Mardoo
Noob What Craps On A Bit
I wouldn't say bag of garbage, but I have noticed differences. A couple containers of malt I bought 3 years ago recently surfaced in a garage clean-up. They've been stored dry, airtight and under 23 degrees (as hot as my garage ever gets).warra48 said:
The malt had not gone slack, and was nearly as crisp as malts bought a month ago. In fact, the newly purchased malts were the same malts as the ones in the buckets, both type and brand, so it was a good chance to do a side by side taste test. In the old malt the major flavour elements were still effectively the same as the new malt, perhaps a bit more dull. However, the subtler flavours that make the malt "pop", at least in this tasting, were gone. You could say the wow factor was gone.
I haven't done a side-by-side brew comparison so can't say whether the "wow factor" would make any difference in a finished beer. That would probably be largely influenced by handling through the wort production and fermentation process. I would guess that, give a precise and thorough brewer, it would be noticeable. That's a guess though, and most of the brewers I know don't hit the level of technique I'm thinking of, including me.
It'll still make good beer. I still believe though that buying malt that's well over a year old should be up to the customer and sellers should make it clear that what's on sale is past its use by.
