Longevity of kits

[eddiefebuary]

Newbie question here. I'm about to brew my first batch from extract. Through a wierd twist of events I ended up with 2 kits. The one kit says that it will keep for 6 months when refrigerated. However, it's been at room temperature for at least a week, not including the shipping time. Is it Ok to put in the refrigerator now and if so how long will it keep?

[secur8eguy]

That's odd, I've never heard of a kit having such a short life span, unless it's one of those bag-in-a-box kits. Usually the caned stuff will keep for about two years, more or less. What type of kit is it?

[eddiefebuary]

It's a kit from Williams Brewing called Fireside Ale. I guess I could call them tomorrow. I just thought someone here might know off the top of their head and save me a phone call.

[DreamWeaver]

A few months ago I bought a primary fermenter bucket off of ebay, (like the one in Charlie Papazian's Book page 18) & the guy also sent me a tin of malt extract with it (like the one on page 16 top right of the same book). Prolly the same tin. It was/is buldging at the seams (bigtime) and no date is on it so it is now a conversation piece. We are taking bets as to when it will explode! It is prolly 9-10 years old. I asked around about the shelf life of canned malt extract and found out the fresher the better but, it will keep for 3-4 years unless it has been opened, then 6-8 months, re-sealed, refridgerated. Nowadays most quality malt extract tins have dates on them. Hope that helped. -DRWeaver-

[thewiz]

Actually, I have a question on this topic as well... maybe someone will know:

Went to my LHBS and they had a shipment of expired kits.... well I bought the kits that had a Jan 04 expiration date planning on using fresh yeast if necessary.... but there were other kits dated 2002....

I know that the expiration date doesn't affect the malt as much as the yeast, but obviously there is a time frame of some sort.... they sure are cheaper than fresh kits, especially for experimenting ($5/kit)..... any suggestions on how old to stay away from?

BTW, the first Jan04 kit was great - so far at least... fermented fine, and tasted great upon sampling in between primary and secondary.