Fermented honey can easily be detected as about the only thing to happen to
honey other than crystallization while in storage. Raw honey with a high
moisture content will usually ferment when exposed to warm temperatures.

If your friend is seeing a foam like on top of his honey I would say the
honey is starting to ferment.

Heating the honey enough to kill the yeast will stop the fermentation and
also lower the moisture content a bit. If the moisture content is very high
might take awhile to get the moisture down to honey level by heating .

18.6 and lower is the figure to try to get.

At times yeast if killed in high moisture honey this time of year do to high
temps as we have been told a 100F. will kill most yeasts in honey.
 we are extracting in an area with temps well over a 100F.

The cheap moisture testers work ok ( I have both) *if* you test when the
honey & tester are the same temperature.
They give false reading when the temp of the honey (honey house)and the
tester (air conditioned office)are different.
I leave a cheap tester in the honey processing room and the readings are
very accurate as the honey & tester are the same temp.

The higher priced testers have a method to adjust for temperature. When
trying to get honey in a specific range for Fair honey judging we use the
better testers but for simply extracting and drumming the cheap works well.

bob

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