# Honey fermentation



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Was the bottle pressurized inside from CO2? Was it bubbly? I'm just curious what your eveidence is that it is fermented?

It shouldn't ferment at that moisture level and especially if it never crystalized at that moisture level.

Even sugar tolerant yeasts shouldn't be able to multiply at 17.1%.


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## GA-BEE (Jan 20, 2004)

The evidence was a thick layer of white foam on top of the honey when I poured it into another jar. It was like merangue on a pie - thick and very firm. Yes there was pressure when I unscrewed the lid. The honey also has a sour taste.

[This message has been edited by GA-BEE (edited October 18, 2004).]


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Sound like it fermented. I wonder if your refractometer is correct? Perhaps it needs to be calibrated? I really know nothing about them except what I've read. I've never owned one.


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## joey33 (Aug 12, 2004)

GA-Bee,

This is strange, but ask yourself some questions. 

1)Was the honey fully 100% caped when it was extracted?
2)When you let it settle, did you get all the junk off the top?
3)Was it filtered very well?
4)Was it heated to 120 degrees or about an hour?
5)Are you storing your honey at about 70  80 degrees F?
6)When you store it either in large or small containers, are they air-tight?
You live in GA humid most of the time. Honey is going to have some pollen in it. 
Pollen will contain some yeast; yeast will feed on sugar and feed very well in high humidity. A temperature of about 96 degrees F will be best for the yeast to feed on the sugars in your honey. Yeast may have gotten into your honey for junk not filtered out that collected yeast from the air. A combination of yeast, possible exposure to air, high humidity and maybe storage temperature caused fermentation of your honey. Have that refractometer calibrated. I hope I helped.


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## Guest (Nov 11, 2004)

The most likely answer is that while the
honey you SAMPLED measured 17%, the honey
at the bottom of the container was not
as dry.

What we do is to take samples from each super
before extraction. While even this is not
100% foolproof, we look for uncapped frames, and
test those before sorting supers into
"extract now" and "must dry out" groups.

November's Bee Culture has a good article
about one small-scale beekeeper's use of
a basement dehumidifier and a fan to dry
out his supers before he extracts.
Some use space heaters, but the approach
would be the same.


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