# Two Traditional Polish Meads



## pdilley (5/4/09)

These recipes are from a while back when adding acids in the must was considered ok to do. The citric acid seems to be for sugar inversion in the honey. Nothing is mentioned about must pH, so you may have to do a pH reading and adjust accordingly to avoid fermentation problems. This also is earmarked as an older recipe as it has boiling of the honey and skimming the top of the liquid until clear method. Also including the standard mead recipe which also contains Irish Moss (seaweed) which is not in favour as much today due to it imparting seaweed tastes to some meads. Once my compleat meadmaker book arrives I'll have to revisit these and modernize the recipes for today.

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*Trojniak* - ("Triple" referring to the water to honey ratio)
Recipe Volume (5 US gallons = 18.9270589 liters)

Honey (22 pounds = 9.97903214 kilograms)
Water (3 US gallons = 11.3562354 liters)
Citric Acid 10 teaspoons
Tartaric Acid 2 teaspoons
Tannin 1.5 teaspoons
Yeast Nutrient, 4 teaspoons

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*Czworniak* ("Quadruple" referring to the water to honey ratio)
Recipe Volume (5 US gallons = 18.9270589 liters)

Honey (17 pounds = 7.71107029 kilograms)
Water (3 US gallons = 11.3562354 liters)
Tartaric Acid 1 teaspoon
Tannin 1 teaspoon
Yeast Nutrient 4 teaspoons

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*Standard Mead*
Recipe Volume (5 US gallons = 18.9270589 liters)

Honey (15 pounds = 6.80388555 kilograms)
Gypsum 1 teaspoon
Acid Blend 4 teaspoons
Yeast Extract (.5 ounces = 14.1747616 grams)
Irish Moss Powder 1/4 teaspoon
Champagne Yeast (.5 ounces = 14.1747616 grams) rehydrated at (100 degrees Fahrenheit = 37.7777778 degrees Celsius)

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Additives to Polish Mead
Hops (2 ounces = 56.6990463 grams)
Ginger 1 teaspoon
Cinnamon Stick (partial)
Nutmeg (just a pinch)
Cloves 6
Pepper Corns 2
Lemon Skin
Orange Skin
Yeast, champagne, sherry or Madiera

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Directions

Boil water, add honey and citrus skins.

Tie hops and spices in a cloth with a small stone so that the cloth bag sinks to the bottom.

Boil the liquid and skim until clear.

Remove from heat, allow to cool.

Place liquid in primary fermenter, add rehydrated yeast.

Skim, then rack to secondary fermenter.

If using hop pellets, several rackings may be required.

Allow several weeks, or *at least two to three years *for the Czworniak or Trojniak respectively.

The sugar reading should be zero or less upon completion of fermentation.

Bottle and age at least one year.

*Original recipe calls for aging between seven and one hundred years.* -- oh yeah, this recipe could do with a little modernizing bringing the primary fermentation down a tad in time and secondary down a tad in time


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## pdilley (5/4/09)

Charles E Gaines Jr. M.S. is a retired engineer living in Tennessee and a 32 year survivor of Crohn's disease had this story to share on Polish Mead:

I will assume you are a home brewer and have the basic knowledge required to create a successful batch of beer or wine, so I will not include the most basic instructions here. If you need guidance on the basics, there are many great books available that will help you get started.

What is mead? It is often reported that the Vikings were the original mead makers; but my acupuncture doctor (of Polish decent) corrected me, telling me of the rich history of the Polish brewers and their excellent mead making for thousands of years. I had been making mead for many years and thought my mead was good. I had finally met a real mead connoisseur.

I was wrong. My mead fell short of the mark.

One day, I dropped by my acupuncture doctor's office and delivered a couple bottles of my "best" mead and organic blueberry wine; Dr. Mik had become my friend as well as my doctor over the course of time, and I wanted to share my work with him. I seldom drink my own product, but I love looking in my "wine pantry" and viewing the over 200 bottles of mead and wine I have made, nicely labeled and color-coded with a hot wax dip on the bottle necks.

Two weeks later I was back for another treatment for degenerative disk disease and Crohn's disease, and Dr. Mik popped into my room, happily beaming with the enthusiasm of a ten-year old with a new puppy.

"Mr. Gaines, I drank your mead. It was good, but it needs more honey! Your blueberry wine was excellent, but you need to work on your mead!"

I was horrified, my pride in my work shattered.

"More honey?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed, and proceeded to tell me about the history of mead-making in Poland, describing the time he had a glass of 75-year old mead in Poland, worth about $250 a glass. He continued on as he needled me from head to toe.

"I'll be right back, Mr. Gaines. I'm going to call my brother in Poland and get him to ship over a bottle of mead for you!"

I tried to talk him out of it - the cost of shipping alone would break the bank. "No, I want to do this for you!" He said. "Once you taste this, you will know what *real* mead tastes like. I'll be back!"

Twenty minutes later, Dr. Mik came in to finish the session. "I have just talked to my brother, he is going to overnight a bottle of 15-year old mead to me - stop by and pick it up in a day or two."

To make a long story short, I picked up the mead two days later and waited for company to visit to open it. (What a guy!)

It was *incredible*! Thick and sweet, this was a totally different animal than I had been making. It was truly the most incredible beverage I had ever put in my mouth. So, the new standard had been set. *Now* I knew what to shoot for.

So here's my recipe with simple instructions. If you have never tried mead, the commercial mead I have bought in liquor stores is terrible! I am unsure of how to acquire good mead in this country without making it.

This recipe produces (3 US gallons = 11.3562354 liters) of thick, sweet delicious mead.

*CEGaines Polish Mead*

6 Quart Jars high quality honey (5.67811768 liters)
1 tsp. gypsum
2 tsp. acid blend
tsp. Irish moss
3 tsp. yeast energizer
4 tsp. yeast nutrient
1 gal. filtered water (5.67811768 liters)
Lalvin EC-1118 yeast

Begin the process by adding the water, honey, gypsum, acid blend and Irish moss to your pot; slowly bring to 170 degrees (76.6666667 degrees Celsius). The quality of the water you use is critical; if you do not have a filtration system at your house, I'd recommend using good bottled spring water. In this recipe, I pasteurize the wort rather than boil it. Traditionally, recipes call for boiling the wort for 15 minutes, but I find that boiling the mixture will lose some of the more delicate flavors in the honey. Hold it at 170 degrees (76.6666667 degrees Celsius) for 25 minutes, then remove from heat and allow it to cool. Once the wort has cooled a little, pour into your primary fermenter and allow it to cool further to 90 degrees (32.2222222 degrees Celsius). Add in the energizer and nutrient, and with a long, sterile spoon whip it, whip it good! Adequate oxygen is required for the fermentation process, and often "stuck" fermentation in mead is attributed to lack of oxygen in the wort, so crank it up and entrain some oxygen into the mixture. Attach the top to the fermenter and allow it to cool further to around 80 degrees (26.6666667 degrees Celsius), then pitch the yeast. For years I used Pasteur champagne yeast for mead, but have switched to EC1118 yeast, which seems to yield a superior product.

Allow fermentation to run its course, about 14-18 days. Rack (siphon) over to a sterile 3-gallon (11.3562354 liters) glass secondary carboy, attach an airlock and place in a dark place for 2 months. Rack over to a sterile carboy, and park it again with a clean airlock for 5 months. Allow it to sit in a cool, dark place again for 3 more months, when it is time to bottle. Bottle carefully, label it and treasure it; the longer it sits in the bottle, the better it will be.

Follow these simple steps and you too will be able to make delicious mead at home - you friends and family will be amazed when they taste your finished product.

Remember - patience is a virtue. This recipe takes about a year if you allow for some bottle-aging time, but it is well worth the wait.

Happy brewing!


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## pdilley (5/4/09)

Below recipies come from polish handbook of meadmaking "Miodosytnictwo. Sztuka przerabiania miodu i owocw na napoje" ("Meadmaking. The art of converting honey and fruits into beverages") from 1925. The author - Teofil Ciesielski, was a professor of botany at the University of Lwow.

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Name: Dębniak (or: Obozowy)
Type: Quadruple
Original gravity: 25-29 Blg
Alcohol by volume: 9-12%
Residual sugar: 35-90 g/L
Time required for aging: 1 year

Ingredients:
2,5 liters honey
7,5 liters water
5 grams hops
2 grams cinamon
0,5 gram cloves
5 grams juniper

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Name: Korzenny
Type: Quadruple
Original gravity: 25-29 Blg
Alcohol by volume: 9-12%
Residual sugar: 35-90 g/L
Time required for aging: 1 year

Ingredients:
2,5 liters honey
7,5 liters water
1 gram nutmeg
1 gram ginger
1 gram cinamon
0,25 gram g cloves
2 pepper corns
5 grams juniper

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Name: Litewski
Type: Quadruple
Original gravity: 25-29 Blg
Alcohol by volume: 9-12%
Residual sugar: 35-90 g/L
Time required for aging: 1 year

Ingredients:
2,5 liters honey
7,5 liters water
10 grams juniper
5 grams elderberry flowers

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Name: Bernardynski
Type: Triple
Original gravity: 32-37 Blg
Alcohol by volume: 12-15%
Residual sugar: 65-120 g/L
Time required for aging: 2-3 years

Ingredients:
3,3 liters honey
6,7 liters water
3 grams hops
3 grams iris root
0,5 gram rose jam

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Name: Bernardynski
Type: Triple
Original gravity: 32-37 Blg
Alcohol by volume: 12-15%
Residual sugar: 65-120 g/L
Time required for aging: 2-3 years

Ingredients:
3,3 liters honey
6,7 liters water
3 grams hops
3 grams iris root
0,5 gram rose jam

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Name: Kapucyński
Type: Double
Original gravity: 45-53 Blg
Alcohol by volume: 15-18%
Residual sugar: 175-230 g/L
Time required for aging: 5 years

Ingredients:
5 liters honey
5 liters water
5 grams hops
1 gram ginger
1 gram cinamon
1 vanilla pod

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Name: Kasztelański
Type: one and a half
Original gravity: 57-66 Blg
Alcohol by volume: 15-18%
Residual sugar: above 300 g/L
Time required for aging: 10 years

Ingredients:
6,6 liters honey
3,4 liters water
10 grams hops
1 vanilla pod
1 celeriac or 30 grams leafes

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Comments: mix honey with tepid water (around 30*C), bring to boil, keep boiling until no scum wil occur (all the time removing scum). Add spices in linen bag, boil for 30 minutes. Then press and discard bag. Add water to reach 10 liters. Coll the must and add yeast. Author suggest using brewing yeast.


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## watchUburn (2/8/09)

Brewer Pete said:


> *CEGaines Polish Mead*
> 
> 6 Quart Jars high quality honey (5.67811768 liters)
> 1 tsp. gypsum
> ...



This sounds interesting. Have you tried it?


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## pdilley (2/8/09)

Not in its current incarnation. What we tend not to do today in no particular order:

1) Boiling the honey - strips out flavour and aroma and drives out oxygen which is critical for yeat to multiply and achieve critical mass before swithing metabolism to ethanol production.
2) Must ammendments such as acid additions. Acids should be added after fermentation if at all during balancing by the brewer. Honey musts were discovered to be horrid conditions for yeast and already have poor pH buffering capability as is.
3) Irish Moss is no longere used.
4) Filtered water - As long as not distilled water as it was found yeasts need all the minerals and metals and trace elements in water for their growth.
5) Large amounts of honey. Above 1.100 gravity you get high alcohol contents. This mean hot alcohol flavours and extended aging in years to age out the heat before its drinkable. You've had a hot one already  Hence the original Champagne yeast and swich to Ec1118 yeast.

The honey and yeast are good. The rest I would need to rewrite and I'd be rewriting for SNA additions 1/3rd sugar break method if I'd make one. 

This was back when I was researching Polish Meads and I'd take some of the ideas and ingredients and run with them but I'd personally have a hard time following them as is. Back when they were written it was the top technology and methods of the day.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete


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## IjonTichy (27/8/09)

Brewer Pete said:


> The honey and yeast are good. The rest I would need to rewrite and I'd be rewriting for SNA additions 1/3rd sugar break method if I'd make one.
> 
> This was back when I was researching Polish Meads and I'd take some of the ideas and ingredients and run with them but I'd personally have a hard time following them as is. Back when they were written it was the top technology and methods of the day.
> 
> ...



Pete, just wondering- how would you rewrite it then? I'm thinking of attempting to make some miod pitny based on this recipe, and inclined to take your advice on the changes, but I'm quite new to this.
Apologies if this is a stupid question, but what do you mean by SNA additions?
Would the proportions of any of the following change?
tsp. gypsum
2 tsp. acid blend
3 tsp. yeast energizer
4 tsp. yeast nutrient

Any advice would really help. )


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## pdilley (27/8/09)

In mad rush beehibe building mode. Will get time this sunday to give a better reply.

SNA = Standard Nutrient Additions = Two addition type materials (1. DAP and 2. A mix of DAP, yeast hulls, vitamins and minerals such as Bintani Yeast Nutrient)

Both are added at differing amounts multiple times during fermentation dictated by refractometer readings.

Refractomers can be expensive locally so check out gear forum for the refractometer sticky for where to get it for $26 + shipping.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete


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