I was gifted a gallon of honey. It was originally in a rusty 60# tin and completely crystallized and had to be heated to reliquify it. I don’t know how old it is, but judging by the tin it’s pretty old. It smells ok and tastes ok except for maybe a slight tinny taste, which may be real or imagined. I eat a lot of honey, brew a few batches with honey per year, and make a few melomels, cysers, pyments, and braggot. Any thoughts on using this old honey? Would you brew with it?
if it tastes tinny I don’t think I would use it. remember when you ferment it all those light/mild flavor notes can become much more assertive. I might also worry about long term exposure to lead solder
Hmmm… I didn’t think about the solder. I was already worried about potentially wasting the other ingredients I paired it with. The thought of it containing some other toxic metallic stuff makes it that much more unattractive. But I hate to waste it. What can I do with it?
Well, honey doesn’t spoil so I wouldn’t worry too much about that aspect.
If it has indeed picked up a tinny taste, the you should of course use your own judgement.
In 1992 and 93, I bought a significant amount of honey from a local beekeeper…I couldn’t resist the price of $2 per 3 pound bottle. I had so much of the stuff that it is only in the last year that I used up the last of that huge stash of honey… and it was delicious (and I’m still here).
Mine was not stored in metal though, but rather in 1 quart glass Tropicana orange juice bottles that the guy had hoarded for god knows how long.
Maybe you should taste some new honey of a similar type to the old honey in a side by side assessment to see if there is indeed a taint from the metal storage.
Make a 1/2 or 1-gal batch of mead first to test the honey. Not sure about the solder issue though…
I work for a food product company that formulates w/“fresh” materials. A buddy in process engineering will sometimes get “old” honey.
For me it is a real score to get a 5 gallon bucket of honey for free.
I’ve brewed w/4 year old honey with no issues. (but mine’s packed in polyethylene)
Do you really think that food-grade cans are sealed with toxic solder? :
Well, at least not since the 70s. But this can may have been that old!
Do you think I should feed it to my 4 year old daughter?
My thoughts. Is honey supposed to taste like tin? How much money are you out if you play it safe?
sure, there are still a lot of problems with honey coming form China all leaded up. besides he didn’t say just how old the tin is.
Not that it is terribly important here but “tin” cans are really tin coated steel cans. Depending on the age of the can it might be soldered at the seams. The solder could contain lead if the can is 40 or 50 years old. Anything new likely has a crimped seam where no solder is used. Tin itself is pure element but is in the same grouping as lead (though not poisonous like lead.
I would think the “tinny” flavor is just due to it being in a can for a long period of time. I would not use it on the chance the flavor would carry through but I’m not sure that I would worry about toxicity.
IMHO, YMMV, IANAM(etallurgist) and I did not sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night. 8)
Paul
Lone gunman, no moonwalk, twin towers… :
Caution? Perhaps? Or are you saying that lead poisoning is a conspiracy theory?
I think I’ll stash it for the end of the world. Y2K, Mayan calendar…when’s the next apocalypse?
Absolutely! I made an excellent Kiwi Mead with honey that sounds just like what you described.