Brew Mead Like a Viking

by Elska á Fjárfelli of the Dominion of Myrkfaelinn, 2017

contact: susanverberg@gmail.com; FB Susan Verberg; Blog: bookeofsecretes.blogspot.com
https://www.academia.edu/31052051/Of_Hony_-_A_collection_of_Mediaeval_brewing_recipes
Brewer’s Guild facebook page is Aethelmearc Brewers Pub

A short introduction

Mead, as well as any fruit wine, only needs three components to ferment: sugars, nutrients and
yeast. The rest of the ingredients, if wanted, provide flavoring, improve character, or improve
aging.

Yeast loves sugar, and in a sugar and nutrient rich environment, they will convert it into alcohol
and carbon dioxide, with a variety of by-products that can enhance or damage, like esters and
formaldehyde. The yeast will continue to grow and multiply as long as it is happy. But, when
there is too little sugar, too much alcohol, not enough nutrients or too low or too high
temperatures (different strains have a recommended temperature range, check the manufacturer’s
website) – the yeast can go on strike and fermentation will slow down or stop.

Yeast also does not like competition, let in bacteria (air borne or by way of fruit flies) and the
bacteria’s by products can result in off flavors and spoilage. For instance, the bacteria
Acetobacter is responsible for turning wine into vinegar. Most of the work of fermenting is to
keep foreigners out of the fermenting vessel so the yeast can make alcohol most efficiently.
Oxygen is necessary for a good start on fermentation, only after fermentation is complete is it
important to limit exposure to oxygen.

Tools of the Trade

A short list of equipment useful for brewing:

stock pot (stainless steel, copper, aluminum or ceramics are all fine).
potato masher
long spoon
measuring cups and measuring spoons
thermometer
2 gallon food grade plastic bucket (for fermenting with fruit bulk)
lid of said bucket, with hole for rubber gasket
a glass 1 gallon carboy (for fermenting liquid only)
airlock that fits rubber bung
water or vodka to put in airlock

For first racking:

stainless steel wire mess sieve
cheesecloth

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plastic funnel (preferably a racking funnel)
glass 1 gallon carboy
rubber bung and airlock
permanent marker (to write on glass carboy)
notebook (to write down recipe specifics)

For bottling:
foodgrade plastic tubing, syphon
wine bottles
corks
hand corker

Also useful:
hydrometer or vinometer (to help measure alcohol content)
racking cane (primes siphon so mouth is not needed)
wine thief (to take a sample without contaminating)
fruit juicer or press (or a hand sieve for tomato processing)
carboy brush
water boiler

Honey: boiling the honey, heating the honey, room temperature

I recommend using raw locally produced honey for the best quality medieval meads. Not only
will the mead have more flavor, it will also be more period, which commercially processed
honey of course is not. There are many different types of honey available but with period
accuracy in mind fall honey is preferred. In period honey would be harvested once a year and be
a mixture of all the flowers year round, resulting in a very diverse honey flavor. Fall honey, or
even better, honey harvested by a friend on a small scale once a year will be the most like Viking
honey.

As honey is naturally antibacterial and antifungal, boiling honey to sterilize it is not necessary.
The important part is making sure it dissolves completely, as honey consists primarily of bonded
glucose and oxygen: for every two glucose there is only one oxygen, and the two molecules
share that atom. By dissolving honey in water, or hydrolyzing, the glucose replaces the missing
atom from oxygen in the water, which allows the glucose to separate into individual fermentable
atoms. Heat accelerates this but does not cause the reaction.

The two most used techniques are heating the honey water mixture to 160 degrees Fahrenheit
and keeping it there for 20 minutes, while skimming the foam that rises to the top to remove wax
and other detritus. Then let the mixture cool down before pitching the yeast.

The other is to use some warm water to dissolve the honey, no hotter than blood warm, and pitch
the yeast immediately.

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An alternative is to boil the water separately, remove it from the heat, and stir in the honey. This
would drop the temperatures to about 180 degrees, depending on the amount of honey used, and
would dissolve the honey nicely.

Distilled water, tap water, spring water: boiled or not (do minerals interfere, and why?)

Tap water is generally fine for brewing, unless it tastes off, or is too hard or too soft. It is then
better to buy water elsewhere. De-mineralized water and distilled water is not good for brewing
as it lacks the necessary minerals for yeast to grow optimally. It is possible to add those minerals
during brewing (have a commercial water test done to see what is lacking) but for the beginner it
is easier, and cheaper, to use either tap water or spring water. Make sure actual spring water is
certified for human consumption.

If the tap water is municipal and has chlorine added to it, let it sit on the counter and air out for a
day or two – chlorine is volatile and will evaporate into the air. Same for well water, if there is
sulphur present; let it sit on the counter and air out. Or add a little chlorine to purge the sulphur,
then allow both to vent off. This works better for higher amounts than simply airing. Both
chlorine (bleach) and sulphur (main ingredient of campden tablets) are growth inhibitors and
should, of course, be minimalized in fermentation.

Yeast; primed yeast, dry pitching, lees from previous batch, yeast stick, air borne

Yeast can be added to the wort in many different ways. The easiest and most controlled way is to
buy a commercial yeast strain of the type you are interested in.

According to Hagen in her Anglo-Saxon Food & Drink “very good mead was equated
with clear, old wine in [Anglo-Saxon] leechdoms,” indicating early Medieval mead was
hoped to have/get high alcohol levels with low amounts of residual sugars (unlike our
modern sack mead –like expectations).

Dry
Pasteur Champagne, Red Star Premier Curvee - high alcohol tolerance, good for sparkling
melomels
Lalvin EC-1118, Lalvin K1-V1116 – all around yeast; dry mead, sparkling meads, melomels,
restarting stuck fermentation; needs time to fully age.
Lalvin QA-23 – dry melomel, ferments at low temperatures
Wyeast 4632 Dry Mead – dry mead
Lalvin ICV D-47 – dry and semi sweet mead, often needs extra nutrients

Semi Sweet
Lalvin ICV D-47 – dry and semi sweet mead, often needs extra nutrients
Lalvin 71B-1122 – sweet and semi sweet meads, melomels made with dark fruits and cysers.

Sweet
Lalvin 71B-1122 – sweet and semi sweet meads, melomels made with dark fruits and cysers.

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White Labs WLP720, Wyeast 4184 Sweet Mead – sweet mead, designed to leave 2-3% residual
sugar and draw out the flavors in melomels.

For low alcohol levels, like short meads (low alcohol and short fermentation period, can be
drunk quickly but doesn’t keep well), use an ale (beer) yeast. This is also a good choice for hard
cider from pressed apple juice (not cyser, or apple melomel, as the added honey raises the sugar
content high enough for the yeast to kill itself off by reaching its maximum alcohol level).

Good beer yeasts would be Safale US-05 Ale Dry Yeast, Safale S-04 Ale Dry Yeast, Danstar
Belle Saison Dry Yeast, Danstar Windsor Ale Dry Yeast, Muntons Ale Dry Yeast or Coopers
Ale Dry Yeast.

The Norse Edda’s mention mead aplenty, but also specifically notes old mead (which is
often likened to a dry white wine) as a special treat:
“Hail rather to thee, youth! and accept an icy cup, filled with old mead; although I
thought not that I ever should love one of Vanir race.”
“Hail to thee, Loki! and this cool cup receive, full of old mead: at least me alone, among
the blameless Æsir race, leave stainless.”

Priming the Yeast

To be sure the yeast is alive and rearing to go, it can be primed in a separate container before
adding to the mash. Modern priming uses orange juice as it does not have much influence on the
overall taste. Add 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient to 1 cup of luke warm orange juice, sprinkle yeast
on top, shake well and add to primary fermenter when all bubbly (use plastic as it will expand).
But, as citrus is not quite a northern food, an alternative is to use a tablespoon of honey dissolved
in water.

As honey and especially honey with fruit has a lot of different sugars and extra goodies like
minerals, yeast normally does not need a boost to start and dry pitching works fine. Sprinkle the
yeast over the top of the mash, stir in well, and off it will go.

Lees, Dregs, Sediment

Another way to add commercial yeast but in a more period fashion is to save the sediment, or
lees, from a previous batch made with a commercial yeast strain and add that to a new batch.
Another advantage of adding lees is that it contains minerals and nutrients that nourish the life
yeast.

Lees can be added to the primary fermenter as is, or the living yeast can be separated from the
dregs. To do this pour the lees into a wide mouth jar with a lid, add water, let the dead yeast cells
sink to the bottom and then carefully pour off the top layer. There should be some yeast floating
in the liquid in the middle of the jar and this is the clean living yeast you need: the yeast that
floats or sinks is dead and could add unpleasant flavors to the new fermentation.

Barm
The frothy scum of top fermenting ale, which can be scooped off and added to another batch.

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Baker’s Yeast
In period, baker’s yeast is made of a mother of bread yeast, which would be mixed with flour,
dried and shaped into little cakes, to be reconstituted as needed. Usable for brewing but not as
diverse as brewing specific yeasts recovered from lees.

Stirring Stick and Wood Barrels

In period, yeast would be added by repeatedly using the same wood stirring stick and the same
wood fermenting barrels which would have the yeasts hiding away in the grains of the wood. In
Viking times the yeast stick might even be carved with protective runes, giving it even more
surface area for the yeast cells to adhere to the wood fibers, and be a treasured possession. In
medieval times large wood barrels would be used and reused over and over again, to create the
same brews from the same yeasts. Plastic is semi porous and has a similar effect, which is why
over time plastic buckets can develop an off taste in brewing, or interfere with specific yeast
strains.

Wild Fermentation with Ambient Yeast

An exciting way to capture naturally occurring yeast. Some fruits have yeast growing on the skin
(especially grapes, currants, raspberries) and some area’s have great yeast strains naturally
occurring in the air – think Belgium caves and basements which create wild fermented brews
that are now widely recognized high quality beers (and the yeast strains trade secrets).

What can be added to flavor mead even further?

Grains, fruits, spices, herbs, flowers – whatever you like that is edible and will add a pleasing
flavor.

Mead – water, honey and yeast

Sack Mead – mead made with extra honey
Short Mead – low honey and low alcohol yeast to be drunk quickly
Hydromel – watered down mead (in period, another word for mead)
Braggot – (period) ale refermented with honey; (modern) malted mead
Melomel – mead made with fruit
Mulsum – mead made with fruit
Cyser – mead made with apples
Metheglin – mead with spices
Pyment, Claré – mead made with grape juice
Hippocras – spiced wine, sweetened (but not fermented) with honey

Modern braggot is a form of mead which gets its fermentable sugars both from honey and from
barley malt, typically between 30 to 50%. In history the definition of a braggot seems to be
different. Several recipes mention to use already fermented ale from grains used twice (a second
run, which would be weaker and benefit from the extra honey sugars). One recipe adds barm at
the end for secondary fermentation and another recommends strong new ale, which would also
referment by adding more sugars, i.e. backsweetening with honey. As the recipes during our time
of study request ale (fermented) and not malt (before fermentation), even though secondary
fermentation is often part of the process, it seems period braggot was mostly a back sweetened

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spiced ale. The abundant use of spices similar to spiced wine, like pepper, cloves, mace, ginger,
nutmeg, and cinnamon, also makes a case for period braggot to be more similar to hippocras
(spiced and sweetened wine) than to malted mead.

What makes braggot interesting is that it looks to be a hold over from ancient brewing practices,
where grains (sugars), fruits (sugars & yeast) and honey (sugars & yeast) would be all fermented
together, making neither ale, wine nor mead. Patrick McGovern calls this mixture ‘grog’ and
published several books on his explorations to recreate historic brews, check his Ancient Wines,
Uncorking the Past and Ancient Brews to read more about his process (and find workable recipes
to emulate in Ancient Brews).

The Finnish Kalevala, an oral tradition going back to ancient times and written down in
the 19th century, tells a similar story of grain wort brewed with honey. Rune XX tells of
the brewing of beer and the different trials to get it to ferment. The brewer first adding
pine branches, then willow bark, then seed pods – and none of this worked… it took
mixing the grain wort with honey to finally get the ferment started.

While the word melomeli was known to the Romans as a wine made from honey and fruit juices,
and the word possibly came by the Greek melimelon or melomeli for apple-honey or treefruit-
honey, it does not seem to have been adopted into the English language as such until after the
Middle Ages (and the same seems to be the case with the term cyser in connection with honey).

Medieval recipes that mention the use of fruit in making mead are spread few and far between.
The 10th century Geoponika might have a fermented apple honey beverage (it does not explicitly
mention fermentation), but then it is not until the end of the 16th century that another recipe
shows up using fruit, including apple, grapes, quinces, cherries, currants etc, for flavoring. Here
fruit juice is added to simulate white or red wines (for economical reasons) and to make a
medicinal drink. In the case of pyment (mostly termed oenomel) recipes, honey is often added to
young wine to re-ferment, as opposed to combined fermentation.

The MED or Middle English Dictionary mentions under the entry mead (spelled med(e)
with the variants of mead, meide, meode & meth(e) for Middle English and medu, meodo
& mjöðr for Old English) that medeglintin is a mead flavored with briar rose.

Fruits available to medieval Europe were red raspberries (not black), blackberries, field
strawberries, gooseberries, mulberries, whortleberries, bilberries, elderberries, sloes,
rowanberries, red and black cherries and red and black currants. Blueberries are a New World
fruit but very close cousins to whortleberries and bilberries. Scandinavia also had access to
ligonberries, similar to cranberries, and their mountainous terrain to cloudberries.

Even though raisins were known and used by medieval European cooks and grapes and therefore
raisins, were grown in wine making regions throughout Europe, there are no pre 17th century
mead recipes that call for the addition of raisins. Unless ‘le courants’ meant raisins, not currants,
as some newly discovered documentation suggests.

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Dried spices can be added to the wort without any treatment and the same for dried herbs
(always check for mold with home dried herbs). Fresh herbs and botanicals (leaves, flowers)
should be cleaned and rinsed (remove the appropriate parts, like all green of dandelion flowers,
and any bugs or other foreign objects) and crush or cut up in little pieces to help infuse the wort.

The Norse saga Heimskringla mentions mead made with herbs:

“Little Fin came to him with a stoup of mead with herbs in it, and very strong. The king
made every one in the house drunk, until they fell asleep each in his berth.”

Spices and herbs were not only added for flavor, they also were also added for medicinal
properties, to increase its inebriating quality (bog myrtle, clary sage, heather) and to prevent
spoilage (hops, bog myrtle).

Heather mead is mentioned in connection with the Picts (and sometimes the Vikings,
often in connection with Berserkers). Warriors would gather in mead halls and drink
copiously the night before battle, to go mead-nourished into battle the next day. The
Pict’s mead was not just for pleasure, but also for fortification and enhancement, and the
addition of heather might have had something to do with that. Heather can grow a
certain white mold on the tips of its flowers which has psychotropic qualities
(‘fortifications’) and this effect could easily account for the Picts’ fierce reputation.

Especially hops, which was grown on the European mainland and used throughout the Middle
Ages, makes for a good addition to the brew. Hop resins are beneficial to both beer and mead,
not only because the acids and tannin add an appealing aroma and flavor, but also because it
prevents spoilage and helps preserve the brew.

Mead made with hops is mentioned by Simon of Genoa in his late 13th century Clavis
sanationis: “Lupulus is according to Aben mesue a species of "climbing plant", and it
has leaves similar to the leaves of a very rough vine; its flower is like little flasks clinging
together, and this plant spreads in the hedges. It is called humulus by the Gauls [French]
and the Teutons [Germans] who put its flower in mead.”

Hops can be added for flavor, aroma and for the bittering agents, or tannin. The bittering agents
in hops are not easily water soluble and only a long boil of an hour or more will fully bring out
the desired taste. Some hops varieties are more for aroma than flavor, and are added at the tail
end of the boil only to impart aroma. Using hops in meads is different from using hops in making
beer as the hops flavor is way more pronounced – a good rule of thumb is to use half the amount
in mead as they would in an equivalent amount of beer.

Medieval recipes do not specify what type of hops to use, it likely grew wild and cross pollinated
freely. To approximate medieval hops Hallertauer hops, from Bavaria, and Saaz hops from
Bohemia are good old fashioned options.

It has been postulated that Norse mead was hopped (but I have not been able to verify the
citation). The find of a Viking era boat in Graveney, York which was transporting hops
and ran aground around 950 CE could support this idea. While the find has been used as

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 “proof” that English brewers did know to hop their beer in early medieval times (or
Vikings hopped their mead), it is just as likely the hops was used for any of the other two
dozen uses hops had in medieval society, including food, fabric and dyeing..

Other spices available to the Middle Age brewers include ginger, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg,
grains of paradise, pepper and long pepper. Post 1600 spices are similar, and include mace,
cardamom and cubebs but exclude long peppers. Flavors like vanilla, allspice, chocolate, coffee,
tea and capsicum peppers are period questionable, as there are no pre 1650 mead recipes found
that use them (often the item in question was not ‘discovered’ and traded until after our time of
study).

Fruit: to boil, or not to boil?

Naturally grown unsprayed fruit will have all kinds of natural yeasts existing on it. Certain fruits
like apples, and grapes, have specific strains thrive on them which make a wild fermentation less
unpredictable. To be sure there will be no wild yeast interfering with your modern ferment, boil
to sterilize the mash, but it is not absolutely necessary as primary fermentation with store bought
yeast starts tends to start off quick and overwhelms the wild yeasts quickly.

Boiling fruit is often recommended for breaking down the cell structures so the juices are all
released and for the yeast to be able to penetrate the fruit better. The same result can be had from
heating the fruit to 120-130 degrees Fahrenheit while mashing, so unless a period recipe
specifically calls for boiling fruit, don’t do it.

Stone fruits (apricot, peach) should not be boiled; they are cut in half, pitted and fermented as is
or mashed and added to the primary in a mesh bag.

A way to help the juice release and the give the yeast access to the inner most depths of the cells,
is to freeze and thaw the fruit. The water crystallizes inside the fruit and pierces the membranes,
releasing the juice and creating access. Freeze and thaw twice for an even better result.

Freezing fruit is also a trick to thicken the juice, if the fruit is not thawed but pressed frozen (with
a grape or cider press). The water in the form of ice stays with the pomace (fruit pressings), only
the high sugar content juice will press out, resulting in a high concentration syrup (works well
with apples, and grapes).

This technique is not to be confused with Ice Wine, where the grapes are left on the vine until
after the first freeze, then harvested and pressed.

Partially freezing wine to remove the chunks of frozen water (ice) periodically is a form of
distillation. It does raise the alcohol content, but it also concentrates the fusil oils and methyl
alcohols, both of which are toxic in higher concentrations.

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Fruit: how to process for effective brewing

Fruit can be added in many different ways, though the most successful ways offer the best access
to the yeast and the least amount of puree. Not all techniques work with all fruits, and I find
these to work best:

Apples, Pears, Asian Pears: cut up, or juiced/pressed

Peaches, Apricots, Cherries: cut in half, pit removed
Blackberries: mashed and sieved to remove pits (impart bitter taste)
Raspberries, Currants, Blueberries, Elderberries, Gooseberries, Strawberries, Cherries: mashed,
sieved if wanted
Grapes: mashed & sieved, or juiced/pressed

It is not advisable to use pureed fruit; the puree is too fine to easily be sieved out mechanically
and will create a lot of sediment in subsequent racking, and thus take a long time to clear. Plus,
the more sediment at the bottom, the less room there is for liquid in the bottle.

OTHER INGREDIENTS

When contemplating adding something to your brew, ask yourself:

- what does it do?
- is it necessary?
- is it period correct?
- what could the natural substitute(s) be?

Pectic Enzyme
Helps to break down pectin in high pectin fruits like apples, which makes more sugars available
to the yeast. Also helps clarify as pectin has a cloudy effect (think gelatin). This is not a period
additive and it is questionable medieval brewers cared as their perception of a good brew was not
necessarily to be crystal clear (intoxication, on the other hand…). Not necessarily period, another
natural substitute is papaya peels. Use the peeling from half a papaya as a substitute for one
teaspoon of pectic enzyme, in the primary fermenter. Another one is the fungi Aspergilles niger.
This fungi produces pectic enzyme to break down the middle lamella in plants so that it can
extract nutrients from the plant tissues.

Acid Blend (4 acids):

Too low acid levels in the must can result in poor fermentation and off flavors, and the ideal
wine has an acid content that is in balance with its tannins and sugars. Also important to realize
is that acidic liquids are hostile to most bacteria. Because of the natural acids in fruits and
berries, melomels are naturally acidified and often need no additional acids.

Most acid blends contain 1 part citric, 2 parts malic and 3 parts tartaric acid, all of which are
naturally occurring acids.

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Citric Acid: oranges, lemons, limes, tangerines, clementines, grapefruit, berries like currants,
strawberries, raspberries but not blueberries, tomatoes, rhubarb, lettuce, carrots and sourdough
bread.

Malic Acid: apples, apricots, blackberries, dark cherries, plums, gooseberries, nectarines,
mayhaws, lychees, kiwis, orange peels, pineapples, carrots, mangoes, peaches, bananas,
strawberries, watermelon, tomatoes, grapes, limes and rhubarb.

Tartaric Acid: grapes, avocadoes, cherries, lemons, plums

Asorbic Acid: rose hips, hibiscus, citrus fruits, spinach, tomatoes, berries

As citric acid adds a nice fruitiness and brilliance, some recipes focus on adding citrus juice as
their only acid component. Malic acid and tartaric acid help speed up fermentation, and tartaric
acid improves the vinous character of the wine (which is more important in fruit wines than in
mead).

How to know when to add acid? Check the acid content of the fruits used and adjust accordingly,
and to taste.

Low acid content:

Beets, dates, dried fruits, elderberries, figs, flowers, herbs, pears and rose petals.

Medium acid content:

Apples, apricots, cherries, grapes, juice concentrates, nectarines, oranges, peaches, plum and
tangerines.

High acid content:

Blackberries, currants, gooseberries, loganberries, quinces, raspberries, rhubarb and strawberries.

But, how period is it? Keep in mind that lemons and raisins are not found in any of the pre-1600
mead recipes from Northern Europe even though citrus fruits were available (unless currants did
mean dried grapes, or raisis, not dried currants). The medieval mead maker could use hops,
herbs, spices and fruits to add an acidic flavor to plain mead.

Tannins, grape tannins

A part of the skins and stems of certain fruits, tannins are important to the final body of taste of
the wine and enhances its keeping qualities.
Tannins improve the taste by adding a hint of dryness in the mouth while sipping – but too much
makes your mouth pucker and not enough makes the wine flat and dull (insipid).

If you have a wine or mead that tastes a little underwhelming, adding tannin can add a great
boost in character.

Black tea was boiled to add to the must which did not only add tannin but also sterilized the
water added to the must. Brewers did not realize the boiling part and revered the tea for its

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excellent brewing properties! Unfortunately, as the Dutch did not bring the first tea back to
Europe until 1601, tea is out of period for our brewing purposes.

In recipes using low tannin ingredients like flowers, herbs, grains or vegetables a quick & easy
natural way to boost tannin is by adding black raisins (12 per gallon) and some organic black tea
(1 teabag per gallon).

Other sources for tannin would include: oak and other deciduous trees like maple, walnut, cherry
& birch bark and leaves, grape stems, grape leaves, raspberry leaves, blackberry leaves, nettles,
tart and unripe fruits, berries, nuts, red and black beans, spices, coffee beans, grain husks (from
sprouted barley), and hops.

Make a strong infusion (tea) out of the bark or leaves and let cool down to room temperature
before adding to the must.

Add 10 to 15 leaves straight to 1 gallon of must, but be careful not to leave them in too long.
Immerse them during primary fermentation and remove them within 48 hours to avoid imparting
too bitter of a flavor.

Yeast Nutrients
Yeast nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus help the yeast start off to a vigorous fermentation
and thereby minimalizes foreigners from competing. Most fruits add enough yeast nutrients for
the yeast to be happy, but some wines, especially those made with honey, are lacking and need
these extra organic compounds. If they are not provided, the yeast will quit after a while, not
reach its alcohol potential, and the brew becomes vulnerable to spoilage.

For short meads yeast nutrition is not a concern as the brew will be consumed before the yeast
reaches its full alcohol potential. Keep in mind most period brews are of this kind – to provide a
safe drink.

Spent lees from a previous batch would provide additional nutrition for a higher alcohol content
fermentation and the higher alcohol content would help the mead to be keep longer giving it time
to age. If spend lees is only added for nutrient quality, then they should be added before
pasteurization, where the head will dissolve them. If they are added in the fermenter, the
enzymes can autolyze, or break down their own, thereby imparting off flavors to the finished
mead.

Campden Tablets
Made of potassium metabisulfate, campden tablets or powders are an easy way to prevent
foreign yeasts and bacteria from growing in your must. Dissolve one tablet per 1 gallon and the
resulting sulphur dioxide gas will sterilize the must for 24 hours. Add your preferred yeast
culture after the 24 hour rest period and you will have guaranteed one strain fermentation. Even
when a campden tablet is not used, some brewers like to have the must sit for 24 hours anyway
as they feel that the fruit flavors permeate the juices better.

A campden tablet solution can also be used to sterilize equipment like airlocks and tubing.

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What to do with cloudy or chunky mead

High amounts of pectin, starch or protein can result in murky or cloudy meads. Most recipes add
pectic enzyme, which breaks down pectin, from the start as it is easier to prevent pectin
cloudiness than to fix it. If the cloudiness results from starch another enzyme, amylozyme, turns
unfermentable starch into fermentable sugars. Removing protein cloudiness requires a fining
process using bentonite to clear the wine, but as it requires an exact dosage based on the amount
of protein occurring in the wine, it is not a technique for the amateur brewer.

Interestingly, using bentonite to fine wine is documentable to the Roman occupation! Other
period techniques are using egg whites, and isenglas – both work by attaching themselves to the
larger particles helping gravity settle them out of solution. Another often overlooked method is
agitation. Place a cloudy fermenter on a staircase, or on top of a refrigerator or dryer, and the
vibration will help settle floating particles.

Keep in mind that cloudiness due pectin, starch and protein detracts from the visual pleasure of
drinking, it does not impart flavor, at least not significantly. It is a modern standard that we’re all
become so used to that any murky cloudiness is associated with spoilage and off flavors – but in
the olden days cloudy was the standard, especially for the day to day brews.

But, if a yeast is used with a high alcohol tolerance in a must with a low amount of sugars – like
apple cider – then the result is a cloudy brew with a yeasty taste (lots of life, bored yeasts
floating around), which is not so nice. In this case, by using a low alcohol tolerance yeast, like
beer yeast (ale, Belgium white), there will be enough sugars available for the yeast to reach
maximum tolerance and then die, settle to the bottom, to be removed with the sediment at the
next racking.

In period, filtering the must could easily be done by twisting dry straw into a coil which is then
made into the shape of a funnel, or stuff straw or other edible, flavorful vegetation like juniper
into a funnel. It filters out the chunks while only a small amount of the residue comes through.

Or don’t filter at all; ancient traditions that still exist today involve communal drinking straight
from the vat, with no transferring or filtering at all. In addition to using ladles with strainers – the
Viking mead strainer – straws from hollow plants like thistle could also be used.

Trouble Shooting

You’ve made you mead without adding any commercially

available ingredients, and you’ve taken your first sip, but:

It seems a bit dull or insipid = add some tannin

It is cloyingly sweet with no bite = add some citric acid
It makes the mouth pucker = add more honey
It is too dry without much flavor = back sweeten with a sugar
(honey) and fruit or flower infusion

12 Copyright © by Elska á Fjárfelli (Susan Verberg)

For educational purposes only.
Always start with small amounts, stir well and taste, and taste again. Hold off on adding more if
you’re not quite sure. Taste again later in the process and keep adjusting until you are happy.

SANITATION

Period Sanitation:
A period way of purging, or cleaning, barrels and casks is scrubbing out with lye water, which is
made by boiling ashes in water. The alkalinity of the lye water breaks the cell membranes of
bacteria, making this effectively an antibacterial wash. It also leaves the yeast spores within the
wood of the barrels and casks mostly alone, to incubate the next batch of beer. A similar
technique is purging barrels with sea water (the salinity interferes with bacteria cell membranes).

Boiling water: pour over/soak your equipment – a period way of sterilizing.

Distilled Alcohol: pour over/soak your equipment with grain alcohol – another period plausible
way of sterilizing.

Modern sanitation:
Running your equipment through the hot setting of your dishwasher (a special setting, also used
to sterilize mason jars for canning).

Bleaching: make a bleach solution by adding 2 Tbs of household bleach to 1 gallon of water and
soak everything for at least 10 minutes, rinse off thoroughly at least three times with as hot a
water as possible to ensure all residues are rinsed away, and use immediately.

Bleaching: add 2-3 tbs of household bleach to your dishwasher and run everything through the
rinse cycle, and then a second rinse cycle to remove any traces of chlorine (can impart an off
flavor, and inhibits growth).

Hydrogen Peroxide: Add 1 tbs to 1 gallon of warm water, shake well and pour over all
equipment or submerge for a minimum of 2 minute contact time.

One Step No Rinse Cleaner: cleans with oxygen and is the least environmentally intrusive of the
commercially available sanitizers. Once air dried it is non toxic and requires no rinsing. Even
though it is used to sterilize, technically, this is a cleanser rather than a sterilizer.

Powdered Brewery Wash: an environmentally friendly alternative to acid sanitizers. Dissolve 1-2
oz in 1 gallon of warm water. Also a cleanser rather than a sterilizer.

Iodophor: an iodine based cleaner, also environmentally friendly. Dissolve ½ to 1 oz per 5

gallons of water with at least 2 minutes of contact time and allow to air dry.

Star-San or Five Star: an acid based sanitizer used by the food industry. Dilute 1 oz in 5 gallons
and use with caution. Probably the next closest thing to period sterilization behind distilled
alcohol.

13 Copyright © by Elska á Fjárfelli (Susan Verberg)

For educational purposes only.
REFERENCES:

Faul, Michael. A Guide to Mead. Rabbits Foot Meadery, 2005.

www.rabbitsfootmeadery.com/CAGM/guide_to_mead.html

Krupp, Christina M. & Gillen, Bill. Making Medieval Mead, or Mead Before Digby. The Compleat Anachronist
#120, summer 2003. https://members.sca.org/apps/#Store

McGovern, Patrick. Uncorking the Past. The Quest for Wine, Beer, and other Alcoholic Beverages. California:
University of California Press, 2009.

McGovern, Patrick. Ancient Brews. Rediscovered & Recreated. W.W. Norton & Comp., 2017.

Miller, Christopher. T. Brewing Sugars, Simple and Complex (THL Madoc Arundel, class handout)
http://brewers.aethelmearc.org/BrewingSugars.html

Making Mead: the Art and the Science. The National Honey Board
www.honey.com

Vargas, Pattie & Gulling, Rich. Making Wild Wines & Meads. Storey Publishing, 1999.

Verberg, Susan. Of Hony. Brewing Medieval and Renaissance Mead. The Compleat Anachronist
#176, summer 2017. https://members.sca.org/apps/#Store

Verberg, Susan. Of Hony. A Collection of Mediaeval Brewing Recipes. 2017.

https://www.academia.edu/31052051/Of_Hony_-_A_collection_of_Mediaeval_brewing_recipes

Zimmerman, Jereme. Make Mead Like a Viking. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2015.
This book is the inspiration for this class; if you liked my class, check out his homesteading website.

And with thanks to fellow brewer Madoc Arundel for his very constructive commentary!

14 Copyright © by Elska á Fjárfelli (Susan Verberg)

For educational purposes only.