Blaand - wine made from whey

[Bernardsmit]

Sorry, Can't find anything about blaand on this forum but by all accounts blaand was a Norse & Scottish folk drink that made use of the whey from cheese making. Does anyone know anything about this drink. There seems to be no published recipes perhaps because those who made it simply used recipes handed down across the generations. I am trying to get a handle on whether the whey (lactose) itself was fermented or whether honey or malt was added to this and those were the fermented sugars (if so the wine would have a far higher ABV and the yeast used could have been saccharomyces cerevisiae rather than a yeast that can ferment milk sugars.
All that said, I have been experimenting (upstate NY ) with sweet whey (inoculated with cultures used in making hard cheese) acid whey (whey made from milk clobbered with lemon juice or ascetic acid) , adding honey, brown sugar, and DME but I would love to find one traditional recipe... Anyone?

For the record, this does make .. um... an interesting wine. quite unique in flavor but if you enjoy drinking whey (or you make cheese and want something to do with all the whey that is left over) then blaand may be something to consider.

 

[LED_ZEP]

Here's a YouTube video that may be of interest.

 

[Bernardsmit]

Thanks LED_ZEP, I am actually familiar with this video - In fact I posted a comment about his choice of using acidified rather than sweet whey - And THAT highlights the point that there appears to be no published recipes about this drink. Was it originally made with acidified whey (from cheese made with the addition of an acid to the milk?) or was it made with sweet whey (from cheese where the cheese maker added cultures to the milk that added lactic and other bacteria and yeasts to the milk)? Did it involve the fermentation of lactose in which case wine or bread yeast would not have been used and the resulting wine might be only 1 or 2% ABV (much like kvass)? Was it a wine to which honey or barley malt was added - in which case sucrose , fructose, glucose or malt was being fermented and the whey was simply there to flavor the wine? Were gruit or other herbs added to this? What kind of yeast was used to ferment this? I am looking for historically authentic recipes for this wine more to see how it was made 100 or 200 years ago or more. I am trying to understand how it tasted when it was originally made.

 

[Ninkasi]

Interesting read

https://selfsufficientish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6960&start=15

 

[MmmBeer]

Many years ago, for a university final year group project, we had to design a plant to produce bio-ethanol from cheese whey. We ended up with a continuous fermenter, which produced a weakish beer, that was fed via a centrifuge (to remove the yeast) to a distillation column, which made the fuel alcohol.

Obviously can't use regular beer yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae), so I believe we we specified Kluyveromyces Marxianus, which will ferment lactose. I know this is available industrially, but not sure if it is available to the home brewer.

 

[terrym]

Many years ago, for a university final year group project, we had to design a plant to produce bio-ethanol from cheese whey. We ended up with a continuous fermenter, which produced a weakish beer, that was fed via a centrifuge (to remove the yeast) to a distillation column, which made the fuel alcohol..

Chem Eng?

 

[MmmBeer]

Chem Eng?

Chem Eng with Biochem Eng

 

[terrym]

Chem Eng with Biochem Eng

Fuel Tech and Chem Eng.

 

[Bernardsmit]

Interesting read

https://selfsufficientish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6960&start=15

Thanks. It is interesting but it doesn't provide very much by way of authentic recipes... Sorry, but am still not satisfied

 

[ACBEV]

Sorry, but am still not satisfied

Oh... That's my wifes favorite phrase...

 

[Ninkasi]

Have read that Errington had some sort of rights to a recipe and they sold it to a Arran brewery. Might be worth asking them for the recipe? As per this article. Other than that am out of ideas.

https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/arran-brewery-gets-a-taste-for-an-ancient-scots-drink-1-2643895

 

[Bernardsmit]

Oh... That's my wifes favorite phrase...

Well, there is no answer to that.. OK , there is but it might be considered X-rated..

 

[Bernardsmit]

Have read that Errington had some sort of rights to a recipe and they sold it to a Arran brewery. Might be worth asking them for the recipe? As per this article. Other than that am out of ideas.

https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/arran-brewery-gets-a-taste-for-an-ancient-scots-drink-1-2643895

Thanks for what might be another excellent lead - I thought and I had written to Arran Brewery because the story says that the roll out of blaand was planned for 2013.. Today is 2018 , almost 2019 and I don't know that it has rolled anywhere, certainly not "out". But Arran Brewery have not replied. But they might.