Short abstract:

This paper examines the practices of fermentation at a natural sake brewery, with focus on how the brewers come to know microbial life through approaches they call “not high tech.” The paper compares modes of knowing (temperature versus chemical analysis) in relation to who needs the data and why.

Long abstract:

Sake is an alcohol made entirely of rice, comprised of several fermented ingredients like koji and shubo. Throughout its brewing process, brewers must continually assess microbes to determine next steps.

This paper examines the practices of fermentation at a natural sake brewery in Japan, because they rely exclusively on endogenous microbes (called kura-tsuki kin). Since brewers do not add purified or known strains of microbes, the brewers must continually suss out what microbes are doing, where, and to what degree. The paper focuses on the epistemological question of how the brewers come to know microbial life through approaches they call “not high tech.” In practice, they primarily use thermometers and sensory cues to detect, measure, and monitor microbial activity, and often act on this information alone. Crucially, the brewers content themselves with this kind of knowing enough. Against this backdrop, regular assessments are made in their chemical assessment room to report to tax regulating authorities.

The paper compares modes of knowing (temperature versus chemical analysis) in relation to who needs the data and why. It calls upon ethnographic and praxiographic field research over the course of two brewing seasons to analyze how the brewery makes sense of microbes, attending to the discussions about who can know microbes and how. These epistemological—and political—questions matter especially in the face of policies such as HACCP, which are being promulgated and enforced throughout an increasingly globalized marketplace. Rather than pit scientific knowing against embodied knowing, this paper offers a middle ground.