Update: Sorry it's been so long since I posted here last, but my wild yeast mead turned out excellent (I didn't step up the yeast in the sample, and it took a year and a half to grow to proper mass and ferment the test batch)
It's not as strong as the champagne yeast that I normally use (seems to be the only fermenting yeast I seem to be able to find here in Calgary, AB) but it left the mead very sweet and aromatic. It cleared beautifully (Just as good as the champagne, which surprised me)
I don't usually take gravity readings (Sorry!) but my vinometer says it's coming out at about 7 1/2% - 10% alcohol (I don't know how reliable vinometers are, but it sure doesn't taste at the normal 15% that it usually does). It oddly enough, tastes like a spring day in Calgary...
I have to say, getting weather stable enough here in Calgary for two weeks was more of a challenge then actually capturing the yeast itself. I lost a few initial attempts due to the weather suddenly getting too warm and it sprouting mold. As it was, the initial sample went to mold, but not before I extracted 10ml of yeast floating in the bottom of the capture jar with a syringe my wife stole from work for me.(I <3 my wife). Risky, I know, but the test batch (.75 gallon - a weird size I know, but I had to work with the carboys I could find) turned out fantastic.
I have since used the yeast from the test batch, swirled it around in the bottom of the little carboy, and added it to a new 3 gallon batch that I started for this purpose.
It's been four days since I started it, and I've noticed that it's forming krausen on the top of the batch. I've never seen krausen before, and it scared me because I thought it was forming mold. But research shows that it's alive and well, and it will subside as the batch ferments.
It's not producing any noticeable CO2 that I've seen (i.e. the bubbler isn't bubbling, but it's pressurized like it wants to) which, considering my inital batches were with bread yeast, and later with champagne yeast, is a little unnerving. But the fact that every morning, something new has happened in the carboy tells me that it's doing something. Good or bad, well I'll have to wait and see...
Thanks again for starting this awesome thread. It's took my mead making in an entirely new and exciting direction.