Old Kit Not Working..

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scottmd06

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A buddy brought me an old kit he found at a garage sale that had been partially used but had plenty of dried extract, hops, dextrose, and brewer's yeast left over. The included fermenter is a one gallon 'cubitainer' with a cap and airlock to be implanted in the hole in the cap..

The extract was all lumped together in clods and I hoped that boiling it would dissolve it and it worked, do you think this was fine?

I also used a home-made yeast start (recommended by the kit) and the yeast still have not started doing their thing..

I'm wondering if this kit was in a hot garage, not properly sealed and this led to the yeast being stored too hot and the malt melting to itself..

Do you think this batch is going to be a dud?
 
I agree, at the bare minimum get some fresh yeast. If it were me though, I'd just throw out the entire kit. The only thing that might be ok is the dextrose, but you have no idea how old it is or the type of environment in which it was stored.
I'd tell my friend thanks for the thought, then I'd go buy some fresh ingredients.
 
Well the yeasties woke up and boy are they chowin' down... I might as well stick it out and see what it tastes like. Luckily its only a one gallon kit (waste of time) but I will see how the six pack turns out lol

*update* it has a slight vinegar scent to it now that it's been going a few hours..
 
Vinegar scent? Uh, oh...

You might not be seeing yeast activity, but Acetobacter. You may well be making a gallon of top-quality malt vinegar instead of beer. Only thing to do now is wait it out.

If you ever buy a kit like this, it's ALWAYS a good idea to buy fresh yeast. Otherwise you have a higher chance of an infected batch. As has been said by many, wait it out, see if it tastes good. If it does, great! Prime it (boil the sugar in a cup of water first!!!!), bottle it, and let it carb. If not...you just got a whole lot of cheap, but hopefully good quality, malt vinegar.
I suggest making a salad with it in that case, and chalking this one up to experience. :eek: :mug:
 
Hahaha. I bottled it. The smell went away and I even tasted a sample and it was pretty good. On an impulse I dropped a tsp of brown sugar in one day (just to see) and I hope that it affected the flavor at least a little...
 
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