Well, world’s oldest malt extract. Tomorrow I plan to brew Denny’s BVIP recipe…10 gallons of it! Going to split it betweem WY1450 and US-05. I have two packets of US-05, but thought I would make a starter for the WY1450 (born on date of September 25).
Turns out I am all out of DME, and no good alternatives since the local hardware store gave up on selling homebrew supplies. So I turned to the 3.3 lb. pouches of LME that a friend who gave up the hobby gave to me…A DECADE AGO.
The brand is Northwestern Gold. I recall they were a Wisconsin LHBS who had a contract with Briess to distribute their malt extract. The LME looked like molasses, and tasted like caramel. I made a two liter starter anyway, and pitched the smack pack in.
It is fermenting nicely in a 1 gallon clear glass jug. No krausen. Today I looked at the box that the Northwestern Gold LME pouch came in and saw a date stamped on it.
December 17, 1992.
As I will have the US-05 as a sort of control, it will be interested to compare the two. Although I don’t believe any little amount of 27 year old wort starter will make an impact on the flavor of a big beer such as the BVIP.
I once bought a whole bunch of boxes of Homebrew kits from the manager of a liquor store for $1 each. They had been on their high shelf for many years when I got them. I sorted them out, threw away the ancient brown hops and the unmarked yeast and saved the dry malt extract. Some of them were solid rocks of extract, but I occasionally would break of a section and make a starter with it. It seemed to work fine.
A guy in our club got a bunch of expired LME from the LHBS. very out of date, very dark. Some made beer with them, those were oxidized. I made starters and decanted. Those were ok.
I made an old ale that took third place in the AHA’s club only competition with some very oxidized extract, but it took over a year before the extract twang had melded into the pleasant oxidation of an old ale.
I typically only use old extract in starters that I plan to decant.
Today I kegged the BVIP. The 1450 with the stale extract starter finished at 1.018, for an apparent attenuation of 78%.
The 2 packets of US-05 finished the wort at 1.014, for an apparent attenuation of 83%. It also had a massive blowoff despite fermenting around 62. Both hydrometer samples tasted great, no real difference. I’m anxious to compare the two once they are carbonated and ready to serve.