Eight year old beer still in carboy (pic)

[JONNYROTTEN]

This beer goes WAAAAY back to my early days. I don't remember brewing it but I remember I noticed an infection and didn't want to drink it. I never dumped it. I "think" it was some sort of Octoberfest. Cleaning out my basement I came across it. I was going to dump it but gave it a smell and it smells like a sweet green apple. Not bad really. I'm thinking it turned to apple cider vinegar???
I want to give it a try, do yo guys think its ok to sample? I don't want to get sick. You can see the dust on it. The airlock has been dry forever but I think I only opened the rubber stopper once all this time years ago.....Could it be the most expensive aged "something"??

Or will it kill me?

 

[day_trippr]

Sure, go for it! But, first, can I have your stuff?

Seriously, I'm too old to deal with uber sketchiness, and that carboy is filled with that.
Nuke it from orbit...

Cheers!

 

[passedpawn]

Drink it. Don't be a girl.

(oh, that's probably way bad to say. Is it? Yooper will be here in a minute to whack me).

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Its sketchy to say the least.
All the white stuff in the pic is dust on the outside. The only thing on the inside is the krausen and yeast cake...and probably an million things I cant see that makes me nervous...aside from that it looks like a normal conditioned beer

 

[deadwolfbones]

Probably super oxidized, but not likely to hurt you. You might have a really cool sour.

 

[Murphys_Law]

Drink it! You likely won’t die but you may spend a day or two squirting from both holes!! LoL!!

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Drink it! You likely won’t die but you may spend a day or two squirting from both holes!! LoL!!

Maybe a prune juice chaser?

 

[S-Met]

Wines/vinegars can age longer. Sip and spit a shot, chill then repeat. Decide afterwads. My thoughts are that you, or at least I have inadvertently probably had something more risky.

Closed-ish container that hasn't been disturbed in years. Assuming relatively stable temp/humidity of a basement. Definitely worse environments could be found. May have a great malt vinegar.

 

[MaryB]

Not many bugs can live in beer to make a human sick so go for it! Worst case is it tastes like crap...

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I'll give it try. I just need to figure out how to get it out of the carboy. I don't want to tilt it and I'm not going to use my beer stuff just incase

 

[DonGavlar]

Be sure to post back when you’ve had a try.

 

[S-Met]

I don't want to tilt it and I'm not going to use my beer stuff just incase

Use a section of bev tube like a wine thief. Its only a couple bucks lost, and I imagine you have scraps available. Drop it in, plug the end and transfer a sample to a container.

 

[Brownalemikie]

If you have a dog......maybe see if the dog will drink it, then wait a day or 2 to see if the dog gets sick before you drink it

 

[Wyobrew22]

I’m just here for the resolution. I want to know what you made.

 

[triethylborane]

If you have a dog......maybe see if the dog will drink it, then wait a day or 2 to see if the dog gets sick before you drink it

This test would likely produce a false positive and could harm the dog. Dogs do not have alcohol dehydrogenase and a small amount - a few grams possibly - of alcohol can be extremely toxic. The alcohol content of the 8 year old beer is dubious, but not a good method of testing IMHO. Quite a bad one, actually.

 

[biochemedic]

Not many bugs can live in beer to make a human sick so go for it! Worst case is it tastes like crap...

I would modify "Not many" to NONE. Nothing. Pathologic. Can. Live. In. Beer. Period.

I say you have to taste it...and I agree with @S-Met, you might have a nice malt vinegar! Hmmm, I'm suddenly craving a fish sandwich...

 

[mongoose33]

If you drop off the face of the internet and we never hear from you again, we'll know what happened. Good luck!

 

[Jayjay1976]

I can't handle the suspense!!!! FOR CHRISSAKES MAN IF YOU'RE STILL LIVING, HOW WAS IT!?!?!

 

[Smellyglove]

I would modify "Not many" to NONE. Nothing. Pathologic. Can. Live. In. Beer. Period.

I say you have to taste it...and I agree with @S-Met, you might have a nice malt vinegar! Hmmm, I'm suddenly craving a fish sandwich...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozambique_funeral_beer_poisoning

 

[Craigmn]

So only if you add poison?

 

[Smellyglove]

So only if you add poison?

It said they concluded with bacteria if you read further.

 

[Ashevillain]

Test the PH first. If it is above 4 drop the PH before drinking it. Check out milkthefunk on how to ensure if any beer is safe to drink.

 

[S-Met]

From the article, contaminated corn seems to be the source. They also fermented in a different style that is much less lab grade than ours and use a different yeast. I still feel confident that there is little risk in tasting the aged ale.

"with Schizosaccharomyces pombe yeast (which is not the same yeast used in European-style brewing)"

"The investigation into the cause of the poisoning eventually turned up the presence of the bacterium Burkholderia gladioli and two toxins produced by it, bongkrekic acid and toxoflavin, in both the beer and the corn flour that was used to help brew it, and concluded that these were responsible for the deaths and illnesses.

 

[jcav]

I agree with passedpawn, Don't Be A Girly Man!! Seriously though, I wouldn't drink it but I bet that would take the rust off your bumper hitch!

John

 

[Horseflesh]

OP, pls. We have to know!

 

[Kee]

At least take a gravity sample.

 

[whovous]

If you die, please be sure to let us know.

 

[biochemedic]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozambique_funeral_beer_poisoning

From the article, contaminated corn seems to be the source. They also fermented in a different style that is much less lab grade than ours and use a different yeast. I still feel confident that there is little risk in tasting the aged ale.

"with Schizosaccharomyces pombe yeast (which is not the same yeast used in European-style brewing)"

"The investigation into the cause of the poisoning eventually turned up the presence of the bacterium Burkholderia gladioli and two toxins produced by it, bongkrekic acid and toxoflavin, in both the beer and the corn flour that was used to help brew it, and concluded that these were responsible for the deaths and illnesses.

Yes, this was a case of a toxin produced by bacteria, apparently before the beer was even brewed. It would seem as if this is a rare risk...I could imagine the possibility of something similar if one were to add, say, canned cherries that were contaminated with Clostridium botulinum.

I'd still try the beer...

 

[cubalz]

I would try it. Then again, I also would not forget about a carboy full of beer for 8 weeks let alone 8 years....

 

[kristiismean]

I'd taste it. If it had an S lock, I would not touch it, but being a 3 piece, maybe it was enough to keep everything out.

that said, it's going to taste horrible. You are going to end up dumping it, there is no real reason to keep it, but still neat to take a taste before dumping.

 

[divrack]

So only if you add poison?

the obvious question is, have any sinister chaps wearing a black cape been spotted with a small glass ampule filled with a greenish liquid, laughing maniacally and or hissing deviously in the basement over the past several years? if so only drink a small amount, with a sandwich. otherwise chug chug chug chug
Etc

 

[divrack]

From the article, contaminated corn seems to be the source. They also fermented in a different style that is much less lab grade than ours and use a different yeast. I still feel confident that there is little risk in tasting the aged ale.

"with Schizosaccharomyces pombe yeast (which is not the same yeast used in European-style brewing)"

"The investigation into the cause of the poisoning eventually turned up the presence of the bacterium Burkholderia gladioli and two toxins produced by it, bongkrekic acid and toxoflavin, in both the beer and the corn flour that was used to help brew it, and concluded that these were responsible for the deaths and illnesses.

my takeaway from that is that the culprits were Bong something acid, schizo something yeast and some kind of berk holder bacteria.
sounds like stoned people were naming these guys.

 

[divrack]

This beer goes WAAAAY back to my early days. I don't remember brewing it but I remember I noticed an infection and didn't want to drink it. I never dumped it. I "think" it was some sort of Octoberfest. Cleaning out my basement I came across it. I was going to dump it but gave it a smell and it smells like a sweet green apple. Not bad really. I'm thinking it turned to apple cider vinegar???
I want to give it a try, do yo guys think its ok to sample? I don't want to get sick. You can see the dust on it. The airlock has been dry forever but I think I only opened the rubber stopper once all this time years ago.....Could it be the most expensive aged "something"??

Or will it kill me?

i literally taste everything i find in the garage... one day i might discover a new flavour

 

[bigdawg86]

What's the verdict!

 

[Inkleg]

At least take a gravity sample.

^^This^^
You'll want to take two gravity readings 8 years apart to make sure it's fermented out.

 

[ESBrewer]

I would probably throw it away (would have done it 8y ago). But you could start the bottle conditioning phase and let it carbonate and sit for a few more years. This would give a chance for the taste to reach the ultimate level.

 

[Murphys_Law]

Bottle that sucker and enter it into some competition and see what scores you get! If the judge doesn’t die then drink one yourself. [emoji12]

 

[TravelingLight]

In for results.

 

[mrbeachroach]

The funny thing is that the original poster has not commented back. Somebody go check on him I think he tried it.......

 

[Jayjay1976]

I can't handle this much longer.