60 Free Grolsch Ceramics, 10 year old homebrew in them...
Ok, so I am pretty darn excited! My boss's husband gave me his old grolsch bottles from back in his day of homebrewing. They are still in the original 20 pack box, which is great, My dilemma: They contain beer that is likely 10 years old or so. I cracked one, and dumped it in the sink. The aroma: Smelled like a sherry or a port wine. I am debating on whether or not to try one (can you say, botulism?), but I am definitely excited to use them for my next batch. The seals look original on them, but none are cracked surprisingly. I am wondering if I should replace them? I did a forum search, but most folks were talking about the generic swing tops - not the actual grolsch ceramic tops.
EDIT - Turned out this was actually closer to 15 years old
Man, I don't know. 10 years is an awful long time for a beer, but it's not uncommon for a mead or something bigger like that. If you smell it and it doesn't smell terrible, there's no mold, nothing floating in it, and a small taste sample offers a delicious beer to your palette, I would assume it's probably pretty good. I'm not a doctor though and I don't play one on TV so don't take my word for it. I guess I just figure that if proper sanitation techniques were used in bottling it's probably ok.
Oh. Replace the gaskets. They cost like a quarter for 50.
I got bottles from my boss' son's first batch, which was probably well over 10 years old. It was a gusher and smelled like vinegar (can't remember if I tasted them), but then I had a bunch of 16oz bottles, so I was happy.
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OMG I cant believe you dumped it! Sadness, please don't dump any more until you at least try it, I imagine it is wonderfull. I had a 40 year old pilsner last year that was as fresh as could be.
Ok that does it! I am going to try it! I have 9 left. I am going to crack one tonight, taking pics, and write my 'review' on this thread! I must say, the one I dumped had a nice ruby colour and it was as clear as a raindrop.
I was a bit irritated, as I was trying to clean the bottle that I dumped. The sediment has turned black, and extremely dense. It took 5 minutes of shaking to get most of it out (methinks no yeast harvesting?), and my stoopid bottle cleaner would not get into the bottom. Those are long bottles. I must buy another one today. Good thing the other 51 bottles are squeaky clean!
60 Free Grolsch Ceramics, 10 year old homebrew in them...
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