What else can I do to work against me?

[NYShooterGuy]

Last night I prepared a Brewer's Best kit that was bequeathed to me from a friend that got out of the hobby.

He said he had it for a year in his office and just never got around to making it.

LME, Crushed specialty grains, dry yeast, hops: all in the box at room temperature for at least 356 days.

I figured "other than the gas for the steeping/boil, water for the wort and chiller, electric for the fermentation and the time to make it, what do I have to lose?"

I steeped the grains (8 oz. 80L crystal, 8 oz. Victory, 4 oz. Carapils) for 45 minutes at 154°F. Sparged with 170°F water and took a ferfactometer reading. 1.006 with 6.5 gallons. (About 80-90% efficiency according to my calculations)

Added the LME, corn sugar, and hops as per the recipe and 1 tps yeast nutrient, 1 tsp Irish Moss, and than....

Had to run an errand. I turned off the boil at the 60 minute mark and let the wort sit on a low flame while I ran out to do my errand.

75 minutes later brought the wort back to a boil that took about 25 minutes to achieve, boiled for 10 minutes to sterilize the wort again and chilled to about 84°F that took about 35 minutes with the chiller.

6.25 gallons of cool wort in the kettle....
...only 6.5 gallon buckets. Not a lot of room for krausen. I sanitized (2) 6.5 gallon buckets, poured the wort from the kettle into each and aerated with back and forth from bucket to bucket.

Rehydrated the BRY 97 in room temp 4 oz. Sterile H20, and placed the buckets and the jar of rehydrated yeast into the kezzer at 62°F temp for 14 hours.

Woke up the next morning, opened the buckets, dumped the yeast, and dumped the cool wort from one into the yeast added bucket.

Placed the bucket in the Kezzer and set the temp for 66°F.

Crossed my fingers and made this post.

 

[zacster]

I'd think the grains would go stale, the hops would be dead, and the LME would be a bit funky, but otherwise you'll be OK It'll be beer in the end.

 

[Sadu]

Nothing to lose by giving it a go. good attitude.

 

[ericbw]

Explain your boil again? 75 minutes on low, 25 min raising it, 10 min of boil?

 

[PADave]

When did you add the hops?

 

[NYShooterGuy]

Explain your boil again? 75 minutes on low, 25 min raising it, 10 min of boil?

60 minute boil.
Hop additions as per recipe.
Then
75 minutes on low
Back up to boil (took approx 25 mimutes)
Boil 10minutes
Flame out.
Chill to 76°F ( took approx 35 minutes)

 

[NYShooterGuy]

When did you add the hops?

Durring the 60 minute boil

 

[NYShooterGuy]

I'd think the grains would go stale, the hops would be dead, and the LME would be a bit funky, but otherwise you'll be OK It'll be beer in the end.

I thought the same, but the cool wort tasted like any other ipa I've made. Let's see if the yeast can make it beer.

 

[NYShooterGuy]

24 hours later, no airlock activity, but I've learned not to trust the airlock for fermentation.

 

[Rockn_M]

I've used grains and hops almost a year after purchasing. Hey we're in my office and I just forgot they were there. When I found them again I did a normal brew and it came out fine.

 

[ericbw]

The age of your ingredients is fine. The fact that you boiled it, then kept it warm or simmered for over an hour, then heated it up again for 35 more minutes is very odd.

 

[ZebulonBrewer]

Agreed with ericbw, I did a year-old BB kit around when I started, and it turned out ok. The hops were vacuum sealed, and dried yeast lasts a long time.

You really didn't need to re-boil it once you finished. You could have covered it at 60 minutes and let it chill. Many people do this out of lazyness or water restrictions.

Best of luck to you and your beer

 

[NYShooterGuy]

The fact that you boiled it, then kept it warm or simmered for over an hour, then heated it up again for 35 more minutes is very odd.

I just figured for sanitation sake (the FIRST rule of brewing) it would eliminate the possibility of infection if anything got into the wort while I was away.

 

[NYShooterGuy]

You really didn't need to re-boil it once you finished. You could have covered it at 60 minutes and let it chill. Many people do this out of lazyness or water restrictions.

Point taken. I guess I can keep this in mind in case a similar problem occurs in the future.

 

[ZebulonBrewer]

Point taken. I guess I can keep this in mind in case a similar problem occurs in the future.

Yea, you didn't do anything wrong, just a step that could have been avoided. It probably added a few IBU's at most, and a touch of color.

I hope it turned out well.

Cheers!

 

[kh54s10]

Other than stale ingredients, my only concern is old yeast kept at warm to hot temperatures. If it foamed when rehydrating it is probably OK.

Good luck.

 

[NYShooterGuy]

If it foamed when rehydrating it is probably OK.

I've never had yeast foam when it was hydrated before, so I don't really know what you meant by that. However I did finally notice some bubbles from the airlock so that's a good sign.

 

[ericbw]

I've never had yeast foam when it was hydrated before, so I don't really know what you meant by that. However I did finally notice some bubbles from the airlock so that's a good sign.

Should be fine!

 

[Cyclman]

It will probably be your best ever beer, now you'll have to age all kits a year before brewing.

 

[ncbrewer]

Rehydration, then waiting 14 hours before pitching - this is unusual. Per an email from Danstar: "Our technical manager suggests that you don't go longer than 30 minutes after the start of rehydration before pitching the yeast into wort as the yeast needs nutrients. If there is a delay you could actually add more wort to the rehydration water to give the yeast something to eat while you are waiting to pitch it, so long as it isn't too hot." Since you're getting bubbles in the airlock, this advice might not be valid. I've never tried a long delay, so I don't know from experience. Maybe it's a matter of best practice, but not a necessity. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[NYShooterGuy]

Rehydration, then waiting 14 hours before pitching - this is unusual. Per an email from Danstar: "Our technical manager suggests that you don't go longer than 30 minutes after the start of rehydration before pitching the yeast into wort as the yeast needs nutrients. If there is a delay you could actually add more wort to the rehydration water to give the yeast something to eat while you are waiting to pitch it, so long as it isn't too hot." Since you're getting bubbles in the airlock, this advice might not be valid. I've never tried a long delay, so I don't know from experience. Maybe it's a matter of best practice, but not a necessity. Let us know how it turns out.

I'm not doubting Danstar's instructions. I knew this kit was a lot of problems even before I created my own. I'm hoping for an end result of beer. A result of Good beer might be hoping for too much. And even if it turns out better than decent, it's going to be a challenge to try and replicate.

 

[NYShooterGuy]

This is a very forgiving hobby. I opened up the fermenter today and saw nice thick layer of krausen. I suppose all of my worrying was for naught. Now, I shall see how the beer will taste and how the mouthfeel will be in a few more days.

 

[stlblues5010]

You'll be fine. RDWHAHB or just a beer. This is how I got back into home brewing.
A friend wanted to get into brewing, I told him he could use my equipment to try it. I started gathering things together and I found a several year old kit. LME, hops, dry expired yeast and no grains. We brewed it, it turned out fine. I did buy 1 pack of fresh yeast after a couple of days when it didn't seem like anything was happening, may not have needed that. While it may not have been the best beer ever it was still beer and we are still here.

 

[NYShooterGuy]

You'll be fine. RDWHAHB or just a beer. This is how I got back into home brewing.
A friend wanted to get into brewing, I told him he could use my equipment to try it. I started gathering things together and I found a several year old kit. LME, hops, dry expired yeast and no grains. We brewed it, it turned out fine. I did buy 1 pack of fresh yeast after a couple of days when it didn't seem like anything was happening, may not have needed that. While it may not have been the best beer ever it was still beer and we are still here.

I'm almost certain with this hobby that unless you boil the yeast, you'll end up with fermented liquid.