Uh-oh - old beer kit a problem?

I just started brewing from a kit (Muntons Gold: Old English Bitter) and I just noticed the kit is a year past its "best before" date; wish I'd noticed before I opened it!

Is this likely to be a real problem? Everything was sealed in tins, it's certainly bubbling away fine, so I guess the yeast was OK. I've smelt and tasted the liquid as it is after 3 days fermenting and it smells slightly sweet (with hints of really nice bitter actually). It certainly has a fairly nice taste and I can't detect any unpleasant or 'musty' flavours. There's only a slightly soapy, bitter aftertaste.

Is this still likely to make a decent beer, or should I consider maybe just bottling up a little of it once it's fermented (just in case) but getting and starting a newer kit instead.

I'd be tempted to start a new kit, a year is quite a long way past. I think they only have a shelf life of a couple of years to start with.

I'd wait to see what the more experienced guys say just to be sure but if it was me i'd air on the side of caution and just start a new in date kit, 2-3 months is a long time to wait to find out you've made 40 pints of grog.



Soapy flavors would come from leaving your beer in the primary fermenter for too long so mabey this is related to the can being out of date?

At this point, I would ride it out and see what you get.

Chances are, if it's only a year past date, and it wasn't exceptionally dark, you'll probably be OK.


I brewed a batch with a can that was probably 20 years old, and it was horrible.