26 replies to this topic

[UGALawDawg]

After almost a year of non-brewing I decided to dust off my equipment yesterday and give it a go. While I was getting all of my stuff out of the shed, I ran across a keg of beer that I had forgoten about when I moved into the new house back in June. The beer itself is Denny Conn's Burbourn Vanilla Imperial Porter that I brewed in February of 2008. There is about a quarter of a keg left. It has been sitting in my shed without refridgeration or air conditioning since June of 2008, however the keg was pretty well presurized. It doesn't smell all that bad, and didn't appear to have any mold or other nasty things floating in it, although it is pretty dark and opaque. What do you guys think should I toss it or chill it and hook it up?

[Darterboy]

Only one way to find out! Chill it and tap it. It'll probably be awful but you'll never know 'till you check it out.

[DuncanDad]

Glad to see you made it here!I'd chill it and try it. If it sucks, you are not out anything. If it's drinkable, well, you are all good.

[UGALawDawg]

Glad to see you made it here!I'd chill it and try it. If it sucks, you are not out anything. If it's drinkable, well, you are all good.

My wife is concerned that it will kill us all. I tried to tell her that there are no known pathogens that can survive in beer, but she wouldn't hear of it.

[ncbeerbrewer]

Chill it, Tap it, give it a drink. Just as said above you are not losing anything and if its drinkable you are all good. You will be fine, if it was sealed up you won't get killed by anything. Let us know how it goes too.

[MyaCullen]

My wife is concerned that it will kill us all. I tried to tell her that there are no known pathogens that can survive in beer, but she wouldn't hear of it.

So did you at least try it? Tell me you tried it.

[BFB]

Yup...you gotta try it.

[UGALawDawg]

So did you at least try it? Tell me you tried it.

It is in the fridge now. I'll report back with my findings if I don't die of plague.

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

hopefully it won't affect you like this

[HoppingFrog Brewing]

I would drink it warm tap it now and see if it's good I have done this before for that mater it was almost 3 years I had 3 kegs they all survived the barleywine was the best smooth as can be. It should be fine. unless you are in phenix and the beer was over 100F for that year. The heat and your sanitation will be the biggest killer to that beer.You have got to try it.just one bite (sip) the little devel on your sholder said it will answer all you questions. no wonder we fell

[Kunsan90]

Oh yea man, you have to try it before doing anything drastic!.... good luck.Phil

[MyaCullen]

I would drink it warm tap it now and see if it's good I have done this before for that mater it was almost 3 years I had 3 kegs they all survived the barleywine was the best smooth as can be. It should be fine. unless you are in phenix and the beer was over 100F for that year. The heat and your sanitation will be the biggest killer to that beer.You have got to try it.just one bite (sip) the little devel on your sholder said it will answer all you questions. no wonder we fell

damn that was some good barleywine.let me tell ya guys and gals, Casey may not have the best typing skills but he can brew some fine fine beer.You ought to post some of your recipes in the swap section. Especially the Barleywine

[drewseslu]

Uhh...how do you know there was nothing floating in there? Did you open the keg up and look inside?

[Zulu]

as an imperial it will probably be pretty good.I have a 13% old english ale that dried out very nicely after two summers in the garage in a keg , everyone who has tasted it has enjoyed it.

[3rd party JKor]

my bet is it will be fine. I had a pils that went through far worse than your impy porter and when I finally cracked it, it had lost most of it's hop flavor, but there weren't any nasty off flavors. It was just bland.

[rockon]

Dude, you gotta try it. It's either gonna be really bad, or the best beer ever. The BVIP is a beer that does good with some age anyway. My vote is for great!

[UGALawDawg]

The results are in. This beer is freaking awesome. It is much better than I remember it, and I remember it be pretty darn good. The vanilla has mellowed a bit and now serves to accent the roasty chocolatey flavors, rather than overpowering everything else. I've never let any of my beer age for more than 6 months. Now I am glad I forgot about this beer.

[Yeasty Boy]

My wife is concerned that it will kill us all. I tried to tell her that there are no known pathogens that can survive in beer, but she wouldn't hear of it.

Not true. It's just very rare. Think e-coli is one, seemse there was another, but hops do a pretty good job of inhibiting them. Someone correct me.

[Darterboy]

The results are in. This beer is freaking awesome. It is much better than I remember it, and I remember it be pretty darn good. The vanilla has mellowed a bit and now serves to accent the roasty chocolatey flavors, rather than overpowering everything else. I've never let any of my beer age for more than 6 months. Now I am glad I forgot about this beer.

I predict that's the next "big thing:" Shed-Aged beer!

[BikeBrewer]

For the record, I would drink just about any beer.