Ok, so a bit of a question. I work at a grocery store and any time we have soon to be out of date/damaged/sketchy product it gets written off and either given to local shelters to taken home by the staff. I noticed tonight a plastic bottle of honey that was bulging, ie it has some wee beasties growing inside and producing gas. I'm pondering taking it home, mixing it down to get it growng properly and then adding enough honey and water to brew a gallon with whatever yeast its got going on. Having said that I thought I'd ask the more experienced here if there should be any concerns over whatever is growing in it before I get going?
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Wild Yeast?
- Thread starter Eaving
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Thanks for the input, I'll skip trying to play with wild yeast until I've built up a hell of a lot more experience then.
I also would be concerned. If the honey had the normal level of moisture in it then really nothing should be growing in the honey. If the honey was .. um... manufactured in a shop rather than in a hive then the moisture level may be higher and it's possible that there could be pathogens growing. I would always be very wary of any oxygen deprived sealed container that was showing signs of "blowing".
Yeah I agree with Bernard. A sealed jug of honey shouldn't ferment on its own (beekeepers correct me if I'm wrong please).
I have had orchard cider spontaneously ferment however - even in a cold fridge.
I have had orchard cider spontaneously ferment however - even in a cold fridge.
As I understand it(with the caveat that I could be misinformed) when honey starts to crystalize you are basically forming sugar crystals and freeing up water and can allow fermentation to occur. The specific jar I am talking about is definitely crystalized and has a more fluid layer on top. Its a Madhava Raw honey, I think a relatively decent company. My preference is honey from my hive or purchased from local beekeepers, but free from work I wont turn my nose up at.
No that is incorrect. Crystalizing does not leave excess water. I have 5 gallon buckets that have crystalized with no extra water.
I would not mess with that honey if I were you. First off, there can be botulinum spores in honey. Then, you don't know if that is really pure honey. You might boil the heck out of it, but then there are heat stable enterotoxins produced by certain strains of E. coli that could make you sick anyway. I would play it safe. There's obviously a problem with that honey. Use some other honey.
I wouldn't have asked if I didn't figure you guys had massive amounts more experience than I did. I'd already scrapped the idea of trying to ferment via whatever was growing in it from Squatchy's first response, with the chance of it being bacterial I'll toss it rather than risk it.
Rarely do wild yeast make a good mead. Most of the time they crap out at a really low ABV. It really needs to be above 10% before it even begins to become stable. You can never reproduce them. And most of the time they taste like crap and are a waste of honey.
