Do Kits have an Expiration Date?

[yearlylesson]

I was given a Brewers Best kit for a Nut Brown Ale, it includes the malt extract, hops, grains, yeast, etc... The person that gave it to me was going to get into Homebrewing but never actually did. He said he got it last year for Christmas so it's at least 8 - 9 months old. Nothing has been opened but it wasn't stored in the fridge or anything like that. Is it still good? Should any of the kit components been refrigerated?

 

[david_42]

Only the yeast is likely to have a date on it, but 8-9 months is nothing to worry about.

 

[TheMan]

Ditto on david's comment. The hops sould be fine, but would have been better if they were stored in the fridge.

It was free nonetheless, you have nothing to lose by trying it. Get some new yeast and if it tastes bad then you've only wasted your time.

 

[ibbones]

I brewed a Coopers Pilsner with expired yeast. Only by a month or two. It is sitting in the closet right now and should crack the first one this weekend.

 

[Grinder12000]

I would be worried about the liquid extract going weird

 

[alcibiades]

smell the hops. if they are cheesy, don't use em'.

 

[zman]

I had a CL score a few months back and it came with a William's Brewing Kit that was 4 YEARS OLD!!. The hops...tossed. I tried to activate the yeast pack for ****s and grins, no go as expected. I did however use the LME to make a PM Porter and the beer turned out to be quite tasty. Williams packages their LME is Plastic bags. I saw no mold and the guy who sold me the stuff kept the kit refrigerated. I have not used the Dark Candi Sugar that came with the kit but it is still hard so I will use it when I make a beer that calls for it.