Viking Blod - Recipe Assistance

reezle · 05-11-2011, 04:06 PM

I've been looking for a Recipe for Viking Blod (Dansk Mjød) for quite some time, and have finally found one. It seems to take quite a bit more honey than any other recipe I've seen, and finishes with a rather high FG as well. It uses bittering hops, so perhaps that balances out the FG. I was hoping you guys would have some input on this recipe before I waste 25lbs of honey and 6 months of fermenting time...

Batch Size 6g
OG 1.146
FG 1.036
Honey 25lbs
Boil 30min
7 HBU .5 Ounce Magnum 30 Minutes
2.5 HBU .5 Ounce Goldings 15 Minutes
2.5 HBU .5 Ounce Goldings 5 Minutes
7 Ounces Hibiscus

Yeast Lalvin D-47

I'm assuming the Hibiscus is done like a dry hop, but the recipe doesn't specify. I'm also assuming with that high of an OG I'll have to start fermentation with only part of the honey, and add more in batches over the first few weeks (so as not to over-saturate the yeast). Not sure what kind of schedule to follow, though.

Any Advice? Does this recipe look like it would make a reasonable clone of Dansk Mjød Viking Blod ?

MedsenFey · 05-11-2011, 07:11 PM

I'm not sure of the ingredients for that mead, but your recipe should produce a nice hop metheglyn. With a gravity of 1.146, you can still use all the honey at the beginning, but you will probably want to pitch at least 10 grams (2 packets) of yeast, and you are going to need to give plenty of nutrients (which you don't have listed).

reezle · 06-20-2011, 07:55 PM

Thanks, I did end up brewing this recipe.
Hibiscus was a little hard to locate, but I found a shop online that shipped me a pound of dried blossoms for just a couple of bucks.
My LHBS carried Meadowfoam honey in bulk, so I went with 1/2 of that and 1/2 raspberry honey. The vanilla/raspberry combined with the Hibiscus and hops makes a very interesting flavor.
I staggered the yeast nutrients, performed daily degassing for the first week or so, and fermentation has been going strong. OG was 1.17 (seemed kind of crazy high, but the yeast took off anyways).
Gravity is down to 1.09 after just a month, and still going strong. I'll cross my fingers that it's ready by x-mas...

TDiddy · 11-21-2011, 03:28 PM

How did this come out?

dummkauf · 11-23-2011, 02:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TDiddy

How did this come out?

What he said

Any pics of the final product or is this still aging?

**nukinfuts29** · 11-23-2011, 04:24 AM

Subscribed!

reezle · 11-25-2011, 07:07 PM

Flavor-wise this stuff is great, high alcohol, but still too sweet. I did a lot of yeast nutrient additions and degassed it for the first few weeks. Fermentation was steady for a few months, then slowed down to nothing. After a time I hit it with some champagne yeast. That fermented a few months then slowed down too. I debated watering it down to reduce the ABV so the yeast could eat more sugars, then decided (don't laugh) to pitch a bit of Turbo Yeast to see if it would get it as dry as I'm looking for. Initial Brix reading was 38, and if the new yeast can get it up to 22% without too many off-flavors, I should be about where I want. Brix was down to 27 on the most recent re-pitch, and it's been very slowly bubbling the airlock the last few weeks. (fingers crossed this yeast doesn't poop out on me, too)

reezle · 02-09-2012, 08:03 PM

I thought 25lbs of honey in a 5gal batch was a bit much, and it turned out that it was... Nothing I could do would get it to ferment any drier than 'sickeningly sweet'.

I made a huge champagne yeast starter, split the batch into (2) 5-gal carboys, topped off with water and repitched. After just 2-3 weeks one of the carboys has come close to FG. Tasted it, and it's wonderful. For whatever reason the other carboy is still bubbling along slowly, so I haven't touched it even for a sample.

Give it a month or two, and see what we got.

**nukinfuts29** · 02-10-2012, 11:47 AM

25lbs is very heavy in 5 gallon