was lowered the fabric would block airflow allowing only moisture to be released

08:53With careful humidity control the rice's moisture could evaporate allowing the Koji mold to grow in a speckled pattern

09:02The experiment began

09:07The box was placed in the chamber and the humidity carefully adjusted to evaporate the moisture

09:1648 hours passed

09:21The Koji mold had grown and the rice had white patches

09:26This could work

09:27Spores of Koji mold are added to the surface of the rice

09:34To achieve uneven growth you need conditions in which it doesn't spread across the surface

09:39But instead penetrates into the rice

09:42For the mold to grow inward the surface of the rice needs to be dried

09:47Using this fabric makes that possible in principle

09:52Do you remember how you felt when you realized that?

09:54I remember thinking this is incredible

10:00Next they built this large-scale prototype testing unit

10:05Even with 50 kilograms of rice they were able to successfully grow the speckled Koji mold

10:11The machine had made its first batch of Koji

10:20But could it really be used to produce Ginjo sake?

10:24They needed brewers to confirm

10:26The engineers visited a sake brewery

10:34They showed their Koji but an experienced brewer was adamant

10:39You can't make Ginjo Koji with a machine

10:45The engineers asked to bring their Koji maker into the brewery

10:49There they carried out a demonstration with 50 kilograms of rice treated with Koji mold

11:05As time passed the temperature of the rice began to rise slowly

11:10The Koji mold had started to grow

11:15To prevent the mold from spreading across the entire grain

11:19The engineers lowered the humidity

11:22Moisture gradually evaporated from the surface of the rice

11:27Each time the temperature fluctuated with the mold's growth

11:31They would adjust the humidity

11:42This process with the microscopic Koji mold continued through the night

11:51The amount of heat that the Koji mold gives off depends on the stage it's at

11:55To control the mold's growth precisely

12:01The temperature and humidity need to be adjusted fairly frequently at intervals of 30 minutes

12:08Sounds very demanding

12:09It was

12:12After 48 hours it was time for the brewers to examine the Koji inside

12:21The team anxiously lifted the fabric

12:25What was the result?

12:39We had speckled Ginjo Koji

12:41I see

12:43And the brewery decided to adopt the machine?

12:45That's right

12:47In the year we developed it we received orders for several units

12:50At one customer's brewery the Koji head areas where the mold grew in a way that caused the surface to puff up

13:01We rarely get to see that happen so it was very exciting

13:05I was surprised myself

13:07Amazing it took things to an even higher level

13:10Remarkable

13:11Top Impensions

13:1325 years have since passed

13:32Today the Koji makers can control indoor humidity levels automatically

13:37More than 30 units have been shipped to date supporting the production of Ginjo sake

13:47Kariyama develops brewing machinery for the company and he has one last item to show us

13:54What's this?

13:54These are spores of Koji mold

13:58Just a few microns in size

13:59Koji mold is essential for brewing sake but research is also underway to develop new applications for it

14:10It could be used in cosmetics functional feed for livestock or even bioplastics

14:15A bio business using microorganisms?

14:19Yes

14:21What does being inventive mean to you?

14:24We've mechanized many processes in sake brewing

14:30But by understanding how people think as they work with Koji mold

14:34And grasping the essence of that process we can achieve true mechanization

14:39That's where the intrigue and importance of development lies

14:44Thank you for your time today

14:45Thank you very much

14:54For more mi expensive

14:57Ameri notifications

14:58Once I thought you saw a predisposition

15:01So

15:03I want to get excited

15:05Now

15:06I want from my so on

15:07I will make

15:09But of course

15:09I want to take advantage

15:11For the Honour

15:11At least

15:12I know

15:14I want

15:15I want to get ready

15:15I want to get morons

15:17Every thing

15:18Bye

15:19I want to get

15:20leader

15:20I want

15:21I want

15:22What

Japan's Top Inventions - Season 8 Episode 19 - Automated Ginjo Koji Makers

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