Old kits, not great beer, can it be saved?

[Todd]

So I had 3 kits in the basement that I meant to brew last year and didn't get to it. 2 from MoreBeer (Irish Red, B3 stout) and an Oktoberfest from Brewers Best. I made the Irish and Oktoberfest and didn't have great results, rather sweet and somewaht fruity off flavors. I'll chock that up to old ingredients, faded hops, and a rusty homebrewer trying to get back in the swing.

Question 1) I've had these in the keg for about 3 weeks now. They are getting a little better, but not enough for my satisfaction. Rather than water the flowers outside, I'd like to try to 'pump them up' and save them if possible. I've read about others making a hop-tea or dry hopping in the keg to add some flavor. Any best-practices anyone would like to share?

Question 2) I have the B3 Stout kit ready to go. I bought a fresh vial of White Labs yeast so I don't repeat an old-yeast issue again, but I am wondering if I should get fresher hops before I brew this kit. The extract and grains should be 'ok' I'd guess. thoughts anyone?

Thanks

Todd

[dan.lamb]

All of the ingredients will eventually go bad to some extent. Dry hopping may help disguise some of the off flavors. You could always use it to boil up a shitload of bratwurst.

[iloman]

You could always use it to boil up a shitload of bratwurst.

Your ideas intrigue me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter. Please tell me more.

[Todd]

Before I have the picnic of the century with all those brats, I'm going to try to make it a little more palatable, but reserve the right to take your idea to heart.

Any suggestiosn on amount and style of hops to do something like this?

[ColdBraue]

Heheheheh. You said "sweet and fruity"
That sounds like stressed/not enough healthy yeast to me. Or too warm a fermentation temp. You could dry hop that Oktoberfest with like vangard or hallertauer. I would say like .25-.5 oz for your keg. Do that like 5 days before you make your brats. Man this is making me hungry...... Or you could just call it something really fancy and serve it to your guests. They may not know the difference...
Cheers!

[Todd]

Well, since I have 8 beers on tap these days I tried a little experiment and did some "test blends" to see if I could add in some extra flavor by using one of the 2 mild pale ales or the really hoppy IPA that I have, and it didn't matter what I mixed that oktoebrfest with - it was still bad.

That said - I'm cooking brats this weekend and it's going to be amazing. Then I'll water the flowers with the remainder and have an extra keg to brew up something else. The irish red seems to be turning the corner and should be ok to keep.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Cosmic Charlie]

Food for thought - I stumble upon kits every now and then (gifts from family, etc). I use them as an opportunity to experiment. One batch I used all kinds of spices in place of hops. Another was my first high gravity brew (I added enough water to make 2 gallons from the kit, not 5 gallons). It may be too late now, but you could try some crazy experiment if something has been on your mind.


PS - props to iloman for the Simpson's quote.