Very out of date kits

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Redsnapper

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Hey all,
I know there are plenty of threads on this already but I think this may be some kinda record and these are Betterbrew Pouches.
Under a spare bed were :
BetterBrew Irish Stout 2.1KG BBE 06/15 and a Briess CBW Porter 1.5KG BBE 11/15
obviously bought together.

And a BetterBrew IPA 2.1KG BBE 07/16
and 1KG of Young’s Medium Spraymalt BBE 20/10/16.Bought together.

Now the pouches have no nicks or punctures and are not “blown up” they look just like normal.Same with the other stuff.

I only have one FV as space is limited for brewing so my quandary is should I
take up 3 weeks in my FV on a punt with the IPA first??
I am short of hops too but have got 50g Goldings 5.6% pellets in the freezer so was thinking of 25g of hop tea in the fermenter
and mebbe dry hop with the other 25g.
Also was gonna rehydrate the yeast and have a pack of Gervin Ale Yeast on standby.
I am minded to have a go for what I now consider Free Beer!! Plan to bottle condition for 4-5 months to lessen the chances of old LME ‘Twang’

Would welcome thoughts as these are pouches.Will probably try a taste with a sanitized teaspoon before brewing.

Sorry for the long post!
Cheers!
 
I would go for it you have nothing to lose. The IPA may come up darker than it would have done if fresh, and any twang will be more noticeable than the other two kits. I would however be cautious about spending lots on extras in case they don't work out.
Personally I would chuck the old kit yeasts and go with the Gervin (GV12?). You could re-use the trub from brews 1 and 2 for brew 2 and 3, and if you do that I would do IPA, porter and then stout in that order. Others may tell you to persevere with the original yeasts.
 
Thanks Guys I am sanitising now for IPA and Spraymalt plus my 1st hop tea.30g Goldings in a sock I boiled earlier steeping in a litre of preboiled water.Its a green mess do I need to boil it before chucking in FV or are hops sterile??
 
If you've got any yeast nutrient add a bit, too. Be interesting to see how pounches hold up over time.

Oh - I'd got 50/50 sugar/spraymalt for an IPA. I did all spraymalt and it robbed the hop flavour and it was like some confused bitter.

Hops are sterile. Don't boil. I did a hop tea at the start of a ferment once and compared to a dry hop and tea after ferment it brought very little to the table as the co2 bubbles loads of the essence away.

Enough of my misery!
 
Thanks for the responses Unfortunately I have no brewing sugar so will have to use the Spraymalt should add body.I have done loads of kits and dry hopping but never a hop tea whilst brewing up.Because the kit is so old I figured what the hell!!I will dry hop with the remaining Goldings (20)g and I am sure I have 50 g Citra somewhere!!Thinking of brewing short to 20 L too as long as it turns out passable plus it’s free beer!!
 
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Hey Folks well this one is ready to be pitched later.Couple of schoolboy errors as I was rattling on so it is a bit cold at 18C will pitch later at 20C and the little grommet for holding my airlock fell through into my brew as I fitted said airlock!!! Sanitising another.... but the first one was just left in the lid during sanitation so hope it ok!!!! Done 30 odd brews and never had a problem so here’s hoping.
Oh came out at 1.048 and tasted and smelt ok.Not as fresh as a new kit but I reckon 80% I have actually used cheaper kits that did not smell or taste as good.
 
It's fine to pitch a few degrees lower than your ferment temp. Pitching above is worse.
 
This brew is wrapped in a blanket with a brew mat and is still at 18C I am keener to pitch at 20C.So my mind is turning to rehydrating my Gervin yeast which is from Wilko so a Nottingham as I understand it.However my thermometer is for the round file!! Any suggestions as to how long boiled water say 110ml will take to cool to the required 35/37 C and how can I get it to room temp say 20C in 30mins.
I assume this is a question for guys with lots of pens in their top pockets....( and gals and genderfluids etc!)
 
I would rather have the yeast in it waiting to warm up than be waiting for it to warm up to put the yeast it.

It will start working at the lower temp and keep any unwanted organisms at bay.

All the Best,
D. White
 
View attachment 22356 Hey Folks well this one is ready to be pitched later.Couple of schoolboy errors as I was rattling on so it is a bit cold at 18C will pitch later at 20C and the little grommet for holding my airlock fell through into my brew as I fitted said airlock!!! Sanitising another.... but the first one was just left in the lid during sanitation so hope it ok!!!! Done 30 odd brews and never had a problem so here’s hoping.
Oh came out at 1.048 and tasted and smelt ok.Not as fresh as a new kit but I reckon 80% I have actually used cheaper kits that did not smell or taste as good.
I would rather have the yeast in it waiting to warm up than be waiting for it to warm up to put the yeast it.

It will start working at the lower temp and keep any unwanted organisms at bay.

All the Best,
D. White

Cheers I got fed up and dry pitched it at 20C it seems fine and is going gently just now.Thanks for the advice.
 
Update : this has been on the go since the 10th and after a fairly vigorous initial fermentation has calmed down a lot.Just bubbling intermittently now.Cleaning up I suspect.
Just dry hopped with 25g EKG pellets.Currently at 1.014 and will rack it on Friday which is 14 days.I am not sure if it will get very much lower.
I intend to cold crash in my bottling bucket for 2-3 days before bottling as this has worked well in the past.
Oh and tastes ok too!
 
Update : this has been on the go since the 10th and after a fairly vigorous initial fermentation has calmed down a lot.Just bubbling intermittently now.Cleaning up I suspect.
Just dry hopped with 25g EKG pellets.Currently at 1.014 and will rack it on Friday which is 14 days.I am not sure if it will get very much lower.
I intend to cold crash in my bottling bucket for 2-3 days before bottling as this has worked well in the past.
Oh and tastes ok too!

Sounds like great progress.

Keep us posted!

All the Best,
D. White
 
Ok Bottled this yesterday.Got 42 x 500ml out of it after clearing up nicely in the bottling bucket for 8 days.So Brewday to bottle in 24 days.FG 1.014 so it’s about 4.59%.It tastes quite malty and is pretty dark with a nice hint of sweetness. It probably hasn’t brewed out quite as well as it should.But I think this is down to me and not the old kit ingredients.
So this has gone from 1.048 to 1.013 and an identical brew with new ingredients went 1.052 to 1.014 last time round.
So as I said initially the plan is for a good few weeks conditioning and we will see.
 
Well time for an update....This was bottled on 03/02 so 12 days ago so time for a test.This has quite a dark colour as was predicted but its clear, nicely carbonated, nice head and lacing on the glass.A strong tasting beer (ABV wise) , quite malty and with a sweet undertone.Actually could drink this quite easily already.Reminds me of a Youngs American Amber Ale I brewed previously.
There is no noticeable "Twang" and having brewed quite a few similar beers I reckon it will improve nicely in the bottle.Probably with a slight improvement in bitterness and slight reduction in sweetness.Coming from north of the border I am used to our slightly sweeter beers so this is fine anyway.
So I am glad I brewed it and would have no qualms in using older ingredients in future.I have been using MYO kits from The Range as an experiment to see how cheaply I can brew with LME kits.
This will turn out better in the long run I think.
Free Beer!!!
Got a Razorback IPA for Christmas from No 1 wife so that is on the go too!!!
 
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