Coopers tin out of date, still usable?

Just noticed the coopers lager tin that came with my starter kit has expired it's BBD at 10/2016 so not that far ago. What do you guys think should it still come out OK? Was thinking I got 30 bottles with the starter kit of which I'll only need about 15 for the amber ale so I would have a second set for the "lager" at the ready.

You're probably fine, but ideally the fresher the better. As long as the can isn't bulging it won't be "spoiled" so there's no danger of food borne illness or anything like that. The most likely problem is it could be showing signs of oxidation which could result in a darker color than intended and a flavor "twang" (sadly this was pretty common in extract homebrew back in the day when a lot of the extract wasn't super fresh). That said, you're not too far past the BBD, so you might not notice any issues at all. If it were me, I'd probably exchange it for fresher extract. Assuming it was purchased after the BBD, if your starter kit came from a local shop, they'll probably happily exchange it. Same if it came from an online shop; they'll probably send you a new can free of charge. It's kind of like with cooking, if you're going to take the time to make a nice meal, why not use the freshest ingredients possible?

the can will be fine, you might want to grab a new yeast package though.

Just noticed I`m also short one bottle from the starter kit so gonna go have a word with my LHBS come monday.

Hey just noticed Kharnynb you`re a Finn as well You probly know Viinitalo Melkko in Lahti. I work about half a km away and drive past it on my way to work.

heh, got some stuff from there initially, but their selection for all-grain brewing is rather bare.

nowadays I mostly order from brewcat.fi (somewhere near tampere)

with the coopers kits, really watch out with the instructions, if you want good beer, get some dry malt extract or a can of liquid malt instead of the sugar they suggest.

and ignore their time scedule totally...it's nuts.

Let the beer ferment for at least 2 weeks before you even take a gravity reading, then when the gravity readings are stable for 2 days in a row, bottle the beer and let it carbonate for 2 weeks at room temperature.

reading through your posts, by the way, brewcat sells a nice 27 liter kettle that just about is big enough to do 20 liter batches(similar to american 5 gallon) with a bit of side sparging.

coopers kits are usually 20-25 liters, are you sure you have enough bottles?

pro tip for finland, tokmanni sells boxes of olvi beer on the cheap side(20 euros) so they are a great source of bottles.

29x750ml bottles came with the starter kit (shoulda been 30 grrr...) so yes should have enough.

gotta buy bigger beer glasses then

Just popped into my friendly LHBS for a nice chat. Walked out with a fresh tin of extract, a few extra bottles and bought some spraymalt&dextrose as well. Problem solved.

nice, I haven't seen any posts from you what kind of gear you are using currently.
Are you considering all-grain/biab yet?

Currently I got this kit. ...and now feel like a complete tool...

I got home... got my boots off... sat on my office chair... bent down to get my socks off... guess what I found underneath the office sofa... oh yes, the missing bottle *blush* Oh well to my defence a few of them were pretty mangled so I guess I'll call it even

I'm gonna BIAB at some point. I do have a 15 liter kettle and a hotplate but planning to get a second bigger one as well. I think I saw a suitable 25l with a tap in Biltema for 80 or so, probly gonna get that when I get some spare cash, my truck blew a head gasket for the third time a while ago so don't got a dime to spare ATM. The reason I bought that DIY starter kit is I'm planning to use the fermentor as a secondary/bottling bucket later.

Oh BTW for anyone planning to get that kit, it doesn't have an airlock at all it just vents past the lid, and the vent at the end of the bottling stick or whatever it's called, isn't spring loaded so it doesn't fully close -> put a bucket below to collect the runoff or be ready to mop up...

I have the biltema one, but the tap is hopeless.

http://www.shop.brewcat.fi/teraskattila-hanalla-kannella-265l-p-2836.html
I would get that one instead, would have done so myself, but it wasn't available when i started yet.

Check out tokmanni for fermenting buckets, they sell a 30 liter bucket with airlock for only 15 euro's or so.
That cooper bucket makes a decent bottling bucket with a bottling wand and short bit of tubing.

Daym half the price! Deffy gonna get me one of those.

Same for Prisma, and Melkko themselves around the same ballpark, 17eur or so.

too bad you are a bit far away, otherwise i'd invite you for a brew session to see the process I use for biab.

I'm a biker remember might pop into town sometime in the spring/summer just because.

melkko has gotten better since I last checked their site.

You can get everything but the kettle from them, and their raw ingredients have come a long way.
what you'd really need to switch to biab:

http://www.kotiviini.fi/fi/6752030.php
autosiphon, to transfer beer from fermenter to bottling bucket(also means you can then start "batch priming" instead of using priming drops, much cheaper in the long run)

http://www.kotiviini.fi/fi/6752051.php
clip for the autosiphon, no clue why they sell it without one....

http://www.kotiviini.fi/fi/7808065.php
basic grain bag

Other than that you would just need the kettle, a bottlecapper and a pile of empties

Always up for a brewsession, at least if I know in time