Hello All-
My brother & I made a barleywine back in May of 2008. You know where this is going.
I racked it to a secondary a month after brewing and.. well... there it sat! Until December of 2016? Crazy, yes.. but its been in the secondary fermenter for about 8.5 YEARS.
The airlock dried up and remained so most of the time but nothing appears to have grown in it. OG was 1.100 and I recall it being a very active initial fermentation (with loss via blow-off tube).
It smells actually quite fine and I suspect its high ABV given nothing has grown in it..
I'm curious if y'all think its safe to try drinking.. I haven't sipped it yet because I'm a bit nervous about it. If its safe to "drink" I'll venture to take a sip and see if its worth keeping..
I understand there could be off flavors from autolysis (or who knows what else :>)
Thoughts?
Happy Holidays-
-TM
My brother & I made a barleywine back in May of 2008. You know where this is going.
I racked it to a secondary a month after brewing and.. well... there it sat! Until December of 2016? Crazy, yes.. but its been in the secondary fermenter for about 8.5 YEARS.
The airlock dried up and remained so most of the time but nothing appears to have grown in it. OG was 1.100 and I recall it being a very active initial fermentation (with loss via blow-off tube).
It smells actually quite fine and I suspect its high ABV given nothing has grown in it..
I'm curious if y'all think its safe to try drinking.. I haven't sipped it yet because I'm a bit nervous about it. If its safe to "drink" I'll venture to take a sip and see if its worth keeping..
I understand there could be off flavors from autolysis (or who knows what else :>)
Thoughts?
Happy Holidays-
-TM