Risks and dangers of delayed fermentation?

[wide-raft]

Quick question.

I'm trying a couple of different wild fermentations. OK, actually I'm doing several, but there are two that I'm wondering about.

I'm interested in how this honey and water becomes mead. Because I have not added a yeast packet, I am relying on either airborne wild yeast or yeast in the honey or on the spices.

The obvious risk is that I can't control the quality of the eventual brew. It may not be strong, it may have off flavors, etc. I am doing this because I'm curious and hopeful.

My question is:
What are the health hazards of a delayed fermentation? If it sits for a week or two or three or more without beginning primary fermentation, are there invisible bad things going on? Could there be? I would think that a mold would be visible, and I'm not sure that something like botulism would occur, but I don't know. Could weird bacteria multiply without producing any visible sign (like bubbles)? If I don't constantly go around shaking it introducing air into it, can botulism and such form?

I want to experiment with this, and so I'm going to be patient with each batch. But I wonder if anyone can point me in the direction where I can research potential microbiological issues with this? Honey itself is pretty stable, but when it's been watered down, what then?

I have brewed meads in the past with some very superb results. I used ec1118 yeast on those. Initially it tasted all right, and then about a year or two after bottling the flavor of those batches were phenomenal. I'm interested in wild fermentation as a process and I'm open to what results.

Here is my mead log / recipe of the brews in question:

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It feels so wrong to do all this work and then put into the primary fermenter. It seems so dubious and certain to spoil.

8/3/13
First Mead: Whole Comb Honey and Water

We bought a whole comb from somebody who keeps bees nearby. I unwrapped this and dropped it into the jar. Then I added distilled water.

1 comb with honey
Distilled Water

First I put distilled water in the saucepan with lid on and boiled for a few minutes. Then I added the glass jar, turned upside down, and let boil for a few minutes. Then I poured the water into the jar, sloshed it around, and dumped it out.

I did not use the rubber seal that came with the hinge-top jar, because I did not want the glass to break once fermentation began. I kept this jar in a brown paper bag inside our cabin. Temperature fluctuation probably 65-85 F.

8/5, new moon - I moderately swirled it (did not open the container). Maybe there are a few yeasty bubbles. Maybe not.

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Second Batch: 1 Gallon plus a quart remainder

Using large brew kettle, 1 quart blackberry honey from local source and many spices.
(cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, mace, fennel pollen, vanilla extract)

Sterilized cookpot and gallon bottle in similar manner as above. Brought 1 gallon of distilled water to a boil and then as it cooled I added the honey and the spices. Left in there for a bit, and then drained into gallon jug with airlock. Not all the spices were coming through the brew pot's spigot, so I added more directly into the jug. The remainder went in the honey jar with lid screwed on loosely and a bit of distilled water added to bring the total toward the top. Fingers crossed. Same feeling as before: Certain failure?

8/5; - To the carboy, I swirled it and shook it up vigorously for awhile. Every day since then I have vigorously shaken both the jar and carboy to encourage yeast action.

To the jar, I shook vigorously and added a slice of ripe peach (mostly skin). I am wondering whether the peach skin has enough wild yeast on it to get the thing going.

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Since doing those two meads, I have also successfully captured some wild yeast from grapes and peaches and I'm working with a ginger bug (nothing there yet, though). I have some sour pickles going and some serrano hot sauce going. But I was thinking I would just be patient with the mead...