is this fermenting honey?

[Cuckmere couple]

had some OSR spring honey ferment and read 18% when bottled

some saying theyve never seen it ferment...others say its a common issue with OSR because of sucrose level etc...getting a little confused

and now....summer honey jar looked mottled...opened and some bubbles at top (pics attached) smells and tastes ok presently but dont want to take risk...am not opening the other jars to see if they deteriorate...

have calibrated refractometer and compared with someone else and all fine...didnt happen last year and am now confused

any suggestions?

 

[Cuckmere couple]

i know it looks awful, but was clear as a bell but has been in cold and crystallised....warmed one tray up at 45C and looks fine again

 

[enrico]

That doesn't look good.i was one who said I had never seen osr ferment but apparently others have so believe them and not me! The only advice I can give is when you let your honey settle any with a high water content will float to the top. Take a reading after 24 hours of settling from the top of the tank. If that is below the water content level then thereat should be fine too.
E

 

[Cuckmere couple]

thanks Enrico

im just going to keep hold of these jars and see what happens to them i guess

 

[drex]

This year I had OSR ferment, despite water content being OK . The lower the water content the less likely it is to ferment, but still can, as it also depends on the concentration of natural yeasts, which we cannot measure. Looks to me that it has continued to crystallise in the jar. As it does so, it releases water, which has risen to the top, and fermentation has started. It will continue unless the honey is pasteurised. I caught my lot early and gave it back to the bees, as I do not like excessive heating of my honey

 

[Ian123]

Have seen issues with osr many times. It’s always a race to get the crop off before it goes hard in the frames some is capped some is not and there’s always a few flowers remaining, make sure every frame with anything uncapped gets the good old shake test even before getting your refractometer out.

 

[Beefriendly]

any suggestions?

Are your lids air tight?
Honey is hygroscopic and will, absorb water if jars are not sealed properly. and then ferment

 

[Cuckmere couple]

thanks folk

these pictures are of summer honey....the osr also fermented earlier

yes, lids airtight

im going to keep it all and see in two months rather than giving selling any

its a real pain...have about 60 jars and some look fine and one or two have gone like this

was about to warm them at 45-50c as i have done half of them but now not sure what to do

 

[Repwoc]

Have you measured the water content from a jar with the bubbles?

 

[Cuckmere couple]

no i havent but will

is the reading true i.e. will it read now, what it would have been when jarred, or, will the possible fermentation changed it?

 

[Cuckmere couple]

bang on 20%

 

[pargyle]

bang on 20%

It should not ferment at that percentage although at 20% you are reaching the border line but it's clear from the photos that there is something going on in those jars and there's not a lot of options apart from fermentation.

Heat can also be a contributory factor .. the other possibility is that you have lids that are not as well sealed as they might be. I had some pears in syrup I made last year go mouldy and when I took the lids off I could see mould tracking up the side of the lid and past the seal...

Either way .. it looks like those jars are not going to be saleable ...

 

[Repwoc]

no i havent but will

is the reading true i.e. will it read now, what it would have been when jarred, or, will the possible fermentation changed it?

The fermentation will produce CO2 gas and alcohol (ethanol). The refractive index of ethanol is 1.36 and honey is ~1.5, so it will have an effect on the RI if there is a lot of it, but not nearly as much as water (RI = 1.0). The natural yeasts that cause fermentation will not tolerate much alcohol.

 

[Millet]

I poured similar down the drain a couple of years back but forgot the six jars in the gas cupboard..when I found them by accident a couple of weeks later it was vile smelling and that also went down the drain.
From personal experience bin it and cut your losses..

 

[Cuckmere couple]

yup

i have a lot of jars....warmed some and they are all clear and look fine...some ar 'mottled' and have the slightest start of raised lid, others arent and seem fine...

tempted to hang on to them for a month or two to see if they start to ferment

sound sensible?

 

[pargyle]

yup

i have a lot of jars....warmed some and they are all clear and look fine...some ar 'mottled' and have the slightest start of raised lid, others arent and seem fine...

tempted to hang on to them for a month or two to see if they start to ferment

sound sensible?

There's no harm in keeping it .. if it is fermenting it's not like Millet describes, goodness only knows what was wrong with his crop... fermented honey has a slightly alcoholic sharp smell and a very distinct tang in taste .. it's still edible although I would never sell it. It can be used for baking or even sweetening things like porridge or smoothies .. I don't personally like the taste so much on its own.

The only thing you need to be careful of is the build up of CO2 in the jars as in the worst case scenario they can blow. The fermentation will stop as the yeast that causes it has a very low tolerance to alcohol - unless, of course, the moisture level is much higher than you have measured and you have introduced a yeast that has a higher tolerance to alcohol ... when you will effectively get thick mead and probably exploding jars before you get to that stage !

Or there again .. if you can find this niche market perhaps you have a nice little earner on your hands ?

https://www.bonappetit.com/story/hunt-for-fermented-honey

https://www.reallyrawhoney.com/product/fermented-1-lb-case/

Works our at £9.60/lb

 

[drex]

It should not ferment at that percentage although at 20% you are reaching the border line u.

Sorry but No, as I stated earlier it depends on concentration of yeasts too.
From "the hive and the honey bee" - " any honey with moisture content above 17.1% is still at risk of fermentation if enough yeast cells are present"

 

[mbc]

Quick answer to the original question = yes

 

[pargyle]

Sorry but No, as I stated earlier it depends on concentration of yeasts too.
From "the hive and the honey bee" - " any honey with moisture content above 17.1% is still at risk of fermentation if enough yeast cells are present"

I'm not disagreeing with that as a general premise .. 18.5% is the generally accepted maximum but you will find some saying 15-20%.

Clearly the yeast level combined with the water percentage and the conditions the honey is stored in will all contribute to the possibilty of fermentation occurring.

Personally, I would not risk jarring honey anywhere near 20%.