Past best before date LME

[Matthopperman]

I just got an order of ingredients from a big Homebrew store, and my two cans of LME I got show a BBE date of 02/2023. Has anyone experienced being sold products past best before date before? Is this common practice with Homebrew shops? Is it worth going through the returns process, having to ship back 3 kilos of malt?

Alternatively, should I risk a stale batch of beer and just use it? Do LME cans have a good enough shelf life to not worry about the BBE?

Thanks

 

[JDW81]

They’ll be fine. Only a month over the “used by date” but it’s not like milk of eggs. The stuff is sterile inside, sealed and kept from light so just brew as normal. I doubt you’ll even be able to tell the difference.

Maybe just feed back to the shop that they were out of date when you got them?

JD

 

[MHB]

There is a big difference between Use Buy and Best Before. Basically when it comes down to UB there is a real chance of the product becoming hazardous, not instantly obviously but at some point soon it won’t be safe to consume.

Best Before is more a matter of "freshness" or how much a product will be recognisably different from when it was made. In both cases there will be "standard" storage conditions, with say milk it would be around 4oC, for biscuits it’s more likely to be 20oC. How a product is stored and treated can matter a lot.

In this case there is next to no risk. Over time LME in a can will darken, eventually going black. The flavour will change becoming acrid and metallic. I have only seen this in products years old.
Just remember that Use Buy and Best Before aren’t interchangeable. if something has a bit of age on it, smell and taste it, that should tell you all you need to know.
Mark

 

[Matthopperman]

There is a big difference between Use Buy and Best Before. Basically when it comes down to UB there is a real chance of the product becoming hazardous, not instantly obviously but at some point soon it won’t be safe to consume.

Best Before is more a matter of "freshness" or how much a product will be recognisably different from when it was made. In both cases there will be "standard" storage conditions, with say milk it would be around 4oC, for biscuits it’s more likely to be 20oC. How a product is stored and treated can matter a lot.

In this case there is next to no risk. Over time LME in a can will darken, eventually going black. The flavour will change becoming acrid and metallic. I have only seen this in products years old.
Just remember that Use Buy and Best Before aren’t interchangeable. if something has a bit of age on it, smell and taste it, that should tell you all you need to know.
Mark

I didn’t mention used by. Not worried about safety, just worried it’ll be lower quality/stale. Seems somewhat dodgy to sell people LME past the best before without warning them. Just wondered if that’s a common occurrence and/or if that reduction in quality would be applicable in this case.

 

[MHB]

No you didn’t, JDW81 did and that’s not the first time I've seen that here. Knowing there is a difference is worthwhile.

I wouldn’t think it’s a common practice, tho having been on the other side of the counter, I have had product arrive in store past its BB date or so close to it that it’s only a matter of days. Some times 1 box of something on a pallet will be a lot older than the rest.
I doubt anyone spends the time checking every item, rather trusting the supplier to send product in good condition. That might be brave but it’s the way it works.
In my experience most suppliers are pretty good and if a product wasn’t perfect it wouldn’t have been sent.
In this case, like I said above smell and taste the LME, if you aren’t happy get it replaced.
Might be well worth telling the supplier, anyone reputable wants to know if there is any supply problems so they can fix them. Every retailer lives on reputation, it’s hard to create a good one and easy to lose it.
Mark

 

[yankinoz]

Use it. I've used LME 1-2 months past best before date. Expect the brew to be slightly darker than it would be if the LME were used well within the recommended period. If you were to do a side-by-side with a batch using fresher LME, you would probably notice a difference in a lightly flavoured brew.

I'll play Captain Obvious for a moment and note that the changes in LME begin from packaging and continue until at a few years it turns into the black mass Mark describes above. They do not happen on one date. The fresher, the better.

 

[Nick the Knife]

As others have said its fine to use but I do think you've got a legit gripe being sold such a short dated product at full price. So up to you - I'd personally give feedback to the store and would not be surprised if you got a partial refund as it's definitely not best practice by them to sell this without notifying the consumer in advance that it's so short dated.

 

[yankinoz]

For future reference, in case anyone has bought LME and can't use it soon, Briess on their website recommend putting it in the freezer, which very nearly stops the unwanted reactions. They do not recommend refrigeration for long periods, as it can lead to surface mold formation at fridge temps. Chilling will cause sugars to crystallise. You would need to warm the LME before use.

I haven't tried it.

 

[Nick the Knife]

For future reference, in case anyone has bought LME and can't use it soon, Briess on their website recommend putting it in the freezer, which very nearly stops the unwanted reactions. They do not recommend refrigeration for long periods, as it can lead to surface mold formation at fridge temps. Chilling will cause sugars to crystallise. You would need to warm the LME before use.

I haven't tried it.

Funny you say this as I'm in the process of moving from partials (extract + steeped grains to AG brewing) and had a few cans of unhopped LME left over. I've been rueing doing another brew with these - and stumbled on this ability to freeze them a while back - so am going to pop them in the freezer and use for 'starters' with future brews where I harvest yeast.

 

[Drubbing]

I didn’t mention used by. Not worried about safety, just worried it’ll be lower quality/stale. Seems somewhat dodgy to sell people LME past the best before without warning them. Just wondered if that’s a common occurrence and/or if that reduction in quality would be applicable in this case.

Because they don't have to, and the product is only a few weeks past. It would be a waste to dump BB product when there's nothing wrong or unsaleable about it. My missus consults in food safety to hospitals and does labelling for every industry sector. The BB dates are arbitrary and decided by the manufacturer, they're more about keeping goods turned over regularly than anything else.

BB is all about quality, Use By is about safety. Canned products can be stable and perfectly fine for months after BB dates. You can practically guarantee it won't be any different than if it were inside the date code.

 

[Nick the Knife]

Because they don't have to, and the product is only a few weeks past. It would be a waste to dump BB product when there's nothing wrong or unsaleable about it.

This is true - however just because you can do something, doesn't make it a good idea - as Chris Rock once joked about driving your car with your feet in reference to women insisting children could be raised without a Father.

As a consumer, if I ordered products and they turned up after their BBD, it'd hardly encourage me to buy from that vendor again - especially if I wasn't planning on using the product in the short term. LME is an interesting one as it does change with age, darkens and taste changes - so I wonder if this is pronounced by the BBD?

But you are 100% correct as in NSW these are the laws applying to 'used by' and 'best before' dates:
https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/food-labelling/stay-safe/date-marking-storage-labelling

 

[Drubbing]

LME is an interesting one as it does change with age, darkens and taste changes - so I wonder if this is pronounced by the BBD?

It's a very stable canned product. It's unlikely to change in quality or appearance for many months after BB. I've heard of people using years old cans found in cupboards for shizzengiggles. They looked like bitumen, but they made beer.

But you are 100% correct as in NSW these are the laws applying to 'used by' and 'best before' dates:
https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/food-labelling/stay-safe/date-marking-storage-labelling

All states food legislation is governed by FSANZ, and are the same nationwide.

There is no legislation that tells manufacturers which code is appropriate, they get to choose. You'll find yoghurts with UB and others with BB. Both of which are pointless in real terms, as it's a low ph product and very resistant to bacterial growth. We eat them well past dates, the sniff taste test is the only valid 'science' in this example.