finlandia cider kit out of date

[jl156]

I just opened a Finladia cider kit that I bought last year and it opened with a loud pop. The was a little swollen i.e. with pressure but otherwise undamaged. no rust marks. The wort? I wasn't sure if I should use it but went for it anyway as the other 2 finlandia kits I made tasted great. After I finished I looked at the date on the bottom of the tin and realized it was out of date. I have only just started it and it hasn't started to work yet but I'm thinking maybe I should just throw it away. I have another kit just the same which is also out of date. would be a shame to throw them both out. normally I take sell by dates as a loose guideline, but as this is not being heated up to kill bacteria maybe it isn't safe? The sell by date was june 2009. Any ideas anyone?
thanks
jim

[thedeckking]

All canned goods will last for years beyond their sell by/best before dates with no problems as long as the can is intact. As long as there was no sign of mould then you should be OK. There's lots of people on here who've used out of date kits and had no problems.

FYI Any further cider questions are best posted in the "other brews" section of the forum: clicky

[Brotherton Lad]

I'm assuming the kit comes with yeast (not familiar with cider kits). It may well be that the yeast is old and tired and you should re-pitch with a fresh batch.
The wort should be fine so long as the tin wasn't damaged. I've certainly eaten tinned Army rations that were about 10 years old.

[kay-jay]

I just opened a Finladia cider kit that I bought last year and it opened with a loud pop. The was a little swollen i.e. with pressure but otherwise undamaged.
thanks
jim

i'm assuming you mean that the can was swollen? if so the only cause of swelling in a tin can that i know of is bacterial infection generally caused by the introduction of germs through a small puncture. if the second tin you have is not swollen then i would go for it, but the swollen one i would not risk!!

KJ

[jl156]

hi yes the can was a little swollen and so is the other one that I have though not very much. They have been stored in a room that has our boiler so they have been quite warm. However they weren't on the boiler. The yeast still hasn't started working yet and its been about 5 hours. I would have thought if there was a hole in the tin there would have been some leekage and the tin wouldn't have expanded. but maybe it isn't worth the risk and I''ll just have to buy a new kit. I also have a brupaks lager kit which is only out by a month. However I just read the pack and it says to store in a cool dry place... doh. The tins for that kit are fine. maybe I'll have to make lager instead.

[EliteEvil]

If the first cider turns out funny/infected and the next one opens in the same way, you might want to try emptying the can into a big pot with as much water as you can fit in it and boiling it for 20 mins to kill anything in the tin? Better than throwing it away or making another infected batch.

[jl156]

thanks for the info to make matters worse I didn't pitch the yeast correctly. I had lent someone my brewing thermometer so I guest-o-mated the temp and just chucked the yeast in. I was sort of thinking that it wouldn't work anyway and didn't really pay attention. Can I repitch the yeast with a new Packet?
jim