Do Beer Kits have a best before / use by date?

[Maffa]

Just thinking out loud here peeps. I mentioned to some work friends that I currently have a brew on and one chap said he had a few old kits in his garage that I could have; but that are probably about 5 years old.

As they are sealed and in tins, are we talking corned beef life expectancy here? :nah:

I haven't got my hands on them yet so haven't had a chance to check them out but as I am only starting out, I only have one fv that is in constant use and dont want to waste 4 valuable weeks of a good brewing time :hmm:

Whats the consensus?

 

[fbsf]

As long as they aren't majorly dented (i.e. cracking the coating on the inside of the tins), then the kits should be usable. Most kits have a good 2-year best-before date anyway so they may not even be that far out of date.

They might have a bit of a "twang" to them initially once brewed, so will need a fair bit of maturation time in the keg or bottle (think 3 months rather than 4 weeks) to get rid of this.

Also, the kit yeast will probably be well past it's best, so a couple of quid on a sachet of S04 or Nottingham would be money well spent.

 

[alawlor66430]

As long as they aren't majorly dented (i.e. cracking the coating on the inside of the tins), then the kits should be usable. Most kits have a good 2-year best-before date anyway so they may not even be that far out of date.

They might have a bit of a "twang" to them initially once brewed, so will need a fair bit of maturation time in the keg or bottle (think 3 months rather than 4 weeks) to get rid of this.

Also, the kit yeast will probably be well past it's best, so a couple of quid on a sachet of S04 or Nottingham would be money well spent.

+1 and remember get more toilet roll to just incase.

 

[Maffa]

OK Cheers Chaps :

 

[TheQuokka]

Yes, they have a useby date, but they will keep a long time after this. They tend to go dark, and I agree they seem a little more bitter, but generally taste OK. I have actually used kits and liquid extract that was about 5 years past date and it was very drinkable!

 

[Godsdog]

The thing most to fret about with out of date kits is the yeast