Something wrong here?

This is a straight mead at about one month. Ferment looked fine, used WLP720

 

Does it smell funny? Lots of headspace there, you might top off and if this is something funny you can add some potassium metabisulfite to knock it out. WVMJ

 

That does look a little like a bacterial infection but without the rest of my senses I'm guessing. WVMJ is right about the headspace but I don't think KMeta will kill an active infection. Reduce airspace and ride it out - see what happens.

 

Roger-roger. It's only a 3 gallon carboy. At this point there's little cost in taking a wait and see approach in dollars or space.

 

i noticed my mead looked a little bit like that. honey does have bacteria in it and we don't usually heat it. i racked my 5 gallons with a couple campden tabs when i moved it to the secondary and that has long since cleared up.

 

I am not sure I agree that there are any significant bacteria in honey. At the concentration of sugar to water not much can survive still less thrive which is why you don't really need to worry about shelf life of honey. It does not "spoil" . If your honey spoils then there is something else going on. But that said, once you dilute it enough to ferment then you have diluted it enough to accommodate all kinds of organisms.

 

i'm not sure, either, but i have seen some data that show honey (often, not always) has bacteria and even wild yeast (i think) but that it can't grow at all or contaminate the honey.

 

Right, but when you inoculate the must you are adding millions and millions of cells of yeast of one variety that will very quickly dominate the environment and indeed alter that environment (the pH) for example to favor it and to disfavor all other fungi and bacteria. These yeasts quickly start producing alcohol which still more disfavors volunteer bacteria. Since you are not waiting for chance yeasts to come along and start colonizing the must I really don't think that the presence of any few cells that had been in suspended animation or comatose in the honey are a worry or require any special intervention

 

i agree. above i was just sharing my experience

 

Wait and see what else grows in there or learn to stop it and keep it from happening again? Does it smell bad yet? KM WILL stop an ongoing infection but NOT destroy the metabolites like vinegar produced by an infection. Of course honey has bugs in it, they are kept in check by the lower than 18% water content, but as soon as that goes up there are yeast in honey that can ferment it, of course there are bacteria in there, they are everywhere. Who says bees cant walk around on a fresh turd or take a drink of piddle and go right back to the hive WVMJ

 

Right WVJM, but with so little moisture in honey the honey will in fact suck the moisture out of any bacteria and fungi (wild yeast) and so will essentially kill them which is why honey has been used for millennia as a folk bactricide to treat wounds. So bees traipsing about in cow pats or horse urine won't in fact have any real impact on the honey itself. But I am certain others with far more knowledge of microbiology and chemistry may offer a different understanding.

 

Google spores Bernard. Yeast are alive in honey, just in stasis. You can use honey on a wound undiluted as its hygroscopic properties draw moisture out of living active bacteria plus it has hydrogen peroxide and a bunch of acids in it. Dilute that honey and you got a zoo growing on your arm with plenty of sugar to feed themselves. As honey crystalizes water is forced out from between the molecules and collects at the top, it can dilute the sugar enough on the top to allow the yeast present to grow and start to ferment the honey. Honey is not sterile, just a damned hard place for anything to grow. Laymen often confuse the physical effects of the honey on bacteria in a wound to it being sterile, not the case. Some super special honey are even better at wound dressing due to the presecence of special inhibitors or even higher levels of hydrogen peroxide. But its not sterile. WVMJ