Brewing a 16th Century Ale with wild yeast (new: psychotropic effects of Yarrow Ale)

So, basically, take it easy on the henbane herb. Which I don't think grows in my area anyway... I'm sure there are other herbs too which would be psychotropic and hallucinatory in excess. I think I'll stick to the more commonly used herbs anyway, and test them before sharing with thirsty friends.

6th day of Primary Fermentation for the 16th Century Ale

Today, the airlock only bubbled once every couple of minutes and I decided to rack the brew into the secondary - a clear glass carboy - so I can see what is going on a little better. There is still some yeast floating up and down, indicating fermentation is still going on.

There was a nice yeast cake at the bottom of the bucket. I decided to wash and save the yeast (pour off the top liquid, add water, swirl, let settle, pour off transparent liquid, repeat... save thick yeast at the bottom.)

I also took out the Kveik Birch Log to air dry.

https://imgur.com/aKc6rD2

Cool, never thought of making bear.
I'm experimenting with tinctures and ciders. The latter grow spontaneously.
Lol

Noice!

Hey, thanks for dropping by. I'd love to try a cider.

I have a vinegar "mother" that is some cross between a vinegar starter and a kombucha starter. It brews an apple vinegar that is very fruity and delicious and makes a rubbery mother on top.

I'm sure apple cider would be an amazing and popular addition to our fermentation frig. I'd love your recipe if you're willing to share it.

Hey, OP
Wild ale is looking great, good work getting it in the carboy. Make sure to leave it there until all signs of fermentation have ceased before cold crashing it.

Making cider is really simple, press apples, add yeast, ferment as you would beer. Of course there are a million ways to tweak a cider, I like adding other locally available fruits, and peppers to mine.

All your processes are very thoughtful, they should lead you to good places!

My old property mate used to just take a 1 gallon jug of unfiltered, organic apple juice, open it for a day or so and then stick an airlock on it...a simple wild ferment.

[link to www.saveonfoods.com (secure)]

He used these...

Thanks for this! I usually get a few boxes of apples in the fall, so I'll be back to try this out. The nice thing is, I can make vinegar from the left over mash.


Last Edited by ArchimedesGirl on 07/13/2022 02:24 PM

Thank you!

That probably wouldn't work on a modern washing machine made in the last decade or so. They have lid locks and I haven't found a way to bypass them yet. Had two machines that I had to replace the locks on after they failed so now I use a venerable washer with a mechanical timer and a lid _switch_.

Thanks for the heads-up on that. Now I know what to look for. :-)

Update on the 16th Century Ale:

7/17/22 I put the carboy in the frig to "cold crash" it. The bubbling had almost completely stopped and the yeast had settled at the bottom of the glass carboy.

7/19/22
I siphoned the ale out of the secondary carboy and back into the primary so I could use the spout for bottling. I bottled it at the same time. I used bottles I have saved over the years (don't have any cool beer bottles.)

https://imgur.com/7pr6POk

https://imgur.com/xLBvaYM

On 7/18/22 (yesterday) I hiked out back of our place into the forest a ways to harvest some Blue Spruce boughs for the next beer.

I surprised another wild crafter: a big black bear. My hand could fit into his foot print. He looked about 500 pounds to me. He ran off down a valley and left me to my harvesting.

Hmmm. . . maybe I should call this brew the "Blue Spruce Bear."

https://imgur.com/j7S4Fcu

https://imgur.com/T4csPjs

Anyhow... this is another ancient beer with healing properties. It was commonly kept on board ships to heal and prevent scurvy and or to survive a plague.

It is said to taste a little like ginger beer, which I seriously doubt... but we'll see.

First I boiled the spruce with 2 oz of chopped ginger root for an hour.

Then I added 3.75 lbs of molasses and 1.25 lbs of brown sugar and boiled another 15 minutes.

I added the lemon balm and hops during the cool down.

https://imgur.com/W0Qp1cZ

https://imgur.com/1gNoOjm

After the cool down, I had help to strain and pour the wort back and forth to oxygenate it (as a kind poster above recommended). It was very dark from the molasses. The molasses surprised me by offsetting the strong pine scent of the spruce boughs. The resulting aroma reminded me of a stout.

I decided to use one of my other yeasts this time. I chose the yeast that was "musty and mellow" because it appeared to be the hardiest and building the most kraussen. It also tastes the most beer-like to me.

https://imgur.com/uL5xBZ4

I don't know how long I should let the 16th Century Ale age. And should it be in cooler temperatures now or stay warm? I guess I can just taste test it every now and then. :-P

This is very fun!

And that's all for today...

bump

This is the recipe I made today except I made 3 changes:

1/2 oz ginger root = 2 oz ginger root
5 lbs molasses = 3.75 lbs molasses/ 1.25 lbs brown sugar
1 fistful of organic raisins (for yeast nutrient and tannin)

I’m not a professional brewer but I’ve done lots of home brews. I would not boil the kveik log again as that will kill the yeast. I believe when working with wild yeasts there is always the chance of getting different organisms mixed in with the yeast but that is just a feature of farmhouse ales. Kveik comes in many different regional varieties and tastes different depending on where it comes from probably due to different organisms being introduced as well as mutations of the original strain, but this is how new strains are discovered is not usually bad.
Sanitation is probably the most important thing in brewing good clean beers, but I believe the best way to keep your kveik log sanitary is to dry it as quickly as possible in a clean, dry environment.
I also wouldn’t stir your wort after 24 hours of pitching your yeast. Stirring should be conducted vigorously prior to pitching to introduce oxygen which the yeast need, but oxygen after a certain point will quickly ruin a beer. Beer is much less forgiving than wine and mead.
As far as aging goes….it depends on the alcohol content. If it’s under 6 percent or so I usually drink it as soon as the carbonation is complete. Bigger beers such as imperials need a little longer, and the very strong ones such as barley wine should be treated like a wine or mead and aged 6 months at the very least.
I am amazed at your resourcefulness in harvesting your own yeast and am now inspired to give that a try as well! Kveik strains from Norway are my favorite strains as they can brew in much more forgiving temperature ranges than the English/German\American strains (one can even brew hot temperature lagers with some of these). I’m also a fan of saisons and think wild yeast such as you are using would make great saisons.
Thank you for this awesome post!

Hey - this is awesome. Thanks for your insights.

Yes - I did not intend to ever heat the kveik log again. I dried it and am debating whether I should leave it out in the air, put it in the freezer, or wrap it in anyway. Or just leave it hanging in the dark... tending toward this last idea.

I did not use it for the second brew but chose to try one of the other yeasts. Amazingly, I caught 3 distinct yeasts within one acre of garden. One in the juniper, one in the yarrow and one in the chamomile.

Thanks for the advice about not stirring. I am wondering if I did stir/shake the brew too much. It seemed a little flat to me when I siphoned it into bottles today. But, I don't know what to expect. I will leave it a few weeks and try it.

This second beer I did pour back and forth before adding the yeast, and now I will leave it alone and see how it will differ from the first brew.

Saisons sound great. I have not tried one, I think. One of my favorite brews we've made is a black grape mead. So rich and amazing.

If you have a favorite recipe, I'd love to look it over and maybe try it too. :-)

16th Century Yarrow Ale Update:

We drank some ale tonight. It was still slightly sweet - but SOOO good.

When I bottled it a week ago, I added one torn raisin and a pinch of sugar to each bottle, as recommended in the book. That seemed to increase carbonation and give the yeast one last hurrah.

Friends and family loved it and said it had a relaxing, head-warming feel to it.

The second brew, the Blue Spruce Beer is still converting sugars to alcohol with a steady fermentation. It has a good kraussen and effervescence. It has a very rich aroma and flavor, and is so different from the 16th Century Yarrow Ale that it's very interesting to me.

These wild herbal beers are like a cross between an herbal tincture, and a probiotic drink. What's not to like?

Excellent book to start with. Need to get mine off of the shelf. Most beer, wine and spirits are filled with harmful substances these days. I quit drinking alcohol six months ago but this is totally different plus you can keep the alcohol content down to three percent.

NICE!!!

Had some friends that made some some, I think it was mead, might have been ale using Juniper berries.

WHOLE LOT of Juniper berries in this part of Arizona.

Did you try it? I am wondering if a beer/ale made with juniper berries as the main herb would taste like gin? I just used a tablespoon of them for the yeast that colonizes in the filmy wax on the outside of the berries.

Cool to know other people are brewing wild. You'd think that would be a valued skill during a EOTW scenario.

Cheers to you!

16th Century Yarrow-Chamomile Ale fermented with wild Juniper berry yeast

https://imgur.com/ljdxtud

It is still, IMO, a bit sweet. We had it for dinner and it was a big hit, but I'd like to give it another couple weeks to finish.

Psychotropic properties: The only thing I noticed was a calming effect - not sleepy - just chill. A sense of well-being and relaxation. My face felt relaxed and a guest mentioned the same thing: "my cheeks feel relaxed."

This was a fun project, and I really love the aroma of the brewed yarrow. I think I'll do another yarrow and chamomile brew soon while my herbs are still growing.

Another thing I brew non-stop is Apple Cider Vinegar. We use it to cook and clean with, to drink diluted in water, to rinse our hair. I soak the chicken's grain in water with a splash of vinegar to cause germination so that the grain will be more nutritious for them, and we give it to livestock when they have digestion problems/bloating.

I keep a five gallon bucket of vinegar going at all times.

This is what most would call "Apple Scrap" vinegar. However, I use a lot of apples - and not just the scraps - and ferment it slowly. The result is a pretty rich vinegar that still tastes fruity.

Just yesterday I poured up the last batch and started a new batch and took a couple photos of the mother/starter because it was so nicely developed.

https://imgur.com/VE0MIDx

https://imgur.com/4JreVw6

Last Edited by ArchimedesGirl on 07/29/2022 03:51 PM

Nice, we ended up inadvertently making malt vinegar with a medicinal stout. To be honest I forget what was in it, echinacea, golden seal and 'X', and 'X' and 'X'. It was delicious!

I love malt vinegar! Did the echinacea and golden seal make it super bitter?

No, it was perfect. It was just a 'kit' oatmeal stout we added to, to try and mimic my buddies

https://imgur.com/a/lvKHaWk

Which used to have medicinal herbs....

Update: 8-4-22

The Spruce Beer with Molasses had the mellow mead-like yeast, and interestingly, it is fermenting more like mead: slow and steady. It smells great, has plenty of flavor and effervescence, but still has some sugar to burn through, so I'm just gonna leave it alone.

I'm getting ready to make another batch of Yarrow and Chamomile Ale, using the Chamomile Yeast this time. And brown sugar instead of malt.

I wanted to try all three yeasts I caught, just to see the difference. So, this will be the third and final yeast, which has a light champagne-like taste and aroma.

Cheers to all of you who have encouraged me!