Mead Yeast Starter

Source: Joyce Miller jmiller@genome.wi.mit.edu

Ingredients (makes 1/2 gallon):

1 cup honey
1 cup cane sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp yeast nutrient (or however much your directions call for)
6-2/3 cups water

Procedure:

Bring all of the ingredients to a boil, then shut off & let sit 
(covered) 20-30 minutes to pasteurize.  Force cool in a cold water bath, 
if you wish.  Pour dry yeast into a sanitized 1/2-gallon container.  
When the starter solution has cooled to below 80F (27C), pour it on top 
of the dry yeast.  Shake & swirl to dissolve the yeast.  Attach an 
airlock.  When the airlock shows regular activity, it's time to brew.  
Anywhere from 2-4 cups of active starter can be added to 5 gallons of 
mead must.  Swirl the starter before "inoculating" your mead must so as 
to get the yeast into suspension.

Comments:

I have used this recipe for starting beer, wine, and champagne yeasts, 
and it seems to be very good for acclimating the yeast to the "mead 
environment".

A half gallon is quite a bit of starter, so it might be a good idea to 
cut the recipe in half.  I only make the full amount when I plan to brew 
several batches of mead.   Since yeast ferments honey relatively slowly, 
you can easily use up a batch of the starter on several batches made 
across 2-3 weeks.  The starter will just keep on bubbling in between 
your brewing sessions!  If you want to keep it going even longer, you 
can pour off half the starter, and add a few cups of fresh must for the 
yeast to chew on.