Starter made with WLP515 (belgian antwerp ale) yeast

[Burquebrewer]

I like the character of this yeast and have some on hand for a Belgian Pale Ale I am brewing. I want to try to see if I could make a mead with this. The plan is to start fermentation with this yeast and once the gravity drops to a certain point, I'll add the Lalvin I've got to finish the job.

I'm making a 2 gallon batch with 6 lbs of wildflower honey, 1 liter of white grape juice, and raisins:

1 liter starter:
6 oz of honey.
1/4 tsp yeast nutrients
2 cups of wort (from my other starter for the BPA) at 1.037 SG.

I'm thinking want to pitch the entire starter rather than cool and decant I think. Is that the best way to get the yeast kicking? If so, should I limit the amount of time I keep it on the stir plate to avoid too much oxygen?

I've made three batches of mead at this point, and I've got the process down pretty well, but this is something new for me. I don't make starters for my mead as I usually use dry yeast. Thanks for any input.

 

[biochemedic]

Why not just use DME wort for your starter?...no need to use honey and nutrients just because you're making mead.

I don't think you can over oxygenate a starter (a continuous oxygen supply is part of the point of a stir plate.) I actually also give my starters a shot of oxygen with a diffusion wand as well before they go on a stir plate. Depending on how much time I have before I brew, I may let a starter settle at room temp and then decant some of the spent starter wort but often I just pitch the whole thing right in.

I can't recall what the alcohol tolerance of that particular strain but I've done meads with that level of OG purely with a single Belgian yeast strain in the past...you may not need to further pitch another yeast

 

[Burquebrewer]

Thanks Bio. I used the honey because I am making such a small batch and plan on putting the whole starter instead of decanting. I figured it would be better than pitching a 1 liter starter from DME into a 2 gallon batch of mead. Also, I have 60 lbs of honey I picked up at Honeyville, CO, so I have plenty.

As for not pitching additional yeast, I was wondering if I actually needed to. I'll see how far it ferments out with the 515 and if I get the ABV I'm looking for with that alone, I'll skip the Lalvin yeast. I'm looking for about 10% ABV. The description for 515 states is "medium" alcohol tolerance, which is a broad range of 5 - 10%, so it might make it. (Next time, I'll use a Belgian Strong ale yeast...I just didn't want an overwhelming amount of Belgian character in this one until I had a chance to see how it comes out)

This is my first mead with ale yeast, so any other pointers would be appreciated.

I've heard of people talk here of off flavors from pitching an over-oxygenated starter, but I'm guessing that's not your experience?

Thanks again

 

[biochemedic]

Yes, I've never appreciated any off flavors from a starter...in point of fact, I always taste some of my spent starter wort... If you've never tasted it, it tastes...weird, I guess is the best word for it, but it should still be clean and palatable. I do it mostly to get some reassurance that I didn't get some contaminant organism in there...if the starter wort tastes good, my experience has been that the beer will be good.

Having used ale yeasts for mead, what I've found is that you should get up to or even above the upper limit of the yeast's rated tolerance...the mead must is theoretically 100% fermentable, so issues with the fermentability of the wort, apparent attenuation percentages and what not are essentially irrelevant. The last one I brewed was a while ago, but the yeast was rated to 12%, and I got 12.6%, with a FG of 1.005. This is all assuming that you manage the fermentation well with SNAs, etc.

 

[Burquebrewer]

Right. I have tasted the starters for my beer. They taste, yeasty? It reminds me a little of when I used to eat Playdough as a kid. But I see what you are saying about the starter tasting "clean".

I pitched the starter and all seems to be going well. I pitched it a little on the warm side (74F) to get things a moving then dropped the temp to 66F slowly within the first hour. Adding the SNA's periodically according to schedule. I can already smell the yeast character from the 515 in there. I think it'll be good. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Burquebrewer]

I can't recall what the alcohol tolerance of that particular strain but I've done meads with that level of OG purely with a single Belgian yeast strain in the past...you may not need to further pitch another yeast

Thanks! I never did pitch any other yeast. The starting OG was 1.094, SG right now is at 1.016. looks like right about 10% ABV. Racked it off the lees a second time and tastes, smells great!

I read somewhere that mead fermented with beer yeast doesn't need to age as long, since the harsh flavors that need to be aged out come from the wine or mead yeast? Any experience with that?

 

[Burquebrewer]

Update on this...It came out awesome. Even young, it is delicious. Wife can't keep from drinking it, so I had to hide half of it away to let it age for sometime.

Next time I will add some Pectic Enzymes, as the mead is still a little hazy after 3 months.

 

[Drewed]

Yeah, welcome to the world of ale meads! I've pretty much given up on fermenting with "wine" yeasts. I am currently playing in the world of Abby tripples and other "monastery" yeasts.

 

[Burquebrewer]

Yeah, welcome to the world of ale meads! I've pretty much given up on fermenting with "wine" yeasts. I am currently playing in the world of Abby tripples and other "monastery" yeasts.

Awesome! I am also experimenting right now with a pear melomel with US-05 and an oaked mead with Wyeast Scottish Ale.

Do you find that you do not need to age them nearly as long when using ale yeast?

 

[Maylar]

You guys might be interested in Bray Denard's ale yeast experiments -

https://denardbrewing.com/blog/post/ale-yeast-experiment-belgian-bomm-one-month-mead/

And this -

https://denardbrewing.com/blog/post/DryBOMMAromatic/

 

[Drewed]

I do find I don't have to age them nearly as long.
Thanks Maylar, Bray's work is what has inspired me. All of my meads ( and starting on ciders too!) are based off of BOMMs.