Cleaning out my garage and I found ...

[MajorJC]

Cleaning out my garage and I found a couple of whole grain beer kits that I ordered from AIH several years ago. I had stored them in closed buckets and apparently I forgot about them. I went back to the AIH website to see exactly when they were ordered but I had to re-register my account. Of course, my old order history was gone. The only dates that I can find in the kits are the expiration dates on the yeast packets, which are both 2/21.

Will I be wasting my time by brewing with these kits? How do Hops hold up over time?

Also, they sent me an Ale yeast for a Lager recipe, wouldn't this make a completely different beer?

I'm thinking, order fresh yeast packets to have on hand and try making starters with the expired yeast to check viability.

 

[Miraculix]

The grain will be probably ok, the yeast as well. The hops might have suffered A little bit to severely. I'd probably be ready to replace them on brew day, open the pack and if they smell bad, throw them away. Otherwise use them.

 

[MajorJC]

I just noticed the 2017 date on the buckets for Sutherlands 100th anniversary. I bought the buckets the day the kits arrived to store them in, so I guess it was 2017.

 

[Miraculix]

I just noticed the 2017 date on the buckets for Sutherlands 100th anniversary. I bought the buckets the day the kits arrived to store them in, so I guess it was 2017.

Smell the grains as well if they smell good, beer will be good as well.

 

[MajorJC]

The hops might have suffered A little bit to severely.

I just looked at the hops packets. All but one of the Saaz packets are still vacuum sealed. One of them must have a pinhole in the packet.

I'll get some replacement hops to have on hand for my next brew day also.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

I've used out of date dry yeast and it worked out fine for me.

Good luck, please follow up after you brew it and let us know how it went and how it eventually turned out.

 

[MajorJC]

Good luck, please follow up after you brew it and let us know how it went and how it eventually turned out.

Will do!

I'm planning a brew day around July 8-11 or thereabouts.

 

[hotbeer]

Can't tell if that is just rice hulls I'm looking at in the grain or if the grain just isn't milled very well. Sticker says "Milled".

I might run it through a mill again and get it finer. I use a very old coffee grinder with a burr type grinder and not the bladed type coffee grinder. Though those might work too.

 

[lumbergh]

Can't tell if that is just rice hulls I'm looking at in the grain or if the grain just isn't milled very well. Sticker says "Milled".

I might run it through a mill again and get it finer. I use a very old coffee grinder with a burr type grinder and not the bladed type coffee grinder. Though those might work too.

I zoomed in and the grain looks barely crushed.

 

[Chorgey]

I had grains crushed by AIH in 2020, you can see the thread here. Is this grain milled?

They looked very similar to @MajorJC grain.

The response that I received back when I inquired about the crush was...
("The grains to appear to be crushed as we would currently be shipping them. If you remove a kernel that appears uncracked. Roll this kernel around between your fingers and notice it will fall apart. The reason this grain falls apart is that the integrity of the husk was compromised during the milling process and the structure of the grain is not very stable. This is the same crush we try to provide with every batch of beer.")

 

[tracer bullet]

5 year old grain... I guess it depends on how valuable your time is. If you have time to kill, give it a go. If your time is at all valuable, I wouldn't risk it. No way for me.

 

[day_trippr]

I would not invest the time and effort on 5 year old ingredients. Especially the hops and yeast.
Feed the grain to the birdies and ground varmints, toss the yeast and hops in the trash, save the rice hulls if there are any, and buy fresh ingredients...

Cheers!

 

[BeerAndTele]

A garage in Mississippi has to be pretty scorching hot in the summer, yes?? If so, that can't help the cause. It's one thing if everything had been in a cool, dry basement ... but a garage in MS? I think I'm with @tracer bullet in saying I wouldn't.

 

[MajorJC]

A garage in Mississippi has to be pretty scorching hot in the summer, yes??

Yep, It get hella hot in the garage in the summer.

I originally had these two buckets in a large chest freezer for several years, but now I'm remembering needing to make room to freeze some honey supers either last summer or the summer before so I took these buckets out of the freezer. I did a search in my gmail and found out that I received these kits around October 25, 2018, so about 3 ½ years old with at least two years of that time in the deep freeze.

I'm thinking I'll go ahead and plan on using these grains in a brew, but with fresh hops and yeast.

I've just ordered some fresh grains, hops, and yeast. On my next brew day I'll open these grains up and give them the old sniff and taste test to decide if I want to try a brew with them. If not, I'll have some fresh ingredients on hand.

 

[MajorJC]

So, if these grains smell/taste ok....

I'm thinking of combining the two grain bills into one. I plugged them into brewersfriend.com and came up with this recipe:

(let me know if you see any problems or improvements)

Using up old grain! | Specialty IPA: Red IPA All Grain Beer Recipe | Brewer's Friend

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Using up old grain!

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Specialty IPA: Red IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 10 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 12.59 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.050
Efficiency: 80% (brew house)

Hop Utilization Multiplier: 1

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.057
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV (standard): 6.17%
IBU (tinseth): 60.85
SRM (daniels): 16.88
Mash pH: 5

FERMENTABLES:
8.5 lb - German Pilsener Malt (41.1%)
10.5 lb - Pale 2-Row - Toasted (50.8%)
8 oz - CaraFoam (2.4%)
8 oz - Caramel / Crystal 10L (2.4%)
8 oz - Caramel / Crystal 40L (2.4%)
3 oz - Chocolate Malt (0.9%)

HOPS:
2 oz - Magnum, Type: Pellet, AA: 15, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 57.06
0.5 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Aroma for 10 min, IBU: 3.79

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Fly Sparge, Temp: 152 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 7.76 gal
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 81%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temp: 54 - 77 F
Fermentation Temp: 64 F
Pitch Rate: 0.35 (M cells / ml / deg P)

PRIMING:
CO2 Level: 2.25 Volumes

TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Profile Name: 42039
Ca2: 4
Mg2: 2
Na: 8
Cl: 18
SO4: 5
HCO3: 8
Water Notes:


Generated by Brewer's Friend - Brewer's Friend | Homebrew Beer Recipes, Calculators & Forum
Date: 2022-07-01 04:48 UTC
Recipe Last Updated: 2022-07-01 04:46 UTC

 

[MajorJC]

Arggg... I forgot to update this thread after my brew!

So, I decided to just brew one of these kits as is. I chose the "Sierra Nevada Torpedo Clone."
I brewed it toward the end of July. <---> Link to Brewer's Friend brew session.
I've got it kegged and serving on tap 2 on my keezer. I think it's really good and easy to drink, of course it probably would have been better when fresh.

You Sunk My Battleship! - Backyard Laboratory - Untappd

 

[madscientist451]

Brewing ingredients don't "expire". They may be different than when fresh, but still usable years later. Congrats to the op for trying.

 

[hotbeer]

Did you use the hops that came with it? You had mentioned they were vacuum sealed but one was no longer holding a seal.

What were they like when/if you opened them.

 

[MajorJC]

Did you use the hops that came with it? You had mentioned they were vacuum sealed but one was no longer holding a seal.

What were they like when/if you opened them.

Yes, I did use the old hops that came with the kit. When opened they were a little bit sticky, but had a strong hop aroma so I threw them in.

The one packet that lost it's vacuum is in the other kit that I haven't brewed yet. I'll get to that one shortly.

 

[hotbeer]

they were a little bit sticky

Sticky! Were they pelletized or some other form?

 

[MajorJC]

Sticky! Were they pelletized or some other form?

Pellets. Let me change sticky to resinous.

 

[MajorJC]

Just looking over my notes... I wrote "No sign of fermentation from initial pitch of US-05 yeast. This packet was old and stored improperly. Re-pitched with S-04 yeast."
I only waited 1 day before re-pitching with S-04, then the ferment was so strong that it blew the top off my big mouth bubbler. See this thread.
I now believe I should have given the original yeast another day to take off.

 

[hotbeer]

US-05 is a little slower getting started compared to S-04 or S-33 that I've any experience with. But I have liked most all the beers I've done with US-05. The S-04 beers I'm on the fence about them. But I've not done as many with S-04.

 

[Yesfan]

Did you brew the other kit? How did that one turn out? I'm in the middle of going through some of my old grains. I've got a ton of hops/specialty grains that I neglected, so I'm working my way through them. My last few beers have not been stellar, but they were good enough to not dump.

Very encouraging post. Thanks!

 

[MajorJC]

Did you brew the other kit?

Not yet, if the weather is good this weekend I'm planning on brewing it. I'll update when I do.

 

[Thedutchtouch]

first post since 2018ish - thanks for this thread. i have quite a few gamma sealed buckets of bulk grain that have been sitting in my basement for 8 years due to a too-long brewing hiatus. i may give it a go trying to brew with some of them after reading this. i was going to toss them but opened a few buckets for the first time in forever and they smell fine, seem to be bone dry, and crush fine. worst case i'll use them for the first brew or two to remind myself how to do this thing and it should only cost me some hops and yeast. if they taste off, i can always revert back to the plan to toss them.

 

[DuncB]

Worth tasting the grains as well as smelling them.