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.

Do you have a dog you could offer it to? Then watch to see if it gets sick.

Just kidding btw. But I agree, if it doesn't smell foul, it's probably safe to try a sip or two.

10 years is not long at all for a beer. Drink one.

Nothing will grow in beer that will hurt you. Drink one, you may be dumping a great beer.

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.

botulism can't survive, grow or produce toxins in an environment with alcohol. There are no pathogens that can survive in beer.

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!

Just soak it in oxyclean and hot water overnight, should take care of that yeast sediment

I had a Sierra Nevada Barleywine from 1999 and it was fantastic. It smelled very sweet, and definitely had a sherry/port flavor about it, almost a brandy. As long as there are no molds or floaties in the beer I would give it a try. Just make sure not to pour the bottom 20% of the bottle into your glass. You risk getting some autolyzed yeast in there, which I hear tastes like death.

conpewter said:

Just soak it in oxyclean and hot water overnight, should take care of that yeast sediment

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I will try this, will keep yall posted.

I ran into a something like this last year also. I bought 200 older brown grolsch from a guy who dad pasted away last year. He was cleaning out his basement, and he wanted the room. I did have to pay just under .75 a bottle, but i was still happy. The cool thing was the guy brewed in the 80's. He had all kinds of unopened beer left over. So what I did was chill a few for a few days, and then at my next brew club meeting I passed out a sample to see what people thought of my new beer. They had no idea they were drinking 30 year old plus beer. Allmost everyone liked it, it had a malty sweet flavor to it. A few we have tryed are dumpers, but most by far are drinkable.

As for the rubber seals, replace them even if they look good, also if any of your ceramic lids are chipped or crack, get rid of them, you will loss preasure, and they will not carb right.

I notice a very big difference between the old bottles and the newer green bottles. Besides the ceramic vs plastic tops the new bottles have way better seals. They seem to be a harder silicone rubber instead of natural rubber.

Anyone know where we could get newer style seals? They won't have the same tendency to dry out and crack and probably seal better. Hell there's flip top on a Borkrijks Kruikenbier (Golden Ale) and the seal is brand new. I wish I could get my hands on these darker read more plastic like seals.

Malt vinegar is great on fried fish and chips. :^)= Of course 9 bottles of that is a lot of vinegar. Seriously, if they are vinegar you will see a "vinegar mother" on the bottom kind of a fibrous wispy thing that the vinegar grows from.

Drink it. It can't kill you and if it tastes great you are ahead of the game. If it is undrinkable, dump it.

oh man, you have to try one, what's the worst that could happen?

Going to idle in here for an update and pics lol

I had some of my own homebrew that was over 10 years old with the black yeast. It was like a moldy, wet, chalky piece of cardboard. It either didn't age well or I really sucked at brewing.

I would really be interested to see this beer in the glass and hear how it tastes! Have you poured yourself a glass yet?

Primetime said:

I ran into a something like this last year also. I bought 200 older brown grolsch from a guy who dad pasted away last year. He was cleaning out his basement, and he wanted the room. I did have to pay just under .75 a bottle, but i was still happy. The cool thing was the guy brewed in the 80's. He had all kinds of unopened beer left over. So what I did was chill a few for a few days, and then at my next brew club meeting I passed out a sample to see what people thought of my new beer. They had no idea they were drinking 30 year old plus beer. Allmost everyone liked it, it had a malty sweet flavor to it. A few we have tryed are dumpers, but most by far are drinkable.

As for the rubber seals, replace them even if they look good, also if any of your ceramic lids are chipped or crack, get rid of them, you will loss preasure, and they will not carb right.

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Man, I know what that guy went through being "Pasted Away", I live on the west coast and we get hardly any sun during the winter. I am feeling pasted away myself. Sorry I can never pass up ann opportunity to be a smartass!

On topic, good to hear some of that was drinkable. I have placed some in my fridge and I am thinking of doing my play-by-play 'try the 10-15 year old beer pictures' tonight. And thanks for the tip about the seals/lids. Unfortunately, the only ones I can find in town are the PLASTIC ones for those 'EZ-Cap' deals. I cannot locate the rubber grolsch ones, the only source is $20 for 100 which will cost another $15 in shipping. Crap.

UPDATE: Tonight is the night, will be taking my pics and posting them. Should be by about 9PM Pacific time

Well it's past the time... hope he didn't croak after drinking one!

Seriously, we need an update here lol

10:50 pst, what's the verdict?

Sorry im late, a buddy came over to give me a hand (as well as drink some Fullers ESB, and a few other commercial and craft brews).I will try posting my pics:

The free beer boxes, 2 of the 3:



A contemporary perspective



The pour




It had A nice ruby Color.



The verdict:
The beer smelled like a sherry or a port. It smelled like it would taste like a complex barleywine.
Tasted it, and.............. BAM........... hit with the oh-so easy going taste of a coopers extract kit-esque bitter. Honestly, this tastes like the first beer I ever made, which was a coopers kit made with dextrose. I am quite happy, though, that my skills ended up being better than that of the guy who gave me the bottles. Somehow I pictured him to be a Yoda like beer figure. Or was that just because he was older than me? However, the nose (or aroma/aftertaste) was the strange sherry-like dealio. The taste was ok, the aroma was actually quite counterproductive. Actually, 2 gulps and it went...



However, at the end of the night, my toilet still looked like:



Here was the bottom of the bottle, hope you can see the black yeast cake... 15 years old is what I confirmed the age, not 10.

Very nice pictoral. Thanks for sharing.

So . . . . . It's an aquired taste?

Thank God for no stomach pains or death!

Airborneguy said:

Thank God for no stomach pains or death!

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When I was about 16 a friend and I were checking water troughs on a ranch in an old pickup. We had a flat. While looking for a tire tool we found a can of beer under the seat. It had been under there so long that all the paint was rubbed off so we couldn't even tell the brand. It was 90 degrees or more that day but we were 16 so we drank it. No ill effects.

Off topic, sorry.

Wow, nothing should be allowed to look so good and smell like that and not taste good, thanks for posting! Gotta stash some bottles of my own away, all the aged goodness no coopers taste.

I picked up a growler at a yard sale that was from Germany, still sealed ( those tax seals like hard liquors have) with beer inside. I was told the original owner brought it back from Germany in 1985; I tried it, was not good, so the sink drank it. The growler was obviously what I wanted. It is embossed with Brauer Bier, and is amber with the ceramic stopper and stainless handle.

Pete08 said:

I picked up a growler at a yard sale that was from Germany, still sealed ( those tax seals like hard liquors have) with beer inside. I was told the original owner brought it back from Germany in 1985; I tried it, was not good, so the sink drank it. The growler was obviously what I wanted. It is embossed with Brauer Bier, and is amber with the ceramic stopper and stainless handle.

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Ah! My grandpa has one of those. The gaskets and rubber piece look like hell..