# Fermented honey



## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

I extracted honey combs in spring which were one year stored in my basement. It was the surplus after feeding my splits this spring.
Most of it was from sugar syrup feed the year before.
There was capped honey and pollen on the combs, no brood residues.

Honey in germany is mostly extracted, covered as to draw no oxygen, vaccinated with crystallized honey and stirred, then bottled, because it will not stay liquid. It´s creamy then. Or it will be frozen and warmed to 40°C as to be liquid when sold.

I´m a hobbyist and I don´t want to warm the honey.
I sell a small part to customers who like "natural" honey, just as it comes out of the cells.

So I just extracted, sifted it, skimmed it off after one day and bottled it.

Three days ago, when I checked my bottles before selling them I saw that some bottles are fermented, no mold.
As much as I like to eat those, thinking it healthy  , I would like to know how to prevent this.
Any advise?


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

There is nothing wrong with eating it, I use thin honey for anything in the kitchen, coffee, tea, mead.... It usually ferments while waiting to be used. 

Looks like yours crystalized and fermented, still nothing wrong with it. Just can't sell it because of appearance. 

If you heat it to 100 deg F for several hours you may be able re-liquify and stall the fermentation for a bit. I still would not try to sell it.

You can also feed it back to the bees.

A basement is probably the best place to crystalize honey. Freezing comb helps prevent it from crystalizing.


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## bevy's honeybees (Apr 21, 2011)

How can I force some honey to ferment? I'd like to start with 1/2 pint canning jar. These pictures will tell me my honey is fermented? 

I make my own Kombucha and I use honey in second ferment with fruit juice. I'd love to start using fermented honey .


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

>How can I force some honey to ferment?

Add water, the more you add the faster it will ferment. Use any raw unprocessed none corn syrup honey, so basically don't use store bought honey.


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

I realized it was fermented when the lid was under pressure and popped.

Seems I have something special here! Nice.

Any links to a receipt using fermented honey? bevy?

Ah, just found something.
http://paleo-foodporn.blogspot.de/2014/04/fermente-step-by-step-ingwer-in-honig.html


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## bevy's honeybees (Apr 21, 2011)

I realized after I posted my question that I already AM fermenting the honey I use for Kombucha. Let me start with this--I have had several people tell me that my Kombucha is the best they've ever had. 

I make a gallon of Kombucha (I actually have 5 gallons going on all the time, rotating to have one gallon ready every other day or so). 
On second brew kombucha, I use my wonderful raw honey, organic juice, and 12 oz of Kombucha per special beer/booch bottles. The second brew, the honey must be fermenting because it is stored at room temperature for several more days. One gallon makes 7 bottles of 16 oz fantastic Kombucha. I'm keeping my recipe a secret so don't tell anyone. :no:

All that to say, you can use fermented honey for second brew Kombucha.

Thanks for that link. I love ginger.


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## psm1212 (Feb 9, 2016)

siWolke: Does it have a strong smell? I have never smelled fermented honey. Just wondering if it smells strong like fermented fruit, etc.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

Thin it down a bit more to a Specific gravity of about 1.o85 and let it finish fermenting, Then you can drink it rather than eating it. Mead! The honey that satisfies!


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Why are you mixing the new honey with the old crystallized one? Over the winter the
new honey will turn into crystal anyways. So no need to mixed them in.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

beepro said:


> Why are you mixing the new honey with the old crystallized one? Over the winter the
> new honey will turn into crystal anyways. So no need to mixed them in.


 Unless you are looking for creamed honey. In which case you would be looking for the small crystal culture as a starter. Maybe that is her intention.


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

psm1212 said:


> siWolke: Does it have a strong smell? I have never smelled fermented honey. Just wondering if it smells strong like fermented fruit, etc.


Yes it smells fermented. Nice smell. 

@ bevy. Maybe I will try this. Need a starter though. I´m looking today at the organic food shop. I do my own organic fruit juice. 

Some I will use with ginger or with walnut. I think I have to do some experiments. 

@tenbears
That´s what my husband says. Sounds good too.

@ beepro
I have not so much honey as to separate the different ones for extracting. This year I will separate the new one I harvested because it´s more. I´m only taking surplus.

My customers do not want liquid honey. They want it to stay on their piece of bread. They want it like it comes out of the comb, starting to crystallize. They are sick of convenience honey thinned with molasses.
The dark fall honey made of lice juice is liquid. It´s the only honey they accept as that. But I don´t have special flow honey.

Sibylle


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

SiWolKe said:


> Yes it smells fermented. Nice smell.
> 
> The dark fall honey made of lice juice is liquid. It´s the only honey they accept as that. But I don´t have special flow honey.
> Sibylle


So lice juice honey, eh? Eewwwl!!!!
The thick honey we call them creamed honey here. Yummy! Many of my friends like it too. Next time tell your customers that the Spring honey from March to June will be a bit liquidy than the Autumn harvest honey. It is true in that many different wild flowers to make up for the lighter golden honey we have here. It is not the darker buck wheat honey. The sugar content will be much higher, 10 x sweeter than sugar. Good thing about it is you don't have to separate them at all. Just mixed them up and call it wild flowers honey. Everybody here like the wild flowers with a distinct taste and smell to it. I always don't have enough of them for sale here. Too many asking for it. So if they are the creamed honey then it is good. But if they are the liced or varroa juice honey then I'll pass on this one. Do fermented (too much water content) honey smells a bit like alcohol in it too?


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

People are so stupid, paying double money for honey made of louse **** ( ahh I see I´m moderated)). Well it tastes good!
Only honey mixed with royal jelly out of dark combs taste better.

I myself rather like bitter honey. We have no bitter honey except the fall louse **** honey but it´s not really bitter enough for me.. People like sweet honey without taste. But not my customers. 

If varroa ****s honey I rather would keep varroa, but it has only virus to give... Well I had my revenge. My new chicken et all drone brood samples with varroa on them. They even saw the mites without some magnifying glasses.
Maybe I can teach them to groom my bees?
They respect stinging insects as I saw.

The fermented honey has had not too much water. It was entirely capped. I believe it drew water from air after extracting. I have to be careful with that situation. Follow squarepegs advise or use a foil while letting it ripen. My basement is not very cold either.
It´s not really smelling of alcohol, I don´t know how to describe it.

Because it is fast in changing to candy I have to bottle quickly. My customers don´t take frozen or heated honey.


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## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

'Stupid' seems to be the natural human condition, it's 'smart' that requires work.


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

No problem tenbears


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

Now i made this bottle with ginger, garlic , one chili and some weeds, rosemary, thyme and sage.
How to proceed?
The veggies rise on top, should I stir?
And at what temp should I keep it?


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Wow! You got it all. Talk about specialty here. What a great batch of honey. Bitter, dark comb, louse, and weeds added too! I'm sure they will come back for the HIGHs of it. Haa, ha! I wonder what is next you can come up with that the customers will like. Wonder if there is such a thing as a Louse tree? Put a 100 watt light bulb to take out the moisture for a few days then bottle up the honey. Tightly sealed should not reabsorb moisture into the jars. Or you can use a moisture testing gadget to test the honey before bottling.


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

God it smells great!
It´s not for any customer it´s for me....I have it in the fridge now, it´s bubbling a little bit. I stir it now and then.

There are many lice trees, beepro. Linden, fir, maples. If the louse temps are right.

A watt bulb? Really? Those are prohibited here. New energy and waste law. LED is the future.


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## GaSteve (Apr 28, 2004)

When you say lice honey, I assume that is what we would commonly refer to as honeydew honey which is made from the "secretions" of aphids. Aphids are also known as plant lice, but somehow lice honey sounds less appealing. According to Wikipedia, the German Black Forest honey is made from aphids found on silver fir trees.

To the question in the original post, to prevent fermentation the moisture level has to be reduced to less than 19% - more or less to prevent the yeast in honey from becoming activated. A rule of thumb that I've always gone by is that honey will give up moisture if it is exposed to air with less than 50% relative humidity. Any more and it will gain moisture. Drying honey can be sped up with drier air, moving air over the honey, and more honey surface area exposed to the dry air.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Now that is easy. Just hang a small heater fan on low over the honey tank. Moisture will
naturally dissipate over a few days. So simple!


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

> honeydew honey


Ah, here comes the term, thanks GaSteve!

Yes you are right, the beekeepers migrate to the Black Forest.

But there is dew honey from many other trees and plants and if there is no flow of blooming the bees produce red honey from fruits here. Which is a real problem because you cannot sell this.

Guys thanks for the advise which I will follow.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Post your red honey as specialty honey online to see who will be interested in it.
You never know who want your red honey until you package it as specialty honey.


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

I myself have no red honey.
I´m only taking surplus, my bees are never as desperate.
If they starve they get honey comb.


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