German Sage Mead

This is documentation that I wrote for the 2008 Pennsic Iron Brewer Challenge. The challenge was to brew something with sage.

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Sage Mead

"A wine is also made of only water and honey. For this it is recommended that rain-water should be stored for five years. Some who are more expert use rain-water as soon as it has fallen, boiling it down to a third of the quantity and adding one part of old honey to three parts of water, and then keeping the mixture in the sun for 40 days after the rising of the Dog-star. Others pour it off after nine days and then cork it up. This beverage is called in Greek ‘water-honey’ [‘hydromeli’]; with age it attains the flavour of wine." [1]

The purpose of this project is not to prove that mead was available in period, for we have plenty of documentation that it did. I will not take up the reader’s time with the many pages required to document the history of mead. I will, instead, concentrate on the project and the steps I used.

The secret ingredient of this year’s Pennsic Iron Brewer Challenge is sage. A period herb that grew through out most of Europe. It was a simple matter to find a period recipe that called for sage. This mead is a simple redaction of a period recipe, brewed using modern equipment, but keeping true to the original intent. I chose a recipe from Ein Buch von guter spise: [2]

14. Wilt du guten met machen: Der guten mete machen wil, der werme reinen brunnen, daz er die hant dor inne liden künne. und neme zwei maz wazzers und eine honiges. daz rüere man mit eime stecken, und laz ez ein wile hangen. und sihe ez denne durch ein rein tuch oder durch ein harsip in ein rein vaz. und siede denne die selben wirtz gein eime acker lane hin und wider und schume die wirtz mit einer vensterehten schüzzeln. da der schume inne blibe und niht die wirtz. dor noch giuz den mete in ein rein vaz und bedecke in, daz der bradem niht uz müge, als lange daz man die hant dor inne geliden müge. So nim denne ein halp mezzigen hafen und tu in halp vol hopphen und ein hant vol salbey und siede daz mit der wirtz gein einer halben mile. und giuz ez denne in die wirtz, und nim frischer hoven ein halp nözzeln und giuz ez dor in. und giuz ez under ein ander daz ez geschende werde. so decke zu, daz der bradem iht uz müge einen tae und eine naht. So seige denne den mete durch ein reyn tuch oder durch ein harsip. und vazze in in ein reyn vaz und lazze in iern drie tac und drie naht und fülle in alle abende, dar nach lazze man in aber abe und hüete daz iht hefen dor in kumme und laz in aht tage ligen daz er valle. und fülle in alle abende. dar nach loz in abe in ein gehertztez vas und laz in ligen aht tage vol und trinke in denne erst sechs wucher oder ehte. so ist er allerbeste.

14. How you want to make good mead: He, who wants to make good mead, warms clean water, so that he can just stand to put the hand in. And take two maz water and one honey. One stirs that with a stick and lets it set a while and then strains it through a clean cloth or through a hairsieve into a clean barrel. And boil then the same wort against an acre long there and back (as long as it takes to walk this distance and back) and remove the foam from the wort with a bowl with holes. The foam stays in the bowl and the wort does not. Next pour the mead in a clean barrel and cover it, so that vapor can not get out, until one can bear the hand there in. So take then a half maz pot and add until half full hops and a hand of sage and boil that with the wort against a half mile (as long as it takes to walk this distance) and give it then in the wort and take a half nut of fresh yeast (the amount that could be held in a nutshell) and give it there in and mix it together so that it will ferment. So cover also, so that the vapor can get out, a day and a night. So strain then the mead through a clean cloth or through a hairsieve and pour (it) in a clean barrel and let it ferment three days and three nights and fill (it) in all evenings. There after one lets it go down and looks that yeast comes therein. And let it lay for eight days, so that it falls and fill in all evenings. There after let it down in a resined barrel and let it lay eight days full and drink in the first six weeks or eight. So is it the best. [3]

The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages, by Terence Scully, [4] references the same recipe but translates it slightly differently:

For those who want to make good mead, warm pure water from a well, only as warm as you can bear your hand in it, and for each two maz [each about two pines] of water take one maz of honey; stir this with a stick, let it sit for a while and afterwards strain it through a clean cloth or through a hair sieve into a clean barrel. Then boil the usual mead spices for as long as it take to walk around a field, and do that again, and skim the spices using a bowl with holes in it so that the foam stays but not the spices; the pour the mead into a clean barrel and cover it, so that the steam cannot escape, leaving it there until [it has cooled to the point that] you can bear your hand in it. Then get a pot the size of half a Maz [roughly one pint], fill it half with hops and a handful of sage. [5]

The recipe calls for a two to one ratio of honey to water and a half of a pint of hops for every three pints of must. This may appear to be a lot of hops, but we are not only talking about whole hop leaves, but hops that most likely were dried when they were harvested then transported and stored until they were needed. It is most likely that the hops used on a daily basis were not as strong as the hops we use today. Also, since the recipe uses pint pots as a unit of measurement, I can only conclude that this recipe was intended for the home brewer; the alewife who would have brewed for the family’s daily consumption.

Ingredients:

Five pound of Clover Honey

1 gallon of spring water

1/2 ounce of Cascade Hops, pellets

3 ounces of California Sage.

1 ounce of Ale yeast

I used modern ingredients found around the house for this project. I found it next to impossible to get fresh, European Sage and had to settle for California Sage. I am told that the California variety has a slightly different taste then it’s European counterpart. [6] The sage I had purchased from a local farmer’s market earlier this year and had frozen the remains of the bundle after I had finished the dish I had used it for.

In modern terms, a handful of whole hop leaves is about an ounce, [7] and when packed well, is about a half a pint in volume. As it is the wrong season to use fresh hops, I was forced to dip into my hop stash and pull out what I had in the kitchen. As the recipe for a half of a pint of whole hops, which is, as I had stated, about one ounce, which was most likely dried from the previous harvest, I substituted 1/2 ounce of hop pellets that were vacuum sealed when picked. My reasoning is that my hops would be twice or even three times as strong as what was available to the average 14th century alewife. 

While the recipe calls for a two to one honey to water ratio, I went with a five to one ratio, in order to get a sweeter mead, and to offset stronger hops. Also, I had a five pound bottle of honey that I had opened to get a few ounces of honey at one point, and I wanted to finish it up to get it off of my counter.

Since I am of the camp of "Do not boil honey to make mead", I chose instead to pour a small portion of the water into a small sauce pot and make a tea out of the hops and the sage. While the tea was steeping, I poured a half gallon of the water into a larger pot and added in the honey. The remainder of the water went into the fermenter. I simmered the honey and skimmed the scum out for about twenty minutes. [8] By this time the tea was a dark shade of green and smelled great.

I strained the tea before I added it to the must, then poured the entire mess into the fermenter. It sat in the fermenter for a week and a half. I racked the must directly into bottles: I did not attempt to strain or clarify the must. I was not interested in a clear mead, but was attempting to produce a mead that would not be out of place at the time the recipe was written. Also, the cloudy nature of the mead, is, for the most part, protein and nutrients.

The resultaning mead was sweet, savory and bitter at the same time. The one-dimension flavor of the honey was enhanced by the contrasting flavors of hops and sage. I used the American variety of hops called Cascade hops, when I made this mead for the Iron Brewers Challenge, because it was what I had in the house. I have made this mead dozens of times and when I have the time, I try to use imported German hops that have been around for centuries, such as Spalt, Hallertau and Hersbruck.

[1] Natural History, by Pliny the Elder, Book XIV, section XX, p. 261.

[2] The Book of Good Spices, published between 1345-1354

[3] Translated by Alia Atlas, 1993

[4] p154

[5] Unfortunately, the digital copy of this book skipped page 155 and the rest of the recipe.

[6] Some people say that there is a lemony aftertaste.

[7] Tested in personal kitchen and brewing classes over the years.

[8] My estimate on how long it would take me to walk an acre.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Ein Buch von guter spise c. 1350. Translated by Alia Atlas. http://cs-people.bu.edu/akatlas/Buch/

buch.html

Pliny, the Elder. The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 3. Translated by John Bostock and Henry T Riley. H. G. Bohn; London. 1855

Scully, Terence. The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages. Boydell Press, 1995. Digitized by Google Books.

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Observations from 2015:

I enjoy this mead. It is easy to make and tastes great. It is my go-to beverage if I want to brew something. The balance of sweet to bitter to savory is just right and even people who hate mead like the flavor of this one. I think that I've brewed this recipe about 50 times and it's never turned out bad.

Just a quick note about skimming scum: place the pot off set on your burner. The heat from the burner will create a hot spot which will set up a convection current which will push scum towards the coldest spot. Since all of the scum collects in one area, it is easier to scoop up.