Old Kits

Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
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Stomach
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Old Kits

Post by Stomach » Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:50 am

I've inherited (some time ago now!!) some old kits:-

Brewferm Frambois
Coopers Mexican Cervza

Their expiry dates were 2017. I assume they are still 'usuable' being in tins but will obviously need new yeast.

I was wondering whats the best yeast for each kit.

Cheers in advance!

Fermenting:-
FV 1 - Festival Spiced Winter Ale
FV 2 - Empty
FV 3 - Empty
FV 4 - Ditches Stout

Drinking:-
Keg 1 - Nothing

Conditioning:-

Bottles - Brewferm Winter Ale
Bottles - Brewferm Triple

Next
Work in progress
Old Tin of Coopers Cerveza
Couple of old tins of stuff to experiment with!

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MashBag
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Re: Old Kits

Post by MashBag » Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:44 am

I assumed you are bottling.

Brewferm Frambois - Lalbrew London Yeast. A Nottingham yeast might lift up the fruity hoppyness a bit more?

Coopers Mexican Cervza. Drinking cold? An ale
yeast. Probably fermentis saf-04.

Rookie
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Re: Old Kits

Post by Rookie » Tue Jun 28, 2022 2:23 pm

Keep in mind that the extract had probably darkened over the years.
I'm just here for the beer.

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Northern Brewer
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Re: Old Kits

Post by Northern Brewer » Wed Jun 29, 2022 8:52 pm

Stomach wrote:
Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:50 am
I assume they are still 'usuable' being in tins but will obviously need new yeast.
Actually the yeast is probably still in reasonable nick - dry yeast goes off pretty slowly, it has a half-life of up to a decade.

Personally I'd be far more worried about 5-year-old liquid extract.

But to answer the question - the Brewferm kit is probably using Brewferm Blanche, but anything like Lallemand Wit will do.

For the Mexican lager, any dry lager yeast will do - 34/70, Diamond, Mangrove Jack M54 - but some of the Mexican breweries seem to use Urquell derivatives which would suggest S-23 is the most appropriate option, although it's not as clean as those first two.

I definitely wouldn't use S-04 for a lager.

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MashBag
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Re: Old Kits

Post by MashBag » Thu Jun 30, 2022 7:21 am

To be honest Mexican Cervza use a blend of yeasts which both lager and ale yeasts.

I do a nice light "almost" lager with S-04. Different folks different strokes 😁

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