Mead Yeast Starter

tompb · Post by **tompb** » Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:08 pm

Do I need to make a starter for mead with a Wyeast pack? If so do I use honey? It should start out at 1.100.

jjbuck · Post by **jjbuck** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 5:44 pm

I have not used a starter for either of my meads. Both started at greater than 1.100 and both attenuated lower than 1.000 (.096 for the peach and .098 for the cranberry) I used 15 lbs of honey in both batches. 12 lbs orange blossom in the peach and 12 lbs white sage in the cranberry. I added 3 lbs of basswood to each batch. I also added 6 lbs of peach puree and 1/2 gallon of pure cranberry juice.
I'd say the wyeast dry mead yeast is a real champ. Fermented at about 75 F for the both of them. I made sure that I added acid blend powder to both batches. I've read somewhere that the honey mix has to be acid for that yeast to work properly.

jjbuck · Post by **jjbuck** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 5:51 pm

It does tie up a 6.5 gal. carboy for at least 90 days.

tompb · Post by **tompb** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 6:18 pm

I ended up making a 2.5L starter. I added the yeast nutrient, DAP, and potassium bicarbonate to the levels on Hightest's website. Mine was a straight 14# wildflower honey and 4 gallons water. I gave it a minute of oxygen and started the ferment at 68. When it's done I'll split it up and secondary on something.