6 Months in Carboy... Still OK?

[livingwideopen]

I have a cream ale that I put into my secondary back in, oh lets say, April or so. Do to life happenings, I never managed to put it in bottles. It appears to be in fine condition, and has been airtight for the entire time. I was going to try bottling it but I thought I'd check with you guys first to see if it's even worth it.

Also, while we're at it, I bought some packages of liquid Wyeast, and some hops in a plastic bag at around the same time. They've been sitting in the back of the fridge since then, will they be good?

Thanks!

 

[Paul07293]

not a style known for aging real well but as long as your carboy was sanitized well it should be fine.
The yeast viability will be low but you can make starters and build it back up.

 

[Jrod]

Hops should be fine if they were sealed. Yeast should be fine but I'd use a starter with them to make sure.

Go ahead and bottle the beer. If it doesn't smell bad and tastes ok going into the bottles it should be fine just might take a bit long longer to carb up.

 

[livingwideopen]

Excellent, thanks a lot guys!

 

[livingwideopen]

Just an after thought now, would it be possible or worthwhile to add a couple oz of pure vanilla extract just prior to bottling? I tried searching but can't come up with an answer if this would be possible. I thought about mixing some in with the priming sugar.

 

[Calder]

Beer, hops, and yeast should be fine. Follow the advice noted previously; especially in making a starter when using the yeast.

You can add vanilla extract in the bottling bucket if that is what you want to do. You might want to put a few drops in a beer first to see how it affects the taste before you go do it so you know what to expect.

 

[TXCrash]

I'd be concerned that a vanilla flavor would hang out in the bottling bucket and tubing, potentially transferring over to your next beer. Someone have experience on that?

 

[Paul07293]

Cream ale is not supposed to taste like cream soda. I would pass on the vanilla if you are looking for authenticity.

 

[ronclark]

Just an after thought now, would it be possible or worthwhile to add a couple oz of pure vanilla extract just prior to bottling? I tried searching but can't come up with an answer if this would be possible. I thought about mixing some in with the priming sugar.

I would experiment with part of the batch by using sanitized funnels and measuring spoons. Around 1/8 teaspoon per bottle would probably be close to what you would get if you added 2 ounces to a 5 gallon batch.