Krigsmjöd, or Henri's mead recipe

KRIGSMJÖD

By Henri Sorvali © 2001

Note: if you want a nice-looking Word document, click here. Originally posted in the official Moonsorrow website on December 17th, 2001. -Grilo

You need:
5 cans ( 450g/can,”Countryside Honey” is very good label) of regular honey.
4 bags (500g/bag) of brown sugar. (=”Fariinisokeri” in Finnish.)
30g of yeast
5 big lemons
27 litres of water
1 litre of cranberry/lingonberry/blackcurrant juice.
a big bucket (for 30 litres) with a fermenting-lock.
An alcohol-meter

1. Mix all the sugar and honey with almost boiling water ( 1 kg of sugar needs 1 liter of water,but the honey needs more….so mix one bag of honey [450g] with one litre of water!) and pour all of this into the big bucket.

2. Add the 1 litre of juice you bought.It adds a great taste,but contains also a spiritual meaning,as it´s symbolizing the blood of the Einherjer.

3. So…now you have a bucket with hot liquid,right?.There should now be something like 8 litres of stuff in the bucket.

4. Get another small bowl,and mix the yeast with room-temperatured water.This takes approximately a 0,5 litres of water. Now,is the yeast mixed completely with the water? Good. Keep it in the table for a moment and DO NOT add it into the very hot liquid yet,as it will kill the yeast and your mead will never start to ferment.

5. Add the rest of the water (colder,of course….to balance the temperature of the liquid) to the bucket,so that it will be almost full now…and be VERY sure that the temperature of the water is near to room-temperature,(=ab.22-25 celsius) because if it´s too much below or over that,you´ll never get any alcohol,´cause the yeast will die. Use common sense.

6. Add the contains of the yeast-bowl to the big bucket. YES,you schmuck.The one where is that
30 g of yeast mixed with that 0,5 litres of water.

7. Wash the lemons and chop them (don´t peel!) into slices.Add the slices into the bucket now full of still non-fermented mead. Mix the whole package.

8. Close the bucket,pour some water into the fermenting-lock (to get the process starting) and keep the bucket in a warm place.(Bathroom is ok….but the ideal temperature is something like 25-30 celsius.) And try not to move that bucket during the fermenting-process, as we don´t want yeasty drinks,right?

9. Wait for a day,maybe two,and the fermenting should begin.However,if it doesn´t,continue adding half a kilo of normal (white) sugar and wait for a day or two.If nothing happens,continue doing that as long as needed. If that doesn´t help,throw that shit away and buy beer….lots of beer.

10. Let the mead ferment for three weeks in the bucket.After that,it should contain something like 8 percent of alcohol.If it doesn´t,you can pour some more sugar into the bucket and wait for a couple of days.

11. So….now you have about 30 litres of mead with alcohol…but where are the bubbles?Don´t panic,we´ll continue the work to get them. Bottle the mead into PLASTIC (for you own safety) bottles (Pepsi,Fanta,etc…whatever bottles you have,just try to get bottles with capacity of 1,5 litres as it´s the most ideal size.) It´s your own decision how you´ll get that mead into the bottles,but I recommend to do it with siphon. (Suomalaisille siis lappo.). And be warned,the last 1-3 litres of the mead in the bucket have all the yeast which has gone down to the bottom during fermenting ,so it would be wise just to throw them away.Trust me,you don´t want to get a hurting stomach. I know.

12. So,now you have filled you bottles with mead.Add one teaspoon of sugar into each bottle before closing them.(be quick,as in the next second you´ve done it,the mead starts to burst out in a REALLY fast speed!).Close the bottles and let them be in warm place for a half a week or week,depending how much you want carbonic acid (=bubbles). Besides the bubbles,you´ll also get from one to two percents of more alcohol,which is always a nice side-effect.

13.Drink heads off while singing "Oppi Fjellet" or something as cheesy. And remember a toast for the Fallen Ones!