Old Grain, How Old is too Old!

[AdelaideHillsBrewer]

Hi Everyone, Warming up again after a short absence from brewing. You would all know how life and work tend to get in the way of all the things a man indevears to fill in his spare time, e.g. Brewing, Riding the Bike and genrealy stuffing around in the shed. Anyway I have two Bags of Dr Smurtos Golden ale in air tight bags from beer belly, However these bags would be about 12months old now. They have been keepted sealed,dry and in the dark (Hmmm much like me really) for about 12 months. The Questions is, Are they still ok? Or am I just wasteing my time,gas and hops proceding any further. Any Help would be Great.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[dent]

There's no problem. So long as it is dry, and not completely eaten to down to husks by bugs, it's all good.

 

[Camo6]

And even if the grain was damp and full of weevils, I bet you would still make a tastier beer than VB.

 

[Hippy]

Has it been crushed? If so that's a pretty long time. It's easy enough to test though, just throw a pinch in your mouth and if it's still crunchy and smells fresh it should be ok. If it tastes stale and feels soggy in your mouth then feed it to the chooks.

 

[manticle]

As per hippy - cracked or uncracked? Does it still taste and feel crisp and fresh or does it taste stale and feel slack?

 

[mofox1]

Has it been crushed? If so that's a pretty long time. It's easy enough to test though, just throw a pinch in your mouth and if it's still crunchy and smells fresh it should be ok. If it tastes stale and feels soggy in your mouth then feed it to the chooks.

Love sampling grain before I crush it... now my 4 year old does too!

According to him - RB tastes like coffee and chocolate, crystal tastes like lollies and base malt tastes yum. Good boy.

 

[AdelaideHillsBrewer]

Ok Guys, Wow thanks for the response! Well yes the grain is crushed as to Biag specs as beer belly offer. Just opened one up and it appers nice and dry. Smeels good and still feels dry and crisp. So im guessing we are Good to go in the morning? Cant wait to fire up the spiral burner!

 

[Goose]

Sorry to be a spoiler fella, even grains go stale over time, of course depending on how they've been stored. I've tried brews side by side with malt past its "best before" date on the bag vs one as fresh as I could get. There was a notable difference... the old malt gave me a weird taste that I could only say was a hint of that dreaded kit twang, that molassesey , oxidised or whatever you call it taste in the background. Just a hint of the taste I got during kit days when I thought I was being thrifty by buying old expired Woollies cans for 5.99 and brewing them up thinking the use by date was a statutory joke. It occurred to me that what happens in time to malt extract also happens to grains.

I reckon You just have to treat your beer ingredients like you would any food product you would keep in your kitchen pantry. Fresh is best.