Sake Home Page Making of shubo or moto , Starter Mash 1. This process is to grow sake yeast in a mixture of water, koji rice, and steamed rice.
Sake yeast is added to the mixture.
Then, the yeast increases by itself . Saccharification is accelerated if the rice is ground into small pieces. Many workers ground the mixture with a long bamboo pole with a wooden paddle attached. This process is called ki-moto , raw moto. The grinding was done at midnight and was hard work indeed.