Sourdough starter as a yeast nutrient for mead

[thebrandon]

I was thinking of trying to brew some mead this weekend and I was hoping to not have to go to my homebrew supply place since its in the next town over. My question is that if I recover my yeast from one of my current brews can I boil some of my sourdough starter for a period to kill the yeast and use the rest as a yeast supplement for my mead? Would there be a better yeast nutrient replacement at maybe a natural food store or vitamin shop?

 

[winnph]

You'd probably get a better response to this question in the Mead Making Forum, but if you're planning to harvest yeast from a current batch, why not just collect half of the slurry and boil the other half for use as nutrient? Seems like slurry would be a better choice than a sourdough starter, which might add some off flavors. Boiling it won't necessarily remove the flavors that have accumulated in the sourdough (similar to boiling after a sour mash doesn't get rid of the sour flavors).

 

[thebrandon]

So if I use the leftover slurry from the last batch that will have enough leftover nutritional components to ferment well? If thats the case then thats even better! Im gonna post the question in the mead making forum as well and see if they have some more advice for me. Thanks.

 

[winnph]

So if I use the leftover slurry from the last batch that will have enough leftover nutritional components to ferment well? If thats the case then thats even better! Im gonna post the question in the mead making forum as well and see if they have some more advice for me. Thanks.

Well I meant you should boil half the slurry, which will turn the dormant and dead yeast into a nutrient soup. The other half of the slurry should contain plenty of yeast cells for a new batch of beer. So, pitch the non-boiled half as your source of yeast and use the boiled half as your source of nutrient.

But I'm not a mead maker, so I don't know if mead requires additional nutrients.

 

[thebrandon]

Ok thanks, yeah I asked over at the mead area and they gave me lots of suggestions.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/sourdough-starter-yeast-nutrient-239764/#post2839771