Hi Bronwyn,
And thanks for your mail!!
Well, of cause we would try our best to help you getting a recipe for a
"traditional Danish beer". You have actually started an interesting
discussion in our "Handbrewers Discussion Forum",- because what is actually
a traditionally Danish beer?
Most of the Danes drink a lager which is pretty close to the German and
Czech style, based on the yeast Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis,- or perhaps
better known as "Danish Lager Yeast". The isolation of this yeast was done
back in 1880 by a micro biologist named Christian Emil Hansen on the
Carlsberg Brewery, and this isolation is perhaps the most important Danish
contribution to the beer history.
The reason why you don't find any recipe for a traditional Danish Lager in
our database is perhaps, that all of us has been brought up with the fact,
that this kind of beer was more or less the only one you could find on the
Danish market. So, what we see now in the Denmark is a parallel to the
situation in the US 15-20 years ago,- we want more different beer styles.
And that's why a Danish hand brewer wouldn't choose to brew a "Carlsberg
Lager" as his/hers first choice (..neither the second...of fifteenth...)
So, today in the broad consumer market you will basically find six different
beer styles in Denmark:
Light/golden types:
Pilsner: Close to the German/Czech
Strong Lager: Close to the pilsner... but stronger and tastier
Very Strong Lager: A bit more sweet like the Bock-types
Dark types:
The Vienna-type: You will find a recipe for this kind of beer in our
database "Beercalc" named "Rød Klon"
Strong dark: Typically a beer which is produced on Christmas, Easter etc...
More sweet with a stronger character of malt in its taste
Porter: Like the English styles, but based on lager yeast
So, this I is the Danish beer situation today!!
If we talk history ....Well the Vikings made "Mjød" ( I cant remember the
English name for this...sorry) but it was/is based on honey! Taste a bit
like port wine, when it's good.
But in 1370 before Christ, a young woman was buried ("Egtved Pigen" - "The
Egtved Girl"). When this grave was found in the last century (now she is on
a museum) , they also found a basket at her feeds, which has contained beer.
And this is the first known Danish beer!
By analysing the basket it has been possible to remake the recipe. Since I
have lost my Danish-English dictionary I am not able to translate all the
ingredients,- but I do hope that some of the guys in "Brygforum" can help me
here.....
But the recipe:
200 gram of dried wheat or barley
2000 gram of "tyttebær" (please help my guys!!!)
2 litre of warm water
Some dried herbs,- like your grandmothers recipes :"just enough...": That
would be "porse" (to provide the bitterness), "hamp" (Hmm, that would
actually be marihuana,- to provide the aroma) , "bulmeurt". Again I need
some help from the guys, to find the English translations!!!
Add honey to the worth (to provide alcohol. I don't now how much...enough I
guess. Sorry!)
Mix all the ingredients in a basket, and then use spontaneous fermentation
(quite a challenge....!!!) Perhaps you have some interesting wild yeast in
Minnesota!!!
Then you will have a copy of the very first known Danish beer....!!!
If you do a copy of this, please tell us about the result!!!! Personally I
would find it much more interesting to make a copy of Anchors "Old Fog
Horn".......
Best regards
Jens Mortensen
> >Greetings from Minnesota!
> >
> >My name is Bronwyn Clark Skov and my husband and I are homebrewers
>residing in
> >rural Minnesota. We are both as American as it gets, but we are both
> >descendants of Danish immigrants. I am trying to collect some
>traditional
> >Danish recipes for brewing beer. I have searched the internet high and
>low
> >and have come up pretty empty-handed. If you can send anything at all,
>even
> >if it's a connection to another brewer or website, I would greatly
>appreciate
> >it. Thank you for your time and effort. Happy Brewing & Quaffing!
> >Peace,
> >Bronwyn
> >
> >Bronwyn Clark Skov
> >bronwyncs @ earthlink . net
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >[email protected]
> >http://www.haandbryg.dk/mailman/listinfo/brygforum
> >
>
>
>
>
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