Blaand Recipe – The Scandinavian Whey Wine

Learn how to make Blaand, the Viking alcoholic drink made with whey. It is zero waste, cheap to make and surprisingly delicious. Check it out.

When we think about whey and its many uses it hardly ever comes to mind to turn it into an alcoholic fermented drink, right?

But fermenting whey into alcohol is actually “a thing” and has been for many many centuries: the Vikings in fact, beside making mead, used to brew Blaand (or Bland ) from whey.

→ No whey? No problem! Give bread kvass, pineapple tepache or beetroot kvass a try!

After them, whey wine also became one of the most common drinks found on Scandinavian farmers and cheese makers tables.

In modern days several factories around the globe have developed ways to distil whey into alcohol or vodka and many home brewers use it as the main ingredient for sour beers.

So how do you ferment it at home and turn it into a pleasant alcoholic drink?

Before we dive into our Blaand recipe let’s clarify a couple of important things.

Whey – WHAT IS IT?

If you are not familiar with whey just know that it is both the yellowish liquid you are left with after making cheese and the “water” you see floating on top of natural yogurt.

As you can see, you really do not need to buy whey per se as you can easily drain from milk kefir or yogurt.

But in case you want more, you can easily obtain it from cheese factories in your area.

In fact they have so much whey they often give it away for free as they really do not know what to do with it.

Quick side note.

You don’t need to buy whey proteins to add to your smoothie and be all muscly; just use the real thing. 

It’s cheaper, more natural and works perfectly.

End of the quick side note.

With that said, although they look the same, the leftover whey from cheese making is NOT the same as the puddles you see on yogurt or milk kefir.

The first one is called sweet whey because the sugar naturally present in milk ( lactose ) is still contained in the liquid.

The second one is called sour whey because the lactose has been consumed by the lactic acid bacteria which have fermented milk into yogurt.

More simply we can say that sour whey is the byproduct of any fermented milk product ( yogurt, milk kefir, soured milk etc ).

Knowing which type you are going to ferment is fundamental to obtain a blaand that does not taste and smell like a pair of one week old gym socks.

How To Brew Bland At Home

Apart from whey you will literally need only one more ingredient: sugar ( or honey .)

A suitable vessel like a glass carboy or demijohn is also required and in some cases a fermenting airlock too can come handy.

Now let’s see how to make Blaand at home.

I will give you two recipes: one that makes use of sour whey and another for sweet whey.

Let’s start with the sour whey based whey wine.

Blaand With SOUR WHEY – Recipe

To make the centuries old Scandinavian sour whey wine proceed as follows.

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5L / 1.5 Quarts of whey
• 300gr / 10.5oz of sugar or honey
• 1 pinch of rock salt
• 10 sulphite free raisins ( optional )

STEPS

1. Dissolve sugar in whey
2. Place the mixture inside a carboy
3. Cover with a cloth or paper towel and leave for 24 hours
4. Remove the cloth, add salt to the mixture and seal the carboy with an airlock ( here is where you add raisins if you decide to use them )
5. Let it ferment until bubbling in the airlock is over
6. Bottle and prime it ( add 1 teaspoon of sugar for each 1L / 1 Qt bottle )
7. Seal and allow it to age for at least 2 weeks.

TIPS

If you follow this recipe you will brew a so-called aged Bland but if you prefer to drink it younger you can definitely do so.

Younger Bland usually tastes more refreshing and, thanks to its low alcohol content ( 1.5 – 3% ) makes a great spring-summer drink.

For the young version allow fermentation with airlock for 7-8 days then open and taste.

If, instead, you desire to drink a 10%+ whey wine you have to add a champagne yeast to the initial mix and seal the carboy immediately ( skipping steps 3 and 4 )

Commercial selected yeasts are necessary to reach a higher alcohol content because wild yeasts hardly ever survive above 6-7% ( with exceptions of course )

Brewing Blaand With Sweet Whey – THE DIFFICULTIES

Making Blaand with sweet whey is a slightly more complex process because it still contains lactose.

As specified above, the by-product of cheese making still contains all the sugars, and this particular type of sugar cannot be fermented by yeasts.

So brewers have come up with the idea of crushing a few tablets for lactose intolerance ( e.g. lactaid ) and dissolving them inside whey.

They will be able to break down lactose into simple sugars that yeasts can process.

Another aspect to consider when using this type of whey is that it has previously been heated and, as we know, heat kills bacteria: good and bad.

Without wanting to upset any professional cheese maker, I think it’s safe to say that the majority of cheeses are made through a process involving heat.

Very simply, milk is heated up to the required temperature and curdled so that solids can be separated from the whey.

Obviously all the good bacteria and yeasts died during the process.

So, opposite to sour whey, which comes from a “cold” process, sweet whey does not contain any living microorganisms that can start the fermentation.

Blaand With SWEET WHEY – Recipe

This is the process you will need to follow if you intend to brew Blaand using sweet whey.

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5L / 1.5 Qts of whey
• 300gr /10.5oz of sugar or honey
• 2 tablets for lactose intolerance
• 10 sulphite free raisins
• 1 pinch of rock salt

STEPS

1. Dissolve sugar and tablets in whey ( you can warm it up )
2. Place the mixture inside a carboy
3. Cover with a cloth or paper towel and leave for 24 hours
4. Remove the cloth, add raisins and salt then seal the carboy with an airlock
5. Let it ferment until bubbling in the airlock is over
6. Bottle and prime it ( add 1 teaspoon of sugar for each 1L / 1 Quart bottle )
7. Seal and allow it to age for at least 2 weeks.

Just like the Bland made with sour whey you can drink this one young or aged and just like the other it can be “flavoured” to your taste.

Brew And Drink Like A Viking

To get the full Viking experience you should definitely drink it from a drinking horn right after shouting “Skal!” (Enjoy, Cheers ).

This way you’ll  get the “real” taste and feel of a thousand year old experience.

Will the very Viking-y drinking horn thing be any good to your modern taste buds?

I honestly don’t know! You let me know

Would I personally drink it out of one of those things? …nah…not my horn of tea.

But seriously, if you want to brew a drink that resembles even more of what the old Norse were making I invite you to swap sugar for honey.

Brewing with honey will produce a drink similar to mead ( from the old English word meodu ), where whey is used in place of water.

Mead was considered sacred by the Norse and their Gods and it was, at the time, the drink that represented immortality.

It was synonim with the “world beyond death”. 

And in fact it was known to be the “Nectar Of The Gods”, the immortal beings by definition.

Under the name of hydromel ( from the Latin word hydromeli ) it was the beverage sacred to the Greek and the Roman Gods.

Mead was commonly drunk by spouses during the moon before and after their wedding as a good auspice: it is from this tradition that the name honeymoon derives.

After all this reading, what do you think? Is it worth trying?

It is a yes for me.

And now you have learnt how easy it is to ferment whey into an uncommon yet delicious and history rich drink.

But don’t stop here! Give our wild fermented ginger beer or elderflower champagne a try!!!

As always drop us a line if you made it because we are really curious to know if you liked it!

See you soon.