How Old is too old

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Bizenya

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Ok, so have been sorting through some cupboards inside and have turned up a Thomas Cooper Selection Wheat beer kit with a wheat malt extract tin as well!

Don't remember getting it, but interested to know what everyones thoughts are. It has been inside, and on an internal wall so in theory the temp would not have varied significantly. Also tin should have kept all the ingredients pretty close to the day of packing. I think I will skip on the yeast and just grab a good wheat beer yeast from the local shop


But is it worth trying?Not massive issue if it doesn't work, but if others have tried and know it won't work it will save me a hassle.

Oh yeah Use By Date on bottom of can states "18/12/08"

has been awhile since I last brewed.......
 
I did a coopers pale ale 2008 vintage can that a mate gave me after he too found it lurking in the back of a cupboard, the malt darkens and it looked almost like a stout.

I even used the coopers yeast as an experiment to see if it would kick off.

It did and I even managed to get through the keg wasn't the worst I've tasted. Seriously though the colour will be well off but get some fresh yeast and it will be fine.
 
Life's too short…chuck it and get a fresh one. It may turn out drinkable but why risk disappointment if you are only just getting back it.
 
don't waste your time, its not worth the $25
 
Yea they have use by dates for a reason. There's obviously a bit of 'slack' when it says 'best before' but your talking over 5 years. It might turn out fine or it might be shithouse. Why wait 2 weeks to be potentially dissapointed. Like yumbeer said, ditch it and buy a new one.
 
won club night at anhc with a coupe of year old kit beer
 
Use a full on wheat yeast or heaps of hops to cover any dodgyness up.

A couple of tins (Lager and International Lager) turned up recently from boxes when moving in 2011, praps same vintage. Not awesome but spruced up ok.
 
I did some that were 2 years out of date. They were all f##ked.

Apart from the one I 3-canned, bombed with a kilo of sugar, 600g dark malts and sour dregs. THAT one was awesome.
 
Righto

I'm thinking I'll have a go- ill brew it up to full, see how it's looking on bottling and then maybe do a half bottle, or full if it's seeming ok

Yeast ideas? SAFBREW WB-06 or something similar? Hops? I'm def novice at these things.....
 
Depends what you want.

Good beer? Unlikely. That stuff darkens and oxidises over time, your cupboard notwithstanding.

To be thrifty? You'll spend more than half that on the better yeast plus invest time in something that might be tippable. Might be penny wise. Add hops and you might as well buy a new tin.

To experiment and find out for yourself? Go for it. Lower your expectations. You might be pleasantly surprised but at least you won't be disappointed.

You won't die or get sick.
 
Maybe make it a Dunkelweizen.

WB06 will work fine, prolly dont need hops in a bav wheat.

steep some:
crystal wheat and/or
cara-munnich/caravienne/carared - total 300-500g
carafa up to 100g

dont use any roast malts such as choc etc (ok carafa is roast but de-bittered)
 
Thanks everyone- good advice and some nice reasoning too.

I think I will still try, and attempt that dunkelweisen - I will however grab another kit and do two straight away- then at least the fresh kit will be ready at the same time and I won't be losing time

Thanks everyone!
 
OK-

Bit of a late reply to this topic, have been busy with the arrival of our first little human

Back to topic. How is old is too old? Well, a can with a use by of nearly six years is.

Malt was very very dark, smelt nothing like wheat kits I have done before, plus the join on the inside of the can was basically a black, rusty smudge which made a odd oil look as it tipped out. Smelt worse when being made up to 22 L as well- sort of like a pancake breakfast with golden syrup but a sort of weird off smell


Thought against wasting time with it due to this, and just start a fresh.

Post complete! (this one anyone)
 
I came back to brewing last year after a decade outage and did a coopers lager kit that was 10 years old. Just to match I added some 10 year old dextrose and a pack of dried yeast I found I my stockpile of the same vintage. As everybody has noted, it came out black. It was drinkable but had an unusual slight licorice-like taste. I actually liked it for a few weeks, but got sick of it once I'd brewed a better malt extract ale.
 
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