stuff that's bothering me about my twelfth brew so far

[Buzzing]

So I brewed an expirimental 10l batch of Scandanavian Sahti. Apparently a Viking-age ancient recipe about 1000yrs old.

I used the recipe on here http://www.brewgeeks.com/1/archives/03-2012/1.html (Clink on the linked JPG next to the blog entry) with the addition of 10g of the Amanita Muscaria Mushrooms the geek blog poster advised not to include, to do it the viking way.

The Amanita Mushroom and the Juniper berries added a very interesting aroma and taste to the brew. My OG was 1.060 with a deep dark colour.

I used local hops (Southern Brewer) to get it to an IBU of about 30.


This has been going for about 2 days now and the Krausen has filled the whole head-room up, pushed through the bubbler to such an extent that if blocked the bubbler, started builing up pressure until it popped the lid, with the effect of krausen oozing like lava from the top. Just Beautiful.

An odd thing is that this krausen can only be described as smelling fantastic and leaves one automatically tasting the stuff. The taste is actually pretty good. Sweetish with a chocolate and honey aftertaste. Can't wait for the next eruption . . .

The krausen I have had before was nowhere near as active as this one and normally smelled and tasted far from good.


Why are some brews so active when it comes to Krausen and what can one deduct from the krausen activity, colour, smell and taste ?

 

[RobWalker]

I don't know the ins and outs, but it does vary based on what's available to the yeast in terms of nutrition. Stouts are totally nuts, cider and wine take forever. Maybe the mushrooms are sending the fermentation crazy...

 

[Buzzing]

It very well could be them fiesty fungi additions that made for the "volcanic" action.

It's been 5 days now and after 4 "eruptions" it seems to have calmed down a bit.

The Krausen has settle in a layered-cake fashion, where the very dark portion remains ontop, the brown portion just below it, whist the light brown layer underlying that with a cream coloured krausen layer just above the surface.

A beautiful sight and smell when opening the cupboard housing the FV.

Can't wait for this one.

 

[Buzzing]

I bottled ths brew when it was fermented out and cleared.

FG of 1.012. Deep dark red-copper colour with a very interesting taste ! Mostly pine-ey with a sweet malty character and a good hops aftertaste, a very smooth mouthfeel and quite crisp and refreshing when chilled.

I primed to achieve a 2% carbonation and am counting the days before digging in. :drink:

Next one would have to be a full batch !

 

[jonewer]

Any psychedelic action from the mushroom yet?

 

[50quidsoundboy]

woah. most interesting brew ever. let us know if you end up tripping balls

 

[tknice]

Hey Buzzing.. so happy you brewed this and it sounds like it turned out pretty good! I definitely added it to my list of beers to brew but lately I've been focusing more on getting all of my "house" beers dialed in.

 

[tknice]

oh.. and where did you get the mushrooms!? :rofl:

 

[Buzzing]

Any psychedelic action from the mushroom yet?

The brew was dosed with about 2.5g per 440ml Grolsch bottle. The threshold of this mushroom is about 5.0g, so 2 beers on an empty stomach should show some action, 3 beers definate and 4 beers max for full effects. The Amanita Mushroom is not the conventional "Magic Mushroom" and can give effects ranging from hypnotic, dreamy to euphoric, psychedelic - all depending on dose and one's state of mind when consuming it. Starting slow and building to a comfortable level is key.

oh.. and where did you get the mushrooms!? :rofl:

I harvest, dry and de-carboxilate these myself (Critical to activate the psychoactive substance contained in them). Pine forests after the first winter rains are full of them here. Otherwise one can get them from online vendors selling shamanic products.

woah. most interesting brew ever. let us know if you end up tripping balls

That was not the intent of this brew. The intent was rather to brew an ancient beer as what would have been consumed by the commoners, peasants and potentially soldiers. And to keep it authentic, I added the amount of Amanita Muscaria Mushroom that would show threshold effects to medium effects after 2/3 beers. This I did because I have knowledge and experience in using this ancient enthoegen AND DO NOT ADVOCATE ITS USE TO ANY OTHER PERSON, but merely document my brews and experiments here.

 

[50quidsoundboy]

ok Terence, it all sounds very serious but enjoy your trippy beer :thumb:

 

[tknice]

That was not the intent of this brew. The intent was rather to brew an ancient beer as what would have been consumed by the commoners, peasants and potentially soldiers. And to keep it authentic, I added the amount of Amanita Muscaria Mushroom that would show threshold effects to medium effects after 2/3 beers. This I did because I have knowledge and experience in using this ancient enthoegen AND DO NOT ADVOCATE ITS USE TO ANY OTHER PERSON, but merely document my brews and experiments here.

I know I suggested that you don't use the mushrooms but love that you went all out and carefully brewed with them anyway. Well done.

What kind of flavor contribution do you think they add (if any)?

 

[The Goatreich]

Holy crap! This looks bonkers. Best of luck!

 

[Buzzing]

I know I suggested that you don't use the mushrooms but love that you went all out and carefully brewed with them anyway. Well done.

What kind of flavor contribution do you think they add (if any)?

Yeah, I just could not get myself to brew a true ancient psychoactive - Viking brew without including ALL the ingredients that makes it authentic, hence the care with the brewing. Amanita Muscaria can make for a frightening experience to the un-initiated, leading to all sorts of problems, hence the dosage, disclaimer and warning in line with this.

The Amanita DEFINATELY affects the flavour (even the colour too), almost dominatingly so. I've you've ever smelled and/or tasted Amanita tea, you'll know exactly what I mean. Amanitas make for a smooth, slighly sweet but yet savoury taste. The chemical comound in it, Ibotenic Acid, has been found to be 20 times stronger than MSG in terms of it's "Umami" or "food flavour enhancing" actions and has been used as a "flavour enhancer" for a long time. Every sip of Amanita Tea leads to the want of another sip, I'm hoping that some of that would transpire through to the beer and in combination with the pine-ey juniper and malty-hopsy character would make for a magic pint . . .

In smaller doses Amanita is more of a tonic than a "high" and makes for an overall "warming" effect and a slight change in perception of external stimuli and generally cheers one up a bit and get the old grey matter upstairs firing a bit quicker and better and energises one tremendously, almost like what valve-ease does for an old motor . . . It is this what I think the initial brewers were after in using it, as opposed to outright tripping "ticket to mars".

But after a few tonic sessions and in the name of exploration of ancient cultures, the occasion to go for 4 beers equivalent to a 10g dose on an empty stomach would have to be endured.

Tough life this beer brewing business, I tell you.

 

[gurtpint]

Interesting, this... Being a Finn, I've never heard of anyone using mushrooms in their sahti. Beverages meant to be consumed by shamans may be another matter. Maybe I'm just out of touch of some parts of my national heritage, he he. As for flavouring/bittering, usually only juniper berries have been used in the ones I've tasted but admittedly hops can put an interesting twist to it. Traditionally speaking I think using bakers yeast is a must. And to wrap it up, Finland used to be a nation of frigging peasants, not vikings! I'm glad you like the results of you brewing experiment in any case :

 

[Buzzing]

Archeologists found Sahti residue in wooden barrels on sunken Viking ships from Norway. This residue included chemicals known to be present in the Amanita Muscaria Mushroom. The Vikings possibly steeped their prepared mushroom in the Sahti brew to give them the desired beserker kick ?

Spot-on on the tradition of baker's yeast used traditionally, but when contemplating this, I had flashbacks to previous attempts when brewing with baker's yeast and that killed the idea immediately.

Tested the first pint yesterday. Very very satisfying indeed. A unique taste to savour every sip. Will be maturing these for a few months before dipping in again. :drink: