This recipe is for a Juniper mead that was entered into Kingdom Brewing Championships 2024 and won. It uses a sweet ratio of honey to water, kveik yeast, and juniper tips and berries. The recipe is below the background.
Background
I built this recipe to test different ways of leeching flavor from botanicals into mead at different stages of the process. In this case, I had sought to test the specific flavor of juniper tips and berries. General advice and brewing methods are rooted in Olaus Magnus’ recipes for Polish mead, translated and quoted below:
“Acquire an amount of honey known to be of good purity and quality, and both considering the strength beforehand, be sure to use this example: 10 measures of honey and 40 measures of water, more or less, near the strength you desire. Heat the water until hot, in a pot of copper, or the best bronze, and place the honey in it so that it is being cooked and frothed well. It might be cooked differently with hops in a small bag (speak highly of the method) in the amount of a single measure or less, near the measure of honey and water.) Boil away what there is, and with water bubbling, de-froth it, putting that aside continuously, so that part remains warm, and placing the sack of hops with water in the boiled away part, and six lees (or yeast, which is better) and have it be covered completely and well-tended, so it stands for one day and one night: at this point, or if mixing, the decoction will be placed in a level, strong, and clean vessel, and it will be the most delicious….” (Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus, 1555)
Lars Marius Garshol, in his landmark book ‘Historical Brewing Techniques: The Lost Art of Farmhouse Brewing’ discusses the process of a farmstead in Kaupanger, where they lauter the farmhouse ale through split juniper branches. After my experience using a new yeast ring in my kingdom A&S entry, where the hot honey water leached a woodsy pine flavor into the mead, I was interested in capturing more of the astringency and bitterness. However, those flavors in a drier mead might be unpleasant in the nose and taste, unless they had sufficient sweetness to stretch and support the flavor. Thus, the juniper mead would need to be fully sweet at the finish to provide the vehicle for all of the more volatile juniper flavors.
I took my cues here from a variety of recipes for Finnish Sahti (and chiefly those published by Master Madoc Arundel), which is a very old style of farmhouse beer that uses boiled juniper in a similar fashion. 8oz of Saaz hops were also added after the recommendation of Garshol based on traditional practices. The hops in this case do not add an appreciable flavor difference, but the chemicals within hop cones prevent bacteria from replicating and thus assist with the use of ingredients that cannot be fully sanitized. I used my recycled house yeast which contains Voss, Hornindal, and Jovaru kveiks, bolstered with a Lutra strain. All of these have a mixture of tropical fruit notes in the nose and flavor and ferment quickly. I recommend using LalBrew’s Voss Kveik, which can be readily purchased via Amazon, if you do not have a house yeast that already has kveik present. The yeast was pitched at 92F, starting SG of 1.112 (temperature corrected to 1.115 at 68F) on April 8th.
Recipe for 6ish Gallons of Mead
- 22.5 lbs of honey, the more dense and local, the better
- 2 lbs Juniper Branches and Berries (I got mine off of Etsy for about $35)
- 1 Packet Lalbrew Voss Kveik
- 5 Gallons of Water
- 8oz Hops (I used Saaz, but you can really use whatever you have on hand, it's more for sanitation.)
Instructions
- Set two gallons of water to low simmer in a large pot. Once the water is lightly simmering, add your two pounds of juniper bits to the simmer. I recommend using a grain bag or a large pasta strainer to help ease of removal. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes. DO NOT BOIL, this will get EXTREMELY BITTER. Your end result should be like a juniper tea.
- Remove the juniper from your two gallons of juniper tea and discard. Set aside the pot for now. Add your honey, plus another gallon of water to this tea. Carefully seethe the honey and juniper and remove any additional particulate that may rise to the surface. When complete, turn off the heat and add the 8oz of hops and mix. Let stand and cool for a bit.
- Prepare your Fermenting Bucket or Carboy (should be 6.5 gallons in volume). Add your two gallons of cold water to your fermenting vessel, and then add the honey/juniper/hop liquid to the vessel, reserving a cup or so. Cover and let cool to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. My SG was 1.115 with the honey I used, you may have some variability depending on yours, but your specific gravity should be over 1.110.
- When your bucket is close to temperature, take that reserved cup of honey/juniper/hop liquid and dilute it with two cups of cold water into a pitcher, or enough to cool it down to 90 degrees F. Pitch your yeast in this mixture in the pitcher, letting it bloom and begin krausen.
- When your fermenting bucket is to temperature, and your yeast pitcher has started bubbling and showing an inch or two of krausen, pitch the yeast mixture from the pitcher into your fermenting bucket and let it ferment.
- Primary fermentation with kveik pitched hot is usually under a week, even less if you do this in the summer. After primary, you can do two things. On one hand, you can serve this bubbly and bittersweet in the way advised by Olaus if that is your preference. On the other hand, you can stick this in secondary and let it sit for a minimum of three months and let the flavors mellow. It's up to you. I’ve served this as a young mead, at six months, and at a year. All are valid expressions, and it's interesting to taste the differences. I personally prefer waiting at least six months with this one.