This file received at Sierra.Stanford.EDU 93/04/28 13:43:51 Mead Lover's Digest #111 Thu 08 April 1993 Forum for Discussion of Mead Brewing and Consuming John Dilley, Digest Coordinator Contents: Kumiss Recipes (Tom Brady) What fruits are good? (shag) Send articles for submission to the digest to mead-lovers`at`nsa.hp.com Send digest subscribe, unsubscribe, or any other administrative requests to mead-lovers-request`at`nsa.hp.com NOTE: There is now an MLD FTP archive on sierra.stanford.edu in pub/mead ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 07 Apr 93 08:55:35 EDT From: Tom Brady Subject: Kumiss Recipes Greetings! A while back, a request for kumiss recipes was made. I haven't seen any public response, so I'll post what I have (I finally found my notebook). The following information is taken from "The Compleat Anachronist #5: The CA Guide to Brewing," which, as far as I can tell, doesn't have a copyright date on it. This is a publication of the Society for Creative Anachronism, an international organization dedicated to the recreation of the arts and sciences of the middle ages. First, a definition : Kumiss is a Russian and Mongolian fermented milk beverage (originally mare's milk). (sounds appetizing, no?) * DIRECT QUOTING ON * Kumiss 1: 12 oz. fresh milk 4 oz. water 150 grains brown sugar 24 grains yeast (about 1.5 grams) [no specific yeast type mentioned - T.] 15 grams lactose (milk sugar) Dissolve the lactose in the water, add it to the milk, mix the yeast and brown sugar thoroughly, adding a little of the milk mixture to make it a thin paste, then add that to the rest of the milk solution and stir well. Bottle this in very strong bottles (champagne bottles are recommended) and hold at 50 - 60 degrees F. Each day wrap each bottle individually in several layers of cloth before shaking the bottle gently for about ten minutes to prevent the casein from coagulating. The cloth is necessary as a safety precaution, as there is a great deal of CO2 buildup inside the bottle and it might explode. The kumiss should be ready in three to five days. Hints: use sweet, cream-free milk. Agitate the bottles at least three times a day, uncork each bottle once a day to release gasses and then recork it and at least twice a day set the bottle upright to allow the gasses to gather at the top. When opening the bottle, take extreme care lest the bottle explode or the cap take to the skies violently - or into someone's face - Kumiss is a very touchy beverage! Kumiss 2 Fill a quart champagne bottle to the neck with fresh milk, add two tablespoons of white sugar dissolved in a small quantity of hot water and a quarter of a compressed yeast cake. Hint: add the yeast to lukewarm sugar-water solution and then pour that into the champagne bottle. Cork the bottle *securely*, shake well and keep it at room temperature for six hours, refrigerate overnight. Keep each bottle wrapped in a towel (you may want to tape the towel around the bottle to keep it in place) as a safety precaution. Note that if you see a thickened part in the kumiss resembling cheese, you have overfermented the product and it is no longer drinkable. Kumiss 3 Dilute milk with 1.6th part hot water and while it is still tepid, add 1/8th part very sour, but otherwise good, buttermilk. Put it into a wide jug and let it stand at about 75 degrees F for 24 hours. Then stir it well and leave for another 24 hours. Beat it thoroughly and pour it from one jug to another, back and forth, until it is perfectly smooth and creamy. This is "still" kumiss and may be drunk at once. If you wish to have sparkling kumiss, pour into champagne bottles (do not quite fill), cork securely and lay them down in a cool cellar. It will keep for 6 to 8 weeks, although it becomes increasingly acid toward the latter part of this period. *DIRECT QUOTING OFF* Now, my comments. Best of luck, kiddo. I haven't tried any of these recipes, perhaps because I like my brewing to be a little more...sedate ("Open bottles, but be sure no one else is in the blast radius" ;-). I tried to make a kefir (buttermilk, sugar, and yeast; much less carbonated though), and it was, well, rather nasty. I'd try it again, though, just for the hell of it. As for the Compleat Anachronist: don't let these recipes scare you off. It's actually a sane little publication, covering many aspects of recreation of historical life. #5 (cited above) has instructions on basic brewing of a simple beer, mead, ginger and birch beers, as well as kwass, krupnikas, various herb wines, cider, and cordials. #60 (Alcoholic Drinks of the Middle Ages) is more concerned with the actual history of brewing, and covers vinegar and distilled spirits, as well. These publications, as well as a list of other titles in the Compleat Anachronist series, are available from: Stock Clerk, SCA Inc. P.O. Box 360743 Milpitas, CA 95035-0743 Any questions or flames may be directed to brady`at`vtvm1.cc.vt.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Apr 93 07:08:46 PDT From: shag`at`aero.org Subject: What fruits are good? I'm planning on making a one gallon batch of mead soon and would like some advice. I was planning on adding blueberries -- does anybody have any other good recommendations for fruits to add? I was thinking about kiwi; has anybody ever tried it? Also, lately I've been using mequite honey, which gives an interesting character to my mead. My last batch was a spicy mead, with cinnamon, cardamom (sp?), cloves, ginger, etc. After six months it was drinkable, going on a year now it's pretty tasty. Does anybody else have any experience with 'odd' non-clover-or- orange honeys? Shag "She's as sweet as tupelo honey..." ------------------------------ End of Mead Lover's Digest ************************