Shelf life of ingredients?

So a buddy of mine heard I brew and said he had some Brewer's Best kits he never used and that I could have them. Upon opening them up the yeast was dated 3/06. So that's definitely trash. Probably the same for the LME?? But what about the grains and the hops? Or should I just pull the muslin bags and bottle caps out and pitch everything or should I buy some new yeast and give these a go? I guess I don't have much to lose except my time. Thoughts?

The malt extract will be fine but just a bit darker, when you brew with it you could steep some specialty grains to add more of a fresh flavour.

Hops should be kept in the fridge so I don't think they will be very good.

Wow that's some good news that the LME is still good. I'll probably go buy some new grains, hops, yeast and go with it then. So are there any good rules of thumb as to what the shelf life of ingredients are and best way to store it?

Grains (uncrushed) -
Grains (crushed) -
Hops -
Liquid Yeast -
Dry Yeast -
LME -
DME -

you can always try making a starter with the yeast and see if it takes.

Liquid or dry yeast??? If liquid, and it hasnt' been refrigerated, then forget. Personally I'd be far more worried about the LME than anything. Based on your yeast, I'd guess the kits are at least a year old or more. LME will develop the extract twang after it sits awhile. It's not the worst taste in the world, but it's not something I like. Keep the bags, caps, etc... and toss the ingredients in my opinion.

Or you could say what the hell, it's free and as long as you've got the open fermenting room, brew up a batch and see what you get.

Keep the hops around for a decade or two and use them for a lambic. Wait until they go all cheezy and nasty, then toss them in.

If it's brewers best, it's dry yeast. Barely over a year old. I'd try a starter but have a backup packet just in case. Would I use the kit? Yes, I would. The hops are vacuum sealed.

Thanks for the replies guys. I am definately going to brew the kits and see what I get.

I guess the question still remains to be answered yet as to what kind of shelf life do ingredients in general have if stored properly. I've looked back through the old posts and this question always seems to get very few responses if any. Is it just that ingredients other than yeast never really go bad?

Generic Shelf Life Information

http://byo.com/feature/892.html

And farther down this page
http://brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue2.3/miller.html