Reusing lime water for eggs?

So I tried water glassing March of last year and recently used up all the eggs. All the lime is still in the water and since it doesn’t evaporate I’m thinking I could reuse the water and just add what evaporated. The only issue I see would be bacteria or something. Thoughts?

Hi, Nick! Just for clarification, water glassing uses isinglass, lime preserving uses slaked/hydrated lime. Similar process, but different chemicals.

I personally have been using the lime preservation method, for about 4yrs, now, and have happily eaten eggs preserved this way that have been up to 3yrs old. However, I wouldn't trust reusing the lime. I might be simply overcautious, but... I'd honestly prefer just pouring it into the garden. Lime is not expensive, in my opinion, so it's just not worth it, to me, to risk the eggs.

I met someone at WL who said they reuse their lime water year after year.  I am on my second year now without issues...

Mike Haasl wrote:I met someone at WL who said they reuse their lime water year after year.  I am on my second year now without issues...

I wonder if each batch of the eggs have been stored as long as some of mine... Maybe, if I'm reusing the ones that haven't been stored so long, I would try it - so long as the batch I'm trying it with was a good one to start with.(I've had to toss 2 batches - a total of about 3 dozen eggs, because one or two broke) I've not intentional stored more than 1 or 2 batches per year, for longer than a year - most are less. Only one batch has been intentionally saved for 3, one for 2.5, and one for 2 - for experimenting. There was one jar that got lost in the back of the pantry for over 2.5, and I was glad to find it - the timing was perfect!

Mike, do you recall whether there was anything they did differently, in the subsequent years? I've not noticed any evaporation, only what comes up with each egg, as I remove them from the jars. But, I've also noticed that some lime comes out on the eggs, too. I think this has been my stumbling block - how do I know, especially as I get to the bottom, where more lime is removed with each egg, that the lime: water ratio is where it needs to be?

I don't know.  It probably depends how precise the ratio was in the initial batch and how much it changes each year as you pull wet eggs out.  I'm gonna guess that you can just reuse it for a number of years.  Hopefully that number is closer to 5 or 10 than it is to 1...  

Makes sense,  thank you!

This year, I plan to try liming duck eggs, too. Seems like mine always quit laying before Christmas, andI love duck-eggnog!