Eight year old beer still in carboy (pic)

[divrack]

So only if you add poison?

the obvious question is, have any sinister chaps wearing a black cape been spotted with a small glass ampule filled with a greenish liquid, laughing maniacally and or hissing deviously in the basement over the past several years? if so only drink a small amount, with a sandwich. otherwise chug chug chug chug
Etc

 

[divrack]

From the article, contaminated corn seems to be the source. They also fermented in a different style that is much less lab grade than ours and use a different yeast. I still feel confident that there is little risk in tasting the aged ale.

"with Schizosaccharomyces pombe yeast (which is not the same yeast used in European-style brewing)"

"The investigation into the cause of the poisoning eventually turned up the presence of the bacterium Burkholderia gladioli and two toxins produced by it, bongkrekic acid and toxoflavin, in both the beer and the corn flour that was used to help brew it, and concluded that these were responsible for the deaths and illnesses.

my takeaway from that is that the culprits were Bong something acid, schizo something yeast and some kind of berk holder bacteria.
sounds like stoned people were naming these guys.

 

[divrack]

This beer goes WAAAAY back to my early days. I don't remember brewing it but I remember I noticed an infection and didn't want to drink it. I never dumped it. I "think" it was some sort of Octoberfest. Cleaning out my basement I came across it. I was going to dump it but gave it a smell and it smells like a sweet green apple. Not bad really. I'm thinking it turned to apple cider vinegar???
I want to give it a try, do yo guys think its ok to sample? I don't want to get sick. You can see the dust on it. The airlock has been dry forever but I think I only opened the rubber stopper once all this time years ago.....Could it be the most expensive aged "something"??

Or will it kill me?

i literally taste everything i find in the garage... one day i might discover a new flavour

 

[bigdawg86]

What's the verdict!

 

[Inkleg]

At least take a gravity sample.

^^This^^
You'll want to take two gravity readings 8 years apart to make sure it's fermented out.

 

[ESBrewer]

I would probably throw it away (would have done it 8y ago). But you could start the bottle conditioning phase and let it carbonate and sit for a few more years. This would give a chance for the taste to reach the ultimate level.

 

[Murphys_Law]

Bottle that sucker and enter it into some competition and see what scores you get! If the judge doesn’t die then drink one yourself. [emoji12]

 

[TravelingLight]

In for results.

 

[mrbeachroach]

The funny thing is that the original poster has not commented back. Somebody go check on him I think he tried it.......

 

[Jayjay1976]

I can't handle this much longer.

 

[Wyobrew22]

The funny thing is that the original poster has not commented back. Somebody go check on him I think he tried it.......

He’s either slumped over with the glass in his hand or too nervous to commit the act. We need answers! For science!

 

[MHBT]

if its undrinkable pour in in your garden bed (if you have one) it will make killer food for the soil microbes once the alcohol evaporates off, organic soil amendment

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

OP, pls. We have to know![

What's the verdict!

I'm still alive...Boiler crapped out on Super bowl Sunday that consumed my day and today I'm nursing a bit of a hangover and the last thing my stomach needs is sampling that beer...Will post back tomorrow

 

[pvpeacock]

Holding my breath!

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

Subbed "for science reasons" lol. hair of the dog man fill a shot glass and swish. If it's bad spit it out

 

[allanmorgan]

Not sure where this is going. Sub'd.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Following.

 

[yourlastchance89]

OP didn't make it

 

[RPh_Guy]

Give it another week for the yeast to clean up after themselves.

 

[Miraculix]

Ffs drink it and tell us!!!!!!!!!

 

[madscientist451]

If it was a high ABV DIPA, RIS, barleywine, Belgian Quad or something like that, it would be fine. If you weren't brewing those back then, I'd just dump it.

 

[Jayjay1976]

The airlock has been dry for years. That means total oxidation through simple gas diffusion as well as air exchange due to seasonal temperature cycling. I mean, if it had skinned over with a pellicle or something, there'd be a chance that the beer underneath it might be a good sour, but I'm guessing it tastes like moldy wet newspaper at best. Dump it and try to salvage the carboy, no need to taste it because a sniff test will tell you all you need to know to guess the possible flavor. It's a shame that the OP didn't for some reason plug it with one of those waterless silicone airlocks, it has too much headspace too, but there'd be a chance. Then again, Oktoberfest isn't a style intended for long aging.

 

[JohnSand]

It's not done yet.
Maybe in a few more years.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

The verdict is in.
I put it in a wine glass thinking it was aged to perfection
I think I'll give it a gravity reading to see where its at...its gotta be done by now

I gotta say appearance wise its an awfully pretty beer, maybe one of the nicest I've ever made.

Aroma is something I'm trying to put my finger on. Its a mix of sweet green apple,maybe a slight vinegar, and sorta has a red wine smell to it.

Taste is similar to smell. A little watery with a light red wine sweet alcohol taste. Someone mentioned it might taste like mold which makes me think I can taste a slight mold on the front end but I think its in my head because I'm a little nervous drinking it. I've never had a barley wine and know nothing about them but in my head this is what one would taste like.

Overall I'm on the fence and real close to wanting to keg it just to see whats its like carbed up. What I don't want to do is mess up my equipment for future brews/kegs over one batch....decisions decisions

 

[myndflyte]

If it doesn't taste infected, then it probably isn't. I say keg it and see how it tastes carbed. Worst case scenario, it's no good and you end up dumping it.

 

[Jayjay1976]

The verdict is in.
I put it in a wine glass thinking it was aged to perfection
I think I'll give it a gravity reading to see where its at...its gotta be done by now

I gotta say appearance wise its an awfully pretty beer, maybe one of the nicest I've ever made.

Aroma is something I'm trying to put my finger on. Its a mix of sweet green apple,maybe a slight vinegar, and sorta has a red wine smell to it.

Taste is similar to smell. A little watery with a light red wine sweet alcohol taste. Someone mentioned it might taste like mold which makes me think I can taste a slight mold on the backend but I think its in my head because I'm a little nervous drinking it. I've never had a barley wine and know nothing about them but in my head this is what one would taste like.

Overall I'm on the fence and real close to wanting to keg it just to see whats its like carbed up. What I don't want to do is mess up my equipment for future brews/kegs over one batch....decisions decisions
View attachment 556857

Might be better off priming and bottling it with some champagne yeast to carb it up, rather than risk infecting your kegging gear. I can't imagine there aren't any off-flavors from autolysis. That was secondary, right? Can we get a pic of any yeast cake?

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Good call on the yeast cake. Didn't even look at it.
Looks pretty nasty.
I "think" years back it had some funky lard like skin on top that was holding steady for a long time till I moved it a long time ago and it dropped out...I could be remembering wrong. It kinda rings a bell type thing. It doesn't appear like anything growing in it

What do you think of it?

 

[bleme]

I accidentally made a malt vinegar and forgot about it for 3 or 4 years. It's actually pretty good stuff! I'd try it...

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Malt vinegar has been mentioned before. I happen to have some and smells and taste nothing like it...I have no idea what I have here

 

[bleme]

Malt vinegar has been mentioned before. I happen to have some and smells and taste nothing like it...I have no idea what I have here

Well, you could always dose it with some Acetobacter and let it go another couple years. Although I have no idea what you would do with 5 gallons of malt vinegar. I only made a gallon and it seems like it will last me a lifetime...