Is it ok to store an extract kit until next May or June?

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razorguy

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So the searches brought up a few results but were typically dealing with a 1-2 month time frame so since this is more of a 7-8 month time frame I was hoping to get some experienced input.

Midwest is doing a buy one get one on their winter ale and happy holiday ale. The happy holiday I was wanting to order anyway so I can get it brewed and have it ready for Christmas/New Years but the winter ale needs 4-6 months before it's ready and the reviews suggest that it's worth it to wait the 6 months. With that in mind, would it be ok to order now and wait until May or June to brew it? I know the hops need to go in the freezer and the yeast I'll just order fresh when I brew it but I'm not sure of the shelf life on the grains and extract.

I did do a live chat with Midwest and they told me as long as the hops go in the freezer then 6-8 months should be ok for everything else but I wouldn't mind a couple more opinions on this before I place the order.

Thanks in advance.
 
I wouldn't. Even if you do freeze and/or refrigerate the individual ingredients, they won't be fresh 6 months from now. In fact, you really don't know how fresh they are today, as depending on the place you got them, they could be already a few months old. With that said, while everything may be fine (meaning not spoiled), the flavor and effectiveness of everything will be impacted. If you freeze a steak today, will it taste as good if you thaw it out and throw it on the grill in May or June? It might, but chances are it won't.
 
You do make a good point about that. Hmm..maybe I'll just go ahead and brew both. There are worse things then drinking winter beer in the spring.
 
Yeah just brew them both now. Homebrewers don't need to follow conventions, do we?

If you wanted to wait, LME would probably stale before anything else. If you leave them unopened in the fridge, I could see them staying reasonably fresh for 4-6 months. I certainly wouldn't push it past that. Hops will lose some aroma an AA% but could be okay. The grains should be kept as air tight as you can. Do not get them pre-crushed if you want to store them long term. Crush them yourself before you brew.

Midwest has a quick inventory turnaround on ingredients, so I would guess most ingredients would be less than 2 months old that are on the shelves. The LME should be fresher than that as they ship out a lot of that stuff. Yeast is the one thing I grab the packet from the back of the fridge. Last week the guy saw what I was doing, but it got me lager yeast that was made only 4 weeks ago.
 
A friend sat on a NB extract cream ale kit for two years. She bought fresh yeast and hops, we brewed it up, and it tastes just fine.
 
Just last week I brewed a Ferocious IPA kit I bought from Midwest when they had a buy one get one half off sale back in May. As soon as I got the kit, the unopened LME, hops, and yeast went in the fridge and stayed there. The grains were pre-crushed and stayed in the ziplock bag they came in, which I kept in the cardboard box the kit came in, which I stored in my basement (cool, dry, mid 60 degrees).

I decided the other day to brew this beer and I went to check out the grains. They were really hard and crunchy, and they did not smell or taste right (they tasted like some kind of sauce... I looked it up after the fact and found out that stale extract takes on a soy-sauce quality, so maybe that's what I was getting). This got me concerned so I opened one of the jugs of LME and gave it a smell, it smelled perfectly fine like every other LME I've used. The yeast packet said it was good through January of next year, and the hops were still sealed in their original packaging.

So I just took a trip to the homebrew store to replace my specialty grains (4oz of Crystal 60L, ended up costing me 73 cents, the guy at the register called me a big spender haha). I figured everything else was stored properly and should make a pretty decent beer, I just didn't want to risk ruining it with stale nasty grains. When it came time to open the hops and put them in the boil they were as green and fresh smelling as could be.

TL;DR: I bought a kit in May, brewed it last week, crushed specialty grains were stale but everything else was kept in fridge and seemed as fresh as a new kit
 
I wouldn't worry at all, especially since this likely isn't a hoppy beer. Remember hops are harvested once a year, so late in the season, everybody is using old hops. You could always brew it earlier and age it longer. Probably will keep getting better.

Edit: Just found the kit. This will probably be even better aged 10-12 months. If you have an extra carboy maybe bulk age it for the first few.
 
I keep my bags of grains sealed in their bags in a dunnage container with the two piece snap down lids. Hops in the freezer, LME & yeast in the fridge. A couple months is usually OK. But I'd brew both & let the one age.
 
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