Out Of Date Kits - Any Issues?

[PhilipB]

I was given two tins of out of date kits. One was 29 Nov 2009 and the other 18 Sept 2010. The tins were in very good condition. Some one told me the molasses in the tins would have gone off.

Would this be right?

Can you still use them pitching with fresh yeast?

 

[Wimmig]

Sure, you can use them if you like, you would be hard pressed to not make some variety of beer with them. I myself wouldn't.

 

[Deebo]

Yes, you can use a fresh yeast to ferment them.. wether they turn out anygood is anyones guess (the cans shouldn't contain molasses, just hopped malt extract).
If the cans are swolen (convex on the ends), ditch them. In any case the beers will probably be darker than if they were fresh.
I would spend as little on ingredients to go with them as possible so if it turns out terrible its not a huge loss.

 

[PhilipB]

Thanks guys. Tins were in good order. No rust. Not convexed. They were sealed air tight ( I know this as I place my tins in a bowl of hot /warm water to help make it runnier when pouring out and when I used the can openner I got the pleasent 'hiss' as the tin was openned). The brews are darker than what I would expect. One tin was a QLD larger and the other an Australian Draught.

The results will be in the tasting I suppose!

Cheers guys. :icon_cheers:

 

[petesbrew]

Expect the worst, that's all I can say.

 

[QldKev]

There's quite a few threads on here about expired cans.

Personally I would never use an expired kit, shit ingredients make shit beer.



QldKev

 

[gambit]

First brew I ever made was from an out of date kit. I was working in Libya at the time (dry country) and was given a few brew kits by a fellow ex-pat who was leaving. The kits were Brewferm Pilsner which were 5 years out of date.

I set up my fermeter in the lounge room as I could lock the door to this room - did not want the cleaner reporting me to Gaddafi's secret police. As it happened this was the only airconditioned room in the house, so as a novice I accidentally managed to brew at a good temperature. As there was no LHBS I was forced to use the yeast that came with the kit, but it worked and produced what I thought to be quite a good beer - could have been the 2 months without beer that made it taste even better.

I subsequently brewed up the remaining kits with new yeast (brought back from a trip to the UK) and they all produced a decent beer.

My LHBS sells any out of date kits at half price and I regularly buy these.
:icon_drunk:

 

[Dave70]

I suggest it'll have more twang than Geisha's Shamisen..

 

[sponge]

As Kev suggested, if you're not using fresh ingredients, don't expect the world.

I'd be tempted just to do a two-can and throw some fruity (US/NZ/AUS) hops in for a 5min boil to add something a little fresher for flavour and aroma.

At least you won't be spending extra cash (except for the hops if you don't have any) on something that may not turn out overly impressive.


Sponge

 

[Nick JD]

Some one told me the molasses in the tins would have gone off.

It would have gone so off, it would have turned into stale malt extract!

A big +1 on all the comments above. Why put a lot of time into ten bucks worth of crap beer? Buy a new kit, open the lid and chuck the yeast, buy some good ale yeast and some malt extract and make good beer.

 

[Amber Fluid]

There's quite a few threads on here about expired cans.

Personally I would never use an expired kit, shit ingredients make shit beer.


QldKev

Kev is spot on. Well from the shit I had about 12 months ago... never again!.. Fresh ingredients for a decent beer I reckon.

Use it to make starters or something.

 

[PhilipB]

True, fresh ingredients is better than an expired kit from what I am reading here.

At worst I have thrown $12 down the tubes along with 46 litres of water. True I could buy a fresh tin kit, but as they say, nothing ventured nothing .. well.. tested

Sponge - I had 45 Gms Amarillo hops which I split between each batch (22.5 gms a batch) and boiled for 5 minutes. I suppose I will see whats its like at taste testing before I go to bottle it.

I really appreciate the feed back. Its the first time I have ever used a kit that was out of date.

 

[PhilipB]

Guys,

I have had no temperature control and its been cold here in QLD.

Really unhappy that the only beer brewing yeast my local brew shop had was Coopers Summer Brewing yeast. It hits 20 degress and stops

Its been nearly 4 weeks and I haven't hit any near 1005.

Should I simply throw it out? Its been sitting in the fermenter this coming weekend..

Thoughts?

PhilB

 

[1974Alby]

what was your starting SG and what is it now? From memory lowest my kits got was about 1008, but often 1012- 1016...If there has been active fermentation and your SG has come down you might as well bottle it..given you bothered using it in the first place! as you say, nothing ventured nothing tested....mind you, if its not finished fermenting you could be making bottle bombs and they arent fun!

 

[PhilipB]

what was your starting SG and what is it now? From memory lowest my kits got was about 1008, but often 1012- 1016...If there has been active fermentation and your SG has come down you might as well bottle it..given you bothered using it in the first place! as you say, nothing ventured nothing tested....mind you, if its not finished fermenting you could be making bottle bombs and they arent fun!

Start Reading was 1040 for both.
Last readings taken on Sat 10th were 1020 and 1022 respectively. still too high to bottle.

if they were say down to 1008 - 1006 and I was confident they fermented well and were stable at this level for at least 3 days I would be ok.

The thing is the temp drops below 20 degrees and ferment stops. then during the day as the temp hits 22 degrees they go back on the boil.

Don't want bottle bombs in any instance.

 

[ekul]

Do a search for "1020 stalled" for tips on getting the brew started again. Its really common for kits to stall at this gravity.

 

[manticle]

4 weeks, out of date kits, 1040-1020.....

I'm the last person to tell someone to tip beer as you can always learn something but weigh up how much time you want to spend on it.

I guess that does teach you something though - attempts to save money by using crap ingredients may cost more in time.

Still if you want to learn about stalled ferments at the same time and how to recover them, read this: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showarticle=130

 

[hoppy2B]

Malt extract is just basically sugar stuff hermetically sealed in a can. I seriously doubt it can go off. Full points to those individuals talking from experience. I respect peoples choice not to use it. I'd use it, and half price cans sound like a bargain.

 

[manticle]

No-one said it goes off. It just makes average beer and why **** around for 4 weeks making potentially average beer and saving $5 when you can try and make something decent in half the time?

 

[Mike L'Itorus]

There's quite a few threads on here about expired cans.

Personally I would never use an expired kit, shit ingredients make shit beer.



QldKev

corrected. You're welcome.