Buy new brewing supplies or not?

Entering 2010 I had some big plans to brew 2 batches a month and purchased 8 pounds of hops and unmilled grain for up to 10 recipes accordingly. As we all know, the best laid plans always go awry. For family and work, I was out of town from early May through late August. Because I work in politics and it was an election year I didn't have the time to devote to brewing from September through November.

Alas, it's nearly 2011 and I have a stockade of supplies:
1) 6-7 pounds of eight different hops (purchased late 2009). Some hop packages were never even opened.
2) 6 unmilled sealed grain recipe kits from Brewmasters Warehouse (purchased early 2010).

Now, here's the kicker that all the gents on the board can appreciate. Because it was I that left town (with my kids mind you), my wife decided that my measly one box of supplies should live in the garage during the summer so that it was out of her way.

So, should I just get rid of it all and purchase new brewing ingredients?

Financially speaking, I'm looking at a <$200 loss which isn't the biggest of deals. Of course, I'd like to salvage what I can though. Based on what I have read from searching is that the hops may incurred too much temperature damage.

TIA.

It won't cost you anything but some time to brew one batch and see how it turns out. Unsealed hops might even survive hot temperatures. The grains I would think should be fine if they were kept dry.

For reference, I have hops that are two-three years old...kept sealed and refrigerated and they are fine.

BierMuncher said:

It won't cost you anything but some time to brew one batch and see how it turns out. Unsealed hops might even survive hot temperatures. The grains I would think should be fine if they were kept dry.

For reference, I have hops that are two-three years old...kept sealed and refrigerated and they are fine.

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Ha. Very true. More worried about the hop flavor than anything. I'm not worried about the exact IBU's so maybe increasing the hops by 50% in a trial brew?

Grains were in sealed packaging inside of an airtight sealed container. Hops were just inside the airtight container and I did reseal the foil packaging with a hot iron.

You could drop some pellets or flowers into a cup of very hot water and give the aroma the sniff test. If hops have gone gamey...they will let you know through your nose.

I'd crack open a couple of the hops bags. I'm assuming you have pellet hops. If they look brown and smell kind of cheesy, they've turned on you. If they're green and smell like a plant, then at worst, they've lost some of they're bittering potential. As for the grain, if it isn't moldy, it should be fine.

JJL said:

I'd crack open a couple of the hops bags. I'm assuming you have pellet hops. If they look brown and smell kind of cheesy, they've turned on you. If they're green and smell like a plant, then at worst, they've lost some of they're bittering potential. As for the grain, if it isn't moldy, it should be fine.

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Thanks. I know the "expiration date" question gets answered a lot on here, so I appreciated the specific feedback.