Old Mr Beer Extract Kits

I purchased a Mr Beer for $5 to use for test batches and smaller fruit wine batches. It has worked well for that. It also came with ~30 cans of Mr Beer extract kits that expired more than 2 years ago. I figured they were free so I would take them. I don't expect that they would make great beer anyway, but is it worth it to even use them at all?

I typically wash my yeast for future batches, so I suppose I could make a test batch without any real cost to me. I was thinking of using it as a starter for an imperial stout. Good idea or bad? What happens to hopped extract after multiple years in the can?

Throw the old MrB extract cans away. Unless you like severe extract twang. Nothing will cover that taste up from these products.

Trust me.

I have never done a MR Beer kit. I never heard anything good about them before I got into brewing (I started with Northern Brewer extract kits).

So I am of similar mind to slym2none - throw them away....

But if you insist. Brew them up. I would not invest any money at all in them - harvested yeast and NO additions.

I would guess that old hopped malt extract would be like and old IPA - much decreased hop presence.....

kh54s10 said:

I have never done a MR Beer kit. I never heard anything good about them before I got into brewing (I started with Northern Brewer extract kits).

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After Coopers bought them out they really increased in quality.

That being said, OP, toss em. I mean, if you have some of the unhopped extract cans, maybe use them to bake or something, but I wouldn't even do that.

kadozen said:

After Coopers bought them out they really increased in quality.

That being said, OP, toss em. I mean, if you have some of the unhopped extract cans, maybe use them to bake or something, but I wouldn't even do that.

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Haven't heard too many good reviews of Coopers either......

But as a beginning point, OK I guess.

I would think you could use them for starters, as you suggest, but ONLY if you decant ALL of the liquid possible. Disclaimer: I'm definitely not an expert on lme, as I'm very sensitive to the extract twang.

Some fresh MrB cans taste bleh. Old ones just taste gross.

Again - trust me. I know from firsthand experience.

Thanks for the responses. Good feedback. I'm not a beginner, so I don't need to use these as a learning experience. Since they were free I will likely use one as a starter for a batch I'm not going to be too particular about and see if I get any off flavors. Not really worth it for me to drink any of it.

l would send them to @slym2none so he can make a barleywine...he's just to shy to ask

I made a tasty sweet stout out of a my tons can that was 5 years past the best before. It should have been a dry stout but the age resulted in more unfermentables.

Moose_MI said:

l would send them to @slym2none so he can make a barleywine...he's just to shy to ask

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No thank you. I'll never use a Mr. Beer can ever again, even if they were free.

Yuck City.