Old DME/Crystal Malt

I bought a home brew kit on ebay which had a carboy, siphons, bucket etc. It also had an old kit of ingredients to make amber beer (dated 2002) I threw the yeast out. Here is what it came with:

3 lb Amber DME
2lb light DME
2cups Crystal Malt
3/4 cup priming sugar

There was no hops so I bought 1 once of Mt. Hood Hop Pellets Alpha 4.2% and some Dry Ale yeast.

Is the DME too old? Also, was this the right choice of hops? Do I need more of something to put in there (more hops, DME)? I like the lagers better then the ales, but my favorite ale whould be New Castle :rockin: . I'm going to be making an order from Morebeer soon. I'm a newbie and only have made 1 batch so far which I bottled today.

As long as the DME is still sealed it's still good.

You might want more hops...

SkewedAle said:

You might want more hops...

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More of the same you think? Or some different kind? I don't know what kind would go good with this.

Toss the Crystal malt, it's stale by now. Unmilled grain is only good for about a year, if it's milled a month or two max.

david_42 said:

Toss the Crystal malt, it's stale by now. Unmilled grain is only good for about a year, if it's milled a month or two max.

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I hope I didn't screw up. I used some crystal malt that has been in my freezer for over 3 years! I used it in my last 2 batches. It was in vacuum sealed bags so I'm hoping it's OK. I'll be kegging the first of them, an ESB, this weekend. Keeping my fingers crossed.