Natural wild yeast
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If you let nature do it's thing and provide the yeast, good luck there. Very high percentage, probably 80+%, you'll get some yeast you don't want and it'll be ruined. Honey is too expensive to risk, the way I see it, unless you have your own bees and honey supply. Even the Vikings had their own in-house yeast on their stir-sticks.
I've done no nutrient mead. It would take 3-5 times longer.
Wild yeast is an unknown - it could produce anything from a super low abv to most horrible sulfer smelling "beverage". Given that most people don't like to take chances with expensive honey, you would find very few to none trying wild yeast.
Although, wife loves Lindemans Framboise Rasperry Lambic beer. But those guys has been doing it since 1822 with 6 generations of experience.
Wild yeast is an unknown - it could produce anything from a super low abv to most horrible sulfer smelling "beverage". Given that most people don't like to take chances with expensive honey, you would find very few to none trying wild yeast.
Although, wife loves Lindemans Framboise Rasperry Lambic beer. But those guys has been doing it since 1822 with 6 generations of experience.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/can-i-culture-yeast-juniper-berries-169156/Maybe something like that is what you're looking for on the wild yeast, I've heard you can do the same thing with raisins if they haven't been hit with preservatives
If you use raisins for nutrient (yeast assimilable nitrogen, YAN), be sure to measure in pounds not tens.
Would happen to know anything about their stir sticks?
With no nutrient did you still add a packet of yeast
Are you saying use raisins instead of a yeast pack and nutrient? And what is measuring in tens? I would assume measuring in pounds is just as it sounds
You'll find a lot of online recipes calling for a handful (20/30/40) in lieu of nutrient products such as DAP or the various Fermaids. In truth, the YAN contribution of raisins is negligible unless you're measuring in pounds (or kg).
I am definitely in the camp of using a pack of commercial (or proven, harvested, and cultivated wild) yeast and commercial nutrients according to a scientifically structured protocol. Honey's expensive.
I am definitely in the camp of using a pack of commercial (or proven, harvested, and cultivated wild) yeast and commercial nutrients according to a scientifically structured protocol. Honey's expensive.
How many of you really tried using proven methods to make wild mead?
I did and it and worked out remarkably well. Much more complex than a mead made with industrial yeast and by no means low abv. Just honey and water.
It takes longer and you better do a wild starter (just raw honey with water for about 5-6% abv if fermented dry), but otherwise quite the same process. Keep it reasonably cool, about 18 c +-2c and be prepared for a long fermentation. Sometimes weeks, sometimes months, sometimes a year.
I did and it and worked out remarkably well. Much more complex than a mead made with industrial yeast and by no means low abv. Just honey and water.
It takes longer and you better do a wild starter (just raw honey with water for about 5-6% abv if fermented dry), but otherwise quite the same process. Keep it reasonably cool, about 18 c +-2c and be prepared for a long fermentation. Sometimes weeks, sometimes months, sometimes a year.
Fair point. I really enjoy successful wild ferments. It's the unreliability (which you acknowledge) with such an expensive ingredient that drives me to commercial products.
You're having a sneak peak into the final product by evaluating the starter first. If the starter smells or tastes off in a bad way (not just because the yeast in suspension) you better try again. But that's just a few tablespoons of honey wasted.
You can also try adding fruit peel to the starter, that also works well.
The final product takes longer to ferment, longer to flocculate and probably longer to mature but the result is so unique, it's totally worth it.
Btw. The little bit of yeast that survives in the harsh conditions of honey are also usually the ones that are great for fermenting higher abv. Alcoholic beverages. There seems to be a connection between the ability to survive high osmotic pressure (loads of sugar in the honey) and the ability to survive higher abv environments. That's why I prefer the honey only approach in the starter.
I'm not talking about raisins as a nutrient but as a source of wild yeast you could cultivate and brew with, over Christmas I spoke with my older brother who used to make kvass and one of the things he told me was he would culture the yeast from raisins in a jar with sugar water and use that as a yeast source to provide the carbonation
The good thing about using only the yeast that is naturally present in the raw honey is that natural selection already took care of the optimisation process for you. This yeast is good for honey fermentation, otherwise it wouldn't be able to survive there. Using other wild yeast sources might work but brings a bit more randomness and therefore risk into the game.
I did. With only 50 batches behind my belt, I'd rather be more on the safe side.
One have to be careful to find raw honey that wasn't treated with heat.
That's true, that's why I wrote raw honey.
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