Making a wild yeast starter for mead
- Aunt Plantsy
- Feb 22
- 3 min read
Recently, I attended a Zoom class by Pascal Baudar on how to make a wild yeast starter and herbal meads. It was a great class and inspired me to get started.
Wild yeast is attracted by sugar; thus, berries, grapes, certain herbs and flowers and fruit are common ingredients to use when creating a yeast starter. Some examples of wild berries or herbs would be juniper berries, elder flowers, pine needles, mint, mugwort and yarrow. There are more but this is what I wrote in my notes. Food from the store that could be used includes grapes, blueberries, plums, lemons and oranges. Use your imagination and come up with other herbs, flowers or fruit.
Mr. Baudar’s recipe included sliced ginger root, sliced grapes, a few juniper berries, and a small amount of elder flowers. My recipe includes sliced grapes, juniper berries and pine needles.
When you see a white coating on juniper berries, grapes, or other fruit, that is called a “bloom,” which is the wild yeast and wax. If you are buying the food for this, make sure that it is organic so it doesn’t contain added wax or chemicals. Also, make sure that the white coating isn’t mold.
If you need to rinse off any dirt, use cold water and do not scrub as this could remove the wild yeast. Make a sugar water solution by adding about 15% sugar to 85% water. He eyeballed this during his class and I did too when I made mine.
Fill your glass jar with 75% sugar water and then add your source of yeast. There should be a small area in the jar that is not filled. This allows you to shake your jar and allows the bubbles to rise to the top. Close your jar with a metal lid and give it a good shake. Depending on how warm it is in your house, it could take four to five days or more to be ready to use.
When your metal lid – like on a Mason jar that is still “popped up” – does not have any buckle or give to it when you press it, it has built up pressure. That is when you want to burp the jar. Depending on how much pressure it builds, you may need to burp it once or twice each day. It may take a couple days to build up the pressure. Once your yeast starter is ready, you can put it in the refrigerator to keep it handy until needed. When he used blueberries as a yeast starter, it foamed up and built up a lot of pressure. It will depend on what you use and its yeast content.
You could use only grapes without sugar if you want because of their sugar and water content. His suggestion is to press and juice the grapes and fill your jar about 60% and add enough water to give you that headspace for shaking.
When making mead, Mr. Baudar taught us that yeast is present in raw honey, and yeast or yeast starter is not needed in addition to that. However, it does not hurt to add some yeast starter, even if using raw honey, as this will ensure you have enough yeast for the job. You would need to make sure it is “raw” honey and not heated/pasteurized, which kills the yeast.
Please visit me online at www.peasbeewithewe.com
You can also view the following:
Comments