The Armour Archive

How was mead kept in "Period"? I presume that later on wooden kegs or barrels were the norm, but was that general?

is there any documentation as to the storage of mead by Norse, Saxon, etc?

Glaukos

In mah belly?

I mean in bulk for later use...

I have been exploring the idea of wineskins. A couple of years ago, the excellent Thorgrim made me a mini wineskin-shaped bottel, about 1 1/2 liters capacity (i.e. a double wine bottle which is my standard Pennsic wine and mead unit. But it is rigid, and it is meant as a sort of serving jug or carry wineskin,

I mean 5 gallon or better sized wineskins to manage a whole batch of mead after aged. Semi-short storage for a whole event....




http://www.euskonews.com/artisautza/015 ... /odres.jpg

http://www.mibotadevino.com/components/ ... ejo002.jpg

I knew what you meant, I was being a smart ass. To your original Q though I would think (with zero data to back it up) large pottery vessals of some type. I have a large Anglo Saxon pottey urn that holds just over a gallon that I use for serving at events. I imagine you could scale that up for larger volume storage at camp then pour into more wieldy containters for serving. Somthing perhaps like a Roman amphora...

Edited to add I have one very similar to this ( http://www.yfelwulf.com/index.php/early ... pathway-14 ).

I would have thought a pottery vessel of some sort. How long did they keeep mead for at the time? One would think that most of it would be gone by the following summer when it was time to make more.

I doubt it was pottery in Scandinavia during the Viking time period. Most of their good pottery was imported and their domestic pottery wasn't very good. I also don't recall reading about any pottery sherds for vessels that big.

I'd think cooperage, myself.

Did it last long enough to be stored? I wonder at that...you hear about ale in barrels, wine in barrels, spirits in kegs- but nothing about mead.

Well, we KNOW that mead oxydizes and eventually spoils if not stored properly. Just like wine.

Wine was sold as a perishable commodity, since it basically started spoiling the moment it was finished fermenting. There are references as to wine being sold for 1/2 price or even thrown out when the new vintage wine arrived.

In the Mediterranean, there was the custom of saving wine in large ceramic vessels, and sometimes covering the wine with a thin layer of olive oil, to seal it from the air. (that was possible then the vessels had a smaller neck than the body)

"Canaanite" wine jars were common throughout the Mediterranean, not only because the wine appears to have been good, but also because the vessels in which the wine was traded were good for transport and preservation.
http://apd.farli.org/the-southern-levan ... jars/jar-1

Both Egytpians and Romans knew about sealing of wine jars to keep them but also too improve them with age... sometimes for a LONG time...
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library ... on2_34.htm

Now the guys making mead were not dumb.
IN the Poetic Edda, Loki is presented with "the crystal cup of old mead", http://books.google.com/books?id=SSDn57 ... 22&f=false (sorry for the long link)

They knew that old mead was better than new mead, and that the sparkle and freshness of beer were not quite as desirable in mead, where "clarity" was desirable and worthy of a God, albeit it being Loki. The cup is also described as a "horn" so I am not sure if it is a crystal horn or a horn holding "crystal-clear" mead.

In northern countries, cold storage is less of an issue than in the south. Hence the longevity of German wines, where cold. bulk storage helped the wine survive in a drinkable fashion.

If it was not pottery, then it has to be wooden barrels or leather wineskins....

I would think that "large amounts" would indicate cooperage of some sort.

Wikipedia (take with a grain of salt) that barrels were used by the Celts, and the romans started useing them around 300 AD. I'd think you would be fine with a barrel.

Robert The Stout

Hey, if you notice it starting to turn, stop what you are doing and polish it all off in one sitting.

Wasn't there a well at Coppergate lined with an old barrel?

Now THIS would be an excellent idea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FLOR- ... erez59.jpg

At least for the hobby brewer/winemaker....

Thomas Powers wrote:Wasn't there a well at Coppergate lined with an old barrel?

Yep; http://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/artefacts/bucket1.htm

There's another barrel from Exeter; see http://www.rammtimetrail.org.uk and search for "A medieval barrel from Paul Street." (Sorry, that site doesn't do direct links any more. Yay.)

Glaukos the Athenian wrote:Now THIS would be an excellent idea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FLOR- ... erez59.jpg

At least for the hobby brewer/winemaker....

Interesting picture! Look how much sediment and smutz is in there.

Yep. That's yeast dying/ byproducts. I typically have a nice layer at the bottom of my carboys.

Robert The Stout

Different part of the world but, traditionally in the country of Georgia they still store wine in underground ceramic pots called Kvevri.
http://geowine.eu/georgian-wine/

http://georgianwinelegacy.se/eng/qvevri

edited for spelling

Glaukos the Athenian wrote:I mean in bulk...

You obviously haven't seen my belly.