A Brew Kit From 1994 - Used It Last Night. lol

So, I got this kit at a thrift shop. It had 2 bags of Amber Malt that was almost rock solid, I did a boil on one packet and it broke down back into syrup form and actually smelled quite good !......I sanitized the 1 gallon jug it came with, crushed the hops that were also sealed in a bag, and added some leftover yeast from a 5 gallon batch I did just recently. It even came with it's own sugar, but I've decided to just use some carbonation drops at bottling time and just bottle 6.........How do you think this is gonna turn out ? lol

I don't know but I'm interested to find out. What was the brand?

Lake View Valley Farms.

This looks familiar. Lake View Valley Farms aka DHARMA. It's the same brand that fell on the Lost island. They never go out of date.

iambeer said:

This looks familiar. Lake View Valley Farms aka DHARMA. It's the same brand that fell on the Lost island. They never go out of date.

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I crushed the packet of hops that was still sealed, only used about 1/2 of them, after all it's only a 1 gallon jug but I did use the entire bag of malt where it said to just use 3/4 of it ??......(which I thought was odd? lol)..

It was probably someones 1994-1995 X-mas Gift.

I saw a you tube video of a guy who did the same thing- not sure if it was that old but it was worth the laugh. I tried searching for it but unfortunately I couldn't find it. Don't get your hopes up but I think have a better chance than this guy did. He's actually an HBT member now.

I'd think the malt would be ok as long as it was properly sealed but I can't imagine the hops were ok after that long.

Cool! I'm curious to know how this turns out too. When you say "bags" I assume the kit contained DME? I have a few old bags of DME too and they are hard as a rock, no "almost" about it! I've been afraid to use it because I thought it wouldn't break up and dissolve right, but I can't bring myself to throw it away. Did you just drop the hardened brick in boiling water?

stevedis said:

Cool! I'm curious to know how this turns out too. When you say "bags" I assume the kit contained DME? I have a few old bags of DME too and they are hard as a rock, no "almost" about it! I've been afraid to use it because I thought it wouldn't break up and dissolve right, but I can't bring myself to throw it away. Did you just drop the hardened brick in boiling water?

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Yep, I just cut the plastic off of them with scissors then put it in warm water and kept stirring until it all dissolved and got to a boil. I still have another light amber that came with the kit (hard as my head)....If this turns out ok, I'll do the other one.......lol

geer537 said:

I saw a you tube video of a guy who did the same thing- not sure if it was that old but it was worth the laugh. I tried searching for it but unfortunately I couldn't find it. Don't get your hopes up but I think have a better chance than this guy did. He's actually an HBT member now.

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This guy never fails to crack me up.

dstranger99 said:

Yep, I just cut the plastic off of them with scissors then put it in warm water and kept stirring until it all dissolved and got to a boil. I still have another light amber that came with the kit (hard as my head)....If this turns out ok, I'll do the other one.......lol

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Nice. If it turns out drinkable, I propose you name it "Rock Solid Amber"!:rockin:

vegan: Awesome video! Thanks for posting that! Hard to see the keys through the tears!

And that dude has posted a ****load of videos since then, he's a beer expert now..........lol

geer537 said:

I saw a you tube video of a guy who did the same thing- not sure if it was that old but it was worth the laugh. I tried searching for it but unfortunately I couldn't find it. Don't get your hopes up but I think have a better chance than this guy did. He's actually an HBT member now.

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That video was hilarious. I remember seeing it on here. His came out pretty nasty from what he said in his video but he added coconut and bakers yeast from what I remember. That didnt help it taste any better.

Ok guys, I cleaned up some bottles, used 4 carbonation drops per bottle, and capped up 6. It smelled ok, but didn't reek of beer, It did have bottom sludge, so that old yeast must have worked .....

I'll let it sit for 3 weeks and try one. Will let you know..........(If you don't hear from me, call 911).......

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Definitely waiting to hear from this.

My dad was gifted some starter ingredients (i believe hopped extract, some DME, bottle caps, and a capper, if i remember correctly) about 10 years ago I wanna say.

If yours turns out decent, or maybe even if it doesnt, I might brew up his stuff for him.

He never got started with the hobby, but offered his stuff to me when I told him I was gonna start brewing.

My, oh my...I put one of these in the fridge for a couple days and on Saturday popped the top.... It had an odd old pepsi/coke like smell, and tasted medicinal, like an old bottle of expired cough syrup?? I then thought "What the hell" and drank a few more swallows.. Awful....Just a medicinal like taste??

That's the best way I can explain this little disaster. Needless to say, If there's a forum here of What not to do, this thread should be there......

On a side note, the old kit also came with 6 plastic bottles that I can use to freeze water in, an airlock, along with some extra tubing....

Nyquil clone?

lol. I love when he takes the first drink.

theveganbrewer said:

This guy never fails to crack me up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g09b17V4NWQ

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dstranger99 said:

So, I got this kit at a thrift shop. It had 2 bags of Amber Malt that was almost rock solid, I did a boil on one packet and it broke down back into syrup form and actually smelled quite good !......I sanitized the 1 gallon jug it came with, crushed the hops that were also sealed in a bag, and added some leftover yeast from a 5 gallon batch I did just recently. It even came with it's own sugar, but I've decided to just use some carbonation drops at bottling time and just bottle 6.........How do you think this is gonna turn out ? lol

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Did you pay anything for it. If more that what the airlock, tubing and bottles would cost??????

Obviously the ingredients were no good!

Nice experiment though!

$5.00

iambeer said:

Nyquil clone?

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Rofl.
All the amazing taste, no medicinal value

I think I would have sent it to some good old boys.... and use that sugar for the "Break-Cleaner" they make. Ya got me scared....

that video is awesome. best 10 mins i ever spent