Wein & Saengerfest (or, time to make some mead)

Today New Braunfels held the annual Wein & Saengerfest downtown, blocking off a large section of San Antonio Street along with a couple of blocks of Castel as well. It seemed larger this year than previously, with three separate music stages set up on opposite ends of the festival. I was quite impressed with the wide array of vendors, with Deep South Barrels and another who's name escapes me (AHA! It's Precise Pens) that had an amazing array of artistic bottle stoppers for sale. There was a giant velcro wall for the kids to jump onto (wearing a velcro suit, of course) and Blue Bell had a big bouncy castle in the shape of a gallon of Homemade Vanilla. The Wife and I bought our drink tickets and commemorative glasses and sampled our share of wines, but nothing stood out this year for us as a must-buy. The only ones we really liked are already available locally, so we ended up not going home with any wine.

The downtown Farmers Market normally closes at 1 p.m., but because of the festival a block away, had extended hours this day. I've wanted to go for a long time, but I normally remember around 1:30 after everyone has packed up for the day. This time I remembered around 1:30 as well, but most booths were still open. I made it only a few steps before I found my destination: Round Rock Honey. After a brief chat with the friendly young lady at the booth, we bought a 12-pound jug. I hadn't made any mead in a very long time. It was high time to get back at it.

For the record, Round Rock Honey is a wildflower honey with a very clean, smooth flavor. I like it. I cleaned and sterilized my homebrew equipment when I got home, and began the process. Here's the recipe thus far:

Honey Mead 5/7/2011

15 pound honey (12 pounds Round Rock, 3 pounds North American)
1 packet Red Star Cotes des Blanc yeast
3 tsp. yeast nutrient
2 tsp. yeast energizer
1 tsp. grape tannin
5 tsp. acid blend
1 tsp. Mexican vanilla extract
Water to make 6 gallons

After letting the mixture sit and cool, I placed in a water bath with ice to keep the temperature of the must in the mid-60s. I've placed wet towels over the fermenter and watered them thoroughly with the ceiling fan in my office turning to keep it cool via evaporation. Unfortunately, I've yet to replace my broken hydrometer, so I don't know the potential final alcohol. It should be a little under 12 percent, unless my estimation is way off. In about four weeks, once the primary fermentation ends (the Cotes des Blanc yeast is reputed to be a slow fermenter, but one good for retaining fruity characteristics) I'll race into separate batches and make one fig mead, one prickly pear mead and probably one plum mead. All of my plum wine attempts have been disastrous, but my plum mead (melomel) has been quite good, so we'll see if that works out again. Dry fig mead is also reputed to be quite good, so I'll try a 1.5 gallon batch of that with about 4 pounds of figs. Hopefully we'll strike gold here before long with some really good drinkables.

To read about the racking and addition of figs and prickly pear, click here.

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