ingredients question

hey guys I bought liquid yeast. Hops that is sealed and grains for a brew I was going to make but things came up. I bought everything early October and kept the yest refrigerated as well as the hops and the grains in a bread basket... my question is it okay to make the brew using that stuff that has been sitting for a few months?

I am going to guess that the yest and hops would be good. The grains have never gotten wet or anything just don't know if the stuff I am going to brew needs to be used in a certain amount of time..
thanks guys

If the grains are crushed then they will probably not be good any longer.

Are the grains crushed?
Taste the grains and if they don't taste stale, then use them...
Really only one way to find out...brew somethin with it!
Igotsand

A good way to make sure your grain stays fresh is to buy a fresh loaf of bread. When the bread is stale the grain will be stale. With that said, grain from October is most defiantly stale, uncracked grain will keep for a few months if stored properly.

the grains were crushed... but the hops and yest should be okay?

Were_Wolf said:

the grains were crushed... but the hops and yest should be okay?

Click to expand...

I would freeze the hops for future reference. They last longer but they might be fine. As someone already stated, try them out to see. You may want to do a yeast starter for yeast that old.

forstmeister said:

I would freeze the hops for future reference. They last longer but they might be fine. As someone already stated, try them out to see. You may want to do a yeast starter for yeast that old.

Click to expand...

I tasted the grains, they didn't seem stale but I'm not sure what stale grains taste like. I tasted to me like oatmeal without being cooked yet..
To make a yeast starter I put boil some water with sugar in it then take if off and add the yeast once its cooled a little bit right?

Also thanks for everyone responses

Were_Wolf said:

I tasted the grains, they didn't seem stale but I'm not sure what stale grains taste like. I tasted to me like oatmeal without being cooked yet..
To make a yeast starter I put boil some water with sugar in it then take if off and add the yeast once its cooled a little bit right?

Click to expand...

If the package for the grains was unopened and vacuum sealed properly, it might be ok.

As for starters, don't use sugar. Use malt extract. I use extra light DME for my starters. Using sugar can cause the yeast to only ferment simpler sugar, not maltose, and lead to fermentation problems. And you want to pitch your starter cool, just like you do for a full batch. I usually pitch my starters around 65° and let the starter go around 70°.

To make a yeast started you want to get some DME, boil with enough water to yield a 1.036 to 1.040 OG wort, cool and pitch. To know how much water and DME you need go to mrmalty.com or yeastcalc.com and follow the directions there.

Do not make a yeast starter with sugar, use DME. MrMalty.com has a good calculator to tell you how much to use

lol so use malt.. gotcha
The grains weren't sealed but they were in a plastic bag after being crushed then tied shut. So there was some air inside the bag but it tied tight enough that it wasn't allowing air to come in( unless there are super small hole in the plastic bag). I could squeeze the back and it wouldn't deflate or anything...
Would stale grains just taste hard?

well bought some new grains... Got Munich and started it...
lets hope everything goes well

Were_Wolf said:

lol so use malt.. gotcha
The grains weren't sealed but they were in a plastic bag after being crushed then tied shut. So there was some air inside the bag but it tied tight enough that it wasn't allowing air to come in( unless there are super small hole in the plastic bag). I could squeeze the back and it wouldn't deflate or anything...
Would stale grains just taste hard?

Click to expand...

Honestly I have 3 extract well 2 kits that are now months old. the 3rd I recently brewed, and one of the 3 is over a year (I don't remember which). Stored in the mostly dark basment, but summer temps in the 70's. The wort seemed ok, as did the grains. The yeast was dry and fridged, but I did a starter, inpart because of my new stir plate.

Anyhow. These were shiped by Austin Homebrew. the DME looked like it came from LD carlson that way. As far as going stale, it is a function of airflow. These even without the air vacuumed out didn't have fresh air being brought in. The hops were in the standard vaccum foil bags.

I plan on bottling this weekend, I'll let you know. I'm not recommending this for everyone. I may have had a few points of quality decrease by not using freshest ingredients, or I might not. I'd not be surprised to find out that you can store the product for a couple of years before use. It is a matter of how it is stored.

Anyhow OP, let your tastebuds tell you. I bet stale grain is going to taste 'flat' and not 'vibrant' (as if those descriptors help.) Non of my stuff reminded me of food that had gone stale.

At this point since you've paid for the product, worst you could do is waste time attempting the beer, but you might find it is passable.