To brew or not to brew (older grains)

[JohnIA]

Hi! Over the Christmas 2018 holiday I intended to brew three batches. I brewed two and ground the grains for the third (a blue moon clone) and prepared the yeast starter. Since then life has got in the way. The yeast starter is in the garage fridge still topped with tinfoil and the grains are in a fermentation bucket in the open air - kept mostly in the dark ~72 degrees.

This weekend is the first opportunity I'll have to brew - I'm loathe to waste the effort if the grains and resulting beer will taste stale or if it's likely the yeast won't reactivate.

Thoughts? Should I just relax and have a homebrew, it will be fine?

Thanks all! Much appreciated!

John

 

[CodeSection]

I would go ahead and use the grains, I think you will be fine. Various members have used yeast that was up to six months old that was in a sealed canning jar. Personally, when I make a starter, I intentionally make a quart more to put into a canning jar to use later. I generally use it two-three weeks later.

In your case, it sounds like the yeast starter is over eight weeks old in a not so sealed flask. I guess color and smell would come into play...

 

[blubrewbbq]

Hi! Over the Christmas 2018 holiday I intended to brew three batches. I brewed two and ground the grains for the third (a blue moon clone) and prepared the yeast starter. Since then life has got in the way. The yeast starter is in the garage fridge still topped with tinfoil and the grains are in a fermentation bucket in the open air - kept mostly in the dark ~72 degrees.

This weekend is the first opportunity I'll have to brew - I'm loathe to waste the effort if the grains and resulting beer will taste stale or if it's likely the yeast won't reactivate.

Thoughts? Should I just relax and have a homebrew, it will be fine?

Thanks all! Much appreciated!

John

I would keep the grains and do a new starter.

I've kept grains for months in your very situation...LIFE happens. Lol.

For the starter it's simply cheap insurance to make a new starter so u know that the yeasties are actively doing their thing.

 

[madscientist451]

I've used milled grain older than that, but I always keep the milled grain in a plastic bag in a bucket with a lid, so its not the same situation. I do think stale grain can hurts the flavor. If you are worried about it, use it as an experiment.
Add some DME to your starter, let it get going between now and the weekend, then
brew with your grains but add some extract and some sugar. Make a barleywine type beer. The High ABV will cover up any stale grain flavors.