GreyCranium
Member
Hi, i am on the hunt for Old Viking mead recipes and was hoping someone in the community could help me out. This is for my first mead, which i would fully document how it went once i brewed it.
Oh and for yeast ? Bread yeast is likely to be most authentic.......vikings etc weren't known for their wine making skills were they......
This may not be 100% accurate.
From: http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/drink.shtml
The yeast used in the Voss area has been handed down generation to generation and Rivenes thinks it may date back to Viking times. The farmer-brewers in Norseland start fermentation with a "totem stick" that carries yeast cells from one brew to the next.
The beer brewed by Svein Rivenes was, according to Michael Jackson, around nine or ten per cent alcohol and had a rich malt character, with a syrupy body, a pronounced juniper character and was clean and appetizing. Jackson brought a sample of the yeast back to Britain... The Viking yeast was classified as a traditional ale yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but was different in several ways to a modern ale yeast. It had different taste characteristics. It was multi-strain whereas most modern ale yeasts are single or two-strain. Modern yeasts have been carefully cultured to attack different types of sugar in the wort and, where a beer is cask conditioned, to encourage a powerful secondary fermentation...
My point exactly. Most of the stuff that purports to be genuine is just victorian fantasy (and bloody Hollywood for that matter).If we're going to make sweeping suppositions, I'd say they would have used this totem stick to start all alcoholic fermentation. Including wine. They weren't exactly known for their baking skills either.
There are no such recipe's of any accuracy. Think about how much genuine documentation there is for that time ?
Virtually non-existent.........
Your best bet is likely to be to work out the most likely ingredients used (or not as is the most likely the case i.e. herbs but no spices etc)....
Then go from there.
I would maybe use aquavit spices:
From Wikipedia: Commonly seen flavours are caraway, cardamom, cumin, anise, fennel, and lemon or orange peel.[4] Dill and "grains of paradise" are also used.
Aquavit is a traditional Norweigian liqour, I would guess the same flavors would go into a Nordic mead as well.
I would also consider using spruce tips/essence
As someone already noted, a true Viking mead would be a stolen one. Vikings where assimilators, so maybe go to a mead-makers house, beat him up, and just start living there.
Sorry Grey, I didn't even think about you being in the UK. I saw Durham and I'm thinking of Durham.......Ontario.........Canada, hahahaha, a town I grew up fairly near to and played hockey and ball against the kids there when I was young so the availability of black cherries never even dawned on me. I wouldn't have thought that they would be a rare commodity.black cherry, did not think of that lol. keep us posted on how the colour turns out.:fro:
just checked, as i live in the uk black cherries are extremely hard to get hold of
Sorry Grey, I didn't even think about you being in the UK. I saw Durham and I'm thinking of Durham.......Ontario.........Canada, hahahaha, a town I grew up fairly near to and played hockey and ball against the kids there when I was young so the availability of black cherries never even dawned on me. I wouldn't have thought that they would be a rare commodity.
Fresh. If you can, use the whole twigs. Google sahti, you'll find more info about it.I'm interested in that sahti recipe, thanks for posting!
Question on juniper berries, I have access to fresh ones or dried. Any idea which to use? If fresh, when should I harvest?
Thanks!
No theyre not! Until about 2 weeks ago, you'd find a variety of cherries in roadside layby's. Some red, some dark red and some black.black cherry, did not think of that lol. keep us posted on how the colour turns out.:fro:
just checked, as i live in the uk black cherries are extremely hard to get hold of
Well Aquavit flavours are as good as any, but traditional for modern Norwegians and not vikings. You'd have to hit the history books for long time traditional flavours - some of which would likely grow in Canada. I understand that there's a few specific fruits/berries if you could find/get them.....I would maybe use aquavit spices:
From Wikipedia: Commonly seen flavours are caraway, cardamom, cumin, anise, fennel, and lemon or orange peel.[4] Dill and "grains of paradise" are also used.
Aquavit is a traditional Norweigian liqour, I would guess the same flavors would go into a Nordic mead as well.
I would also consider using spruce tips/essence
As someone already noted, a true Viking mead would be a stolen one. Vikings where assimilators, so maybe go to a mead-makers house, beat him up, and just start living there.
Fresh. If you can, use the whole twigs. Google sahti, you'll find more info about it.
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