Sima

source

Sima is a traditional Finnish, sweet lemon mead made for Vappu Day. It is served with funnel cakes or sugar doughnuts and is low in alcohol so children can also drink it. Traditionally it is not allowed to ferment until dry, but is bottled during active fermentation and allowed to carbonate, then kept cold to halt the fermentation. It is light, bubbly and full of lemon flavor - a great mead to represent the spring.



Sima – A Finnish sweet, carbonated Mead

3 gallons Water

3 pounds honey (1lb per gallon)

6 Lemons

3/4 tsp dry bread yeast

2 Raisins per bottle

 1. Add honey, water, lemon zest and juice to a pot. Bring to a boil and boil 10 minutes.

2. Cool to 75degrees. Put in fermentor and pitch bread yeast. Let ferment 5-7 days.

3. Rack into bottles with 2 raisins per bottle. When raisins float to the top it is ready to drink, usually in 1-2 days. WARNING REFRIGERATE IMMEDIATELY – Mead is still fermenting and if not chilled can explode.

Mead & Horn

Sleipnir's Breath - A semi-sweet mead made with honey and a mix of fresh mint from the Brimming Horn garden. It is named in honor of Odin’s eight-legged steed, since it contains a favorite treat of horse’s everywhere.

Horns

Thor Horn

I'm sure some of you knew that Jon and I were artists as well as being a meadmaker and all around organizational mind. If you didn't well we are - I'm a college trained artist and art historian, though in this job market that doesn't leave me with many opportunities at Jon at one time was an apprentice tattoo artist. To get to the gist of this post anyway is the fact that not only do we make mead to fill horns with but we also decorate and carve horns. We take commissions and have horns for sale here and there when the fancy strikes. We have some upcoming horns for Frigga and Odin that will be posted soon as well! If you'd like to see some examples of our work click on the jump!

Joe's Ancient Orange

This mead can be made from ingredients found in your own kitchen cupboards and if made EXACTLY like the recipe states comes out pretty tasty each and every time. It should be made exactly as stated the first time you make it, as everything is perfectly balanced to get a sweet, drinkable mead with the perfect amount of acid. Once again DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING, make it exactly as stated. Once you have this recipe down go ahead and play with other fruits, bigger batches, etc. Read the forums at Got Mead? for more ideas and tips.

Joe's Ancient Orange Mead/Joe Mattioli's Foolproof Ancient Orange, Clove, & Cinnamon Mead

1 gallon batch

Ingredients
3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet)
1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all)
1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok)
1 stick of cinnamon
1 whole clove ( or 2 if you like - these are potent critters)
optional (a pinch of nutmeg and allspice )( very small )

1 teaspoon of Fleishmann’s bread yeast

Water to one gallon 

 

Process:

• Use a clean 1 gallon carboy
• Dissolve honey in some warm water and put in carboy
• Wash orange well to remove any pesticides and slice in eights --add orange (you can push em through opening big boy -- rinds included -- its ok for this mead -- take my word for it -- ignore the experts
• Put in raisins, clove, cinnamon stick, any optional ingredients and fill to 3 inches from the top with cold water. ( need room for some foam -- you can top off with more water after the first few day frenzy
• Shake the heck out of the jug with top on, of course. This is your sophisticated  aeration process.
• When at room temperature in your kitchen, put in 1 teaspoon of bread yeast. ( No you don't have to rehydrate it first-- the ancients didn't even have that word in their vocabulary-- just put it in and give it a gentle swirl or not)(The yeast can fight for their own territory)
• Install water airlock. Put in dark place. It will start working immediately or in an hour. (Don't use grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away in the 90's)( Wait 3 hours before you panic or call me) After major foaming stops in a few days add some water and then keep your hands off of it. (Don't shake it! Don't mess with them yeastees! Let them alone except its okay to open your cabinet to smell every once in a while.
• Racking --- Don't you dare
• Additional feeding --- NO NO
• More stirring or shaking -- Your not listening, don't touch
• After 2 months and maybe a few days it will slow down to a stop and clear all by itself. (How about that) (You are not so important after all) Then you can put a hose in with a small cloth filter on the end into the clear part and  siphon off the golden nectar. If you wait long enough even the oranges will sink to the bottom but I never waited that long. If it is clear it is ready. You don't need a cold basement. It does better in a kitchen in the dark. (Like in a cabinet) likes a little heat (70-80).
• If it didn't work out... you screwed up and didn't read my instructions (or used grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away) . If it didn't work out then take up another hobby, mead is not for you. It is too complicated. If you were successful, which I am 99% certain you will be, then enjoy your  mead. When you get ready to make different mead you will probably have to unlearn some of these practices I have taught you, but hey--- This recipe and procedure works with these ingredients so don't knock it. It was your first mead. It was my tenth. Sometimes, even the experts can forget all they know and make good ancient  mead. Enjoy, Joe

Copied and reposted from Got Mead? Join the forums, use them, love them.

Mazer Cup

Our First Place Mazer Cup in the Metheglin Homebrew Competition!

Mazer Cup Results



Our Basilisk mead, a semi-sweet mead made from Sweet Basil and Lime Basil we grew ourselves won the gold medal in the Metheglin category at the Mazer Cup International. We are ecstatic! Jon knew the moment he tasted Basilisk that it was a mead that would win competitions. We are glad to have that confirmed! Now we wait for our score sheets and the lovely, shiny gold medal and miniature Mazer Cup to get mailed to our house!

This year's Mazer Cup was the largest mead-only competition ever held with over 500 entries between the homebrew and commercial competitions. Homebrew had 277 entries across all categories! Needless to say we are very proud to take home a gold medal and participate with such amazing and passionated meadmakers from all over the world!

Class



Just to give y'all a quick heads up, Jon will be teaching a Beginner's Meadmaking Class at Delmarva Brewing Craft ( brick and mortar store of Xtreme Brewing.com) in Millsboro, DE on Saturday April 9, 2011 at 2pm. If you wish to attend you MUST sign up at the store or through email.

Education - To heat or not to heat?

Heating the must is really a matter of preference to each individual meadmaker, but in this modern day and age it is not necessary and needlessly complicates the process. Here are the three methods:


Boil Method


The boil method is the most traditional method of making mead. Most historical and period recipes call for boiling as our ancestors were not as advanced in their honey gathering techniques and had bits of bees, comb, wax, and pollen to be skimmed off. Boiling does completely sanitize the must and dissolve the honey into the water. However, this method has many drawbacks, the honey could burn while being boiled and by boiling the honey the meadmaker loses the character of the honey. The unique flavors and smells derived from the flowers the honey was collected from are boiled away and it loses valuable proteins and enzymes as they are boiled, then skimmed off with the “scum” that is being removed. The meadmaker must also wait until the must is completely cool before yeast can be pitched and fermentation started leaving the must open to contamination.


The Pasteurization Method


Pasteurization is a process where the meadmaker heats and maintains the must at a temperature for an extended period of time to kill off wild yeasts and bacteria without boiling. This process also thoroughly dissolves the honey into the water and makes it easier to skim off bee bits, pollen, wax, etc. Pasteurizing the must also allows the mead to clear quicker and more easily and less of the honey character is lost. The must also cools faster which allows for quicker pitching of yeast and less chance of contamination. However, the meadmaker still loses a lot of the delicate characters of the honey they are using and destroying some of the desirable complexities and beneficial enzymes and proteins. The time it takes to cool still leaves the must open to contamination.


The No Boil Method


Honey is a substance high in sugar and low in water which makes it nearly impossible for yeast to take hold and survive in straight honey. This means that most honey will not have any wild yeasts present and those that are will be overwhelmed and killed off by the influx of yeast added by the meadmaker. Not boiling the honey minimizes the loss of beneficial enzymes and proteins and the mead being made retains the true floral flavor and bouquet of the honey varietal used. This method is easy and quick, no heating, no boiling, and no waiting for the must to cool, which means the yeast can be be pitched immediately and fermentation begun. The honey is harder to dissolve into the water in this method and the meadmaker has to be sure to stir all of the honey into the water and aerate the must intensely. There is a very small chance of contamination and that comes mostly from the water source and the meadmaker must be sure to remove the chlorine from chlorinated water or use distilled water in the mead.


Here at The Brimming Horn we choose to use the No boil method. We take pride in the delicate flavors and bouquets of the honey we use and want our mead to showcase its main ingredient in all its glory.

Education - Brewing vs. Fermentation/Making

A common misconception around those who are just starting down the mead-making path is the use of the word brew when talking about making mead. We will start out with the definitions for brew, ferment, and make:

brew:  verb. 1. to make (beer, ale, etc.) by steeping, boiling, and fermenting malt and hops. 2. to make or prepare (a beverage, as tea) by mixing, steeping, soaking, or boiling a solid in water. 3. to make a fermented alcoholic malt beverage, as beer or ale. 4. to boil, steep, soak, or cook. noun. 5. a quantity brewed in a single process. 6. a particular brewing or variety of malt liquor.

ferment:  verb. 1. to act upon as a ferment. 2. to cause to undergo fermentation. noun. 3. the act or process of fermenting. 4. a change brought about by a ferment, as yeast enzymes, which convert grape sugar into ethyl alcohol.

make: verb. 1. to bring into existence by shaping or changing material, combining parts, etc. 2. to produce; cause to exist or happen; bring about. 3. to cause to be or become; render. 4. to bring into a certain form. 5. to convert from one state, condition, category, etc., to another.

As you can see, the term brew refers to things which are specifically steeped - tea, coffee, and beer (Isn't that a grand trilogy!). These beverages all steep the ingredients in hot water producing their respective flavors, then remove and throw away the flavor producing ingredients. Mead, wine, and cider are not brewed for this reason. Wine and cider are vinted - meaning the fruit is pressed and juice used for flavoring and mead is made or fermented because the honey is used in entirety NOT steeped and then thrown away.

Mead is also higher in alcohol content than beer, and generally wine/champagne/sherry yeast is used when making it. Mead itself does not need to be boiled, cooked, or pasteurized. Most mead makers coming from a wine making background will not cook the must (honey/water mixture) before fermentation, as it will kill off the delicate honey flavors and it just plain isn't necessary. Winemakers do not heat their grape juice before fermentation and cider makers do not heat their apple juice before fermenting, it just isn't necessary to start the fermenting process in these types of beverages.

Finally, for our purposes in the process of becoming a commercial meadery, brewing as a term when in combination with mead is a big NO-NO. Once again, the TTB classifies mead as wine, specifically a honey-wine, thus if you use the term 'brewing' in your application for a license IT WILL BE TURNED DOWN and you'll be out all that money. So wizen up and use the right terminology!

 So I guess to sum up this whole post: Brewing + Mead = NO; Making/Fermenting + Mead = YES.

Competition - Entering The Mazer Cup International

We finished up bottling and labeling our entries for competition today. Jon hasn't entered a mead competition since 2007 and we are feeling the need for feedback and constructive criticism on some of our favorite meads. We've decided to enter eight meads into The Mazer Cup International a mead competition sponsored by the awesome and very informative Got Mead?. The Mazer Cup takes place in Boulder, Colorado April 1-2, 2011. The competition is judged using the Beer Judge Certification Guidelines for mead. We are hoping to win some medals and score highly in each style we've entered our meads, but the notes on improvement and taste will be helpful as we move on to becoming commercial. The eight meads we have entered are:

Audhumla - Traditional Buckwheat honey mead
Ravenberry - Melomel with Elderberry, Blueberry, & Blackberry
Sleipnir's Breath - Metheglin with assorted Fresh Mint & Lemon Zest
Summer Rose - Metheglin (technically a Rhodomel) with Red Rose Petals
Basilisk - Metheglin with Sweet Basil  & Lime Basil
Feathered Serpent - Open category with Agave Nectar, Cocoa Nibs, Ancho Chillies, Vanilla Bean, & Annato Seed
Holda's Cyser - Open category with Apple, Meadowsweet Flowers, & Chamomile Flowers
Four Dwarves in Cider - Open category with Apple, Peach, Apricot & Orange Blossom Honey

We'll find out in about a month and a half how we did! Cheer for us!

Education - What is Mead?

Mead may be one of the world's oldest fermented beverages, with Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat saying, "It can be regarded as the ancestor of all fermented drinks, antedating the cultivation of the soil," but it is also the one with the least known about it.This means  that starting a meadery with the purpose of selling to the general populous means educating the public in mead with all of it's new terms, flavors, and intricacies. With that in mind, we will try to do an educational blog post weekly about everything mead. For this first post, we'll start with the basics: what exactly is mead and what the basic varieties of mead are.

Mead is an alcoholic beverage (according to the TTB, a 'honey-wine') made by fermenting (not brewing but that's another post) a solution of honey and water. Mead can fall into a large range of alcohol content from the low end to extremely high and can run the gamut from dry to sweet, still to sparkling. Archaeological evidence for the earliest production of mead dates to around 7000 BC.

The most common types of mead are:
Traditional: Honey, water, and yeast
Melomel: Honey, water, yeast, and any fruit besides apple or grape
Cyser: Honey, water, yeast, and apple
Pyment: Honey, water, yeast, and grape
Metheglin: Honey, water, yeast, and herbs/spices

Other mead types you may come across:
Rhodomel: Honey, water, yeast, and rose hips/ rose petals
Sack Mead: Traditional mead made with a large amount of honey - retaining a very sweet flavor
Hydromel: A low alcohol mead
Bochet: Carmelized honey, water, and yeast
Braggot: Honey, water, yeast, hops, and malt
Acerglyn: Honey, maple syrup, water, and yeast
Capsicumel: Honey, water, yeast, and chili peppers

Types of mead associated with world regions:
Sima: Finnish mead, quickly fermented, flavored with lemons, carbonated
Tej: Ethopian mead, usually fermented with wild yeast and having gesho as an addition
Czwórniak: Polish mead with a 3:1 ratio of water to honey
Trójniak: Polish mead with a 2:1 ratio of water to honey
Dwójniak: Polish mead with a 1:1 ratio of water to honey
Półtorak: Polish mead with a 1:2 ratio of water to honey
Pitarrilla: Mayan mead using wild honey and balché tree bark
Dandaghare: Nepalese mead combining honey with Himalayan herbs and spices

That's it for now! Please comment with any questions you may have and we'll try to answer them to the best of our ability!

Who is the Brimming Horn?

The Brimming Horn is a meadery with a lifestyle attached - our name and the names of our meads are more than a theme. Since mead is a drink linked to the Northern European peoples, most often, most of our meads are named after Northern European gods and goddesses and beings found in the mythologies of those peoples. The symbol for our meadery itself is a horn overflowing with mead. A brimming horn would be passed amongst friends and kinsmen to drink, toast, boast, oath, and bond people together. We hope our mead will be able to do just that amongst everyone drinking it.

The Brimming Horn Meadery is Jon's dream. He has been making/producing mead for 15 years with the intent to take his wares commercial and share the golden (in some cases) deliciousness with everyone. Friends, family, and the Heathen and pagan communities have all been able to taste his wares and all have told him he makes the best mead they have ever tasted. Honestly, after trying a few other commercial meads, which were good but they never add up to the amazing taste that is Jon's mead. Jon has been a homebrewer for 15+ years and has worked at commercial wineries, and currently is a Brewer with Dogfish Head Brewery. Large batches, interesting combinations of flavors, and pushing mead to new and uncharted taste varieties are things he loves to test and play with.

 While Jon is the craftsman and artist at the meadery, I guess you could say I'm the organizational genius. By day I'm an assistant, where I do a ton of paperwork, and at night I'm an artist and master planner. I'm beginning to wade into the murky waters of licenses, zoning, and paperwork to make this dream come true. While I wouldn't say it is my favorite thing to do, the process is interesting, puzzling, and challenging. That is why we have started this blog - to write about the process of beginning a commercial meadery, to rant about things that may annoy us, to market our mead ;), and in the end to entertain you with stories of the craziness of this process. So please, sit back, grab a glass of well crafted mead/beer/wine and enjoy our stories.