mead-msg - 5/24/13

Making mead. Honey based alcoholic beverage. Period and modern recipes.

NOTE: See also the files: meadery-list-msg, wine-msg, perry-msg, cider-msg, brewing-msg, beer-msg, beverages-msg, beverages-NA-msg, p-bottles-msg.

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    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: dawyd at dasys1.UUCP (David Gurzynski)
Date: 21 Nov 89 05:02:35 GMT
Organization: The Big Electric Cat

To all the good folk who might read this, Greetings!

        The following is another mead recipe which I have not yet tried but
I thought that if there were some brave souls out there I might find out
from others how well it works.
                        SPICED MEAD
        4 lbs honey
        4 qts water
        1/4 lb chopped candied ginger
        3 tbs whole cloves
        3 tbs mace
        3 tbs Cassia buds

        Mix the honey and water and boil and skim till the scum stops rising,
(those who wish might just use campden tablets to sterilize and boil the
spices
in some water and add this to the must). Place the spices in a muslin bag and
add to mixture and boil for 5 minutes.  Remove from the stove and add the 
ginger.  Then, when cool, add the yeast. Leave the bag of spices in for about
a week.
        After two weeks strain well and rack.  When fermentation is finished
bottle and allow to age AT LEAST three months.
                                ***
        Anyone who tries this, please let me know how it turns out!
I have also heard from someone up in the northeast that there is an SCA 
person who is commercially brewing mead and calling it Odin's Mead.  Has 
anyone heard of it?  
-- 
David Gurzynski        Jamaica NY         dasys1!dawyd at cmcl2.nyu.edu
mka. Dawyd z Gury      Ostgardr           73647.233 at compuserve.com


From: clanhlm!blank at UCSCC.UCSC.EDU
Date: 6 Dec 89 03:14:18 GMT
Organization: Society for Creative Anachronism

        I have been trying this mead recipe -- no batch has completed, but
        the intermediate samples are very good.

        Somebody might want to try this.  It is modeled on a 14th centuary
        recipe.  It is a working man's mead, with no frills.  You can spice
        it up with the addition of cinnamon or other spices, added during
        the second boiling.  You could also add rose water (I think that 
        I will try that in a later batch...)  Other flavors which might
        be good could be orange, clove, nutmeg, or other winter spice. 

        If you try this, I'd appreciate hearing about it...

                                        John

        Claymore's Mead

        25 lbs wild honey
        10 ounces dried rose hips
        5 gallons clean water
        1 package of Champaign yeast
        yeast nutrient
        6 gallon carboy
        water lock
        siphon
        champaign bottles, 750 ml
        3/4 cup corn sugar

        place the honey and rose hips in a large (five or more gallon
        capacity) kettle.  Add enough water to half fill the kettle.
        Stir until the honey begins to dissolve.  If you can't get
        home raised honey, which HASN'T been strained, add the yeast
        nutrient, according to the directions on the package.  Begin heating.
        Stir until the honey is disolved.  Bring to a boil, and boil
        for about 30 minutes.  Add the remaining water (or intil the water
        is two inches from the top of the kettle).  Bring to a boil,    
        and let boil for about 15 minutes.  Boil a small amount of
        water, and then cool (without contaminating) to about 90 degrees
        F.  Add yeast to the small amount of water.  Cool the honey 
        mixture to about 70 degrees F.  Add the yeast to the honey mix,
        and let ferment in the kettle, until the activity subsides (about
        5-7 days).  Keep the kettle covered with sterile airtight seal.
        Periodically release the gas.  Sterilize the carboy and water lock.
        When the activity in the honey mixture subsides, siphon into the
        carboy, leaving the sediment in the kettle.  Let the carboy stand
        at a constant temp (about 65 degrees F) until it clears (about
        4 months).  Boil the corn sugar with about 2 cups of water.
        Sterilize the kettle, and decant into the kettle.  Add the
        sugar water to the mead, stirring with a sterile metal spoon.
        Decant into the bottles, leaving about 1 inch of head.  Cork.
        Let sit for about 9 months.  Drink.

        Let the sugar water cool before adding it to the mead (when you
        are decanting into the bottles).  Otherwise, you might kill the
        remaining yeast, which would defeat the purpose of the sugar
        water.  It is to make the mead a lightly sparkeling mead.  You
        will have to find a yeast which has a high alcohol tolerence
        (champaign yeast is pretty borderline.  There are very high
        alcohol yeasts which would work better -- I can't get any of
        them locally, unfortunately.)

                                        John


From: ddfr at tank.uchicago.edu (david director friedman)
Date: 7 Dec 89 01:19:16 GMT
Organization: University of Chicago

"I have been trying this mead recipe....  It is modeled on a 14th
centuary recipe." (John)

The only two 14th century mead recipes I know of are in Curye on
Inglysch (V9,10). V9 just uses honey and water, fermented; V10 uses
boiled apples, honey, pepper, and cloves. Neither is at all similar
to the recipe you gave; do you have another source?

Incidentally, you might note that corn sugar could not have been used
in any 14th century european recipe. The use of cane sugar would be
very unlikely in northern europe, since it was much more expensive
than honey; I do not know if mead was made in Spain or Italy, where
sugar would have been more nearly competitive.

David Friedman (Cariadoc)
College of Grey Gargoyles, Middle Kingdom
Chicago, IL


From: AR.SEG at forsythe.stanford.edu (Steven E Goodman)
Date: 7 Dec 89 19:53:14 GMT

It isn't all that tough to make a drinkable mead.  But I don't claim
its good, just drinkable.

Sterilize a wide mouth crock with lots of hot water.
Boil a bunch of water, and then cool to luke warm (slightly above
room temp).
Mix some honey and warm water with ale yeast.
Mix a bunch of honey and a bunch of water in the crock (1 gal water
to 1 lb honey).
Mix in the yeast.
(Throw in a tea bag or three, for the tannin)
Place some cloth over the mouth of the crock to keep dust and
airborne stuff out of the crock.
Place the crock in a cool (but room temp) place.
Go away for a month.

Come back.
Careful skim all the scum off the top.
(Careful not to stir up any sediment)
Carefully siphon into bottles, trying not to get any sediment.
Cork the bottles.
Put the bottles in the previous cool place (upright).
Go away for three months.

Come back.
Chill
Uncork
Drink

This should create a somewhat alchoholic, somewhat carbonated,
beverage.  Throw in more stuff if you want it to have flavor.
Most important (as Kevin will agree) everything needs to be sterile.

The tea isn't really period (I think), but its the easiest way to
add a little tannin.  Lemons and Oranges would probably add enough
acid in place of the tannin.

Etienne


From: ddfr at tank.uchicago.edu (david director friedman)
Date: 8 Dec 89 00:59:10 GMT
Organization: University of Chicago

"The tea isn't really period (I think)" (Etienne)
You are correct. Tea comes into use in England about 1650. So far as
I can tell, it was not being used anywhere in Europe in 1600. I do
not think Kenelm Digby (mid 17th c) uses it. Indeed, the article on
mead in the first edition of the Britannica does not mention tea,
which makes me suspect that its use in mead may be a nineteenth or
twentieth century innovation.

This raises the interesting question of what, if anything, was used
to provide tannin in period meads. Does anyone know if they used oak
casks? Would such casks result in tannin in the mead? I believe
acorns have lots of tannin, but have never seen a mead recipe using
them. My best guess is that there was no tannin; if so, using it may
result in a noticably different product from a period mead.

Has anyone experimented with the 14th century mead recipes I
mentioned? The first one does not tell you much that is useful, but
the second gives quantities and is not a standard mead, since it has
both apple and spices. John's use of "derived from," (loosely based
on something said to be  said to be said to be based on a period
recipe), while literally correct, reminds me a little of the hundred
year old axe: the head had been replaced twice and the haft three
times, but the axe was a hundred years old and still worked fine.

David Friedman (Cariadoc)
College of Grey Gargoyles, Middle Kingdom
Chicago, IL


From: KGANDEK at MITVMC.MIT.EDU (Kathryn Gandek)
Date: 8 Dec 89 19:50:03 GMT
Organization: Society for Creative Anachronism

Regarding the recent comment about making mead palatable to the modern taste versus period, appropriate ingredients and all that stuff...

I would like to put forward the theory that the palatability of mead has much
less to do with its periodicity than with the care, attention and restraint
of the brewer.  My lord is Sir Michael of York, whose article on making mead
appears in the Knowne World Handbook.  He gets asked to taste quite a number of brews, and I end up trying them too.  Taste is a relative thing, but I
suspect that,  along with experience, the greatest determiner of how the mead
turns out has to do with the how even more than the what.

Michael's mead (informally known as MichaelMead for any of you who may have run
into it without meeting him) when it has appeared in an auction has gone for
anywhere from $6-$10 dollars for a bottle--presumably he is doing something
right.  Although Michael's recipes do come from sources such as Digby, the main thing I have noticed is his painstaking attention to the details of the
process
--the cleanliness of the kitchen and tools, the freshness of the ingredients,
the skimming of the scum, and many other things... but it's not for me to give
away any mysteries of the brewing process ;-)  He has worked on the nuances of recipes instead of trying as many as possible.  Consequently, the product is
quite palatable, even for modern tastes.

Catrin o'r Rhyd For               Kathryn Gandek
Barony of Carolingia              Boston area
East Kingdom                      kgandek%mitvmc.bitnet at mitvma.mit.edu


From: crf at PINE.CIRCA.UFL.EDU (FEINSTEIN)
Date: 14 Dec 89 12:15:00 GMT
Organization: Society for Creative Anachronism

Greetings!

Some time ago, several people noticed my note to Jhanos about having various
addresses for brewers', and asked for the info.  Due to a lack of time, the
best way to reach these people is to post the info.  

I hope he doesn't mind my saying so, but I also recommend people contact
Dagonell the Juggler, who is a wellspring of such things. 

I also have mundane info of a similar nature, such as how to subscribe to
_Zymurgy_, the magazine of the American Homebrewers' Assoc.  Feel free to
write
me with requests and questions, but please be aware that, after this today, I
shan't be at work again until after Christmas. 

Happy Holidays!

Interkingdom Brewers' & Vinters' Guild Newsletter
Lord Phillip the Pilgrim
c/o Phil Reed
510 Reed Lane,
Lexington, KY  40503-1228

$5.00 and 4 issues per year

Info on the Guild itself:

Master Solomon ben Jacob, Guildmaster
c/o Sherwin J. Kader
3721 N. Murray Ave,
Shorewood, WI  53211

East Kingdom Brewers' Guildmaster:
Robin Argyll du Coeur Aile'
c/o Argyle R. Wolf-Knapp
PO Box 1826
New York, NY  10025

                                In Service,
                                    Cher de Bellevue


From: 504800%UOTTAWA.BITNET at MITVMA.MIT.EDU (Kate Sanderson)
Date: 7 Feb 90 03:04:36 GMT
Organization: Society for Creative Anachronism

Greetings to all from Gwilym, appearing courtesy his Lady wife, Kasia.

A couple of months ago some people were discussing how to get tannic acid into their mead recipes. This was a back burner question that I've just gotten
around to looking up.

The chief sources of tannin in period seem to be what we would call berries.
Primarily cranberries and currants, but raspberries, wild strawberries,
elderberries and many of the berries from the tundra and near tundra, were
used in period meads as a tannin source. One Iron Age dig discovered a primary
fermentation pot for mead and it contained cranberries. Sometimes cheap red
wines were also used for a tannin source, especially if the wine had started
to go to vinegar.

One of the better secondary sources for this sort of thing is a book called
Food and Drink in Great Britain (I think, maybe A History of ...)
Most of my looking up was a conversation with Mistress Enid Aurelia, so if
there are further enquiries, I will be happy to get a slightly more
concrete set of references, so people can look them up in the library, rather
than Skraeling Althing.

Gwilym ap Alun                       Bill Sanderson
Barony of Skraeling Althing          Ottawa, Ontario
Ealdormere, Middle Kingdom           Canada

PS. Your Principality Exchequer (Ealdormere) reminds you that there are only
9 days before the tax forms are due.


From: jim at surya.UUCP (owner)
Date: 17 Apr 90 04:39:51 GMT
Organization: surya.system (sunny side up)

brighid at hern.mv.com writes:
> I want to make a dry mead - what ratio of honey to water should I use?
Make it the old fashioned way,

Take your pot of (boiling ) water, add honey,
when the solution will float an egg up to the top of the pot, then you 
have enough honey.  If the egg shows a spot the size of a quarter, you 
will have a sweet (and strong) mead a spot the size of a dime or 
smaller will be on the dry side.
 
Remember also, that the yeast used will affect how sweet/dry the mead 
will turn out.

R.J. Klessig  Hayward Ca..........Ch'ndra P'nthi Esfenn Mists West. 
{pacbell!rencon!esfenn!surya!jim}, an upcomming waffle site.


are very Viking, with Althings, etc.  They do SCA fighting, often as
mercenaries.  I'd guess 50 to 100 members, a fair number are overlaped with
SCA.  A fun, rowdy group, with a penchant for fire-jumping and good mead
(from Tellef Thygesen, who also made my helm.  He's gone commercial, and
makes __good__ mead.  Odin's Mead, from The Meadery, Meader Rd, Greenwich, NY,
(518) 692-9669.  I hear they're sold out for the next 6 months of production.)
-- 
Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering.
{uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup at cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com  BIX: rjesup  
Common phrase heard at Amiga Devcon '89: "It's in there!"


From: david at twg.com (David S. Herron)
Date: 17 Jul 90 06:59:46 GMT
Organization: The Wollongong Group, Palo Alto, CA

        "Although we may little realize it today, when the
         world was young, when the gods walked the earth and
         communed with men, and when men had more ready access
         to paradise than they have had since, mead was the
         liquor drunk by gods and men alike."

This is the first paragraph in _Brewing_Mead_ by Robert Gayre and
a chap named Nigg.  Bound in the same book is _Wassail!_In_Mazers_of_Mead_
written by Charlie Papazian.

The first half, _Brewing_Mead_, is an in depth history of mead
production world wide through history.  The author makes a lot
of lintuisticly derived arguments to prove that various drinks
talked of in ancient texts are really honey-derived wines & beers.
Along the way there are many "secondary sources" given, reproductions
of pictures and translations of text fragments into modern english.

Very fascinating and informative ..

The second half, _Wassail!_, tells how to do it.  There's a buncha
recipes here of all major types of mead.

Now..  the reason for mentioning this book is..  The first time I
saw it was in the library, and it had all the indications of having
been a first edition.  (Original publication: 1948..)

This book I have in front of me is a fresh printing from "Brewers
Publications".

        Brewers Publications
        American Homebrewers Association
        PO Bos 287
        Boulder, CO  80306

        (303) 447-0816

This was a second printing in 1988.  I found this copy in a
wine making store here in Sillycon Valley.

Highly recommended..
-- 
<- David Herron, an MMDF weenie, <david at twg.com>
<- Formerly: David Herron -- NonResident E-Mail Hack <david at ms.uky.edu>


From: vnend at phoenix.Princeton.EDU (D. W. James)
Date: 3 Oct 90 22:25:10 GMT
Organization: Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

In article <40182 at cci632.UUCP> dcb at ccird7.UUCP (Corwin of Darkwater, MKA
Douglas Brainard) writes:
)BARLEY MEAD (SCA Recipe, as served to the populace of AEthelmearc,
)             and the Prince of EAldormere)
)by Lord Corwin of Darkwater, AS XXIV
)   Barony of Thescorre, Principality of AEthelmearc, East Kingdom
 
)Combine 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup amber malt extract (dry), 1/2 cup
)of lime juice, 1/2 cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, and 1/4 ginger root.
 
)Add water to make 1/2 gallon, and bring to a boil. Chill, and serve.
 
)Keep chilled, or it will ferment, and possibly burst bottles.

        Just out of curiousity, why is this called barley mead?

Kwellend-Njal
--

From: david at twg.com (David S. Herron)
Date: 7 Oct 90 21:32:50 GMT

In article <3069 at idunno.Princeton.EDU> vnend at phoenix.Princeton.EDU (D. W.
James) writes:
>In article <40182 at cci632.UUCP> dcb at ccird7.UUCP (Corwin of Darkwater, MKA
Douglas Brainard) writes:
>)BARLEY MEAD (SCA Recipe, as served to the populace of AEthelmearc,
>)             and the Prince of EAldormere)
>)by Lord Corwin of Darkwater, AS XXIV
>)   Barony of Thescorre, Principality of AEthelmearc, East Kingdom
>)Combine 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup amber malt extract (dry), 1/2 cup
                                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>)of lime juice, 1/2 cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, and 1/4 ginger root.
>)Add water to make 1/2 gallon, and bring to a boil. Chill, and serve.
>)Keep chilled, or it will ferment, and possibly burst bottles.
>       Just out of curiousity, why is this called barley mead? 
 
Because .. if my memory is correct .. malt extract is made from barley... 
 
The recipe is a whole lot like modern beer recipes and is the
precursor to modern beer recipes.

In one of my books at home is a Mead recipe I've been meaning
to type in.

(er.. *some* modern beer's that is .. I just realized there's
this Bud Dry commercial on the radio right now.  It's amazing that
they're *PROUD* of making this beer that doesn't have any taste!)

-- 
<- David Herron, an MMDF & WIN/MHS guy, <david at twg.com>
<- Formerly: David Herron -- NonResident E-Mail Hack <david at ms.uky.edu> 
<- 
From:    Donal Dubh 
To:      N2602 U20                                Msg #294, 23-Nov-90 11:08am
Subject: Mead

I am the Stargate Brewer's Guild Principle, and I can assure you
that a very drinkable Mead can be obtained in as little as 3
weeks. It will onlky have 5-6 % alc., it will be cloudy, and very
sweet, but it IS drinkable. I have won awards for wassail as
young as 3 months, and my 1 yr old wassail is about to kick
some... make itself known at next weeks Yule revel and Arts &
SAciences. It is, simply: 
 
3 #'s Honey 
Red Star Pasteur Champagne Yeast 
Water 
 
thats it! Heat (do not boil) the honey and some water, skimming 
off the foam that rises, for 30 min. Allow to cool. pour into 1 
gal. jug, add water to fill(but not too full) you need airspace. 
add yeast. place bubble lock on top and watch it go. drinkable in 
3 weeks. 

later, Donal


From:    Lady Sparkle 
To:      Par Garou 
Date: 08-Jan-91 12:35am
Subject: Re: Mead

> Lady Sparkle,
>    I have not seen said "easy mead" recipe.  Would you be so kind as
> to post it?

I would be glad to!  The documentation states that this recipe was
originally posted in the cooking echo by Rich Harper.  He got them from
the cookbook "Manna Foods of the Frontier" by Gurtrude Harris. The
recipes are a compilation of recipes dating back to the 17th century and
Colonial America and are drawn from old cookbooks as well as family
recipes.  This recipe would produce approximately 2 1/2 gallons of mead.

4   LBS    Raisins
1   TSP    Grated Nutmeg (freshly grated if possible)
6   MED    Cinnamon Sticks, Broken Up
1          Clove
1   MED    Lemon
1   QT     Honey
2 1/2 GAL  Soft Rainwater (or Soft Bottled Water)
1/2 CUP    Rose Water (I purchased from Hindu grocery)

Put raisins through the finest blade of the grinder or food chopper.
Crush the spices in a mortar (I used a blender) and chop the lemon (and
peel) fine; do not let juices run off. Combine all these ingredients in
a large stoneware crock (I used a stainless steel 5 gallon pan). Mix the
honey and water until amalgamated and add to the spice mixture. Set
aside in a warmish place for 5 days, stirring daily. Siphon off the
clear liquid (or let drip through a double cloth bag) and add the rose
water. Bottle and cork tightly.
It is messy to strain and bottle but turns out quite nice.  Good luck!



From:    Lady Sparkle 
To:      Par Garou 
Date: 11-Jan-91 12:32am
Subject: Re: Mead

> Thanks much!  I'll have to give it a try when I have some time and let
> ya know how it comes out.
  
Par Garou -- Please do let me know how your batch comes out.  Rather 
than bottling the mead after 5 days I continued to let mine ferment.  It 
lost the fruity taste and became very potent.  I believe the next batch 
I won't leave fermenting so long.  One of my problems was unsatisfactory 
packaging.  All I had were the plastic spring water containers to keep 
it in.  I closed the mead up in them overnight and when I looked the 
next morning I thought they were going to explode from the fermentation. 
 So...I simply left the valve open and it continued to ferment for 
weeks.  Although the taste is not bad, I think I would prefer the sweet, 
fruity flavor.
 
                   
From: crf at pine.circa.ufl.EDU (FEINSTEIN) 
Date: 21 Feb 91 20:12:00 GMT 
Organization: The Internet 

Greetings! 
 
MEAD:  While I will have to keep this short, I cannot as a brewer resist the 
compulsion to comment on the questions regarding mead. 
 
First of all, boiling a solution containing honey for more than a few minutes 
will both drive off the aromatics (thus affecting the bouquet) and (if boiled 
long enough) affect the structure of the sugars in the honey.   
 
Thus, several suggestions are in order.  First, boil any spices, herbs, or 
fruits *separately*, and then either strain the resulting decoction into the 
rest of your wort, or add the honey after bringing the solution back down to a 
 
simmer.  You will still get a scum which you will have to skim off.  Btw-- it  
takes 5 minutes of boiling to pasteurize your initial solution.  Second,  
remember that honey, unless damaged (by boiling, for example), is actually a  
mold inhibitor.  So, don't worry about keeping your wort at a simmer after  
adding the honey.  Not that it erases the need for scrupulous sanitation!! 
 
The other spot I saw potential for trouble was in the statement "...freshly  
washed..." bottles.  Sorry, but that ain't good enough to keep your mead from  
becoming contaminated!  I suggest that you switch to a weak solution of Clorox 
 
in water, which is actually a potent disinfectant.  Soak your bottles in the  
solution for 5-15 minutes, drain, and rinse *well* with *LOTS* of clean  
cold running water.  Boil the bottle caps in water, in an enamel pot, for 5 
minutes, and only remove them from the water when you're ready to cap a bottle.

There's more where this came from, so anyone wishing to pick my brain is 
welcome to do so.  Be advised, however, that if a reply to a query will prove 
lengthy, I might request that you contact me by farspeaker.


                                In Service,
                                    Cher de Bellevue

                                    INTERNET: CRF at PINE.CIRCA.UFL.EDU
                                    BITNET: CRF at UFPINE
_____________________________________________________________________________
Cher de Bellevue                  Cheryl Feinstein
Barony An Crosaire                Univ. of Florida
Kingdom Trimaris                  Gainesville, FL

                 
From: ghost at purg (F.D. Thomson )
Date: 23 Feb 91 08:20:19 GMT
Organization: Purgatory Lingerie and Iron Works

eisen at kopf.UUCP (Carl West x4449) writes: 
 
> Moriah asks a multitude of questions about making mead. 
>  
[Stuff Deleted] 
> I would reccomend having a look at George Papazian's book 
> _The Joy of Home Brewing_, it's mostly about beermaking, but 
> the general techniques are good to know. 
>  
> Good luck and Happy Brewing, 
> 
> Frydherik Isenkopf

  It's actually _The Complete Joy Of Home Brewing_ by Charlie Papazian (c) 
1984, Published by Avon Books.
 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 84-91116
 ISBN: 0-380-88369-4
 I agree, it is an excellent book.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
F.D. Thomson                        |  "I am not  nearly  so interested in
Purgatory                           |  what monkey man was derived from as
Edmonton, Alberta                   |  I am in  what  kind of monkey he is
Canada                              |  to become."  - Loren Eisley
atrc!mofh!purg!ghost at pembina.cs.ualberta.ca
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                  

From: tighe at inmet.inmet.com
Date: 22 Feb 91 19:40:00 GMT

Unto my friends upon the Rialto does Sir Michael of York send
greetings and salutations, and hope that all finds you well.

I have heard certain questions about mead-brewing and references
to a recipe in the Known World Handbook.

I am the original author of the article in the KWHB, having derived 
the recipes from "Sir Kenelme Digbie's Closet Opened", published by
Sir Digbie's son in 1664, and available in reproduction as part of Cariodoc's Cookbook.

I recently gave an E.K. University class on mead brewing and 
wrote an "update" to the KWHB article, which I will post to the
Rialto as a separate note.

One particular posting from "Moriah" (RJHST11 at cis.vms.pitt.edu)
includes a question: 

>  The question arises in that, not infrequently, the
>  mead molds. *HORRORS*  How do I prevent this?  What am I doing
>  wrong?  The mead, when it works, is *excellent*.  

Mold is a natural element in the air we breath, and it will get onto 
any food left out in the open.  The fresh lemon-juice squeezed into
the must contains natural yeasts and molds - there is no chance that
you can prevent it completely from growing moldy.  In period, I am
sure that they just skimmed off the mold and drank it.  In addition,
Sir Digbie says that the mead won't keep long - and to drink it
immediately.

I would suggest two things:

a)  When you let the "must" cool, do so in a closed container, such
    as a glass bottle with a balloon over the mouth (balloon should
    be "inside out", as the inside of a balloon is filled with
    talcum powder - trust me on this one! ).

    My idea here is that if you put it "hot" into the glass bottle,
    it is hot enough to kill anything bad in the bottle or the must.
    Keeping it "closed" is essential.  You can use cotton balls
    (like in medicine bottles) or cover the mouth of the jar with
    a balloon.

    Once it is cool, then remove the balloon and squeeze in some
    lemon juice (use a funnel) and then STOP IT UP IMMEDIATELY,
    using the same balloon or cotton.

    This should improve your chances.

b)  Gently wash the skins of the lemons that you use to squeeze in 
    lemon-juice.  Most of the "mold-type" stuff is probably on
    the skin.

By the way - instead of adding fresh-squeezed lemon juice, Sir Digbie
says you can "work it with yeast".  This means add yeast to the batch
instead of fresh lemon juice and let it "go".  

In all of the cases described here and everywhere, PLEASE don't close
the bottles tight during the brewing process - use balloons or water-locks.
In addition, once bottled, keep it cool (refrigerator) or keep it someplace
you are willing to have it explode (bottom of a covered 50-gallon steel drum!)
Glass grenades are NO FUN!  (I've several stories, all true, which I 
revive once and again around campfires - maybe I'll post one....... :-)

Good luck, and may your bottles never burst!

Sir Michael of York             aka:    Michael Tighe
House du Chat Gris              email:  tighe at inmet.inmet.com
Carolingia, EK   (Boston, MA)   or:     tighe%inmet at uunet.uu.net


From:    david director friedman 

1. While it is contrary to modern practice, period mead recipes boil
the honey for a substantial length of time--and it seems to come out
tasting good. The small mead recipe (Digby's "Weak Honey Drink") adds
the orange peel and ginger at the very end of the boiling, so that
they boil for only a few minutes.

2. For the small mead, I routinely wash the bottles, do not disinfect
them with clorox, Campden tablets, etc., and have no problem. For
something that ferments more than a few weeks it might be desirable
to take greater precautions.

Cariadoc
DDFr at Midway.UChicago.Edu


From: ddfr at quads.uchicago.edu (david director friedman)
Date: 27 Feb 91 06:30:28 GMT
Organization: University of Chicago
 
"I have not seen any period recipes that use tea in mead, but all my
batches that omitted tea were not as good." (Kevin Karplus)
Nor will you, unless you find mead recipes from outside Europe. To
the best of my knowledge and belief, tea did not come into Western
Europe until the seventeenth century. Since it came by sea from
China, it would probably have reached the Middle East even later, but
I have no good information on that.
Your response is that "I am more interested in producing good flavor
that in strict authenticity, so continue to use tea." This is
certainly an understandable preference. But perhaps you should
consider the situation a challenge: Is it possible to produce good
period mead? Perhaps the answer is no--but it might be worth
experimenting a good deal before deciding that. There seems a certain
inconsistency in saying of Kenelm Digby that "I know of no better
source for mead recipes" and then asserting that none of his recipes
produce mead that tastes good--which is what you seem to be doing.

Cariadoc/David Friedman
DDFr at Midway.UChicago.Edu


From: ddfr at quads.uchicago.edu (david director friedman)
Date: 5 Mar 91 04:36:53 GMT
Organization: University of Chicago

Perhaps I have been conditioned by wine drinking to expect a little
tanin with my alcohol. (Kevin Karplus, on tea in mead)

Tea is not the only source of tannin--there is no tea in wine. Would
mead stored in oak barrels pick up tannin from the oak? I am fairly
sure that acorns and oak bark have tannin, but do not know if oak
wood does. 

The earliest usable mead recipe that I know of, which Mistress
Niccola posted some time back, refers to putting the mead in a
particular sort of barrel.  I believe Niccola translated the German
word as "resinous wood" or something similar. Perhaps it is
specifying something about the wood that is relevant to its tannin
content.

"Is there a way to brew small mead/weak honey drink which is *very*
low in alcohol content? Say, several glasses = 1 glass of beer?"
(Baroness Jessa d'Avondale)

I belive Kenelm Digby's weak honey drink (aka Small Mead) works out
to about 1 % alcohol, which satisfies your requirements. I do not
think I ever tested it, but I remember that as the result Ishmael ibn
Murad got when he did. I generally do not emphasize this fact; one of
the virtues of small mead is that people can feel as though they are
great drinkers without actually consuming very much alcohol.

So far as period alcohol-free beverages, there is a  13th century
Andalusian cookbook with a whole chapter of them. They are basically
flavored syrups that you dilute with hot or cold water. Sekanjabin is
the only one that is well known in the Society.

Cariadoc


From: crf at pine.circa.ufl.EDU (FEINSTEIN)
Date: 20 Mar 91 22:33:00 GMT
Organization: The Internet

TANNIN IN MEAD:  As has been pointed out, all parts of the oak contain tannin.
It's pretty concentrated in acorns, however, and only extracted by boiling.  So
I wouldn't recommend using them.  Chips have the benefit of exposing a broad
surface area from which the tannin can diffuse.  And by the way:  wood chips
and the like are indeed useful primarily as *clarifiers* in brews.  Which is
why Anheuser-Busch's "Beechwood aging" shtik always cracks me up:  beechwood
chips are the traditional method of clarifying classic Pilsener beer.  They
ain't doing anyone any favors.  Finally:  the importance _per se_ of tannin in
mead is as a flavor balancer.  That little bit of bitterness offsets the
sweetness enough to keep the mead from being cloying.  It's akin to the
addition of caffeine to sodas. 


From: acapreol at watserv1.waterloo.edu (CAPREOL A - INDEPENDENT STUDIES )
Date: 7 Aug 91 19:23:06 GMT
Organization: University of Waterloo
Message-ID: <1991Aug7.192306.931 at watserv1.waterloo.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.food.drink,rec.org.sca

While I don't know of any commercially available meads, I
do know several books with recipes and how to's.  I also
know several people who are currently attempting to make them.
For How To books, one of the best I've read is
:
MAKING MEAD: HISTORY, METHODS AND EQUIPTMENT by Roger A. Morse
Wiscas Press, NY, 1983.

Another one is: MAKING MEAD by Peter Acton and Peter Duncan
                Argus Books Ltd, 1984.

                If you are interested in the history ofr mead,
                an excellent book is WASSAIL, IN MAZERS OF MEAD
                although, I don't know the author or date offhand
                
                That should get you started.  There are a group of
                us in Waterloo, Ontario attempting recipes, and I for
                one would be very interested in hearing what is goin
                 On with other peoples mead projects.                


From: passaret at copernicus.crd.ge.com ("Mr. Mike" Passaretti)
Date: 7 Aug 91 22:58:50 GMT
Organization: GE Corporate Research & Development

In article <1991Aug7.192306.931 at watserv1.waterloo.edu> 
acapreol at watserv1.waterloo.edu (CAPREOL A - INDEPENDENT STUDIES ) writes:

   While I don't know of any commercially available meads, I
   do know several books with recipes and how to's.  I also
   know several people who are currently attempting to make them.
   For How To books, one of the best I've read is

   [...]

Actually, there is one very palatable commercial mead available.
It's called "Odin's Mead" and it's made by Tellef Thygersen.  He
went into the biz a couple of years ago when he got tired of people
asking him why he hadn't gone commercial yet.  You can reach the
supplier at  The Meadery in Greenwich, NY.  (518)692-9669 9-5 
Eastern Time Tuesday through Saturnsday.  I'll have a few bottles
at the war, but they usually don't last long.

                                                        - MM
-- 
passaretti at crd.ge.com                     {whatever}!crdgw1!brahe!passaret


From: karplus at ararat.ucsc.edu (Kevin Karplus)
Date: 10 Aug 91 01:14:56 GMT

Bargetto's (in Soquel, CA) makes a drink called Chaucer's Mead that is
reasonably drinkable.  It is distributed mainly in Northern
California, but you may be able to find it elsewhere.  On the East
Coast, you can sometimes find a strong sweet mead from Poland (Wawel).

Roger Morse's book is good, but Morse is a little too opposed to
spices for my taste.  The recipes in Kenelm Digbie's collection are
still the best primary source, and offer a wide variety of styles.

Here are some records from the UC library catalog (MELVYL) for the
books being discussed:  

Making mead (honey wine) : history, recipes, methods, and equipment /
    Roger A. Morse.  Ithaca, N.Y. (425 Hanshaw Rd., Ithaca, N.Y. 14850) : 
    Wicwas Press, 1980.
        UCB   BioSci    TP588.M4 .M67 
        UCD   Main Lib  TP588.M4 M67

The closet of Sir Kenelm Digby, knight, opened: newly edited with
    introduction, notes, and glossary, by Anne Macdonell.  London,
    P.L. Warner, 1910.
        UCD   Main Lib  TX705 .D5 1910
        UCLA  Clark     PR 3409 D5C6
        UCSF  Library   No call number History NonCirc

The closet of Sir Kenelme Digbie opened.  [St. Louis? : Mallinckrodt
    Chemical Works, 1967].
      Series title:  Mallinckrodt collection of food classics ; v. 6.
        UCD   Main Lib  TX705 .D5 1967

The closet of the eminently learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Kt. opened /
    Kenelme Digbie.  London : International Bee Research Association, c1983.
      Series title:  Texts of early beekeeping books ; no.7.
        UCB   Main      TP569 .D531 1983
        UCLA  URL       * TP 569 D5 1983

The closet of the eminently learned Sir Kenelme Digbie kt. opened: whereby
   is discovered several ways for making of metheglin, sider, cherry-wine, &c.,
   together with excellent directions for cookery: as also for... [St. Louis],
    Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, 1967.
      Series title:  Mallinckrodt collection of food classics ; v. 6.
        SRLF            A 0005825823 Type EXP SRLF for loan details.

The closet of the eminently learned Sir Kenelme Digby, Kt. opened :
    whereby is discovered several ways for making of metheglin, sider,
    cherry-wine, &c. : together with excellent directions for cookery : as...  
    London : Printed by E.C. & A.C. for H. Brome ..., 1671.
      Series title:  Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 735:17.
        UCSD  Central   MICRO F 524 Current Periodical Microform

The closet of the eminently learned Sir Kenelme Digby, Kt. opened :
    whereby is discovered several ways for making of metheglin, syder,
    cherry-wine, &c. : together with excellent directions for cookery : as...  
    The third edition corrected.  London : Printed by H.C. for H. Brome ...,
    1677.
      Series title:  Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 625:6.
        UCSD  Central   MICRO F 524 Current Periodical Microform

Incidentally, my latest batch of mead was a failure: I used Lapsang
Souchong tea as a source of tannin, and used too much.  The resulting
mead has an unpleasant smokey aftertaste.

If anyone wants a recipe for my more successful earlier batches, just
send me e-mail.  (Warning for SCA brewers, my recipe has a couple of
modern features, such as using tea for tannin.)

Knud Kaukinen                           Kevin Karplus
inactive in the West                    teaching at UC Santa Cruz
                                        karplus at ce.ucsc.edu


From: bemo at spacsun.rice.edu (Brian D. Moore)
Date: 8 Aug 91 23:40:01 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Space Physics, Rice U., Houston, TX

     The following is based upon my own experiences in brewing, and information
that I have gleaned from various publications on wine- and beer-making. First, I will deal with 'long' meads, and then quicker 'short' meads for the impatient
at heart.

     Mead is really not that difficult to make.  I am hardly a wizened master
(having only 6 gallons of production under my belt, so to speak), but I will
venture to state that anyone patient and clean enough by nature can make quite
a nice brew at home.
     First, let me say that it is much easier to do if you have a homebrew supply
store in town.  It is possible to get everything you need mail order, but
nothing tops the convenience and inspirational value of actually browsing in a
store.  All that you would need to get from there is the yeast and airlocks;
anything else could be found or substituted from other sources.
     So let's get to basics.  Get lots of honey, preferably clover honey
(try your local 'health food' store; mine has bulk honey for 1.19/lb., although
it is not clover).  Use from 2-4 pounds per U.S. gallon of water, depending on
your desired sweetness and alcohol level.  3 pounds should get you a slightly
sweet white wine-ish mead.
     Boil the honey in the water, skimming off the grayish-brown foam which
will form on top, until the foam is no longer formed at a rapid rate (I usually
wait until it takes about 2 minutes to form enough foam to skim effectively.)
     Now you need to add some fruit; for 2 gallons, I usually add a lime and an
orange, with about 1 oz. of ginger to boot.  You can use any citrus you like,
in almost any amount you like.  The purpose of this, besides taste, is to
balance the wine; it also prevents oxidation later on.  Cut it up, throw it in,
but remember to minimize the amount of white pith that goes into the pot, as
it adds an unpleasantly bitter taste to the wine.  I usually grate some peel
into the pot, then squeeze in the juice, with some pulp thrown in as well.
Peel the ginger, cut it up, throw it in; grating will utilize more of the
ginger, but makes it harder to strain out.  Also, nothing beats the zingy taste
of ginger boiled in honey water!  What the hell, eat the fruit too, it's good 
for you.
     OK, so you have some hot pre-mead, now what?  Let it cool, preferably
covered, until you can handle it reasonably well.  Now you need a narrow-necked
container, preferably glass.  I use 1-gallon apple juice jugs.  There are also
large plastic tubs, with a tight-fitting lid that has a small hole drilled in it
for the airlock, which works equally as well.  These are available at homebrew
shops as well, and are especially helpful for those big batches.
     The key to preventing any unwanted contamination of your mead is cleanliness.
Clean and sterilize your container, with either sodium metabisulphite (also at
HBrew shops) or with a bleach solution (no more than two tablespoons per gallon
of water).  Chlorine bleach will kill the nasty organisms, but requires a lot of
hot water rinses of the container afterwards.  Sodium metabisulfites are the
sulfites in commercial wines, but they only inhibit growth, and can also cause
allergic reactions.  So if you can't drink commercial wines without a reaction
(except, of course, that pleasant drunk feeling), go with the bleach.  One could
also attempt to use heat to sterilize the equipment (say, the heat-dry cycle of 
a dishwasher), but personally I do not recommend this, as it can have a disastrous
effect on the glass (and anything in range if it breaks apart).
     Once it is sterilized and well-rinsed, fill your container with cooled mead.
Try to strain it as you fill; bits of fruit pulp and peel should not be allowed
to remain while fermenting, as it may start to decay and spoil all of your effort.
Cover and allow to cool to room temperature.  Meanwhile, prepare your airlock,
sterilizing it as you did the container.  Fill it halfway with either water or
sulfite solution at the appropriate strength (check the package), and definitely
NOT with bleach solution.  Removing the airlock or pressure changes may suck
some of the solution into the mead, and the bleach would make it undrinkable.
Sulfite solution is preferred (since water could be infected by the dreaded
vinegar fly), and it won't poison the product.
     When the mead is fully cooled, you can now add the yeast.  It is considered
best to take a little of the mead in a beer bottle, add the yeast packet, and
let it start off to the side before adding it to the entire batch; this becomes
really necessary if your batch is in several jugs, instead of just one.  Also,
it is very important to use a yeast nutrient, which should be right next to the
yeast when you buy it.  You will need about 1 teaspoon per gallon, since honey
is extremely deficient in the chemicals necessary for yeast to reproduce.
     The choice of yeast could be important; most meadmakers steer clear of ale
yeasts, since they have a low alcohol tolerance (9%?)  and reportedly impart
an unwanted flavor to the mead.  I myself have used ale yeasts, with no
undesirable effects.  Preferably, one should use a mead yeast, but if not, a wine
or Champagne yeast work just as well.
     Now you just add the yeast and nutrient, and fit the airlock over the mouth of your container (a variety of sizes of rubber stoppers are available, so do not be concerned with whether or not your bottle is the 'right' size for the airlock. But be sure to test your stopper first, to see if it will hold the seal).  Put it in a corner somewhere, and watch it go.
     I have had experiences where the fermentation was so violent that mead foam was forced through the airlock.  It is not that large of a concern; just clean it up every once in a while, fill the airlock again (see why you don't want bleach!), and reseal the container.  This is another reason to strain the mixture; you don't want to block the airlock, or your meadmaking could soon become an experiment in bomb making!  Check on it ever once in a while, to make sure the carbon dioxide is escaping.  It will soon calm down, and the soft, steady bloop sounds which brewers all cherish from their airlocks will soon sing you to sleep.
     The hardest part is now upon us -- waiting.  Mead takes excrutiatingly long
to ferment, since the sugars in it are so complex.  This is when it is handy to
have a hydrometer, which is just a cheap device to measure the specific gravity
(and hence the sugar content) of your brew.  If you have one, read the enclosed
instructions; if not, don't worry about it.  You will just have to be more patient
and observant is all.  Watch your mead; a layer of yeast will fall to the bottom
of your container (so clear glass is preferable).  When the layer is substantial,
you will want to siphon the mead into another container, so that the dead yeast
there will not break down and spoil the mead.  This will take on the order of two
to three months, and then again in another two to three months.  After these two
transfers (called 'racking'), the mead should be 'clear'; if it is cloudy, the
yeast haven't finished yet, so let it sit some more.  If the mead is clear but
bubbles are still visible, the yeast haven't finished yet.  If no deposit forms,
it is clear, and no bubbles are visible, then the yeast are probably through,
and you can bottle.
     Sterilize the bottles that you plan to use as you did the other equipment.
Since mead sometimes fools you into believing it is done, Champagne bottles are preferable.  If any bottle fermentation does take place, you do not want it in
regular bottles, or without the cork wired down.  If you wish, regular bottles
can be used, but be sure to use a wine stabilizer, and only after fermentation is
complete.  Until you are experienced, better safe than sorry (and messy).  Siphon your mead into the bottles and cork.  Plastic corks are just fine to use, and are reusable.  Cages are also reusable, to a point, if you have trouble getting
new ones.  If you've done it all right, no sediment should form, and you should
have a fine still mead.  If not, bottle fermentation has taken place, you have a
little sediment around the punt of your Champagne bottle, and you have fine
sparkling mead (or else you've cleaned up your winerack, if you used a regular
bottle).  Age as long as you can stand, up to two years, but open one fairly
early, as reward and to check for bottle fermentation.
     To intentionally make sparkling mead, you need to have made a low-alcohol
batch (I'd say <= 2.5 lb/gallon), and you really should buy a hydrometer to tell
you when it is finished.  In this case you must use a high-alcohol wine yeast;
ale yeast will not work.  When it is, remove a small portion of mead, boil it,
and add some sugar to the boiling mead, cover and cool, and add back to the
batch.  I do not have the reference that I want nearby, but for beer the amount
is 4 oz. per gallon, so that should be about right.  Less is OK, more is not
recommended.  Then bottle in Champagne bottles (or beer bottles -- Grolsch
bottles are very good for this, and replacement seals are available).  Wait a few
weeks (longer if honey was used), chill, and pour the mead carefully off of the
sediment (you Chimay ale drinkers know what I mean).  This is why you may want to use less sugar in the bottle than 4 oz; the bubbles released when opening can force the sediment off of the bottom of the bottle and into your glass, so fizzy
mead becomes fizzy yeasty mead, which can be comestibly and gastrically
unpleasant.
    Once you have a few batches under your belt, you can add fruit, hops, more
ginger, whatever you think would taste good.  Amounts are generally a pound or so
of fruit, an ounce or so of hops, per gallon.  Experimentation, though sometimes
yielding unfortunate results, is the key to getting what you want.  However, if
fruit is to be used, do not boil it (it may jellify), and if you can, sterilize it with sulfites and add pectic enzyme to the brew.  Crush it, add it, and make
sure that it does not clog the airlock.  If you use hops, I suggest a mild variety
like Fuggles or Cascade.  More bitter hops could be used, but I would relegate
them only to the quick sparkling meads, where the beer quality is more pronounced and less invasive than in wines.

     Now that you have made a long mead, you'll need to make a quick mead to
drink while you wait.  Use about 2-2.5 lbs of honey per gallon; any more, and the
yeast may take to long, depriving you of the relatively quick satisfaction you
seek.  Also, I suggest using an ale yeast, despite all convention.  After all,
you are essentially making honey beer here, not wine, which by its very nature
needs to be delicate and well-aged.  Do that mead thing just like before.  Allow
vigorous fermentation to run its course.  In ten to twenty days, the mead should
have settled down.  Ale yeast is a top-fermenting yeast, so it works best in a
warm environment.  Because we want to arrest fermentation, we need to cool it.
Find a place in your fridge where the bottle can stand up with the airlock in it,
and stick it there.  The yeast will slow down and sink, and thus the mead will
start to clear.  When it is clear, bottle in either beer or Champagne bottles,
and leave it out for a day or two if you want it carbonated, then refrigerate.
If you wish, wait a little longer, then transfer it instead into a plastic
thermos, and drink it quickly.  If it's too yeasty, next time wait longer.
Wait a week for the sediment to form, then drink.  Do not wait too long; bottle
fermentation will soon make the mead gush out of the bottle when opened, mixing
the yeast back in the mead.  If this starts to occur, you must rebottle or face
the consequences.  The longer you can wait until bottling, the more unlikely
that you end up with little mead time bombs in your fridge.  This is the other
reason for using ale yeast; its low alcohol tolerance will end fermentation
earlier than wine yeast, lowering the danger limit to your bottles (and yourself).
As anecdotal evidence, I relate the story of my ginger beer, which when opened,
put a plastic Champagne cork imprint on my ceiling, followed by the entire
contents of the bottle, which then proceeded to ginger-bathe my entire kitchen.
(By the way, the kitchen smelled great).  I then had to go in the back yard and
defuse the remaining four bottles, hitting the back fence three out of four shots.  Sparkling mead demands respect, and usually gets it from whomever it
wishes.  Aged sparkling mead is sparkling mead with an attitude.  Really old
sparkling mead doesn't kill people, people kill people.  I know people who
would rather rip their own heads off than open a bottle of really old sparkling
mead.
     After several batches of quick mead, it will become apparent what variations
to try, and which of these you wish to try with your long meads.  Once again, I
stress the virtues of experimentation, especially with these quick meads, in
which you have invested a lot less waiting and bother, and hence won't be so
disappointed if something goes awry.  The best laid plans o' mice and mead...

     While this discussion is by no means a definitive guide on meads, I feel
that it should clear up some misconceptions on the subject, some of which have
been propogated through folios and articles within the SCA itself, including the
first Knowne World Handbooke, which I feel really shows it age in this topic.
The technology and literature on the subject of homebrewing has increased
severalfold since its penning, and it would be folly to discount it only on
the basis of period accuracy and perceived complexity.  Become the life of the
barony, and earn the respect of your heavy fighters.  Kiss up to the king,
and bring your wares to the war.  Everybody loves a brewer!

                                                 Voue'
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian D. Moore (Voue' Alechec)|  Homebrewing -- the only sport open exclusively
Space Physics and Astronomy   |                 to anal-retentive alcoholics.
Rice University, Houston TX   |  Relax -- have a home brew.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


TO: All
FROM: Kevin Karplus
SUBJECT: Re: A Question of Mead

best. Clover honey works well, but very light honeys (like alfalfa)
generally lack flavor.  If making a true mead (without spices), the
flavor of the honey is more important, and only strongly flavored
honeys should be used.
The yeast is important. Baking yeast is bred for fast carbon dioxide
production, and is not at all suitable for brewing. Some home cider
makers may be used to just letting the sweet cider stand a few days to
ferment on its own.  This technique relies on the wild yeasts present
in the air, on the cider press, and on the skins of the apples.  It
doesn't work for mead.  The wild yeasts result in off-flavors, which
the honey is not strong enough to mask. For strong, still meads (3 lbs
honey/gallon or more) I use a white wine yeast, while for a lighter
beverage I use ale yeast.  A beer yeast should work as well as an ale
yeast, but I find top-fermenting ale yeasts more fun to work with.
WARNING: the "brewer's yeast" sold in health-food stores is dead yeast,
it will not be usable for brewing.
The equipment you need is a large pot (I use a 20 quart canning pot), a
5 foot plastic tube to use as a siphon, and strong bottles.  In
addition, a 5 gallon water bottle with a stopper and fermentation lock
is a very useful piece of equipment.  Everything you use should be
sterilized to prevent the growth of vinegar-forming bacteria.  There
are chemical sterilizing agents available from wine-making supply
stores, but I prefer to sterilize everything in boling water.  I'll
mention sterilizing over and over.  It is the single most important
part of brewing mead rather than vinegar.
If making a still, wine-type mead, any sort of bottle will do for the
final bottling.  However, this recipe is for a fizzy "ale-type" mead,
so strong bottles are essential.  Champagne bottles and returnable pop
bottles are usable, disposable bottles of any sort are not.  I once had
an apple juice bottle explode in my room, embedding shrapnel in my
pillow from 9 feet away.  Don't make the same mistake--use strong
bottles!!
Steps to making the mead:
1. Boil the water, adding the tea and spices.
2. Remove water from heat and stir in honey.  (Note, stirring
implement should be sterilized!)  Some mead brewers boil the honey in
the water, skimming the scum as it forms.  This removes some of the
proteins from the honey, making it easier for the mead to clarify.
However, I don't mind a bit of cloudiness, and prefer the taste of
unboiled honey.  If you are making a wine mead, you can avoid the
cloudiness simply by waiting an extra month or two for the mead to
clarify.  If you're buying a clear honey from a supermarket, it may
already have been cooked a bit to remove pollen and sugar crystals, in
which case, a bit more cooking probably won't change the flavor much.
Digby's recipes do call for boiling the honey.
3. Cover the boiled water, and set it aside to cool (to blood
temperature or cooler).  This usually takes a long time, so I overlap
it with the next step.
4. Make a yeast starter solution by boiling a cup of water and a
tablespoon of honey (or sugar).  Let it cool to blood heat (or all the
way to room temperature) and add the yeast.  Cover it and let it
ferment overnight.  The yeast should form a "bloom" on the surface of
the liquid.  (Of course, the cooling and fermenting should be done in
the pan or other sterilized vessel.)
5.  Add the yeast starter to the cooled liquid.  Cover and let ferment.
After a few days, it is useful to siphon the mead into another
container, leaving the sediment behind.  Here's where the 5 gallon
bottle comes in handy.  A fermentation lock provides a way to close the
bottle so carbon dioxide can get out, but vinegar-forming bacteria and
oxygen cannot get in. Remember to sterilize the bottle and the siphon first!
6. Ferment for a few weeks in a warm, dry place.  When a lot of
sediment has collected on the bottom of the bottle, siphon off the
liquid (without disturbing the sediment). This process is known as
"racking," and helps produce a clear, sediment-free mead.  Again, make
sure all your equipment is sterilized.  A wine mead may need to be
racked three or four times before the final bottling.
7. For a fizzy mead, siphon into strong (sterilized) bottles a bit
before fermentation stops.  With the strength given here 4 weeks is
about right.  The exact time depends a lot on the temperature, the
yeast, the honey, ... .  I use plastic champagne corks to seal the
bottles (sterilized, of course!).  Crown caps are also good.  Real
corks should only be used for still beverages, since the amount of
carbonation is unpredictable.  Too much carbonation and you'll pop the
corks, too little, and corks are hard to remove from champagne
bottles.  Don't wire on the corks, unless you're willing to risk an
occasional broken champagne bottle.  Still meads should not be bottled
until fermentation has completely stopped. I generally wait until the
fermentation has stopped, and the mead has cleared. This can take more
than six months for a strong wine mead.
8. Age the mead in a cool place.  Note: ferment warm, and age cool.  I
sometimes keep the champagne bottles upright in the cardboard box they
came in.  That way, if a cork pops, there is something to absorb the
overflow, and if, despite my care, a bottle breaks, it won't set off a
chain reaction.
9. Drink and Enjoy! The light quick meads should be served chilled
(like beer), while the wine types are better at room temperature or
only slightly chilled.

From: dworkin at rootgroup.com (Dieter Muller)
Subject: Re: Mead and Backgamon
Organization: The Root Group Inc.
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1993 22:41:13 GMT

In article <1993Apr14.134034.25970 at samba.oit.unc.edu> dennis_sherman at unc.edu writes:
>It is possible to make mead with honey, water, yeast, and nothing 
>else, but you have to start with a highly flavored honey and wait.  
>And wait.  And wait.  And when you think you've waited enough, wait 
>some more.  We're talking years, not months.  I haven't done it, so 
>I'm just guessing based on things I've read, but for any honey-only 
>mead, I'd guess you need a minimum of 3 years -- one source says 
>minimum of 8 for heather honey.

I'm afraid I have to take exception to this statement.  My meads are
usually drinkable within six months, and are very popular after eight.
I've not been able to keep any around longer than a year to find out
what happens after that ;-)  The only ingredients I use are water,
honey, champagne yeast, and sometimes a small smattering of spices
(clove, nutmeg, that sort of thing).

I do use one trick that I've not seen referenced anywhere (I stumbled
upon it by accident).  That is to start with a much smaller quantity
of honey, let it ferment out completely, and then sweeten the result
up as much as is desired.  For instance:

	3 pounds honey (this is about a quart, alfalfa works quite well)
	water to make a gallon
	1 packet dry champagne yeast
	spices to taste (say, clove and nutmeg, 1 Tsp each)

	heat the water some to aid in dissolving the honey (you should
		be able to put your hand into it without injury)
	warm the honey (a microwave works wonders)
	mix the honey and water until the honey is completely
		dissolved
	let the mixture cool to no more than 100 degrees (room
		temperature is better)

	while waiting for cooling to occur, mix the dry yeast in with
		a cup or so of warmish water (no more than 100
		degrees)
	add some yeast nutrient if it seems necessary (I don't do this
		step very often, it depends on how tasty the tap
		water's been that week -- if I can't taste it, I add
		some nutrients)

	put the dissolved honey into a fermenting vessel
	add the yeast
	slosh the results around to distribute the yeast and get a
		good supply of oxygen in
	put on an airlock

	wait about four months, until no more bubbles can be seen in
		the fermentation vessel (this is not the same as not
		seeing activity in the airlock)

	rack the fermented product into a different vessel.
	add honey to sweeten the drink up to taste (I like a sweet
		mead, so usually end up adding about another pound and
		a half per gallon)
	bottle (optional, if you happen to have a keg or are happy
		keeping it in the vessel you racked off into)
	age for a month or two
	start drinking

This produces a still, sweet mead.  The longer it ages, the better it
gets, but it is quite drinkable after the aging specified above.

I've given a recipe for one gallon.  Scale at will.  Multiplying by
five works perfectly well.

In Service to the Society, I remain,

	Rudeger Marenholtz, known as Dworkin
	Head of the Caer Galen Brewers' and Vintners' Guild
	Caer Galen, Outlands

From: ckellogg at saturn.sdsu.edu (Charles Kellogg)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Mead and Backgamon
Date: 17 Apr 1993 16:09:32 GMT
Organization: San Diego State University, College of Sciences

Dieter Muller (dworkin at rootgroup.com) wrote:

: I do use one trick that I've not seen referenced anywhere (I stumbled
: upon it by accident).  That is to start with a much smaller quantity
: of honey, let it ferment out completely, and then sweeten the result
: up as much as is desired.  For instance:

	Yes, this is one way to produce a "sweet" mead.  I would like to
suggest another method that works quite well.
	When you make your initial batch, let it ferment until the
specific gravity levels out, or there is no more activity.  Add additional
honey, watch the fermentation restart. When fermentation stops, add more
honey.  Keep doing this, until, when you add a little more honey, no
fermentaton takes place.  This produces a sweet, more alcoholic mead.  It
works because wine yeasts metabolize glucose in preference to fructose, both
of which are found in honey.  The yeast will digest all the glucose, but
only some of the fructose.  Luckily, fructose tastes sweeter per weight to
humans than glucose.


: 	Rudeger Marenholtz, known as Dworkin

		Avenel Kellough
	:Drafn viking; have axe, will travel:


From: ayen at panix.com (Doug Ayen)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Bad Mead
Date: 13 Oct 1993 17:23:10 -0400
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC

> > The answer to most of my disasters has been wait a while before
> > tasting again.  They don't always get better, but almost never get
> > worse.  "While" is so far defined as anything up to three years...

Something I do with the occasional bad batch is to convert it to vinegar.
Nine times out of ten or so, a bad mead will make a wonderful vinegar.
Just watch out that the brew doesn't get contaminaed with anything else!
Mother of vinegar can be found in many health food stores, or look for an
unprocessed vinegar.

--doug


Newsgroups: rec.crafts.winemaking,rec.org.sca
From: ralph at astro.lu.se (Ralph Snel)
Subject: Mead recipe from 1730
Organization: Lund Observatory
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 16:53:16 GMT

From:
Geheym der Wynen ontdekt
of
Kunst om alle Blaauwe, Rosse, Lange Verwaayde
en andere onzuyvere Wynen, binnen korten tyd,
zonder mangel schoon te maaken.

Printed by Reynier van Kessel,
in 's GraavenHaag
1730

RECEPT
Om MEE te maaken

Neemt 90. stoop Regenwater, en 10. stoop Honing, die
schoon en wit is, doch, indien gy geen witte kondt bekomen, neemt
Roode die goed is, dat zaamen in de Ketel over het vuur gedaan,
en laat het 20. stoop inkooken, schuymt het wel, doet daar dan
in een ons gestoote Yrias en een paar handen vol Hop, dat moogt
gy alles met vier pond gesneeden lange Rozynen, in een zakje, in
de ketel hangen, beproeft dan met een Ey, zoo het daar op
dryft is het genoeg, laat het dan bynaa koud worden, doet het
dan in een Vat daar eerst Spaansche Wyn in geweest is, of ten
minste met een pint van dezelve het Vat toegemaakt, laat het
zakje met Rozynen mede zoo lang in de Wyn kooken tot dezelve
genoeg is, wringt dan dezelve zak schoon uyt, zoo bekomt
de Mee daar van een smaak als of het goede Spaansche Wyn
was, doet dan wat gist in het Vat, en laat het op een warme
plaats staan, dat hy wel uytgewerkt is: dit moet ten minste
een half jaar leggen

Translation/interpretation:

Recipe to make mead.

Take 90 stoop (1 stoop equals about half an imperial galon) rainwater
and 10 stoop clean and white honey. If you could not get any white
honey take good red honey instead. Put that together in a kettle over
the fire and let it boil down 20 stoop. When (or if, I'm not quite sure)
it's foaming a lot add one ounce crushed Yrias (dunno really what that
is) and a few handsfull of hops that you put in a little bag with 4 pounds
of cut long raisins and hang in the kettle. Test with an egg, if it floats
it is enough (else you should boil longer). Let it get almost cold. Put
it in a barrel that had spanish wine in it before, or at least add a pint
of spanish wine. Let the bag with raisins cook in the wine as well untill
it is enough and squize the last liquid from the bag. Like this the
mead will get a taste as if it was a good spanish wine.
Then add yeast to the barrel and let it stand in a warm place untill it
has stopped working: this should lie at least half a year.

Remarks:
-White honey implies crystallized honey. I think the red honey
means liquid.
-Boil a long time.
-The egg-test (tried it at home) gives a SG of 1.100 or higher,
260 gram sugar per liter. After complete fermentation this
would give about 14% alcohol (by volume) or higher. Assuming
that the yeasts of those days were not as alcohol resistant
as they are now and the fact that we're dealing with honey with
just a bit of raisins as nutrients, my guess is that the alcohol
percentage would be around 11 or 12% with a sweet taste.
-Let it mature for at least half a year (!)
-The book I quoted from was printed in 1730. I have however seen
recipes in a book from 1520 that are in name identical to other
recipes from the 1730 book. In 1730 there are however quite a few
extra ingredients to make the (in this case distilled) beverage
look and taste better. So I think the original mead recipe could
easily be from before 1500, possibly without the hops and yrias,
but the technique of making it is most likely identical, passed
on from master to apprentice over those two centuries.

Ralph

ralph at astro.lu.se


From: DDF2 at cornell.edu (David Friedman)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period brewing and herbs...
Date: 19 Nov 1993 02:50:17 GMT
Organization: Cornell Law School

In article <2cdsr5$oje at uxa.ecn.bgu.edu>, miss059 at uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Rich
Bainter) wrote:

>    I'm doing a little personal research and I'm interested in finding
> out what herbs were used in medieval brewing and why. 

The recipe for mead in Buch von Gute Speise uses hops, sage and a resined
vessel. It is the only usable pre-1600 mead recipes I know of. Curye on
Englysch has two more, although they do not have enough information, in my
judgement, to make it clear how they are really done. If you do not have
access to a copy, and can probably dig out mine.

The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby, Opened, c. 1660, is the first source I know
of with lots of fermented drinks. There are also a few descriptions of beer
making from the sixteenth century. Harrison's preface to Holinshed's
chronicles has one that mentions hops, arras (?), and bayberries finely
powdered, also long pepper as an alternative.. 
-- 
David/Cariadoc
DDF2 at Cornell.Edu


From: jtn at nutter.cs.vt.edu (Terry Nutter)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period brewing and herbs...
Date: 21 Nov 1993 18:27:30 GMT
Organization: The Rialto

Greetings, all, from Angharad ver' Rhuawn.

Cariadoc writes:

>>    I'm doing a little personal research and I'm interested in finding
>> out what herbs were used in medieval brewing and why. 
>
>The recipe for mead in Buch von Gute Speise uses hops, sage and a resined
>vessel. It is the only usable pre-1600 mead recipes I know of. Curye on
>Englysch has two more, although they do not have enough information, in my
>judgement, to make it clear how they are really done. If you do not have
>access to a copy, and can probably dig out mine.

There is also a single recipe for mead (called "Bouchet", but clearly mead)
in the Menagier, listed under dishes for invalids, as I recall.  There is
some difficulty with working out the measures, though.  It is not reproduced
in the Eileen Power translation, but is in the (complete but not commercially
published) Janet Hinson translation that Cariadoc sells.

I agree absolutely with Cariadoc that the first collection of recipes 
anywhere near extensive enough to tell you anything about customary use
of herbs and other flavorings in brewing is Kenelm Digby.  And the "why"
is far from evident.

Cheers,

-- Angharad/Terry


From: jtn at nutter.cs.vt.edu (Terry Nutter)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Mead recipe needed
Date: 29 Dec 1993 05:22:23 GMT
Organization: The Rialto

Greetings, all, from Angharad ver' Rhuawn.

Matz Bjurstroem writes,

>> But boys and girls, if you check Kenelm Digby, you'll find that even he
>> doesn't use these terms fanatically; and that the generic term he uses
>> for them all is -- gasp -- "mead".
>
>'Even he'. Might one ask who that is? Should he be master of brewery or on 
>Viking history or anything such?

Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-1665), an English author, diplomat, and adventurer,
also collected recipes.  A large collection of his recipes were published 
posthumously.  It includes overwhelmingly the largest early collection of 
recipes for meads, metheglins, melomels, etc.  In some cases, it is our 
primary source for what went by these terms, at least in England.  The reason 
his use of the terms is interesting is that it provides overwhelmingly the 
best evidence for how these terms were used in late period (he is, of course, 
out of date; but so are all but a very few sources).  We have no reliable
sources for earlier, to the best of my knowledge, that describe clearly what
was _in_ meads; though of course, we have many references to mead, and about
half a dozen recipes I know of that antedate Digby (but that is far too thin
a record to generalize from).

"Mead" is an English word, though of course it refers to something that was
made in many places.  In the ordinary English usage, mead does not contain
barley.  In its narrowest sense, it refers to beverages made of honey, water,
yeast, and nothing else.  In its broader sense, it embraces melomels, 
metheglins, etc., and includes beverages whose predominant source of sugar
is honey, but which may also include fruit juices, herbs, spices, and other
stuff.

This is a description of a use of a term; terms don't map conveniently across
languages, and so the corresponding terms in other languages may have somewhat
different coverage.

>>                                    Posting "You can't use pears and call
>> it mead" is not, and -- if you're willing to countenance lemons -- isn't
>> even accurate.
>
>It is very much accurate. Mead was brewed over a vast area of viking settlements
>(and probably both earlier and later as well). Eastern vikings very early went
>south towards Turkey and was mostly merchants. Citrus fruits were traded for
>as well as other 'exotic' fruits. 

But Norse are not the only people who made mead, nor is their practice overall
definitive.  And he was writing in English.  With regard to the English term,
sorry, if it has fruit juice, it's a melomel, which is a variety of mead.
This applies equally to lemon juice or pear: neither is in mead in the narrow
(English) sense, and either one can be in mead in the broader.  For a variety
of melomels with juices other than lemon, see Digby.

>One of the eldest receipes of mead found, is (at least was a couple of years
>ago) still used to brew mead at Odinsborg at Uppsala. I have a vague remembrance
>of something citric in that. I'll try to check out for sure though. I don't think
>that receipe is public though....

I would be _very_ curious to know their source, especially if the recipe is
in fact at least 400 years old.  

>These receipes are more than 500 years old (to my knowledge, one is from 12'th
>century or so).

Can you cite a 12th C reference?  I'd love to look this up.

Cheers,
 -- Angharad/Terry


Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: (none)
From: schuldy at zariski.harvard.edu (Mark Schuldenfrei)
Date: 3 Jan 94 10:30:33 EST
Organization: My own little corner.

Baron Terafan Greydragon wrote, when giving a recipe for melomel:
     1 cup VERY strong tea

I am an adequate brewer, but I would still ask: I have no experiece with tea
being added to any period recipe I am aware of. What is your source for
adding tea? It does increase the acidity (as lemons did in period) and it
does increase the tannin flavor (as barrels did in period).

My solution to the tannin problem, is different. My local health food store
sells "white oak bark chips". I add a tablespoon per gallon to the boil, and
get a nice, gentle oak flavor. I cannot afford oak barrels. I am sure
that the oak chip trick is not period, either, but it satisfies my asthetic
better than tea. You mileage should, of course, vary.

	Tibor
-- 
Mark Schuldenfrei (schuldy at math.harvard.edu)


Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: infomgr at ptri.win.net (Rex Deaver)
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 03:03:35 GMT
Subject: Re: (none)

In article <1994Jan3.103034.29433 at husc14.harvard.edu>, Mark Schuldenfrei (schuldy at zariski.harvard.edu) writes:
>Baron Terafan Greydragon wrote, when giving a recipe for melomel:
>     1 cup VERY strong tea
>
>I am an adequate brewer, but I would still ask: I have no experiece with tea
>being added to any period recipe I am aware of. What is your source for
>adding tea? It does increase the acidity (as lemons did in period) and it
>does increase the tannin flavor (as barrels did in period).
>
>My solution to the tannin problem, is different. My local health food store
>sells "white oak bark chips". I add a tablespoon per gallon to the boil, and
>get a nice, gentle oak flavor. I cannot afford oak barrels. I am sure
>that the oak chip trick is not period, either, but it satisfies my asthetic
>better than tea. You mileage should, of course, vary.
>

Tibor.  You are making oak tea.  Tea (depending on what teas you use)
is an infusion of roots and/or bark plus sometimes other spices. 
Tea is used as a generic replacement for ginger, cloves, etc.  Since
Acton & Duncan write "We must nevertheless confess to being
reluctant to advise the use of lemons and cold tea since many
mead-makers fail to achieve a consistently high average standard of
quality..." one must assume the technique is old and widespread. :) 
------------------------------------------------------
Mathurin Kerbusso...but my boss, whose opinions are NOT mine,
calls me;
Rex Deaver      Internet: infomgr at ptri.win.net 
                CIS UserID: 70744,3171
                Olathe, Kansas  (913) 780-6566  


From: jlv at halcyon.com (Vifian(s))
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: (none)
Date: 4 Jan 1994 10:24:41 -0800
Organization: Northwest Nexus Inc.

Greetings from Jean Louis de Chambertin

Tibor Wrote:
>>I am an adequate brewer, but I would still ask: I have no experiece with tea
>>being added to any period recipe I am aware of. What is your source for
>>adding tea? It does increase the acidity (as lemons did in period) and it
>>does increase the tannin flavor (as barrels did in period).

Mathurin Responds:
>Tibor.  You are making oak tea.  Tea (depending on what teas you use)
>is an infusion of roots and/or bark plus sometimes other spices. 
>Tea is used as a generic replacement for ginger, cloves, etc.  Since
>Acton & Duncan write "We must nevertheless confess to being
>reluctant to advise the use of lemons and cold tea since many
>mead-makers fail to achieve a consistently high average standard of
>quality..." one must assume the technique is old and widespread. :) 

I say:
Mathurin, according to your logic the cup of coffee I'm presently 
drinking would qualify as tea (well it would if you substitute 'vegetable 
matter' for "roots and/or bark").  The tea being referenced in "1 cup 
VERY strong tea" is pretty obviously meant to be tea from the tea plant 
(camelia or thea sinesis).  The plant is a native of India and China and 
its European usage is probably OOP.  It certainly would not have been in 
period a common additive to mead.

Jean Louis de Chambertin
jlv at halcyon.com


Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: (none)
From: schuldy at zariski.harvard.edu (Mark Schuldenfrei)
Date: 4 Jan 94 21:08:33 EST
Organization: My own little corner.

Mathurin wrote:
  Tibor.  You are making oak tea.  Tea (depending on what teas you use)
  is an infusion of roots and/or bark plus sometimes other spices. 
  Tea is used as a generic replacement for ginger, cloves, etc.  Since
  Acton & Duncan write "We must nevertheless confess to being
  reluctant to advise the use of lemons and cold tea since many
  mead-makers fail to achieve a consistently high average standard of
  quality..." one must assume the technique is old and widespread. :) 

I am not. I am making an infusion. Tea is black tea, and insofar as I know,
is not a period ingredient. It is an infusion of a particular herb. Acton
and Duncan, so far as I know, are not period sources.

I repeat: Is the use of an infusion of black tea in mead a period one? What
is the earliest date that it can be documented to?

	Tibor
-- 
Mark Schuldenfrei (schuldy at math.harvard.edu)


Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: (none)
From: una at bregeuf.stonemarche.org (Honur Horne-Jaruk)
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 10:39:44 EST

schuldy at zariski.harvard.edu (Mark Schuldenfrei) writes:

> Mathurin wrote:
>   Tibor.  You are making oak tea.  Tea (depending on what teas you use)
>   is an infusion of roots and/or bark plus sometimes other spices. 

> I am not. I am making an infusion. Tea is black tea, and insofar as I know,
> is not a period ingredient. It is an infusion of a particular herb. Acton
> and Duncan, so far as I know, are not period sources.
> 
> I repeat: Is the use of an infusion of black tea in mead a period one? What
> is the earliest date that it can be documented to?
> 	Tibor
> -- 
> Mark Schuldenfrei (schuldy at math.harvard.edu)
> 
Unto Tibor, with sincere regret for the necessity of refuting you, does
Alizaunde de Bregeuf send greetings.
	You are caught in an old trap called `linguistic drift.' The word
tea, no capital, meant in period exactly what Mathurin said it meant. When
Chai, chinese tea, came into England (early 1600s I believe) its stimulant
properties made it so popular so quickly that by 1700 or so it was Tea-
with the capital- and all other infusions had been demoted to `(name of
main ingredient)' tea. In other words, all teas are infusions, but all 
infusions are not `Tea'. As to the original concern, if you believe our
period goes to 1600, high probability it didn't because it couldn't; If
1650, I have no opinion.
-Alizaunde.


From: jtn at nutter.cs.vt.edu (Terry Nutter)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: (none)
Date: 7 Jan 1994 22:50:46 GMT
Organization: The Rialto

Greetings, all, from Angharad ver' Rhuawn.

Tibor responded to Mathurin:

>>   Tibor.  You are making oak tea.  Tea (depending on what teas you use)
>>   is an infusion of roots and/or bark plus sometimes other spices. 
>
>> I am not. I am making an infusion. Tea is black tea, and insofar as I know,
>> is not a period ingredient. It is an infusion of a particular herb. Acton
>> and Duncan, so far as I know, are not period sources.

{more snipped}

Alizaunde de Bregeuf responded to Tibor:

>	You are caught in an old trap called `linguistic drift.' The word
>tea, no capital, meant in period exactly what Mathurin said it meant. When
>Chai, chinese tea, came into England (early 1600s I believe) its stimulant
>properties made it so popular so quickly that by 1700 or so it was Tea-
>with the capital- and all other infusions had been demoted to `(name of
>main ingredient)' tea. 

According to the _OED_, the word "tea" is derived from the Chinese Amoy 
dialect t'e, possibly through the Malay te, thence into French, Spanish, 
Italian, German and Dutch, all in forms pronounced roughly "tay", and
thence into the English "tea".  Thus the word is actually derived from
the oriental name for the oriental tea plant.  The Porugese brought the 
term "chaa" (Cantonese and Mandarin) from Macao, and this is the first 
form reported in English (by a Portugese author) in 1598.  The term
"tea" then takes over.  According the the _OED_, the meaning as "infusion 
of the oriental tea plant" is secondary to the meaning as the plant 
itself (occuring later), and the meaning as "infusion of plant matter" 
comes last, in 1655.

In other words, the philologists of the _OED_ document the linguistic
drift in the opposite direction from the one you describe.  

Anyhow, it was clear from the context of the posting to which Tibor was
responding when Mathurin chose to "correct" him that when Terafon said 
he was putting tea in his mead, he meant the stuff from the tea plant, 
and when Tibor said he was putting in oak, he was describing doing 
something different.  Tibor claimed that what he was doing was closer to
period practice than anything he had seen documented for what Terafon
was doing, and asked whether Terafon had other documentation that he
did not know about.  I don't see the relevance of Mathurin's comment; 
but in any case, from what I can tell, it reflects a modern, not a period, 
lexical sensitivity.

Cheers,
-- Angharad/Terry


From: Robert Allen Stevens <meaderyman at delphi.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Viking Mead
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 94 11:40:31 -0500
Organization: Delphi (info at delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice)

There's a fantastic viking mead made in America. Just call
1-800-MEADERY for mail order shipment. It is available in liquor
stores in Minnesota and in New York.


From: targon300 at aol.com (Targon300)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Viking Mead
Date: 23 Apr 1994 00:02:09 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)

Don't bother... I've ordered the mead from the Meadery.  It is very harsh
tasting with a metalic aftertaste.   This was the same for their Traditional,
Dry, and Spiced meads.


From: cav at bnr.ca (Rick Cavasin)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: brewers HALP!
Date: 16 May 1994 13:32:40 GMT
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.

In article <CpwA8B.5zD at iceonline.com>, petee at icebox.iceonline.com (Pete Eidet) writes:
|> Greetings unto all,
|> 
|>    I am looking for mead yeast, and am having trouble locating it.  I am over
|> here in An Tir (Lions Gate actually) and have searched the land....anyone with
|> any leads, PULEEZE help, I want to try and brew a batch before a certain
|> war... =)
|> 
|>       Aleron Hauk De Moion, Lions Gate

Although special 'mead' yeasts are marketted by the various manufacturers,
any wine yeast will work. Some will be better choices than others, depending
on what you're after (ale yeast will work as well, but most will not tolerate
the high alcohol levels that wine yeast will, and so they will poop out sooner,
leaving a sweeter, lower alcohol mead - may or may not be desireable).

If you want a really high alcohol, dry mead, you could use a champagne yeast.
If you want something a little sweeter, you could use something like Red Star
Epernay II.  Your local homebrew supply store should be able to help you
select which of the yeasts they carry would be most suitable.

I use the Epernay II.  I doubt that there was much in the way of specialized
yeasts in period (although Digby, who's just post-period, does distinguish
between ale barm and mother-of-wine).

Whichever you use, try not to let the temperature get too high during
fermentation (I try to keep the temp between 60 and 70 deg F).  The yeast
works faster at higher temps., but you can get some nasty off-flavours as well.

Good luck, Balderik


Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: ddfr at quads.uchicago.edu (david director friedman)
Subject: Re: Are Digby's Meads Documentable? (Was Re: Brewing & A&S)
Organization: The University of Chicago
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 05:44:00 GMT

"I ask the esteemed gentles on this bridge, would a recipe from
Digby's Closet Opened be considered too late in period to be
documentable?" (Alison of Windy Fields)

There is no general answer, since it depends on the views of whomever
is judging. A recipe from Digby will be more nearly period than most
things entered in A&S contests, from what I have seen. Digby is about
fifty years out of period. I know of fewer than half a dozen
in-period mead recipes, and only one or two that are useable (plus
some just OOP and earlier than Digby, in a book whose transation was
only published recently--Domostroi).

David/Cariadoc


From: brgarwood at aol.com (BRgarwood)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Mead Info Needed
Date: 1 Jul 1995 13:30:36 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)

For further mead reading, try  "Making Mead" by Roger A. Morse
ISBN 1-878075-04-7.   Also there is a Mead Association of some sort that
used to advertize in TI, but I can't find it now.  I'll check with our
local mead maker (Logically named Ian Meadmaker), he has a membership.

Berwyn


From: csl at sst10b.lanl.gov
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Mead Info Needed
Date: 2 Jul 1995 01:07:16 GMT
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory

cfu at mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Cathy Fu) wrote:
>
> Does anyone know anything about Mead?  I heard that "American Mead something
> or other" has info on kits... does anybody know how to get ahold of them?
> 
If you mean the "American Mead Association" (for Mead newsletters)
the phone # is

	(970) 243-9116

If you want mead making kits then you want the "American Meadmakers"
at (303) 256-1008

I think you can reach both of them via snail mail at

	PO BOX 4666
	Grand Junction, CO 81502


From: Jeffrey_Williams at ppp.ablecom.net (Jeff Williams)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Mead Info Needed
Date: Mon, 03 Jul 1995 13:41:34 -0800
Organization: Able Technical Services

In article <3t8hei$io1 at hippo.shef.ac.uk>, Dunmail
<D.J.Hodkinson at shef.ac.uk> wrote:

> Mead is very easy to make.  Most of the kits (and alot of stuff on sale 
> as 'mead') make a Melomel, which is a wine with honey used instead of 
> sugar.
> 

JUST TO CLARIFY:

MEAD           - Yeast-fermented honey water

MELOMEL        - Mead made with fruit

PYMENT         - Melomel made specifically with grapes

METHEGLIN      - Mead made with herbs and/or spices

CYSER          - Yeast-fermented honey and apple juice

HIPPOCRAS      - Spiced Pyment

Don't worry! Drink some Mead.
Geoffrey of Kirkwood


From: ansteorra at eden.com (8/17/95)
To: ansteorra at eden.com
sca-lochac Mead Recipe

For all of you mead brewers out there, just got this from the Lochac list.
You might have to contact Drake directly to get some Aussie translation,
but here it is:

>From: "Craig Jones. 5099" <Drake_Morgan at caa.gov.au>
>Subject: sca-lochac Mead Recipe
>To: sca-lochac at yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au, alec.roberts at bhp.bhpmel04.telememo.au
>Posting-date: Thu, 17 Aug 1995 12:00:00 +1000
>
>I've just brewed up a batch of the most wonderful mead.  Not sure if it's
>period
>but god does it taste like heaven.
>
>                ----  Sweet Lime Mead ----
>
>        6Kg of Yellow Box Honey
>        375-500ml of Lime Juice (well stained, no bits)
>        500ml of Strong Black Tea
>        1/2pkg Champaigne Yeast
>        5tsp Yeast Nutrient
>
>        Dissolve Honey in 6-8L of boiling water.
>        Place honey on low rolling boil and skim off the dross
>                (wax, sticks, dirt, crap, etc...)
>        Take honey off boil when you can't get anymore dross.
>        Cool.
>        Place Honey water, Tea, Lime Juice, Yeast and nutrient in a 4 Gallon
>                (15L) Demijon or Carboy.
>        Ferment for 4 weeks. Pitch sediment reducer (Wine finings) if required
>                at the end of fermentation.
>        Bottle.
>        Ready to drink after 12 weeks.
>
>Drake Morgan.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Nan Bradford-Reid                    |HL Catherine Harwell, CIM, AST       |
|The Department of English            |Barony of Bryn Gwlad                 |
|The University of Texas              |Kingdom of Ansteorra                 |
|Austin, TX, sister city to Adelaide  |~Simplicitas sum Venustas~           |
|512-471-4991                         |Argent, on a fret vert, a rose gules,|                      |n.b-reid at mail.utexas.edu             |barbed and seeded or.                |


From: ansteorra at eden.com (8/17/95)
To: ansteorra at eden.com
More mead (was Re: sca-lochac Mead Recipe)

> For all of you mead brewers out there, just got this from the Lochac list.

Here is the recipe that me and Maite use for making mead. It turns out
wonderful. We usually let it go about 9 months total before
bottling/drinking.

HAPPY HAPPY MEAD!!!

Recipe is from Lord Normaan Boucharde via Lady Damaris who taught
me how to brew. The original recipe is from Lord Alexander.

12 lbs   Honey (preferably local)
5 lbs    White Granulated Sugar
6 to 8   Small Lemons
2        Large Oranges
1 1/2    Cups Orange Juice
1 4" pc  Ginger Root (bruise with the flat of a knife)
3 sticks Cinnamon
6 bags   Twinning Earl Grey Tea
2 whole  Star Anise
1/8 tsp  Cardamom (no more than 1/8)
2 pkgs   Champagne or Ale Yeast

In a large pot, bring 1 gal. water to a boil.  Add honey slowly, keeping
near boiling.  Bring mixture back to full boil.  Remove sudsy foam.  This
is beeswax and will kill the yeast.

Add sugar and dissolve.
Cut oranges and lemons into halves and squeeze into mixture. (use strainer)
Add Orange juice.
Add squeezed peels. (use cheese cloth bag)

Remove from heat.
Add tea and rest of seasonings.
After 45 min. remove teabags.

Let cool to 98 degrees and add yeast.
Let cool to 80 degrees and remove all seasonings.
(I recommend letting this cool at room temp. so that the seaonings will
have time to steep.)

Pour into 5 gal. carboy and add water to 5 gal.  Mix as best as possible.
I'd recommend shaking the bottle once 3/4 full, mixing a full carboy is
difficult.

Seal with airlock and store in cool dry place.

(Mead is said to be drinkable in a week.)

Rack after 2-3 months.  Mead should start to clear after about 3 months.
(This is when I usually rack it.)

-- 
Phelim Uhtred Gervas  | "I want to be called. COTTONTIPS. There is something 
Barony of Bryn Gwlad  |  graceful about that lady. A young woman bursting with 
House Flaming Dog     |  vigor. She blinked at the sudden light. She writes
pug at arlut.utexas.edu  |  beautiful poems. When ever shall we meet again?"


From: ddfr at best.com (David Friedman)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Viking booze
Date: 19 Oct 1995 15:17:34 GMT
Organization: Best Internet Communications

> There are many different drinks and the sagas do mention different ones.  
> I have a concordance to many of the sagas that lists all references to 
> booze in any form I could think of.  One of the few conclusions that I 
> can draw is in complete agreement with Mike -- the translations are awful.
> 
> I don't have my medbok on me but from memory
> 
> "she handed him a foaming cup of the finest mead"  YUCK!
...
> Ragnar of House Venshavn
> Ealdormere

1. I think the original poster was talking about the eddic poems, not
about the sagas, although obviously both are potential sources of
information.

2. What is wrong with "a foaming cup of the finest mead?" If you try
making Kenelm Digby's "weak honey drink," which is a small mead--no major
ingredients but honey, short fermentation, low alcohol content--it does
indeed come out foaming like beer. And its good. Are you assuming that
wine meads are the only drink to which the term is appropriately applied?

David/Cariadoc
-- 
ddfr at best.com


From: brettwi at ix.netcom.com(Brett Williams )
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Source for Honey
Date: 20 Dec 1995 04:03:47 GMT
Organization: Netcom

maredudd at blackroot.org (Eric C. Smith) writes: 
>
>I am looking for a source of honey in quantity.  The only stuff I've 
>been able to find locally is Orange Blossom honey, which I prefer not
>to use. I have been looking for somthing for the last couple of
>months, but I appearently picked the wrong time of year here in
>florida.  
>>
>Maredudd

There is a company called GloryBee in Oregon, who act as
honey/wax/beekeeping suppliers.  They also supply stuff suitable for
the meadmaker as well.  Give ATT Information a call (800-555-1212) and
get their number, then give 'em a call for their catalog.  I don't know
if they have specifically cherry blossom honey, but they certainly have
clover-- and lots of it.

They are wonderfully kind, courteous and helpful people-- and delighted
with the idea of the SCA, an organization they have occasional contact
with in the line of their business(es).  GloryBee also does wholesale
orders as well as retail.

I have no connection with them other than being a *very* satisfied
customer.

ciorstan


From: bwhaley at access2.digex.net (Brocmael)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Source for Honey
Date: 20 Dec 1995 21:58:58 GMT
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA

Eric C. Smith (maredudd at blackroot.org) wrote:
: Good gentles:
: 
: I am looking for a source of honey in quantity.  The only stuff I've been
: able to find locally is Orange Blossom honey, which I prefer not to use. 
: I have been lokking for somthing for the last couple of months, but I
: appearently picked the wrong time of year here in florida.  

Here in Virginia, I get mine from:

Virginia Honey Co.
P.O. Box 246
Berryville, VA 22611
(540) 955-1304

They ship UPS, but you need to call them first to get the price and send
them a cheque - they don't do credit cards.  Their wildflower runs
$5.40 for 5 lbs.  I think honey is 12lbs/gal.  They have quite a selection
of honeys which varies.  They always have clover, though my favourite mead
is wildflower.  Orange blossom made the most boring mead I've ever had.

Broc


From: mjc at telerama.lm.com (Monica Cellio)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Help: Recipi for MEDIEVAL BEER
Date: 16 Jan 1996 15:07:48 -0500
Organization: Telerama Public Access Internet, Pittsburgh, PA USA

There is a very tasty mead recipe in "Ein Buch von guter spise", c.1340
(German).  It is flavored with sage and hops (!).  (I know the original
poster was looking for beer, but thought a hopped mead might be interesting
too.)

A translation of the cookbook can be found at
http://www.mit.edu:8001//people/akatlas/Buch/buch.html.

Ellisif


From: "Steven C. Jerkins" <sjerkins at tntonline.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Mead Recipes
Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 00:23:01 -0400
Organization: Images in Mind

While exploring a web link recommended to my by a lady friend in 
Atenveldt; I ran a cross a database of mead recipes.

This is part of the Germanic Heritage Home Page.

http://alpha.rollanet.org/cm3/recs/10_toc.html

Happy Brewing....
Stefan MacMorrow ap Rhovannon


From: davemoris1 at aol.com (DaveMoris1)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Brewing Mead
Date: 15 May 1996 19:39:47 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)

I don't know what sort of grains may have been used, but the one tidbit I
can throw in about something that might make mead more specifically
"celtic" is to use hazelnuts.  I know of at least two sources, a 7th
century manuscript called "King and Hermit" and the story of Dierdre and
the sons of Noisu (sp?), that refer to hazel mead as the best sort.  If
you're interested, I can send some more information.


From: jpullen at goodnet.com (James)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Liquid Libations.......
Date: Sat, 15 Jun 1996 19:07:16 GMT
Organization: Good Ol' Boys Electronics & Computing

For all of you who have been asking about making wines, meads, etc.,
here is the address of a catalog I just received in the mail.  They
seem to have almost everything related to wine making and brewing...

E. C. Kraus
P. O. Box 7850
Independence, MO 64054


From: barat at ionet.net (S. Pursley)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Brewing Handbook
Date: 17 Jun 1996 23:51:44 GMT
Organization: Internet Oklahoma

In article <4q3n84$2db at newsbf02.news.aol.com>, adamoferin at aol.com
(AdamofErin) wrote:

> Unto the Good Gentles of the known world, does Lord Adam send warm
> greetings.
> 
> My shire is doing a brewer's handbook as a fund raiser for our Kingdom,
> and we are in desperate need of material.  My Shire is Highland Foorde and
> the Kingdom is Atlantia.  If you would care to donate any recipes to this
> venture it would be greatly appreciated.  I will personally garuntee that
> you will get credit for that recipe. When you send it to me include your
> name (Mundane and SCA), your Kingdom and your shire.  If you want to you
> can e-mail me direct at AdamofErin at aol.com.
> 
> Thank you for your time and patience.

My name is Lord Barat FitzWalter Reynolds (MKA, Stephen Pursley), I am a
Master Vintner of the Honorable Brotherhood of Brewers and Vintners.

You will find an extensive set of documents on the brewing of mead at:

www.oklahoma.net/~herron/barat/index.html

You may use any of the information you find there.  There are several
paragraphs on basic brewing techniques, a section on equipment (mead, beer
and wine), and many mead recipies.  If you need to contact me, you can
reach me at herron at okc.oklahoma.net.  Or call me, my phone number is on my
resume that's slung off the web page.

     Share the Knowledge
     Barat


Subject: Re: Mead Brewing?
To: ansteorra at eden.com
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 08:56:49 -0600 (CST)
From: "Pug Bainter" <pug at pug.net>

> >    Do you have any hints on getting mead to ferment any faster?  I've
> > been told to use "yeast vitamins" or some kind of enhancer that makes
> > yeast go wild in the wort, but I haven't found any such thing in any
> > brewing catalog that I've ever read.
> What kind of yeast are you using?

There are a lot of yeasts that won't take the high SG of mead. (They go
into shock. *grin*) This is something you have to be very careful with
when choosing one. Your local homebrew shop should be able to tell you
if it'll work or not. (If not, find a new homebrew shop. *grin*)

> I've never had any trouble with using two packets of champagne yeast.

I'm still using single packets of champagne or whitbread ale yeast. I
have a starting SG of between 1.13 and 1.15 and the champagne will ferment
it down to 1.001 while the ale yeast will ferment it down to about 1.06
(very sweet and very yummy).

> Let me know if any of this works for you.  I've .cc'd a copy of this to
> the Ansteorra mail list.  Any of you other brewers out there have any
> suggestions?

That's why I was confused when I hadn't seen the original message. *grin*

Another suggestion is to use Wyeast. They basically come in their own
starter kit. (They usually ferment much harder in the beginning than dry
yeasts.) Most people recommend Wyeast now adays anyway since it's made
from a "single perfect yeast culture."

A few things.

I've never had mead ferment as hard as most beers do. This I appreciate
since it means I don't have to clean up blow off messes.

As well, the main thing you want to do in order to get a cleaner, faster
fermentation is to have more yeast when you pitch. This is basically
what happens when using more yeast (ie. 2 packets instead of 1), yeast
starters as Damaris suggested, or the Wyeast (since it's basically a
starter in tin foil). I've also found rehydrating dry yeast before
pitching helps a lot. You put the yeast in a cup of warm (90-110) water
for 15 minutes, stir it before pitching, then pitch. (I forget what the
stiring does, but it's recommended.)

Be patient. Mead takes much longer than beer or cider to age. (Although
I usually age my mead and cider the same amount of time.) For a good
light clover mead, it takes about 9 months. If you are using something
heavier, it could take even longer to ferment and age. (Yes, I do mean I
leave it in the carboy for 9 months before bottling.)

The yeast nutrient is helpful with meads and ciders since they don't
have all of the necessary "food" that the yeast needs for a clean quick
fermentation. The Greenhill recipe adds things like orange juice, lemon
juice and tea. These give it most of the nutrients the mead needs as
well as a nice flavor. (Amazing how a little flavor can go a long way
towards a better taste.)

Note: We've tried the Wyeast Dry Mead yeast and it came out way to
"winey" for my taste. We haven't tried the Sweet Mead yeast yet.
-- 
Phelim Uhtred Gervas  | "I want to be called. COTTONTIPS. There is something 
Barony of Bryn Gwlad  |  graceful about that lady. A young woman bursting with 
House Flaming Dog     |  vigor. She blinked at the sudden light. She writes
pug at pug.net           |  beautiful poems. When ever shall we meet again?"


Date: Tue, 03 Dec 1996 07:34:49 -0600
From: Damaris of Greenhill <damaris at geocities.com>
To: Darryl <strmridr at magic.bunt.com>
Cc: ansteorra at eden.com
Subject: Re: Mead Brewing?

Darryl wrote:
> Damaris,
>    Do you have any hints on getting mead to ferment any faster?  I've
> been told to use "yeast vitamins" or some kind of enhancer that makes
> yeast go wild in the wort, but I haven't found any such thing in any
> brewing catalog that I've ever read.
> 
> Thorgrim, a great beer brewer but still having problems with mead...

What kind of yeast are you using?  I've never had any trouble with using
two packets of champagne yeast.  You can use what they call a "yeast
nutrient".  It comes in a little packet.  If there are no directions on
the packet, use about two tablespoons in a 5 gallon batch.

Another thing you can do, is to culture the yeast prior to pitching.
First, make yourself a culture bottle.   You can do this with a sterile
beer bottle and fermentation lock fitted to a bored (please, no puns)
stopper that fits the bottle, although I use a 1 liter Erlynmeyer
flask.  Bring about 1 pint of water to a boil and add about two cups of
sugar or honey.  Boil about 10 minutes then remove from heat.  Cool down
to 85 F and add yeast.  Pour into culture bottle and add fermentation
lock. Put in spot that stays about room temperature for about 24-36
hours.  Then pitch.  Longer than that and the yeast will start dying
off.  A good practice is to culture yeast the day before brewing.  When
you do pitch this into your batch (hence the term pitching which means
inoculating the must with yeast) the yeast takes off PDQ.

Let me know if any of this works for you.  I've .cc'd a copy of this to
the Ansteorra mail list.  Any of you other brewers out there have any
suggestions?

Damaris of Greenhill
"mead brewer extrodinaire"


Date: Tue, 03 Dec 1996 23:19:04 -0800
From: Sam and Debbie Milligan <miligan at anet-dfw.com>
To: ansteorra at eden.com
Subject: Re: Mead Brewing?

Damaris of Greenhill wrote:
> Larkin O'Kane wrote:
> > Can anyone tell me how to stop the fermentation process when the mead
> > reaches the desired alcohol/sweetness point? I relise that keeping it
> > in the refrigerator will do the trick but it only holds so much.
> > Someone suggested heating the bottles of mead but I don't know what
> > temperature is sufficient and how long to keep the bottles at that
> > temperature.
> >
> > Help anyone?
> >
> One thing you can do, is to keep adding sugar syrup.  Eventually the
> alcohol content will get high enough to kill any yeast.  That's not too
> good if you have achieved the level of alcohol/sweetness that you want.
> 
> Brewing supply stores sell "yeast stabilizer" which kills the yeast
> supposedly.  I haven't had much luck with it unless I use it in
> conjunction with camden tablets.  If sulfites don't bother you then you
> can use camden alone about 1-2 tablets per gallon.

Trying to stop the fermentation process is iffy at best, but I think 
Damaris' solution of yeast stabilizer in conjunction with campden is 
probably the most likely to work.  

I use a generic champagne yeast for my mead that seems to work well.  To 
activate it, I boil a cup of honey in a pint of water, pour it into a 
sterilized jar and cover it, and let cool to about 85 degrees F.  I add 
the yeast and re-cover, and let it work for a minimum of six hours before 
pitching.  This works well for up to 5 gallons of must, and gives me a 
clear, mellow mead that is usually quite palatable within 3 to 4 months 
(but it does improve with age - if it's allowed to sit around that long).
Expect each batch to ferment slightly differently, as almost anything 
(seasonal changes, passing comets, imbecilic politicians) seems to affect 
these delicate brews that we lovingly watch over.  Good luck with the 
brewing.

Padraig Ruad O'Maolagain
of House Mac an Ghabhann


From: "PHYLLIS SPURR" <PSPURR at r03.tdh.state.tx.us>
Organization:  Texas Dept. of Health Region 3, 2
To: ansteorra at eden.com
Date:          Tue, 3 Dec 1996 10:05:24 -0600
Subject:       Re: Mead Brewing?

<snip>
> Be patient. Mead takes much longer than beer or cider to age. 
> (Although I usually age my mead and cider the same amount of time.) 
> For a good light clover mead, it takes about 9 months. If you are 
> using something heavier, it could take even longer to ferment and 
> age. (Yes, I do mean I leave it in the carboy for 9 months before 
> bottling.)

I leave my mead out at least nine months also, but I rack the mead 
several times.  You DO NOT want your mead sitting in the yuk 
(note use of a very technical term).  It can really turn the taste of 
your mead.  I rack mine at least once a month into a clean sterilized 
carboy.

<snip>
> Note: We've tried the Wyeast Dry Mead yeast and it came out way to
> "winey" for my taste. We haven't tried the Sweet Mead yeast yet.

I have tried several types of yeast.  My best has been made with Cote 
de Blanc.  It is a semi- sweet wine yeast.  My meads tend to be very 
sweet, but that's way I like them, and to judge by my friends, they 
like them also (I hope!).

Eowyn ferch Rhys
mka Phyllis Spurr


Date: Wed, 4 Dec 1996 01:20:07 -0600 (CST)
From: Scott Fridenberg <scottf at galaxy.galstar.com>
To: ansteorra at eden.com
Subject: Re: Mead Brewing

	A lot of very detailed information on Mead brewing may be found 
at the Mead Brewers Homepage and on various pages that can be reached 
from there.  The address for this and the Mead Lovers Digest are:

   The Mead Lover's Digest
          Dick Dunn, Coordinator, Contact: mead-request at talisman.com.
          
   A WWW Mead Page, created by Forrest Cook:
          http://www.atd.ucar.edu/homes/cook/mead/mead.html
          (This contains, among other things, a link to the digest
          archives.)
 
	This information was taken from the Mead FAQ which can be 
obtained by FTP at the following address

     * Internet FTP site: ftp.stanford.edu in /pub/clubs/homebrew/mead/

Robert Fitzmorgan
Barony of Northkeep


From: max at hub.ofthe.net
To: ansteorra at eden.com
Subject: Re: Mead Brewing?
Date: Thu, 05 Dec 1996 14:59:27 GMT

>Can anyone tell me how to stop the fermentavion process when the mead 
>reaches the desired alcohol/sweetness point? 

Go to your local brewing store and ask for a packet of Potassium
sorbate.  I have some under the brand name of SORBISTATK, this is the
correct spelling.

>I relise that keeping it 
>in the refrigerator will do the trick but it only holds so much. 
>Someone suggested heating the bottles of mead but I don't know what 
>temperature is sufficient and how long to keep the bottles at that 
>temperature.  

	I wouldn't recomend heating your mead it would probably do
something nasty to the taste.

	You can also just wait it out and let the little yeasties go
to alchohole tolerance and die.  At that point if you want to sweeten
the mead you may do so without a worry of shatterd bottles or blown
corks.

Lord Maximillion


Subject: Re: Mead Brewing?
To: ansteorra at eden.com
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 09:42:00 -0600 (CST)
From: "Pug Bainter" <pug at pug.net>

> >I relise that keeping it
> >in the refrigerator will do the trick but it only holds so much.
> >Someone suggested heating the bottles of mead but I don't know what
> >temperature is sufficient and how long to keep the bottles at that
> >temperature.
> 	I wouldn't recomend heating your mead it would probably do
> something nasty to the taste.

Actually it won't from talking with people who do pasteurize it. It just
means there is nothing nasty living in it that will cause it to turn
nasty. It supposedly continues to taste exactly like it did when you
pastuerized it. (I haven't actually tried any myself though so this is
all hear-say.)

> 	You can also just wait it out and let the little yeasties go
> to alchohole tolerance and die.  At that point if you want to sweeten
> the mead you may do so without a worry of shatterd bottles or blown
> corks.

Be careful what you sweeten it with though and that the yeast actually
is dead. If you let the yeasties go til they stop, it doesn't mean they
are dead. You have to start with a high enough SG that they die cause
of the alcohol. If they stop because of no more sugar. Adding more
before you bottle could cause it to carbonate, whkch may not be a
desired affect. There are non-fermentable sugars out there, lactos and
malto-dextrin (not fully non-fermentable in most cases), but I have no
real experience yet. I am getting ready to add some malto-dextrin to a
raspberry cider though. (Damn thing keeps eating all the sugar and is
too tart, IMO.)

As someone pointed out, you could use different yeast than champagne
yeast. One thing you have to be concerned with here is taste. Different
yeasts produce different tastes. Not all of these will be one that is
disserable or one that you want. I've found I (personally) like Ale
yeasts instead of wine yeasts to make it sweater. This gives it more of
the flavor I'm looking for, and not too "winey".
-- 
Phelim Uhtred Gervas  | "I want to be called. COTTONTIPS. There is something 
Barony of Bryn Gwlad  |  graceful about that lady. A young woman bursting with 
House Flaming Dog     |  vigor. She blinked at the sudden light. She writes
pug at pug.net           |  beautiful poems. When ever shall we meet again?"


Date: Sun, 8 Jun 1997 23:50:13 -0700
From: "David Dendy" <ddendy at silk.net>
To: <sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu>
Subject: Re: pre-1600 documentation on Mead

> Our baronial meadbrewers guild is looking for period documentation on mead,
> metheglin, melomel, cyser, pyment, etc......
>
> Yours in service, Hana Lore (amy.venlos at ey.com)

I was just now reading for another purpose in *The Domostroi: Rules for
Russian Household in the Time of Ivan the Terrible*, edited and translated
by Carolyn Johnston Pouncey (Ithaca: Cornell U.P., 1994) [ISBN
0-8014-9689-6], and discovered that on pp. 196-198 there are fairly
detailed recipes (from about 1600) for "Boiled Mead", "White Mead", "Honey
Mead", "Ordinary Mead", "Boyars' Mead", "Mead with spices", and "Berry
Mead". One curious thing is that all the recipes include hops!

The book should be fairly readily available; I just bought my copy last
month.

With the hope that this is helpful, I am 
Your humble servant
Francesco Sirene ( e-mail ddendy at silk.net )


Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 11:21:46 -0600
From: Stephen Pursley <herron at oklahoma.net>
To: ansteorra at eden.com
Subject: Re: Brewing books/methods...

> > Barat stated:
> > >But remember, Digby is not period.
> > 
> > Yes, but Digby is a starting place for looking.  I have since found recipes
> > from "Cury in Inglishe", "The Good Housewife's Jewel, Parts I & II", and am
> > still looking in other period sources.  These recipes I will pass along to
> > Pug.  
> 
> Can you pass these on to me too???  I'd be interested in the period recipes.
> 
> Damaris of Greenhill

The following are some period and near period recipes.  I have listed
the source and date of each recipe.

I have first listed the period recipe, then a modern translation.  The
translation will include such things a yeast nutrient, yeast energizer
and the shaker method (for info on the shaker method of yeast
propagation, see my mead making web page at
www.oklahoma.net/~herron/barat/index.html).  These have been added to
reduce fermentation time.  If you wish, you can reproduce these recipes
without the yeast nutrient and energizer.  Be aware that fermentation
will take 2-3 times a long to complete without these additives.

Note: Most of these recipes rely on an open fermentation to obtain wild
yeast.  While an open fermentation using wild yeast can produce a
quality mead, it is unlikely you will obtain consistent results.  It is
also likely that the mead will become infected if a open fermentation is
used.  Therefore I have listed the use of packaged yeast in the
translations.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The Country Housewife. London. 1762

Take eight Gallons of Water, and as much Honey as will make it bear an
egg; add to this the Rinds of six Lemmons, and boil it well, scumming it
carefully as it rises.  When 'tis off the Fire, put to it the Juice of
the six Lemmons, and pour it into a clean Tub, or earthen Vessel, if you
have one large enough, to work three days, then scum it well, and pour
off the clear into the Cask, and let it stand open till it has done
making a hissing Noise; after which stop it up close, and in three
months time it will be fine, and fit for bottling.

Translation:

*	15 lbs. honey
*	6 Lemon rinds
*	Juice of 6 Lemons
*	Yeast nutrient
*	Yeast energizer
*	Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast

Dissolve the honey in 3 gallons of water.  We won’t be boiling all 8
gallons of water as in the original recipe, as 8 gallon brew pots are
hard to find.  We will add the additional water to the fermenter.

Grate the rinds of 6 lemons and add to the brew pot with the
honey/water.  Simmer and skim (just like the other recipes) till no more
scum forms.  It will boil down a little.

Add 2 gallons cold water to a 7.5 gallon carboy.  Add the must to the
carboy, along with the juice of 6 lemons.  Add yeast nutrient and yeast
energizer.  Add cold water to the carboy to bring the total volume of
the must to 7 gallons.  Put an airlock on the carboy.  Do not agitate
the must at this stage.  When the temperature is down to 70-80û F pitch
the yeast.  Let the carboy sit for a day, then use the shaker method to
increase the yeast count.

After 3 days transfer the mead to a sterile secondary fermenter, leaving
the sediment and the lemon rind behind.  Ferment to completion, racking
as needed and bottle.

Color: Pale gold
Alcohol Content: 5-8%
Batch Size: 7 gallons

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Corsellises Antwerp Meath
from Digbie, 1669

To make good Meath, good White and thick Marsilian or Provence-honey is
best; and of that, to four Holland Pints (the Holland Pint is very
little bigger then the English Winepint:)  (a English winepint appears
to be approximately the same size as a U.S. pint) of Water, you must put
two pounds of Honey.  The Honey must be stirred in Water, till it be all
melted.  If it be stirred about in warm water, it will melt so much the
sooner.  

When all is dissolved, it must be so strong that an Egge may swim in it
with the end upwards.  And if it be too sweet or too strong, because
there is too much Honey; then you must put more water to it; yet so,
that, as above, an Hens Egge may swim with the point upwards: And then
that newly added water must be likewise well stirred about, so that it
may be mingled all alike.  If the Eggs sink (which is a token that there
is not honey enough) then you must put more Honey to it, and stir about,
till it be all dissolved, and the Eggs swim, as abovesaid.  This being
done, it must be hanged over the fire, and as it beginneth to seeth, the
scum, that doth arise upon it, both before and after, must be clean
skimmed off.  When it is first set upon the fire, you must measure it
first with a stick, how deep the Kettel is, or how much Liquor there be
in it; and then it must boil so long, till one third part of it be
boiled away.  When it is thus boiled, it must be poured out into a
Cooler, or open vessel, before it be tunned in the Barrel; but the
Bung-hole must be left open, that it may have vent.  A vessel, which
hath served for Sack is best.

Translation:

*	20 lbs. light honey
*	Yeast nutrient
*	Yeast energizer
*	Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast

Dissolve the honey in 5 gallons of hot water.  Simmer and skim (just
like the other recipes) till no more scum forms.  Simmer till 1/3 of the
volume is gone.  Cover, remove from heat and allow it to cool over
night.  Do not uncover the mead until it’s cool (70-80û F) and you are
ready to put it into the carboy, otherwise it may become infected with
wild yeast/bacteria.

Add the must to a sterile carboy.  Add the yeast, yeast nutrient and
yeast energizer to the carboy.  Add cold water to the carboy to bring
the total volume of the must up to 3.5 gallons.  Put an airlock on the
carboy.  Let the carboy sit for a day, then use the shaker method to
increase the yeast count. 

Ferment to completion, racking as needed and bottle.

Color: Pale gold
Alcohol Content: 10-12%
Batch Size: 3.5 gallons

-------------------------------------------------------------------

An Excellent white Meathe
from Digbie, 1669

Take one Gallon of Honey, and four of water; Boil and scum them till
there rise no more scum; then put in your Spice a little bruised, which
is most of Cinnamon, a little Ginger, a little Mace, and a very little
Cloves.  Boil it with the Spice in it, till it bear an Egge.  Then take
it from the fire, and let it Cool in a Woodden vessel, till it be but
lukewarm; which this quantity will be in four or five or six hours. 
Then put into it a hot tost of Whitebread, spread over on both sides,
pretty thick with fresh barm (Yeast, probably the lees from a pervious
batch); that will make it presently work.  Let it work twelve hours,
close covered with Cloves.  Then Tun it into a Runlet wherein Sack hath
been, that is somewhat too big for that quantity of Liquor; for example,
that it fill it not by a Gallon; You may then put a little Limon-pill in
with it.  After it hath remained in the vessel a week or ten days, draw
it into Bottles.  You may begin to drink it after two or three Months:
But it will be better after a year.  It will be very spritely and quick
and pleasant and pure white.  

Translation:

*	20 lbs. light honey
*	3 Sticks of Cinnamon
*	1/4 - 1/2 oz. Grated Ginger Root
*	1/8 - 1/4 oz. Mace
*	1/8 oz. Cloves
*	Yeast nutrient
*	Yeast energizer
*	Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast

Dissolve the honey in 4 gallons of hot water.  Simmer and skim (just
like the other recipes) till no more scum forms.  Lightly crush and add
the spices to the pot.  Simmer for an additional 15 minutes.  Cover,
remove from heat and allow it to cool over night.  Do not uncover the
mead until it’s cool (70-80û F) and you are ready to put it into the
carboy, otherwise it may become infected with wild yeast/bacteria.

Add the must to a clean sterile carboy.  Add the yeast, yeast nutrient
and yeast energizer to the carboy.  Add cold water to the carboy to
bring the total volume of the must up to 5 gallons.  Don’t completely
fill the carboy, leave 5” head space.  Put an airlock on the carboy. 
Let the carboy sit for a day, then use the shaker method to increase the
yeast count. 

Let it ferment for 12 hours, then rack into a clean sterile carboy
leaving the spices behind.  Ferment to completion, racking as needed and
bottle.

Color: Pale gold
Alcohol Content: 8-10%
Batch Size: 5 gallons

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Wilt du guten met machen 
(How to Make Good Mead) 
Ein Buch von Guter Spise (German, c. 1350)

The original recipe is in German.  I have translated it into English for
your convenience (unless, of course, you are German).  Please note, this
is a rather loose translation, not a literal one.

To make good mead, warm clean water to the point where you can just
stand to place your hand in it.  Use two parts water to one of honey. 
Stir with a stick, then let it sit a while.  Then strain through a clean
cloth or a hair sieve into a clean barrel.

Put the must back into the brewpot and boil it as long as it takes to
walk the length of an acre and back.  Skim the foam from the pot with a
bowl with holes in it.  Pour the mead into a clean barrel and cover it
tightly, so that no vapor escapes.  Let it cool until one can bear to
put ones hand into it.

Take a half maz pot of hops and a hand full of sage.  Add this to the
must and boil for the time it takes to walk 1/2 mile.

Add the must a half nut of fresh yeast  (the amount that would fit into
half a nut shell).  Cover, so that the vapor can get out.  Let it
ferment for a day and a night.

Strain the mead through a clean cloth or hair sieve and pout it into a
clean barrel.  Let it ferment three days.  Rack it.

After fermentation stops, let it sit and settle for 8 days.  Rack to a
clean barrel and let it sit for eight days.  Drink within the next 6-8
weeks for best results. (translation copyright 1997, Stephen Pursley)

Translation:

*	14 lbs. honey
*	2 oz. Hops
*	1/2 oz. Sage
*	Yeast nutrient
*	Yeast energizer
*	Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast

Dissolve the honey in 3 gallons of hot water.  The straining listed in
the translation is not needed unless you are using raw unfiltered honey.

Boil and skim for 10-15 minutes.  Cover and let the must cool until it
is only very warm to the touch.  Add the hops and sage and boil the must
for 10 minutes.  Cover, remove from heat and allow the must to cool over
night.  Do not uncover the mead until it’s cool (70-80û F) and you are
ready to put it into the carboy, otherwise it may become infected with
wild yeast/bacteria.  

Add the must to a sterile carboy.  Add the yeast, yeast energizer and
yeast nutrient to the carboy.  Add cold water to the carboy to bring the
total volume of the must up to 4.5 gallons.  Put an airlock on the
carboy.  Let it ferment for a day, then rack into a sterile carboy
leaving the spices behind.  Ferment for three days.  Rack into a clean
sterile carboy.  When fermentation is complete, allow it to sit for
eight days so the yeast can settle out.  Bottle.

Color: Pale gold to amber (depending on the honey used)
Alcohol Content: 5-7%
Batch Size: 4.5 gallons

Barat


Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 16:26:45 -0700
From: Lark Miller <lucilla at ponyexpress.net>
Subject: Re: Re[2]: SC - Responsible use of Alcohol & the SCA

>Mead is very popular in my shire.  I would very much like to see a recipe,
also.
>
>Mercedes

Antipodal Mead
15# honey
10-15 grams yeast ( my husband likes champagne yeast)
5 tsp. yeast nutrient
4 tsp. acid blend
1/4 tsp. pectic enzyme
1/2 tsp. irish moss
1 tbsp. gypsum
preboiled  1 gallon water with nutrient,acid blend, pectin, irish moss and
gypsum for 15 minutes.  Added honey and brought to 198 degrees F. for 30
minutes. strained into carboy with 3 gallons chilled water.  Added Yeast
after temperature of batch had dropped below 81 degrees F.
cover carboy and let sit for about a month then rack it over into another
carboy to get it off the sediment and let it sit for a few more months then
bottle it.  We let it sit a few more months before drinking but some people
drink it right away.

enjoy Lucilla


Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 19:57:45 -0400
From: "Nick Sasso (fra niccolo)" <grizly at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Responsible use of Alcohol & the SCA

BLUE VELVET (blueberry melomel)

Ingredients: (5 gallon US batch)
15# mountain wildflower honey
9.0# IQF frozen blueberries (any brand)
4 tsp acid blend
5 g sachet Lalvin K1V-1116 all pourpose wine yeast

PROCEDURE:

Boil honey with 2 US gallons water for about fifteen minutes until a
scum gathers and coagulates on the surface. Skim the scum with a
sanitized strainer like a tea
strainer to get as much as possible. The scum has all sorts of pollen,
wax, resins and bee parts that can contribute off flavors to your mead.
The 15 minute boil
minimizes loss of aromatics from the honey. Add the acid blend and quick
frozen blueberries to the hot must (do not thaw the berries).Steep for
30 minutes at
150∫-160∫ F. Pour boiled/skimmed/steeped must to cold water in glass
fermenter, mashing and leaving behind the berries (srain if needed), and
top up to 5 US gallons. Rehydrate
yeast according to package instructions and pitch when temperature falls
BELOW 75∫ F. Rack after fermantation appears to slow (5 weeks). Rack
again after
about 1 month to leave behind any yeast and fruit carcasses. Let age in
glass secondary in a dark place, and rack when sediment forms. I only
racked the two times.
After you are satisfied it has aged long enough, and it is crystal
clear, bottle into wine bottles.

*************************************************************************

This is my favorite recipe to date.  It has been replicated 4 times with
stellar results.  You must mash or hand squeeze thoroughly to get the
proper final body of the mead.  Share it with everyone.  It usually ends
up slightly carbonated for me, so champagne or beer bottles may be
best.  It tastes better slightly sparkling than totally still.

Salut!  Brew to the Glory of God and his people!

fra niccolo


Date: Tue, 15 Jul 97 08:47:00 -0500
From: "Suzanne Berry"<sberry at primavera.com>
Subject: Re: SC - mead recipes

  Well, I'll bite.  I have a recipie I've adapted from one that came off
  the mead-brewer's digest list that I'm rather fond of, and is drinkable
  quickly.  It is not period as I substitute After the Fall Georgia Peach
  juice blend for the pear juice; and I do not have documentation at all,
  I'm afraid.  At two weeks, this reminded me of an apricot schnapps; my
  oldest bottles are now nine months old and they are drying out nicely.
  The original recipie was posted by Ronan, mka William Drummond, and is
  posted below.  -  Aislinn


Earl Grey Mead    9/17/94
1st - The Feast of the Mad Jailor

24 oz pear juice, unstrained
2 lb honey
2 lb sugar
100 oz water (about)
10 bags of Earl Gray Tea
1/4 teaspoon of bread yeast
1 egg white

Boil honey, water and tea for 1 hour.  Near the end add a little cinnamon,
ginger, clove, rosemary and the egg white.
Remove from heat and let stand till warm as removing the scum.  Now add the
yeast, dissolved in warm water.
This brew can be drank in as little as 48 hours, but will be extremely raw.

After a weeks time, add 1 lb of sugar and let ferment.  After about 2 weeks
more, add the rest of the sugar.  This will strengthen it and give a better
flavor and keep the mead from "drying out".

For fining the wine, take the shell from an egg that has been dried and
powder it with a pinch of salt.  Take this and add it to the white of one
egg and some wine from your vat and gently stir all back into the brew.
Let set for about 2 to 4 days and then filter and bottle the wine.  This is
a nice natural way with out the use of chemicals.


Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 11:48:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Re: SC - mead recipes

Cariadoc wrote:
  On the general subject of period mead, the situation is as follows:
  
  There is a reasonably clear mead recipe in _Buch von Guter Speise_.

And it is very nice.  It is redacted in Scully's recent work, and my friends
have also redacted it slightly differently.  It is hopped, and is VERY
tasty.
  
  There are two unclear recipes in _Curye on Englysche_.

Which my local brewers guild has redacted.  Also very nice, short shelf life
for the "Poynant" second recipe.  I'd love to correspond with people who
have independently redacted those recipes.  They can be found online, along
with a few claret and braggot recipes, at
    http://www.math.harvard.edu/~schuldy/brewing.html

These are the originals (more or less) not redactions.
  
  I think there is a recipe somewhere in _Le Menagier de Paris_ but am not sure.

I don't know that one, but there is a delightful and trivial recipe for
lemmon mead in Fettiplace.  Makes a lovely light and lemony mead.

	Tibor


Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 10:46:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Re: SC - SC-Stump the Cook (Recipe Challenge III)

Here are the two consecutive recipes for mead.  Oh, before I forget: when we
were listing period sources for mead, I forgot to mention Maison Rustique.
I yanked these recipes from my web page:

    http://www.math.harvard.edu/~schuldy/brewing.html

	Tibor

OK.  This is from Curye on Inglysch, an Early English Textbook reprint and
glossary.  Copyright 1985 by Constance Hieatt and Sharon Butler Oxford
University Press, ISBN 0-19-722409-1

It is a collection of five manuscripts, and the fifth has some brewing
recipes.  It is titled Goud Kokery, and the section has many sources.  These
come from the British Library manuscript Royal A iii, a late 14th century
medical collection.

These are damned hard to read, and figure out.  But fun to try.  They have
nearly the original typography: which includes ashe and thorn letters.
Those are indicated by me as {ae} and {th} which is how they should be
pronounced, roughly.  stuck.  There is also letter that I don't know
the name of, it looks like a backward 3, and is pronounced "y" or "f",
so I'll mark it as {y}.

The recipe refers to "the aforsaid pommeys".  It means "the previously
mentioned apples".  There are no previously mentioned apples....  A
footnote in the book points out that the scribe apparently left out a
recipe.

9. To make mede.  Take hony combis & put hem into a greet vessel & ley
   {th}e wei{y}t {th}eron til it be runne out as myche as it wole; &
   {th}is is callid liif hony. & {th}anne take {th}at forseid combis &
   se{th}e hem in clene water, & boile hem wel.  After presse out
   {th}erof as myche as {th}ou may & caste it into ano{th}er vessel
   into hoot water, and se{th}e it wel & scome it wel, & do {th}erto a
   quarte of liif hony.  & {th}anne lete it stond a fewe dayes wel
   stoppid, and {th}is is goode drinke.

10. To make fyn meade & poynaunt.  Take xx galouns of {th}e forseid
    pomys soden in iii galouns of fyn wort, & i galoun of liff hony &
    se{th}e hem wel & scome hem wel til {th}ei be cleer inow{y}; & put
    {th}erto iii penywor{th} of poudir of pepir & i penywor{th} of
    poudir of clowis & let it boile wel togydere.  & whanne it is coold
    put it into {th}e vessel into {th}e tunnynge up of {th}e forsaid
    mede; put it {th}erto & close it wel as it is aboue seid.


From: renfrow at skylands.net
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: mead recipes
Date: Fri, 08 Aug 1997 11:28:02 -0400

Hello!  If you're looking for documented mead recipes, you'll find 2
posted at my site: 
http://www.alcasoft.com/renfrow/sample.html 

plus links to many more mead & brewing sites on my links page:
http://members.aol.com/renfrowcm/links.html

Cindy Renfrow
renfrow at skylands.net


Date: Tue, 16 Dec 1997 20:41:41 -0500
From: "Sharon L. Harrett" <Ceridwen at commnections.com>
Subject: Re: SC - novice requests - longish

        Check out my lord's web page for the "Twelve -Step Method for making
Mankind's Oldest Fermented Beverage" at
        http:\\commnections.com\Rurik\mead.htm

This is an instruction manual for the making of meads and related
drinks, worked out for the beginner by Master Rurik Petrovitch Stoianov,
Vintning Laurel in Meads, Trimaris. We worked over it, with myself as
the "test subject" to make sure it was as "idiot-proof" (no offense
intended) as possible. Many gentles here in Trimaris, both mundane and
SCA have found it easy and user-friendly.

Ceridwen


Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 14:53:25 -0400
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Subject: Re: SC - novice requests

>2.  Y'all have fun with a new/old thread on mead, I'm looking for a good
>recipe other than mix honey w/ water and yeast, go away for 11 months.
>
>HOWZAT? Puck

Hello!  You'll find 2 documented short mead recipes on my site:
http://www.alcasoft.com/renfrow/sample.html
plus links to other mead sites on my links page:
http://members.aol.com/renfrowcm/links.html

I've gathered together about 100 documented historic mead recipes in my
book, "A Sip Through Time", as well as recipes for beer, cider, wine, etc.

Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu
renfrow at skylands.net
Author & Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More, A Collection of 15th
Century Recipes" and "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing
Recipes"
http://www.alcasoft.com/renfrow/


Date: Sat, 20 Dec 1997 11:30:27 EST
From: Tyrca <Tyrca at aol.com>
Subject: SC - Tyrca makes Pyment again

 Here is a repost of my letter of the first of November.  If you are not
interested, skip this message now.  I had already given the simple recipe for
5 gallons of White Pyment.  It is 15 lbs of honey, 7 cans of Welch's 100%
White Grape juice, half a bottle of rosewater (I'll have to look up the oz
measure later) 3 tbs ground nutmeg, and water to make 5 gallons.
    Some of this comes in with the basics of mead-making, so those of you
already familiar the hardware and step-by-step will want to skip this.
    A normal 5 gallon batch of mead is usually about 12-15 lbs of honey.  For
Pyment, I used 84 oz of grape juice concentrate.  This means that I bought 7
cans of Welch's 100% white grape juice in frozen concentrate. I also added
some nutmeg, rose water, and yeast nutrient and energizer. More on all of that
later.
     I usually use my 20 qt stainless steel pot just to avoid aluminum
contamination.  But it doesn't affect the outcome.  First of all, put 12 lbs
of honey  and just enough water in your pot to keep the honey from scorching.
Since I use an electric range, I use a piece of coathanger right on the
burner, under the pan.  This helps keep the honey from scorching, but not
enough for inattention, and there is no worse mess to clean off the stovetop
than burned boiled-over honey.
    Heat the honey but do not boil, as it is easy to burn it, and make it
useless.  As the honey warms, a foam forms on top.  skim this off, and keep
skimming as long as it rises.  This foam is mostly albumen (protein) from the
honey, and keeps mead from clearing, so it is important to remove it.  If the
foam starts to be brown, turn the heat down, your honey is getting too hot.
    After a few minutes (5 to 15, depending on your honey and equipment) the
foam stops rising, and you are ready to start brewing.  Make sure that your
carboy (the big glass bottle we use to brew in) is clean and sanitized.  I
wash it out, and then leave bleach water sitting in it until I am ready to use
it.  This is not totally sterile, but at least keeps most bacteria and wild
yeast away from my mead.
     So that the hot must does not crack the carboy, open the 7 cans of thawed
grape juice concentrate, and pour them in the bottom of the carboy, with 4 tbs
of rosewater, 1/2 cup of nutmeg tea (I make this by steeping nutgem powder in
boiling water, and then straining out the powder with a coffee filter, so that
I don't have more floaties in my mead) and a gallon of cold water.  All of
this will cushion the glass from cracking under the hot honey.  With a funnel,
pour the hot honey into the carboy (and be VERY CAREFUL about it because this
can be tricky, especially if your glasses steam up in the process).  Fill with
water until you have 5
gallons, and set aside to cool.  This is called the must.  It is not at all
alchohlic, just sweetened water.
    When it is about room temperature pitch the yeast. This means, pour in the
yeast from the package, or add the yeast from where you have been allowing it
to grow in liquid culture.  I use Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast, which works nicely.
When you pitch the yeast, add the yeast nutrient and energizer, and put the
air lock tightly on the carboy.  Honey does not have quite enough of the
things yeast
likes to grow, and so it is much more productive to add nutrient and
energizer, this will speed your process from an average of 6-8 months to
closer to 2 months.  Definitely worth the effort.  This is why I can maze in
so much lesser time than the 11 months we saw in the TI last year (whew!!)
    I learned one more thing, it is called the "shaker method"  After you
have pitched the yeast, and it has been in the must at least 12 hours, take
firm hold of the carboy, and shake vigorously. This puts lots of  oxygen into
the liquid, and allows the yeast to begin multiplying in preparation for
fermentation.
    Now comes the difficult part, waiting for the mead to finish.  There is
nothing left to cook, just wait.  When your mead blips (this is the sound of
carbon dioxide leaving the air-lock) only once in 15 minutes, it is done
enough to bottle.  If you do it any earlier, you are risking having your
bottles explode under the pressure.  I happen to like sparkling pyment, and
so bottle it when it is blipping about 1 time in 10 minutes.  This means
there is still fermentation going, and still a little bit of active yeast.
   I use champagne bottles (hard to find, best to ask friends and restaurants
to save them for you) and wired champagne corks.  Regular bottles will not
hold the pressure, and you will have geysers of mead all over your floor.
    The brewing equipment and yeast, nutrient and energizer are all available
from a local brewing store, or you can probably find a place on line to order
from.  It might be a good idea first to check around and find what kind of
alcohol regulations your state has for home brewing, as everywhere is a
little different.  Here in Oklahoma, I can homebrew with a license that I
obtained free from the ABLE commission.  Check around a little first, you can
probably find information at same brewing store.
    The bottling is another process, and I do not want to make this note
longer.  I can even wait for a couple of weeks until someone more experienced
than I can give all of us a few pointers, or until your mead really is ready
to bottle.

Good Luck as a Mazer (a brewer is someone who makes beer, a vintner makes
wine.)

Lady Tyrca Ivarsdottir
Barony Namron, Ansteorra
autocrat for the Rapier Championship on January 24th
(no, I'm not cooking, I have someone much better for that!)


Date: Thu, 07 May 1998 10:25:19 -0400
From: Ceridwen <ceridwen at commnections.com>
Subject: Re: SC - peach mead?

> Perhaps you have a recipe for nutmeg meade?
>
> Cessara

    Here's one from Digbie:

Another to make Meath:
To every quart of honey allow six Wine-quarts od water: half an ounce of
nutmegs, and the peel of a lemon, and the meat of two or three, as you
make the quantity. Boile these together , till the scum rise no more: It
must stand till it is quite cold, and when you tun it you squeeze into
it the juice of some Lemons and this will make it ripen quickly. It will
be ready in less than a month.

Ceridwen


Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 14:49:16 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Lemon Beer- non-alcoholic?

Ras asked:
> How does one make non-alcoholic anything when yeast and sugar are put
>  together? Alcohol is a digestive by-product of yeasts digesting sugar. I am
>  curious about this as even the yeast and sugar mixture used in bread making
>  produces a small amout of alcohol.

 and Corwyn responded:

>The way I understand it, natural carbonation of beverages results in minimal
>alcohol content. I've never actually made homegrown sodas, but I've known
>several people who do. They all use bread yeasts and the fermentation time is
>a week or under, so there isn't much alcohol.

I make small mead from one of Digby's recipes, usually using bread yeast
and fermenting a week or two.  On the one occasion we measured the alcohol
content it came out around 1 percent.  So, minimal but not zero.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook


Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 14:58:34 -0500
From: Carol Thomas <scbooks at neca.com>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: [Fwd: Re: Good Mead-Making Books? [SCA]]]

>There's also a new one out, "Mad ABout Mead"  which, so far looks good.

I got a copy of that one, and a gentle showed me how it recommended a
practice which can poison people - using garbage bags for brewing.

When a friend bought it, I warned him about that topic, and I am not
ordering any more.

Lady Carllein
Small Churl Books catalog: http://www.neca.com/~scbooks/


Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 09:48:01 -0500
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Subject: Re: SC - mead

Hello!  I have 2 weak mead recipes on my site:
http://www.alcasoft.com/renfrow/sample.html

I also have links to other sites with recipes, history, etc., as well as
links to some commercial meaderies at:
http://members.aol.com/renfrowcm/links.html

Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu
renfrow at skylands.net


Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 19:25:52 -0600
From: Mike and Pat Luco <mikel at pdq.net>
Subject: SC - Re: The Meadery

I thought I would share a site that I just came across on the web.  It describes 
the medieval period story about the making of spirits and such.  Sorry if you
already know about this site.  I think he/she's SCA, but I didn't see any name 
of the author.  They have included period texts and recipes.

http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1265/
___
Henri and Antea
Kingdom of Ansteorra, Barony Stargate
Purveyors of fine herbs and spices
http://www.hypercon.com/naturalhome


From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: "Period" Honey available for brewing or cooking
Organization: www.thousandeggs.com
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 20:25:16 -0400

> Some poetry for you: 
>         Too cheap to buy book
>     He wants everything for free
>             Go to library
> 
>         Seriously, if you haven't already, check in with your local 
> homebrew club and see if they have the book or will buy it. If they 
> don't have it, check in with the local library, and if they don't have 
> it, check with a college library near you. One of those groups should
> be able to get it for you. I'd recommend buying it, as it is an 
> excellent collection of recipies.. and Cindy Renfrow deserves to get 
> paid for her work.
> 
> -= Clogar

I agree wholeheartedly.  And thank you, Clogar, for the compliment. 

BTW, I do have a 1393 mead recipe posted at
http://members.aol.com/renfrowcm/mead.html  

plus more mead recipes (from Digby, publ. postumously 1669) at
http://thousandeggs.com/sample.html

plus links to more mead info & recipes at
http://members.aol.com/renfrowcm/links.html#Brewing 

Cindy Renfrow/Mistress Sincgiefu
renfrow at skylands.net
Author & Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More, A Collection of 15th
Century Recipes" and "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing Recipes"
http://www.thousandeggs.com -- please come visit my new web site!


Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2000 02:52:02 +0100From: Thomas Gloning <gloning at Mailer.Uni-Marburg.DE>Subject: SC - wait people - biscotti - mead - apology to Betty Cook - -- Borde 1542 mentions mead (Furnivall ed. p. 257):"Of meade:Meade is made of honny and water boyled bothtogyther; yf it be fyned and pure, it preserueth helth;but it is not good for them the whiche haue the Ilyackeor the colycke".- -- The 14th century "Buch von guoter Spise" has a German recipe for met:"Wilt du gu:oten met machen.Der gu:oten mete machen wil, der werme reinen brunnen, daz erdie hant dor inne liden ku:enne, vnd neme zwei maz wazzers vndeine honiges. daz ru:ere man mit eime stecken vnd laz ez ein wilehangen vnd sihe ez denne durch ein rein tu:och oder durch einharsip in ein rein vaz. vnd siede denne die selben wirtz geineime acker lanc hin vnd wider vnd schume die wirtz mit einervensterehten schu:ezzeln, da der schume inne blibe vnd niht diewirtz. dor noch gu:ez den mete in ein rein vaz vnd bedecke in,daz der bradem iht vz mu:ege, als lange daz man die hant dorinne geliden mu:ege. So nim denne ein halp mezzigen hafen vnd tu:oin halp vol hopphen vnd ein hant vol salbeyvnd siede daz mit der wirtz gein einer halben mile. vnd gu:ez ezdenne in die wirtz vnd nim frischer heven ein halb no:ezzelin vndgu:ez ez dor in. vnd gu:ez ez vnder ein ander, daz es gesschendewerde. so decke zv:o, daz der bradem iht vz mu:ege, einen tac vndeine naht. So seige denne den mete durch ein reyn tu:och oderdurch ein harsip vnd vazze in in ein reyn vaz vnd lazze in ierndrie tac vnd drie naht vnd fu:elle in alle abende. Dar nach lazzeman in aber abe vnde hu:ete, daz iht hefen dor in kume, vndlaz in aht tage ligen, daz er valle, vnd fu:elle in alle abende. darnach loz in abe in ein gehertztez vaz vnd laz in ligen aht tage vol.vnd trinke in denne erst sechs wu:ochen oder ehte, so ist er allerbeste." - -- Moriz Heyne, Das deutsche Nahrungswesen von den ‰ltestengeschichtlichen Zeiten bis zum 16. Jahrhundert (1901, 334-338) has a lotof stuff and notes on Met (mentiones/ quotes from the Capitulare devillis, Anthimus, Berthold von Regensburg, ...).- -- In the following recipe from the "Mittelniederdeutsches Kochbuch"(15th century), mead is used together with sort of dried cherry drinkpowder to produce a cherry drink:"47. Item wyltu weten, wo me schal maken guden kersdrank, den men vu:ertin den budel, so nym vele kerseberen, wen se ripe sint, unde thobrick deunde thowriff se alle wol also ro. Unde lat se stan eyne nacht. Nym datdunne daraff unde do dat in eynen gropen. Sette dat tho den wure. Latdat seden. Do dartho tzucker, ingever unde neghelken. Lat dat koltwerden. Hud dat denne in vele blasen. Henghe dat bynnen dakes in deluft, dat dat droghe. Wen du des dorvest, dat du wilt kersdrang maken,so nym wyn edder mede eyn sto:vveken unde legge des darin also grot alsoeyn walsche no:et. Lat dat stan eyne halve nacht. Wiltu dat beterhebben, so do dartho me:er tzuckers unde ingevers. So ys dat eyn selsenkersdrang."In other recipes, mead is mentioned as an alternative to wine ("Darmachstu tho nemen wyn edder mede") or vinegar ("myt etycke edder mytmede"). Thomas

Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 12:21:23 -0800
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at efn.org>
Subject: Re: SC - period mead recipes

Aha! I found it! I had a marker there even...

In _Curye on Inglysch_, book V. Goud Cookery, p. 150

"9 To make mede. Take hony combis & put hem into a greet vessel & ley
thereynne grete stickis, & ley the weight theron til it be runne out as
myche as it wole; & this is callid liif hony. & thanne take that forseid
combis & sethe hem in clene water, & boile hem well. After presse out
thereof as myche as thou may & caste it into another vessel into hoot
water, & sethe it wel & scome it wel, & do thereto a quart of liif hony,
& thanne lete it stonde a fewe dayes wel stoppid, & this is good drinke.

10 To make fyn mede & poynaunt. Take xx galouns of the forseid pomys
soden in iii galouns of fyn wort, & i galoun of liif hony & sethe hem
wel & scome hem wel til thei be cleer inowgh; & put thereto iii
penyworth of poudir of pepir & i penyworth of poudir of clowis & lete it
boil wel togydere. & whanne it is coold put it into the vessel into the
tunnynge up of the forseid mede: put it thereto, & close it wel \ as it
is aboue seid."

It appears to be a quick mead, but no yeast or barm is mentioned?

'Lainie


Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 11:26:37 -0600
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - period mead recipes--Le Menagier's Bouchet

I think this is it.

BOUCHET. To make six sixths of bouchet, take six pints of fine sweet 
honey, and put it in a cauldron on the fire and boil it, and stir 
continually until it starts to grow, and you see that it is producing 
bubbles like small globules which burst, and as they burst emit a 
little smoke which is sort of dark: and then stir, and then add seven 
sixths of water and boil until it reduces to six sixths again, and 
keep stirring. And then put it in a tub to cool until it is just 
warm; and then strain it through a cloth bag, and then put it in a 
cask and add one chopine (half-litre) of beer-yeast, for it is this 
which makes it the most piquant, (and if you use bread yeast, however 
much you like the taste, the colour will be insipid), and cover it 
well and warmly to work.  And if you want to make it very good, add 
an ounce of ginger, long pepper, grains of Paradise and cloves in 
equal amounts, except for the cloves of which there should be less, 
and put them in a cloth bag and throw in.  And after two or three 
days, if the bouchet smells spicy enough and is strong enough, take 
out the spice-bag and squeeze it and put it in the next barrel you 
make. And thus you will be able to use these same spices three or 
four times.

Item. ANOTHER BOUCHET KEPT FOUR YEARS, and perhaps you could make a 
whole batch more or less at one time if you wished. Combine three 
parts water and one part honey, boil and skim until it reduces to a 
tenth, and then throw in a vessel: then refill your pot and do the 
same again, until you have enough; then let it cool and complete your 
batch: your bouchet will emit something like must which works. If you 
can, keep it continually full so that it can emit, and after six 
weeks or a month you must draw off the bouchet as far as the lees and 
put it in a copper tub or other container, then stave in the vessel 
where it stands, remove the lees, scald, wash, replace the staves, 
and fill it with what you have left, and keep; and do not warm it up 
if it broached. And then have four and a half ounces of finely 
powdered cinnamon and an ounce and a half of cloves and one of grains 
beaten and placed in a cloth bag and hung by a cord from the stopper.

Note that the scum which is removed, for each pot of it take twelve 
pots of water, and boil together, and this will make a nice bouchet 
for the servants. Item, any skimming from honey can be used in the 
same proportions.

I don't think it corresponds very closely to Digby's weak honey 
drink, although since I don't know what a "sixth" is (sixth of a 
gallon?) I can't figure out the proportions. But it looks as though 
the spices are in a cloth bag that hangs in it while it is 
fermenting, not while it is boiling. The second version is clearly 
intended to be left a long time. The first version I can't tell--are 
you drinking it after you take the spice bag out (two or three days) 
or leaving it in the barrel for an unstated length of time thereafter.

Suppose a sixth is a sixth of a gallon, a quart a quarter gallon, and 
a pint half a quart (anyone with information on measures of volume in 
Paris in the 1390's is invited to contribute them--I know their quart 
was almost twice ours, but not what the rest of the units were). Then 
we have:

To make a gallon of bouchet, use 3/4 gallon of honey, boil the honey, 
add 7/6 gallon of water, and boil until "it" (the combined liquid?) 
reduces to a gallon again. Doesn't sound possible--way too much honey.

Digby is using nine pints of water and one pint of honey, and boiling 
away about a third of it.

So if my interpretation is right, Digby starts with one part of honey 
to nine of water, Le Menagier with one part of honey to 14/9 of a 
part of water, making the latter almost six times as concentrated as 
the former! Even allowing for the fact that Digby's drink is very low 
alcohol, it can't be right. Either a "sixth" is more than a sixth of 
a gallon or a pint is much less than an eighth of a gallon; my guess 
is the latter.

The second version is clear enough on the proportions, although I 
don't know what "reduces to a tenth" means--maybe "by a tenth?"  On 
that interpretation it's a little more than twice as concentrated as 
Digby's, which isn't unreasonable for something you are going to keep 
a long time.

David Friedman


Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 18:19:49 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - period mead recipes--Le Menagier's Bouchet

david friedman wrote: 
> I don't think it corresponds very closely to Digby's weak honey
> drink, although since I don't know what a "sixth" is (sixth of a
> gallon?) I can't figure out the proportions. 

I don't have the details at my fingertips, but I vaguely recall that the
original French term was "setier", which we would translate as a
"sester". Presumably either it is derived from originally being a sixth
of something, or from being a unit of X that could be purchased with a
Roman sesterce. This seems to me to be supported by the translated text
reading "to make six sixths of"...well, duh, why not simply say, "to
make one", if a sixth is what you're making six of, um, uh, well, you
know what I mean.

Anyway, I've seen "sester" defined as being either roughly one modern
American gallon or two, depending on where and when in medieval Europe
you are. (I recall reading this off some university's medieval online
glossary and encyclopedia, but have since confirmed this elsewhere in
other sources.) A friend and I worked out the math for bouchet, and as I
recall it was either slightly stronger or slightly weaker than the Digby
small mead, but either way eminently drinkable.

Adamantius


Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2000 03:04:49 -0000From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nanna_R=F6gnvaldard=F3ttir?=" <nannar at isholf.is>Subject: Re: SC - period mead recipes--Le Menagier's Bouchet Anyway, here is one of the mead recipes from the Danish 1616 cookbook Iposted last year:Another methodFor each part good, clear honey, take eight parts fresh spring water.  Pourthis into a large cauldron and simmer together on a slow fire, and  takecare the fire doesn¥t smoke, and skim it carefully and often, as  long asyou see any scum rise to the surface. Do this until the water is  beginningto be beautifully clear and clean. The longer you want to  keep this mead,the longer you should boil it. When it cools off, then  pour it into abarrel, but do not fill it to more than three fingerbreadths  below thebrim, so there is room for the fermentation.If you want your mead to smell and taste strong and lively, then place  thefollowing spices, well crushed, in a sack and hang it in the barrel.  Forone barrel of mead, take:Pepper, 6 lod*Ginger, 8 lodGrains of paradise, 2 lodCloves, 3 lodGalingale, 3 lodCinnamon bark, 10 lodIf you want less spices, then take for each barrel:Cinnamon bark, 4 lodGinger, 2 lodGalingale, 1 lodCloves, 1 lodGrains of paradise, 1 lodWhen it is well fermented (Some fry an apple** and smear it with yeast  andcast it into the barrel),  then let it stand tightly closed for 3 months,before it is drunk.In certain places in Livonia it is customary to bury the barrel deep intothe ground and cover it with earth and let it lie for a long time. This meadbecomes so strong and potent that it far surpasses wine, when you want tomake sombody drunk.* A lod is 16 grams** The term used is "krigsÊble", literally "war apple"; I’m not sure what ismeant here. Wasn’t toasted bread sometimes used?Nanna


Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 22:11:12 ESTFrom: Elysant at aol.comSubject: Re: SC - period mead recipes--Le Menagier's BouchetNanna said:>The term used is "krigsÊble", literally "war apple"; I’m not sure what is>meant here. Wasn’t toasted bread sometimes used?I have several traditional Welsh wine recipes in which the yeast is introduced by spreading it onto toasted bread and then floating the toast on top of the brew.  My grandmother also used this method for her homemade wines.  I have not heard of using fried apples to do this before....Elysant

Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 22:24:53 -0500From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>Subject: Re: SC - period mead recipes--Le Menagier's BouchetElysant at aol.com wrote:> Nanna said:> >The term used is "krigsÊble", literally "war apple"; I¥m not sure what is> >meant here. Wasn¥t toasted bread sometimes used?> > I have several traditional Welsh wine recipes in which the yeast is> introduced by spreading it onto toasted bread and then floating the toast on> top of the brew.  My grandmother also used this method for her homemade> wines.  I have not heard of using fried apples to do this before....Yes, there are references to floating yeast spread on a raft of toast inDigby. I think perhaps that in places like Iceland and Finland, grainsin general are much less of an agricultural possibility, so there goesthe toast idea. The principle is the same, though. But why fry theapple? To kill any surface wild yeasts?Adamantius

Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2000 23:00:07 +0100
From: "Cindy M. Renfrow" <cindy at thousandeggs.com>
Subject: SC - Re- period mead recipes

>A friend and I worked out the math for bouchet, and as I
>recall it was either slightly stronger or slightly weaker than the Digby
>small mead, but either way eminently drinkable.

>Adamantius

Hello!  I think I posted the upshot of that conversation to my website. I
think the url is http://members.aol.com/renfrowcm/mead.html  but my brain
is fuzzy at the moment. I know it's linked at
http://members.aol.com/renfrowcm/links.html  under " a 1393 mead recipe".

Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu
cindy at thousandeggs.com
Author & Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More, A Collection of 15th
Century Recipes" and "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing
Recipes"


From: Norsefolk at egroups.com
Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 10:50:57 -0500
From: "C. L. Ward" <gunnora at realtime.net>
Subject: Mead Flavors

Actually, mead + fruit juice is a melomel, while mead + spices is a
metheglin, just terminology-wise.

I highly recommend taking a look at the Digby mead recipes to get a sense
of medieval mead-making.  Digby is a little late, but he's got good
recipes.  I'd also recommend contacting the best mead-brewer in Ansteorra
(possibly in the Known World), Lady Damaris of Greenhill <damaris1 at ev1.net>
and asking her for suggestions on documentation and recipes, since she
has done a lot of research in this field.

All that being said, my favorite melomel of all time thus far was
lingonberry.  We got 5 one gallon cans of lingonberries from The Wooden
Spoon in Plano, Texas (and they can be found on-line also, I recommend them
highly) for that batch.  We've also made cloudberry, but that wasn't as
good, probably since we were only able to get the cloudberries as jam.

If you are not worried about the medievalness of the mead or melomel, it's
been my experience that the more acidic fruits make the best meads,
probably because they help ensure that the acid balance vs. the sweetness
is perfect.  Some good ones I've had include cranberry, strawberry, blood
orange, and green apple.

I have to say that peary (a pear melomel) is probably Lady Damaris' best
mead.  She has processed her own pears using a juicer or cider press, but
you can actually buy pear nectar in cans now, and these make it very easy
if you don't have the time to process the fruit yourself.  I've used about
a gallon of pear nectar in a 5 gallon batch of mead, with between 25
and 30 lbs of honey.

::GUNNORA::


From: Norsefolk at egroups.com
Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 09:21:31 -0700
From: mocook <mocook at att.net>
Subject: Re: Re: Mead recommendations

Get a clean nylon stocking (leggs variety) and put your crushed fruit in it. tie
it off and leave it in the mead solution in a large food grade plastic bucket or
jar with an air lock in the lid (carboys have too small a mouth to get the fruit
back out. Let this ferment for about 2 weeks. Remove  the stocking with clean
hands and gently squeeze out the remaining juice, (avoid squeezing too much pulp
out as well). transfer to a carboy for the final fermentation. Dont worry too
much about oxygen at this pooint as the fermantation is still continuing and
will burn out any you introduce. Don't use a juicer unless you want really
cloudy mead. The juicer blends the pulp so fine you cant get it to settle out. I
just put the fruit in the stocking, crush it, then pour the hot (160 degree)
honey solution into the containerand cover without the air lock until it is
cool, then add the airlock and yeast. If you put the airlock in while hot, it
will suck the water out of it when the must cools!

Hoskuld


From: Norsefolk at egroups.com
Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 16:00:49 -0000
From: "Gunnora Hallakarva" <gunnora at realtime.net>
Subject: Making and clarifying melomels

--- In Norsefolk at egroups.com, mocook <mocook at a...> wrote:
> Get a clean nylon stocking (leggs variety) and put your crushed 
> fruit in it. tie it off and leave it in the mead solution in a 
> large food grade plastic bucket or jar with an air lock in the lid 
> (carboys have too small a mouth to get the fruit back out. 
> <snippage> Don't use a juicer unless you want really cloudy mead. 
> The juicer blends the pulp so fine you cant get it to settle out.

It has been my experience that you don't get nearly as much flavor or 
juice out of the fruit by this method.  Crushing fruit and then 
soaking in alcohol, as for making cordials, works pretty good.  
Soaking in what is essentially a sugar solution hasn't worked for 
me.  And of course if you use a medieval tool, such as a cider press, 
especially on soft fruits such as pears (which were pressed this way 
medievally) you get juice and lots of pureed fruit fragments, 
comparable to the type of pulp from a juicer.

The first key to really effectivly getting juice out of any fruit is 
to freeze it.  I usually clean, seed/pit, and cut the fruit into 
chunks, then place these into gallon-size ziplocks and freeze.  
Freezing causes water in the individual cells of the fruit to expand, 
and this ruptures the cell walls.  This makes it much easier to get 
the juice out of the fruit and into your mead where you want it.  
Freezing will add a lot more flavor to your product, because you get 
a lot more juice into the brew.

I've also had no problems using a juicer.  I juice up the frozen-then-
defrosted fruit and add it right in (before I got the juicer I used a 
blender and liquefied it as much as possible).  I usually will do a 
primary fermentation in a clean "pickle barrel" -- one of those 5 
gallon plastic food-grade barrels.  The tops fit on tightly, so I 
drill a hole in the top and insert a sterilized rubber cork with an 
airlock.  You will get a "fruit cap" on the top of the must, so I 
leave a good 6" at the top to keep the fruit cap out of the airlock.  
After a week or two of fermentation, then I rack into sterilized 
carboys, leaving most of the fruit pulp behind.

The secret to avoiding cloudy mead when using any type of fruit, 
whether it's been crushed, juiced, or what have you, is racking over 
and over.  If the mead just won't clear, you add pectin, which grabs 
the fruit particles in the suspension and drops them to the bottom 
(rather like using flocculent in a swimming pool).  You should be 
able to get this inexpensively through your local brewing supply, or 
through a mail order/on-line source (see 
http://www.beerinfo.com/vlib/homebrew.html for several links to on-
line suppliers).  And then you let it sit, then rack some more.  I've 
created crystal clear (or more accurately, clear amber) mead starting 
with pears or peaches put through the juicer.  

The only time I've really had a fruit particle problem has been using 
strawberries.  The little seeds wouldn't fall out of solution, and I 
finally strained the whole batch through about four layers of clean 
cheesecloth after racking, which did trap the seeds.  Then I 
proceeded normally, racking every 4 to 6 weeks until all fermentation 
was completely stopped and the mead was absolutely without cloudiness 
or sediment.

Note -- to the folks who had the peach mead explode, the problem 
wasn't the peaches, it was that you bottled too soon.  You either 
have to keep racking and allow the mead to continue fermenting until 
all yeast activity is completely stopped, or you have to artifically 
kill the yeast, usually with sulfites.  I don't like to use sulfites, 
as many people are allergic to them.  Sticking still-fermenting mead 
or other alcoholic beverages into a sealed glass bottle is like 
asking to be hit with a glass fragmentation grenade.  Master Ragnar 
Morkwulf did this, and came home after work a week later to find big 
shards of glass deeply piercing the front of his (now shattered) TV 
screen and the chair where he usually sat looked like a tiger had 
been using it as a scratching post, with glass "knives" driven into 
the wooden parts of the back several inches deep!

Over and over again amateur brewers' biggest problem is that they are 
too impatient.  They don't rack as many times as needed, they don't 
allow fermentation to completely end, they bottle before the product 
is racked clear or before it's done fermenting, they don't allow the 
product to age before drinking.  More patience works wonders with 
brewing!

A tip for the really impatient is to make two batches 
simultaneously.  If you can't wait, drink from one batch, but hold 
the other one back and let it completely ferment, then rack as many 
times as needed to completely clear it, and age it at least a year or 
two.  This way you can still satisfy your impatience while producing 
a vastly superior mead using a bit more time and care.

::GUNNORA::

Who has watched apprentices struggle with impatience and the desire 
to use "shortcuts" that either take longer or harm the product!


From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <rcmann4 at earthlink.net>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 12:14:16 -0500
Subject: Metheglin recipe ( was Re: [Sca-cooks] OT: We're in the honey!)

On 3 Apr 2002, at 6:31, Avraham haRofeh wrote:
> Recipe, please? If it's too OT, send it privately. :-)

This is the original recipe.  It's from "Martha Washington's Booke of
Cookery", a Tudor/Jacobean family cookbook which was inherited
by the first First Lady.

To Make Metheglin

Take a quart of honey & 6 quarts of wat[er].  let it boyle ye third
part away, & boyle [with] it 3 races of ginger.  when it is cold, put it
[in] a pot which hath a spicket, & put yeast into [it] & let it stand 3
dayes, then bottle it up & put into yr bottles a little leamon & a
stick of cinna[mon] & a few raysons of the sun.  & let it be a
fortnig[ht] befor you drink it.

What I did:

Mostly I followed the directions.  I boiled the honey and water until
it was reduced by one third.  "Races" of ginger are roots.  Because
3 whole fresh ginger roots would be overwhelming, I used slices of
fresh ginger to equal 1/2 oz.  It later occured to me that perhaps
dried ginger roots might be meant.  I'll try it that way next time.

When cold, I put it into a gallon glass jug, and added 1/2 TBS
bread yeast, dissolved in a small amount of honey-water.  In one of
his recipes for metheglin (which is spiced mead, if'n you didn't
know), Digby says to use bread yeast or ale yeast.  I put a
fermentation lock on top, and let it do its thing for 3 days.  This
morning, I siphoned the metheglin into another jug containing 2
cinnamon sticks, the juice of 1 lemon, and 1 TBS of raisins.  I
replaced the fermentation lock.  And now I wait.

Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom


Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 18:44:19 -0500
From: "Martha Oser" <osermart at msu.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Killing the Yeast in Mead
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Kotek,

> I bought a book on basic brewing, and almost all their suggestions for Mead
> is roughly; "Boil up honey and water, add yeast, leave for a week or two,
> then add a campden (sulphur dioxide) tablet to stop fermentation, bottle and
> store for 6+ months before drinking"

As to boiling, there are options.  Some folks boil, others simply heat the
honey and water.  Boiling breaks the proteins, and heating too hard can
cause the flavor of the honey to be reduced.

Campden is an anti-bacterial and is optional, depending on the yeast you
use.  Some yeasts will naturally produce small amounts of sulphur dioxide
(such as Lalvin 1118 yeast).

> I've never elsewhere read anything suggesting the sterilization of the brew
> before bottling - I presume this is to keep it sweet and not bubbly (or
> explosive). Is this common, and does the tablet affect the flavor  
> at all?

This isn't sterilizing the brew.  To stop the yeast, use potassium sorbate
to put the yeast to sleep and then 36-48 hours later you can rack and filter
into another carboy or bottle for aging.

Adding campden can affect some people who have an allergy to the sulphites.
If you get a headache with sharp, stabbing pains from drinking things like
most domestic wines, particularly reds, you may be allergic to sulphites.
This is also a debatable topic.

Thus speaketh Lord Gilebert le bracceur de Dijon, through the hands  
of his wife, Lady Helena Sibylla  :D


Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 21:15:33 -0500
From: "Elaine Koogler" <kiridono at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Killing the Yeast in Mead
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

My lord husband, who has been making mead for many years, says he
never uses campden tablets to kill the yeast, only to sterilize the
bottles that the finished product goes into.  He rinses the bottles
out with campden and lets them air dry.

He says that he lets the alcohol content rise high enough to naturally
kill the yeast.  He uses a mead yeast for most of his meads.  The dead
yeast will fall to the bottom and he pours the mead off of the top.
If he wants to make a sparkling mead, he'll use a champagne yeast for
a second fermentation.

Kiri

>> I bought a book on basic brewing, and almost all their suggestions for Mead
>> is roughly; "Boil up honey and water, add yeast, leave for a week or two,
>> then add a campden (sulphur dioxide) tablet to stop fermentation, bottle and
>> store for 6+ months before drinking"


Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 07:25:59 -0500
From: "Steinfeld,	Henry S CIV NAVAIR PMA-209T&E/AIR 1.6.3"
	<Henry.Steinfeld at navy.mil>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re Killing the yeast in Mead
To: <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

  Having brewed mead now for some time, I can say I have never used
campden tablets to kill off the yeast and I feel, based upon the results
of my meads that this has never affected the sweetness of the mead.
That said, I brew to completion and sterilize the bottles with very hot
water prior to filling them.  The yeast I use is a 'mead' yeast and it
produces a sweet nectar.  The principle effect on sweetness, in my
opinion, is the yeast chosen.  I have brewed drier meads, but this was
a choice of yeast to balance against the ingredients I chose.

Khadir


To: SCA Newcomers list <scanewcomers at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: Floating your boat
Posted by: "Jeff Johnston" publisher at lilleypress.com jeffthegeek1974
Date: Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:34 am ((PST))

What about meads..... Forget those mamby pamby beers wines and fruity drinks... make mead :D you can check out my mead site at http://mead.lilleypress.com for lots of research and recipes; period, and not so period ;)
Mead is so fun to make and consuming it is even more fun, I agree you'll have no trouble finding someone to share it with, never had any trouble finding someone to share my mead with :D

Cú Allaidh Dona
mka Jeff Johnston
Heavy Fighter, Sometimes Fencer, Occasional Archer, MBCIT
Founder of the Trionvantia Nova Merpegacorn stoolball team
Mazer, working on being a Calligrapher, Maker of Torcs and Circlets
Member of the Bookbinders Guild of Ealdormere
Crewmember of the Good Ship Crimson Star
Seneschal of The Shire of Trinovantia Nova, in the great land of Ealdormere

http://cuallaidh.blogspot.com
The Mead Hall - home to all things mead: http://mead.lilleypress.com

On 2011-02-28, at 2:25 PM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

<<< Go for what floats your boat!

jerusha >>>

Yea, Beer! Or perhaps you prefer cider? Or wine? Or cordials? All of these are made by many folks in the SCA. And some probably make enough to "float your boat". You don't have to drink it all yourself, and you probably shouldn't. But if get known for making good stuff, you will find plenty of folks willing to help you consume it. :-)


To: Gleann Abhann (mail list) <gleannabhann at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: family mead
Posted by: "Catherine Koehler" hccartck at yahoo.com
Date: Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:13 pm ((PDT))

I have recently come across a recipe in my Irish mum's collection that is a few hundred years old (I promise!).  I am not a mead maker, but I request that if anyone does want to try this recipe, please include me in a bottle.  I would love to taste the mead of my direct ancestors!

Here tis:

Irish Mead

Boil together 5 gallons of water, two and a half pints strong honey, one pound raisins (stoned), half a pound of currants, three ounces of eringo root, one ounce of liquorice, one ounce of China root, quarter of an ounce of coriander seed, two sprigs of rosemary, until reduced to four gallons.  Strain; when cool, work it up with yeast as in making ale; put it into another vessel, let it stand seven days; then bottle it.  As soon as it is brisk it is fit for use.

Aine ni Shuilleabhain


To: Gleann Abhann (mail list) <gleannabhann at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: family mead
Posted by: "Sean" azhrathon at suddenlink.net macfiepict
Date: Sun Oct 21, 2012 7:12 am ((PDT))

Thank you very much for the recipe.  With a little research "eringo" seems to be Eryngium. Which is a sort of blue thistle like flower grown as an ornamental plant.

I'm guessing that "China root" is probably ginger.

I'm really looking forward to cooking up a batch of this.
If you don't mind I'm going to forward this to the Brewers list.

Uchtan "Sean" mac Duib


To: Gleann Abhann (mail list) <gleannabhann at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: mead materials
Posted by: "Catherine Koehler" hccartck at yahoo.com hccartck
Date: Sun Oct 21, 2012 8:13 pm ((PDT))

In response to Bethany Thielman, I admit that I spent the better part of this morning doing research on both of those and have found....not much. :-)  I have pasted two entries from the internet at the end of this e-mail.

The eryngo or eringo are more available in the UK and I haven't found a "local" source for it yet.  I do have cousins still in Ireland and I'm waiting to hear from them if they know anything about it.  The sad part is that everything I have read points to it being used prior to the 18th century primarily which is making it harder to track down.  The China Root is more common and I'm still working on that one,
too.  Like I said, the recipe is a few hundred years old so now I have a big hurdle to overcome, to get it made, lol!  

As I side note, I thought it was interesting that the measurements were already transposed into standard US measurements.  I have no idea when those were made but I suspect it was in the 20's - 30's. 

**************************************************************************
CHINA ROOT
(Med.) the rootstock of a species of Smilax (Smilax China,
from the East Indies; - formerly much esteemed for the purposes that 
sarsaparilla is now used for. Also the galanga root (from Alpinia Gallanga and Alpinia officinarum).

ERINGO
The root of a plant called 'sea holly' which was popular in England 
between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was either candied or pickled as
had the reputation of being an aphrodisiac.

It was also eaten as a vegetable - being either boiled or roast, and tastes rather like parsnip. See 'Aphrodisiacs' 

<the end>
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