Hallr brjost Starsson

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Hallr
Information
Preferred title: Not specified Their Pronouns: Not specified Resides: Dreiburgen Status: Active Awards: Visit the Caid Order of Precedence
Heraldry
Gules, a bezant and a sinister tierce Or.
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The Honorable Lord Hallr brjost Starsson, known as Halbrust, started playing in the SCA in January 2010. He is a brewer and fermenter, specializing in small batch beer brewing, and holding the rank of Journeyman in the Right Noble Brewers' Guild of Caid. He is a senior brewing judge in the guild as well. He is apprenticed to Master since 2015 Reinhardt Medebruwer, and foster apprenticed to Mary Dedwydd verch Gwallter since 2023.

He is the father of Kara Hallsdottir, and lord of Tracy the Gray.

Persona

Born in the year 940 on a small farm outside of Reykjavik to Starr Mulason and Begga Sveinsdottir. Hallr was a young boy when he received the byname brjost due to his chest deformity (he is missing the majority of the muscles on the left side of his chest). Because the deformity was noticed after he had grown into a strong young man, who worked and played as hard as the other boys, he avoided any chance of being put to death as a baby by “exposure”.

Hallr brjost realized before adulthood that the family farm would go to one of his older brothers and not to him. He knew he had to forge ahead and create a life and legacy of his own. His father had migrated from Norway to Iceland, and this was the path he chose also. As an older boy and young man, he learned all he could about making mead and beer. This is where he hoped he could find his fame and fortune.

Once reaching maturity, he spent several years raiding and helping conduct trade, under the authority of Jarl Haakon Sigurdsson. In the year 973 on a trade mission down the Volkhov river, Hallr volunteered to help row upstream past the rapids to Holmgard. Captivated by Lake Ilmen and the town of Novgorod, he asked to be relieved of his commitment so he could start a life there.

It has only been a year, and Hallr brjost speaks almost none of the Russian language of his new neighbors. However, he owns a modest farm, and provides for a family of servants/farmhands. His farmhand Malina speaks the Nordic language, and is helping Hallr brjost learn the local dialect, as well as the customs of the area.

Hallr brjost is finding success selling his crops, and alcoholic drinks, to his new Slavic neighbors.

Offices & Positions

• January 2013 thru August 2016 Dreiburgen Chronicler
• January 2016 thru December 2017 Brewers' Guild Guildmaster
• January 2017 thru February 2020 Brewers' Guild Exchequer
• December 2019 thru July 2021 Dreiburgen Arts & Sciences Officer
• February 2020 thru January 2022 Brewers' Guild Guildmaster
• July 2021 thru current Dreiburgen Seneschal

Classes Taught

• Collegium Caidis 2012 - Viking Shield Construction
• Collegium Caidis 2015 - One Gallon Brewing
• Collegium Caidis 2015 - Cleaning and decorating antler
• Collegium Caidis 2015 - OMG! I like to drink vinegar (kids track)
• Collegium Caidis 2016 - Flavored Cordials, Wines and Vinegars
• Collegium Caidis 2017 - One Gallon Beer Brewing
• Collegium Caidis 2017 - Fermented, Not Pickled
• Collegium Caidis 2018 - Make Beer in Your Kitchen
• Collegium Caidis 2018 - Sweetened & Spiced Drinks
• Collegium Caidis 2018 - What Can the Brewers' Guild do for You?
• Collegium Caidis 2019 - Make Beer in Your Kitchen
• Collegium Caidis 2019 - Sweetened & Spiced Drinks
• Collegium Caidis 2019 - What Can the Brewers' Guild do for You?
• Collegium Caidis 2019 - Brewing and Fermentation Troubleshooting
• Virtual Collegium 2020 - Brewing isn't Scary
• Virtual Collegium 2020 - Sweetened & Spiced Drinks

Competitions

• Dreiburgen Summer Arts 2011 – 1st place Arts of Combat – Viking shield
• Dreiburgen Summer Arts 2011 – 1st place Cooking – Maslin bread
• 8th Annual Brewing Contest at GWW XVI (2012) - 1st place Beer – Banana short mead
• Pentathlon 2015 - Brewing: Wine: 2nd place Journeyman - Hopped mead
• Dreiburgen Summer Arts 2018 - 1st place Accessories - Paternoster

Recipes

Two two beer

2 lbs of base malt of your choice

2 oz of Chrystal malt of your choice

9 g of hops of your choice (3@60, 3@30, 3@1)

1 packet of yeast of your choice

This recipe will produce a decent beer regardless of your choices, and a really good beer with many different choices.

One of my favorite iterations:

2 lbs Munich malt

2 oz Chrystal 40

9g of Fuggles hops

1 packet WLP550 Belgian Yeast

Beginner mead

10 2/3 cup water

2 lbs honey

1 cup juice

1 packet of yeast of your choice

Combine all ingredients in a one gallon carboy (my carboy of choice is the same crystal geyser bottle the water came from). Place stopper and airlock on carboy and place in a cool dark area.

The juice will provide a little flavor, and a little color, but is added as a yeast nutrient. I would suggest white grape or apple juice for the most neutral flavor (white grape, apple, and/or pear juice is often the base juice in juice blends because if its neutral flavor).

No need to heat the honey. The yeast will find and eat the honey all on their own.

Yeast... I recommend Lavlin RC212 or Lavlin D47. I do not recommend any form of champagne yeast or bread yeast. Beer yeasts can make a great mead, but can produce flavors that aren't common in mead.

• For a fruity mead (a melomel), replace 5 cups of the water with juice. (6 cups juice, 5 2/3 cups water)
• For a stronger mead, replace 1 1/3 cup of the water with an extra pound of honey.