Bad honey????

I brought home some honey that we picked up from a road side stand yesterday. I thought the honey was a little thin looking to me, when I oppened up the lid(mason jar) the honey hissed at me like I had oppened up a beer. The honey has a slight bitter taste to it and after on hour on the counter with the lid back on it is thicker and full of bubbles. Does anyone know what the hell happened to this honey and do you think I should use it in mead or not.(I do have more honey but I hate the thought of throwing 6 pounds away)

Welcome!
What's it taste like?

Chances are it's fine, but could have enough water in it to be fermenting a little bit. The other thing to think of, is temp. It's been in the upper 80's here lately, and that will thin honey down a bit by mid afternoon...it will also cause pressure build up in the jug.

I has a slight bitter and yeasty taste to it. The honey had been sitting in th sun all day when I boutght it so I figgured that was why it was thin. But after sitting in the AC at the house all night it was still thin.... Recking it is fermenting a tad and if it is should I bring it up to 180f before I make my must?

I'd make a no-heat must from it. What ever flavors that are there are there, what ever bacteria or spores....Just think what greatness you may end up with....see how it comes out.
If you have a special brew planned, I'd get some fresh honey for it.

If it's still thin after cooling down, it has a high water content. If it smells & tastes "yeasty" then it's got an active fermentation of some sort going on in it, which also attests to the high water content. I'd take it back & get a refund. Though you can always give it a shot & see what happens, maybe camden will nuke it & it'll work just fine. That's my 2 cents worth. Regards, GF.

Congratulations, you've found a spontaneous fermentation in honey. I'd listen to BK, because this is how people first learned about mead, beer, and wine. Just think where we'd be if everyone had decided to throw theirs out because it had "gone bad."

will_cbe said:

Just think where we'd be if everyone had decided to throw theirs out because it had "gone bad."

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Sad and Sober!

haha,

I agree with the kahuna here, use it in a no heat must...granted you should never heat your honey. Just see what happens

Good idea, I beleave I will just make up a gallon of must using this honey and water and a little nutrient and see what I get. (I'm sure that it is allready fermenting becouse after only a few hours it has presher on the lid of the mason jar).

This couldn't be an issue with Clostridium botulinum bacteria, commonly found in honey? The one that causes botulism?

botulinum is in everything and it's everywhere. If you make the honey into a must and ferment it out the bacteria will die from alcohol and pH poisoning.

Repeat after me;
No known pathogens can survive in fermented beverages.

If it were me, I would take it back and demand a refund. Not because I would be worried about my health, but because the seller obviously watered it down to try and stretch their honey supply more, and they short-changed you. Honey never ferments in its natural state, it only does so when it's been thinned with water. Make sure there's a large group of people at their stand when you take it back, so they bribe, er, give you customer satisfaction.

I wish I could take it back but we were on a little road trip and this stand is an hour and a half from the house, so I will have to just keep it.

EvilTOJ said:

Repeat after me;
No known pathogens can survive in fermented beverages.

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But if it has a head start and has grown a good colony before you start fermenting, I'd worry that the yeast wouldn't get the leg up on the bacteria. Just sayin'.

ChshreCat said:

But if it has a head start and has grown a good colony before you start fermenting, I'd worry that the yeast wouldn't get the leg up on the bacteria. Just sayin'.

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Funny thing about commercial yeast...it's pretty aggressive. I have even heard of bakeries that can not make good sourdough because the bakers yeast in the air is so aggressive that it kills off the lactobacillus and you just can't get the bread to do what it should. I don't think that you'd have any problems getting a hand up on the bacteria....and you'll know if it's fermenting or not.

ChshreCat, if botulinum were growing in the honey (it's not) then there would be bacteria mats all over the top of it. Fungus ferments look pretty much the same, whereas bacteria that create spore colonies on top.

Okay honey update. After this gar of honey sat for a day it had about one inch of foam that looked like head on a beer but thicker. I scraped as much of it off as I could and after one day there is no more foam growing....I'm thinking I will cut my loses on this honey and toss it out(or maby put it into a large jar and let it sit in my pantry for a while and see what it does)

I wouldn't pass up an experiment like that.

It's just fermenting....that foam is natural kraeusen. Don't throw it out.

I say smell it. If it smells like honey I'd keep it. If it smells like a piece of moldy bread that's been found in the fatrolls of a dead obese person, I'd probably throw it out.

Probably.

ChshreCat said:

I wouldn't pass up an experiment like that.

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+1
If you're going to pitch it....send it to me...I'll ferment it and post notes for the class!