How vulnerable to bacteria is honey?

Whenever I add honey to beers, I usually add it directly into the fermentor around high krausen. Its always a newly opened container and i just dump the whole thing. Well I got a big 5lb thing of it at costco a few months back and used some of it last month.

The brew I made last night is going to have honey in it, but I realized it may not be a good idea to add it to my beer from an opened container. Its only been opened once before, I dont see any dirty particles and stuff in it, but Im not sure if you would be able to visually see like the beginning of a pellicle in honey. I mean its mostly sugars, right? I figured itf it was harboring an infection, youd see it

Pure honey is an excellent preservative. It will not grow mold. The risk of contamination would be from the outside of the container that was not sanitized.

flars said:

Pure honey is an excellent preservative. It will not grow mold. The risk of contamination would be from the outside of the container that was not sanitized.

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This.

Back in the Civil War, honey was used to cover wounds so as to keep germs/bacteria from growing in the cleaned wounds.

great thanks guys> I figured as much. Like ive never seen a honey bear with a pellicle in it and those usualyl sit around opened for a year or more. Ill just dump it in sometime tomorrow. 4th saison this month!

Honey is full of bacteria spores, they are just inhibited by all the sugar and the nonavailability of the water. That's why you never feed honey to a baby (they can get botulism from it)

Young mead doesn't seem to spoil tho', so you're probably pretty safe adding uncooked honey to your fermenter. Just don't kid yourself that it's sterile.

z-bob said:

Honey is full of bacteria spores, they are just inhibited by all the sugar and the nonavailability of the water. That's why you never feed honey to a baby (they can get botulism from it)

Young mead doesn't seem to spoil tho', so you're probably pretty safe adding uncooked honey to your fermenter. Just don't kid yourself that it's sterile.

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^^

Exactly. Bacteria won't grow on honey, but it's there nonetheless.

I would not put raw honey into a beer. Add to boil at 5 minutes.

Bacteria can grow on the surface if there is any moisture. It will probably be fine, but I wouldn't add honey directly from an opened container. I'd heat it to pasteurizing temp before adding.

Question: Would you add liquid malt extract directly from a container that had been opened for a couple of months? It has a similar sugar and water content as honey.

I never boil the honey. I just add it when the krausen starts to drop.


The yeast are still hyperactive, and they don't take too kindly to intruders. Strength in numbers is an added bonus too...

passedpawn said:

^^

Exactly. Bacteria won't grow on honey, but it's there nonetheless.

I would not put raw honey into a beer. Add to boil at 5 minutes.

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passedpawn said:

I've only made mead a couple of times, but I think nearly ALL of the honey sat right on the bottom. No problem, the yeast found it. So, I say leave it alone. True mazers will come in here and help you though, follow their advice. I did not heat up anything.

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Just wondering as to exactly why you would pasteurize before adding to beer, but when making a mead you don't bother heating anything. Seems something fishy going on.

So, honey in it's natural state can have lots of bacteria that are more or less dormant because of the low water content of honey (as mentioned already).

Adding honey to cool, nutrient rich wort can expose those bacteria to a very hospitable environment for growth.

That's how the risk is there.

AZ_IPA said:

So, honey in it's natural state can have lots of bacteria that are more or less dormant because of the low water content of honey (as mentioned already).

Adding honey to cool, nutrient rich wort can expose those bacteria to a very hospitable environment for growth.

That's how the risk is there.

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They're talking about adding honey after fermentation has already started.

Once yeast have multiplied and dominated. Once there's ethanol present. Once the pH has started to drop to a predominantly stable level from a microbial standpoint (aside from known beer spoilage organisms, which we know to not be harmful).

Worst case scenario is you pick up spoilage bacteria, and even then, you're adding in small numbers into an inhospitable environment. Nothing that could hurt you could make it through unless it was already growing in the honey (which in honey, as already indicated, doesn't happen unless on the surface if exposed to moisture so the water content changes). If you're adding to cooled wort without pitching yeast, then sure, maybe.

Generally if I'm adding honey to a beer, or making a mead, I add just after flameout (or for mead, boil some water, cut the heat, and then add the honey). Hot enough to pasteurize without actually boiling. And then active fermentation handles the rest.

Zepth said:

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Just wondering as to exactly why you would pasteurize before adding to beer, but when making a mead you don't bother heating anything. Seems something fishy going on.

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Haha, that's true. I made mead twice, and really didn't know what I was doing. I'm not recommending anyone follow any part of my mead process In that thread, I was just commenting that honey sitting on the bottom of the carboy wasn't a problem.

@passedpawn

Fair enough. Though if it didn't get infected or wrecked (which I would hope you'd have mentioned if it did happen) I'd be inclined to think that active fermentation of desired yeast in any beverage should overcome anything that is added while dormant / sugar shocked.

Fun fact: I didn't even try to mix the ingredients on my latest mead. About 2/3 of the honey at the bottom has disappeared. I'm calling it "step feeding for the whole batch." Might post over in the other section later with how that worked out in the end.

Zepth said:

@passedpawn

Fair enough. Though if it didn't get infected or wrecked (which I would hope you'd have mentioned if it did happen) I'd be inclined to think that active fermentation of desired yeast in any beverage should overcome anything that is added while dormant / sugar shocked.

Fun fact: I didn't even try to mix the ingredients on my latest mead. About 2/3 of the honey at the bottom has disappeared. I'm calling it "step feeding for the whole batch." Might post over in the other section later with how that worked out in the end.

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That's exactly how I looked at it, step feeding. Kinda seems ideal with regards to yeast health.

My meads fermented fine. Too fine, really. They were so high in ABV that I couldn't drink them. I'm pretty sure I gave them all to a friend.

Hmm crap.... Well I added it today shortly after my last post. The fermentation was in full swing. The container had only been opened once before 2 weeks ago and both times I sprayed it with starsan. I guess I'll hope for the best and report back

No signs of infection 1 month later. The honey I used was a 5lb container that had been previously opened twice if that matters.

m00ps said:

No signs of infection 1 month later. The honey I used was a 5lb container that had been previously opened twice if that matters.

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Thanks for closing the loop.