Yeast Starters for Mead

A Yeast Starter is nothing more than a small fermentation started one or two days prior to the day you first start making your mead. There are three main reasons to use a Yeast Starter.

1. To ensure that your yeast is viable. The yeast you have may be old, and it would be a terrible waste of time and honey if you were to pitch it into your must, only to find, a few days later, that you have no fermentation. You can always pitch more yeast and HOPE your must has not been infected, but, by making a starter before you prepare the must, you already know you have a living and actively growing colony.

2. To increase the number of yeast cells that you will put into your must. A large, vigorous colony of yeast cells will out-compete any wild yeast that may have entered your must, as well as overwhelm any infections.

3. A large viable colony is imperative when pitching into high-gravity musts (as most meads are). One of the main reasons mead fermentations take so long, is that the yeast struggle, after the initial inoculation, to grow to a large enough colony, before they start to begin fermentation. This struggle causes weak yeast and can cause undesirable flavors.

A Yeast Starter should have enough volume to give the yeast plenty of space to grow and multiply. For a gallon batch of mead, make a pint starter; for a three-gallon batch of mead, make a quart starter; and for a five-gallon batch of mead, make a half-gallon starter.

NOTE: Sanitized ½ liter, one-liter and two-liter soft drink bottles make good containers for one-time use.

Make your Yeast Starter similar to your must, but try for a specific gravity of 1.020 to 1.050. For Cysers use apple juice in the starter, and for Pyments, use grape juice. For melomels, make a starter from the juice of the fruit you are using - or an apple juice starter does very well. For Traditional meads and Metheglins use a honey-water solution, but do not add yeast nutrients and yeast energizer to the starter. This will leave your colony healthy, but hungry, and they will get off to a great start when they hit the must.

This first stage in yeast development is aerobic, so, before adding your yeast, shake the solution vigorously for a minute or two. Or, if you have the Oxynater™, from Liquid Bread, you can introduce pure Oxygen into the starter. Stopper the bottle with cotton or cover it with several layers of cheesecloth. Soak the cotton or cheesecloth in an iodophor solution and squeeze out the excess before putting it on the bottle. Put your Yeast Starter in a warm place for 24-48 hours. There should be signs of activity in just a few hours.

Some people suggest carefully pouring off most of the liquid, and adding only the yeast slurry, at the bottom of the bottle, to your must. But, if you have made your starter similar to your must, there is no harm in just pouring the entire contents of your Yeast Starter into the must.

Making a Yeast Starter should not be difficult or time consuming. In short, making a starter, that is similar to your must, that has a gravity of 1.020 – 1.050, and good oxygenation will work best to grow healthy populations fastest.

Yeast Starter Recipes

(These are all 1 quart recipes – good for 3-5 gallon mead recipes. Double everything for a 5-7 gallon recipe, and half everything for a one-gallon recipe.)

Apple Juice Starter (For Cysers and Melomels):

This is the easiest one, and one I have been using for quite a while now. It is just a quart bottle of pasteurized, apple juice (unfiltered doesn’t seem to work any better, and it is more expensive). Make sure there are no preservatives. Just pour a little out, leaving an inch or two of free space at the top, aerate, and toss the Rehydrated yeast in. Cover with sanitized cotton or cheesecloth. Put in a warm place for about 24-48 hours before the must is ready for the yeast, and they'll have time to build a large colony, and you will be off to a good start.

For Pyments, use grape juice, and for other melomels, make the starter from the juice of the fruit you are using.

Honey Starter (For all meads):

Warm 3 cups of water (don’t use distilled water – the yeast need the minerals) in a pan, and add 1 cup of honey and a handful of chopped raisins. Remove from heat, cover, and allow it to cool to room temperature. Pour into a sanitized bottle, aerate, and add your Rehydrated yeast. If necessary, top off with more water, leaving an inch or two of free space at the top. Cover with sanitized cotton or cheesecloth. Put in a warm place for about 24-48 hours before the must is ready for the yeast.

Malt Extract Starter (For all meads):

Add 4 oz (1/4 lb) dry light malt extract to 3 cups of boiling water (don’t use distilled water – the yeast need the minerals) . Boil it for 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat and add ½ cup of honey. Cool to room temperature and pour into sanitized container, aerate, and add your Rehydrated yeast. If necessary, top off with more water, leaving an inch or two of free space at the top. Cover with sanitized cotton or cheesecloth. Put in a warm place for about 24-48 hours before the must is ready for the yeast.