Age of Munton's LME

[dlabrie]

I bought a True Brew, Nut Brown Ale kit at the local brew shop. I was wondering how fresh the Muntons liquid malt was; it wasn't evident on the can. I e-mailed Muntons and it seems that it is one year old. Is this a cause for concern?

Here is my e-mail and their response.

[email protected]

Hi,
I just purchased a brewing kit from my local brew store and it included a can of Muntons, "Malt extract hopped light". The number on the top of the can is 4903 XB34295 3011 and on the bottom it's 102489
Can you tell me when it was manufactured and its use by date?
Thanks and happy New Year!

Hello David, the kit you have purchased should have had the BBE put on at the time of packing by the producer, we have become aware that this is not happening so have now started putting the BBE on at point of manufacture here in the UK. The batch was manufactured on the 11th January 2013 and we would normally put a 2 year shelf life date. Regards Graham

 

[TheCollector]

Well they said 2 year shelf life so I think your ok as long as the h.b. shop stored it correctly.

 

[pfredop]

you should be fine. the only real concern is as stated...how it was stored. you may end up with off-color if stored incorrectly. i used a pkastic can of LME that was literally 6 years old for starters. the "mini wort" tasted off and the color was way darker but the malt did its job increasing my yeast population and after decanting the liquid, the brew had no off flavors. ...you could always use it for starters inly if you are concerned. cheers!

 

[unionrdr]

If Munton's is anything like Cooper's,they use julian dating. So the "3011" should be the date code. the "30th day of 2011",in other words.

 

[dlabrie]

If Munton's is anything like Cooper's,they use julian dating. So the "3011" should be the date code. the "30th day of 2011",in other words.

That was what I thought when I looked at it but Munton's response was that "The batch was manufactured on the 11th January 2013 "

 

[unionrdr]

I see nothing in those numbers that supports their response.

 

[BroStefan]

Unless they are using Julian dates like this - 3 for 2013 then 011 for the eleventh day of the year. Not standard usages, but maybe?

 

[unionrdr]

You could be right on that one. Maybe they do indeed need to standardize julian dating?!...

 

[dlabrie]

Well. it is all in the pot boiling right now. Being that this is only my 3rd batch, I couldn't say if there is a difference It sure smells good!

 

[BxBrewer]

Well. it is all in the pot boiling right now. Being that this is only my 3rd batch, I couldn't say if there is a difference It sure smells good!

If it was a pre hopped LME in not so sure you were supposed to boil it.

 

[dlabrie]

If it was a pre hopped LME in not so sure you were supposed to boil it.

I just followed the directions and it said to boil for 45 minutes. I went an hour. My OG came out at 1.058, 1.049-51 was expected. I cooled the wort outside in a snow/slush mixture. It came down to 74º in 15 minutes! It tasted pretty good.