Just as the title says, how long are Northern Brewer extract kits good for? I bought a house and life got in the way. Have a few kits still in the box never opened all approximately a year old… Are they still good??
Might be fine but not optimal. You really should use them within a few months not a whole year.
I took a gamble on a kit that a buddy never brewed. I brewed it when it was a year old. I nor another friend can taste any difference. I think, though I don’t know, that the specialty grains are likely to go bad sooner.
You don’t have much to loose making them. Some time and cleaner/sanitizers. If they taste reasonably well in the fermenter, bottle them.
You may want to find some new yeast.
Thanks everyone for the replies, I will be getting new yeast and giving them a go.
I had a kit that was about a year old. The hops didn’t look so good when I opened them, so I bought new hops and grains. Turned out fine.
I’m going to go back on what I said. I brewed two more kits that had gotten old on me. The end result is that the beer has what a lot of people describe as extract twang. My previous recipe that i had not noticed it in was an imperial stout. I think the higher abv and roasty character of that brew hid the aged extract taste.
