Old Beer

[mrtona]

G'day
I had a good look under my house that I bought a couple of months ago.
Tucked away behind a pier I found a couple of brews in tallies, with rusty caps.
Sept 91 date written on them.
I haven't opened one yet but will next weekend.
What are the chances of them being drinkable?
Would It be ok to use the bottles?
Thanks
Tony

 

[Grott]

Bottles should be OK to reuse. (In S.A. the famous pickaxe bottles I use to bottle stout and special brews are around 40 years old.)
The bottles you found may still be alright to drink, just depends and only opening will tell. I recall or think I do, that BribieG (member here) had some stouts 20 years or so that he thought we tops.

 

[manticle]

Might be amazing, likely oxidised to hell but won't kill you so try. Bottle reuse ok if clean.

 

[captain crumpet]

Id advise that when you crack them open have a towel or cloth wrapped around the bottle. Still that chance they are like a forgotten landmine.

 

[Dave70]

Id advise that when you crack them open have a towel or cloth wrapped around the bottle. Still that chance they are like a forgotten landmine.

Sage advice.
Came down to the garage one morning to find a bottle of Belgian dark I had aging went pop in the night.
That formidable shard landed on the bench behind me and came from the rack to the right of the water heater. That was no micron thin VB / CUB bottle either.
Holding a bottle up the the light for a quick look-see on how she's clearing? I shudder to think..

 

[Grott]

How old was that Dave? And the bottle, a Coopers?

 

[Dave70]

How old was that Dave? And the bottle, a Coopers?

I'd guess about four to five months. It was quite some time ago now. Yeah, Coopers.
Twenty bottles, four grenades, sixteen geysers. The direct result of a late homemade date syrup addition and impatience.

 

[Grott]

To "blow up" a Coopers bottle is a great effort. Proves the power and danger of not allowing fermentation to complete prior to bottling.

 

[n87]

To "blow up" a Coopers bottle is a great effort. Proves the power and danger of not allowing fermentation to complete prior to bottling.

The coopers bottles are getting thinner and thinner. they arent really any better than 'do not refill' bottles now.

 

[Grott]

Must admit haven't bought any for a while. The ones I have were manufactured as a SA Pickaxe bottle with a change in the embossing.
Surely the new ones aren't like those paper thin CUB bottles?

 

[n87]

Must admit haven't bought any for a while. The ones I have were manufactured as a SA Pickaxe bottle with a change in the embossing.
Surely the new ones aren't like those paper thin CUB bottles?

not far off.
Unfortunately with all the case swaps, my cache of NSW Bottle Co bottles (40+ years old) is slowly being replaced with increasingly thinner coopers bottles...

 

[n87]

I knew I read it somewhere:
https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/coopers-750ml-glass-no-refill.94471/

 

[wynnum1]

Let off a single small fire cracker i found years ago and the neighbor ran under the house to check his bottles.