Although pitching onto a trub layer in beer making is often employed with success, in mead musts the lees layer is more likely to have genetically modified (aka, mutant) yeast cells in it, since the added stress of life in a higher concentration of ethanol and yeast toxins than what is usually found in beer tends to mess with your yeast's DNA. Although there are exceptions, in most cases new meads made with yeast from a finished mead's lees layer will not be the same as the original mead, and oftentimes tastes worse.Can i use my lees to make my next batch of mead?![]()
That can work, although I generally find it easier just to pitch more commercial yeast. However if you have found a particular local or wild strain of yeast that you want to re-use, pulling some of it out before the batch gets much above 6 or 7% ABV may keep it true to the original strain.How about racking during the early phase of the ferment to harvest some of the yeast while there is still a significant amount of yeast in suspension.