Quit brewing for awhile. How long are my ingredients good for?

[max384]

Hello all. I have been on a hiatus from brewing for about a year and a half. The compressor in my kegerator died on me, life got busy, and I just started buying beers instead of brewing for the last 18 months, give or take. Anyhow, I'm back on the horse and getting ready to brew again.

What's still good? I have about 250 lbs of various grains (all unmilled). All of it either in the sack or in tupperware containers. They're in my garage, which is dry, but temps vary from 40s to 80s throughout the year. I know my yeast is toast (though it has been stored in the fridge). My hops were stored in the kegerator, and since it died, they've been unrefrigerated. So I'm assuming they're also toast. Do I have anything left that can be used? Or am I best to just dump it and swear an oath not to let this happen again?

 

[PADave]

Taste your grain, if it tastes ok, should be ok to brew with. Hops, maybe if they were vacuum sealed, smell them. Yeast, nope, unless it is dry yeast.

 

[bleme]

I was just writing out Dave's exact answer when I got the notice that someone else had posted. Good thing I looked before hitting "post reply". That could have been embarrassing!

 

[RM-MN]

Do a starter with your yeast. It's the only way to tell if it is still viable.

Grains are quite tolerant of temperature. I've kept base malt for 2 years with no problem and specialty grains for longer.

Hops you decide after the smell test. If they smell good, the alpha acids may be lower but you can use them. If they smell bad, put them in the trash.

 

[Qhrumphf]

If the hops ate in original nitrogen flushed packages, they won't be ideal but should at least be usable for bittering. If they've beem opened at all (even if opened then vacuum sealed) I'd bin them.

Yeast, if it's dry yeast it's not ideal but may be ok. If it's liquid, unless it's a now unavailable strain you want to rebuild, if you can buy more it'll be cheaper and easier to just replace than to reculture all but dead yeast. Again, probably best to bin it.

Your grains, if unmilled, are probably ok, especially if still in the original sack unopened. I'd give em a good check over for bugs (weevils and the like) but they're probably fine.

 

[max384]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll toss the yeast and opened hops. I'll probably keep the opened ones and see how they smell and just increase the amount of hops I use in a recipe with the old ones, and see how the malts taste.

Thanks again!