How old is too old?

[WonkUnit]

Hi all. I just started into home brewing and my first batch, a kit, is sitting nicely in secondary and I'm already looking forward to my second batch. My dad has some malts, dry extract and hops that sat in the fridge for several years and I am wondering if these are still good to use or should I chuck them? Thanks!

 

[boo boo]

It might be fine to use, but fresh ingredients make the best beer.

 

[cvstrat]

Probably too old honestly. I had hops in airtight bags in a freezer and noticed they lost potency within a year. You could always give it a shot though, since you have all the ingredients.. Maybe use a dry yeast pack so you don't waste 7 bucks if it's no good.

 

[BradleyBrew]

I had the same situation from a friend that brewed and had an extract kit in his basement. I brewed the beer but it had a very old taste to it. It was LME so you might be ok with dme... the bitterness was not to bad overall from the hops. Are the bag of hops sealed or opened? Mine were leaf hops in the sealed nitro packaging. Good luck!

 

[profallout]

I would throw away the hops if they are that old and be sure to use new yeast. As long as the malts and extract are still sealed nicely, I would go for it. What have you got to lose besides a little time? At the very least you will gain experience and get your technique down.

 

[WonkUnit]

I would throw away the hops if they are that old and be sure to use new yeast. As long as the malts and extract are still sealed nicely, I would go for it. What have you got to lose besides a little time? At the very least you will gain experience and get your technique down.

getting the experience is what i was thinking of, and experimentation. There's no recipe so i was going to throw some of it together and see what comes out. I'm sure it won't turn out as good as it would if i used fresh ingredients though.

the hops were sealed in a zip lock, shaped like a puck.

 

[TBMaster]

I've used LME the was three years out of date and it made good beer....just used a load of leftovers and it was more than drinkable. Similarly I've just used a liquid kolsch yeast that was a year out of date....first batch the ferment was very average (no starter), second batch is fermenting now with same yeast and it's going great guns. Use it, experiment and see what happens. What's the worst that can happen? You waste a bit of time and water.

 

[Spludge]

I wouldn't use the hops, but I would think the extract will be fine