Old Ingredients

[eightballuk]

Hi

I bought a ton of ingredients to brew with about 4 years ago... I then moved out of my parents house and it is only now that I have my own flat and am in a position to start brewing again. All of the ingredients are still sealed, vacuum-packed hops, tins of extract, dried yeast, plastic bags of cracked grain.

Now I know its is all past its best before date, but will any of it still be ok? And by ok, I don't mean in prime condition, I mean acceptable for the first brew for a long time to get back into the swing of it and iron out any problems for further brews but still be vaguely drinkable.

Thanks!

Ian

 

[harebearva]

I'm betting everything is OK except the grains and the yeast. Since the grains have been cracked they may be a bit stale tasting or maybe even take on a rancid quality. If they are in an oxygen barrier bag that will help. Open them up and give them a sniff and a taste. If they taste OK, steep em. The yeast is a different story. Check expiration date. If it's more than a year out and wasn't refrigerated, I'd toss it and get another pack. Yeast is cheap.

 

[CoTron]

Hops lose their bitterness and flavor over time. Even vacuum sealed in a freezer they will lose power. I say brew it up and just add more hops than you otherwise would. No sense wasting ingredients even if they are old. As long as your expectations are in the right place I'm sure it will be worth it.

 

[eightballuk]

Cool, thanks guys

 

[aiptasia]

I'd toss the lot. Even the liquid extract will taste "tinned."

 

[freisste]

This brew is a "slump buster" so as was said previously, as long as your expectations are in the right place you should brew. Don't plan on entering it into a competition.

People usually don't make starters with dry yeast, but you probably should to make sure its viable before brewing. I would guess you can salvage even the yeast, but I won't make any guarantees.

 

[ACbrewer]

The thing to remember is the taste. IF you taste any of the ingredients and they taste stale (think stale cracker/bread v fresh) then your beer will taste stale. If it is liquid malt extract (LME) then it might taste 'tined' or like metal. And one guy who ran a shop was on beer smith podcast said that the 'old lme's' were a major factor in green apple flavored beer. - he did this through experimenting with his stock.

For the hops, they will probably have lost bitters, but there are styles (lambics) that use old hops. If it is dry yeast, it might still be good, but I'd buy a new packet and test the old.

Any how at 4 years, it is probably to old and gone stale, but again, taste it and see. My experience has been anything that tasted bad ended up in the finished product.

chemicals (cleaners, sanatizers, ph stablizers, etc) should all be good, although as powerders, they may have caked/gotten hard.