The time expired experiment begins....

[TeeJo]

Started a batch of Mr. Beer Bewitched Amber Ale the day before yesterday.

Best before date was October of last year, and the stuff was marked down substantially. Total cost of a 23 liter carboy full, $7.50. @$2.50 a can, in the clearance bin. Figured it worth a try!

Read the directions, sorta even followed them. Half filled the carboy with cold water, put the three cans of extract into a pot to warm on the stove, brought a 3 gallon pot of water to a boil, added the extract, stirred and brought it back up to just a boil, then added it to the water in the carboy.

Was in a hurry and had a bunch of yeast in hand, so pitched two packages of 5 grams each of the include and time expired yeast dry, directly in to the carboy, and though I thought it a bit warm, the brew had a nice layer of foam on it in the morning.

Now the waiting....

Will post results.

Will add, that this is a strictly "low stress" experiment. No measurements taken, no stressing over temperatures, just running with it.

TeeJo

 

[kombat]

Did you chill the boiled liquid before adding it to the carboy? If not, that's a good way to heat-stress the glass in the carboy, leading to eventual breakage.

Expired, pre-hopped extract kit, underpitched yeast, and fermented without temperature control? I expect a fusely, sweet banana-bomb. Might be drinkable, might not. Time will tell.

 

[GrogNerd]

did you add coconut? you gotta add coconut!

 

[GHBWNY]

Novel gesture, but even if you had gotten the ingredients for free, I don't understand the cavalier approach. If you thought the odds were in favor of it being a bust from the start, then why bother? But if you had hopes of it being at least a semi-decent beer (which I think you do), I don't know why you wouldn't have taken a little more care in the process. Personally, I don't find checking temperature and taking an OG reading that "stressful". Where you possibly could have insured yourself of 23 liters of something you can enjoy, you may end up with 23 liters of slug repellent. Like you say, time will tell.

 

[slym2none]

With a best buy date of Oct/2015, there isn't much risk of the HME being bad. I don't think 3 months over is going to cause any problems. I wouldn't have used the yeast, but that's because I never used the Mr. Beer yeast except on my very first batch. Personal preference.

I doubt you will make bad beer. I foresee it being just fine.

 

[Psylocide]

First batch I brewed was a 5 year past-expiration date can of LME.

It was terrible.

 

[slym2none]

First batch I brewed was a 5 year past-expiration date can of LME.

It was terrible.

5 years? That's pretty old. 3 months, not so much.

 

[JohnSand]

It's not very old.
I had limited success with MrBeer, the best I could do was "Okay". Maybe because I was a new guy, my first grain batches weren't great either. I certainly can't make any forecasts about your results. But it is an interesting experiment. Good luck.

 

[TeeJo]

Carboy was half full of cold water when I began adding in the boiled wort. Not worried about that.

It was warmer than I would have normally thought to pitch the yeast into, not as hot as the tap water gets, and not uncomfortable to hold the carboy, and I didn't feel much like staying up half the night so I turfed the yeast in to see what it would do. What it did, seems to be 'very well, thank you'.

Why the cavalier attitude? Mostly because with as simple a thing as a beer kit that you don't even have to add a kilo of sugar or any extra junk in to it, it does not merit slaughtering a chicken under a full moon on the third Thursday of the third month, etc.
Nothing worth worrying too much over. I really had considered simply stirring the extract into some warm tap water and running with that, but I figure that would have give some the vapors around here. Maybe the next time I find some beer kits in the clearance bin... just to try it...
Pretty sure I read somewhere of an experiment in brewing with DME, dry hops, cold tapwater and yeast, and it coming out OK too.

Clean equipment. All should be fine. Likely drank worse beer from the store. Got a good solid layer of foam on the top of the wort, yeast seems to be doing well enough. Why measure "boil"? Way hotter than it needed to pasteurize the wort. Hot enough. Not that worried about the OG, as it is going to be pretty close to what the maker claims, will maybe check the FG, sometime next week, but that depends on how curious I am at that time.
Am actually going to see what the temperature on the Basement Floor is, as it had been pretty steady right around 60 deg F, can raise the carboy up on to a table if I figure it could use a bit more heat.


TeeJo (without a homebrew to relax and have!)

 

[TeeJo]

"Expired, pre-hopped extract kit, underpitched yeast, and fermented without temperature control? I expect a fusely, sweet banana-bomb."

Well, so much for that theory!

Tastes like....beer! Still got a little action at the airlock, but decided to pull off a small sample last night to try.

Flavor is mild, with a bit more hops than say, a British Mild, but not bad at all. The site says the IBU's should be around 30.

Things are shaping up nicely. Moved the carboy from floor level at 60 degrees F, up to table height, where the temp holds steady at 65. Am hoping to be bottling near the end of the week.

TeeJo

 

[TeeJo]

Hey, this stuff is pretty nice!

Activity has pretty much quit at the airlock, pulled a sample last night to see and it poured with enough entrained CO2 to form a small head.

Made me think of British cellar cooled ale!

Bottling to commence tonight, I think.

Bit of a burnt sugar/heavy caramel on the nose as the glass approaches, mild flavor, the aroma does not carry in the taste, not going to be a beer for making icy cold in the fridge, I think. Hops have decreased in intensity since the last sample a couple days back.

Dark. Not quite as dark as a glass of Coke, but near.

Deciding now how much to prime for. Think it'll go low end. 1/2 to 2/3 a cup of corn sugar, I think. Will check a couple online calculators.

TeeJo

 

[TeeJo]

Bottled.
16 1/2 1 liter flip tops, and one minor spillage disaster

Currently enjoying a glass of the last of it unprimed.

Used a half cup of Corn Sugar, should come out somewhere around 2 volumes, maybe little less, maybe a little more, depending on whose calculator you believe. Amber Ale supposedly should be a little over 2 volumes, but if it comes out less, I will still like it!

Sanitized the equipment and built up a batch of the Mr Beer Cider in the same carboy as I went along. Should be well done with fermentation by the time I am back from my vacation!

TeeJo

 

[JohnSand]

Thanks for posting results.

 

[TeeJo]

Welcome!

It works pretty well as a way to keep records too.
I am a TERRIBLE record keeper! Wife hates it, as she is the kind of cook that will dice up 3/4 of an onion and measure the results to follow a recipe, while I am more of a whole onion, whatever the size, type cook.

TeeJo

 

[GrogNerd]

Welcome!

It works pretty well as a way to keep records too.
I am a TERRIBLE record keeper! Wife hates it, as she is the kind of cook that will dice up 3/4 of an onion and measure the results to follow a recipe, while I am more of a whole onion, whatever the size, type cook.

TeeJo

Beer recipes I try to get as close a measurement as possible, but will accept a fairly wide margin of tolerance

I'll measure for baking or for all-in-one-box side dishes (stove top stuffing) but for regular cooking, eyeballing is close enough

 

[TeeJo]

Hmmm....

Carbed up nicely, and the dregs of the yeast seem pretty well settled out and are not easily stirred off the bottom by the pouring of the first glass off the 1 liter bottle. Has been sitting on my basement floor for the last week-plus while I have been away, at just under 60F. Maybe a little low for the yeast (Coopers, provided in kit) but it seems happy enough to do it's thing.

Mellow. Sent a bottle out the door yesterday with a friend, on the expectation that he provide his feedback.

All in, I gotta say this has been time well spent, knowing full well that I will never repeat this particular recipe (too darn expensive compared to other options out there!).

I don't see this batch as having much of a shelf life. As in, it isn't going to be left to sit on the shelf, for all that long!


TeeJo

 

[JohnSand]

Sometimes you can break the rules and still make good beer.