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[RWhyman]

I found a full packer brisket in the bottom of my freezer that has a date that means it's been hidden for a year and a half. Should I just smoke it and see what happens or is it just too old to be any good?

[Bar-B-Lew]

Trim off any freezer burned pieces and smoke it unless it smells really bad before you cook it.

[Canadian John]

 Not sure? "When in doubt throw it out". Gotta to be dry and lacking in taste.

[Clonesmoker]

Found a pack of NY strip steaks in our freezer that were a little over a year old. I threw them on the gasser still partially frozen yet and had a couple of the ends with freezer burn on them. Cut off the freezer burnt ends after they were done. Sliced and made fajitas out of them. I'm typing this about 3 weeks after I ate the fajitas.

You should be good with it. Some spots may have some freezer burn, but trim that off.  I would be more worried if it was ground beef.

[Bentley]

How is it packaged?

[Craig in Indy]

I'd say it depends on your freezer. In my experience, meat keeps fine in a standard freezer for that long, assuming it was vacuum-packed. It's the self-defrosting ones that tend to desiccate freezer contents over time, making burn more likely.

[RWhyman]

How is it packaged?

It's from Costco in their sealed plastic.

[RWhyman]

I'd say it depends on your freezer. In my experience, meat keeps fine in a standard freezer for that long, assuming it was vacuum-packed. It's the self-defrosting ones that tend to desiccate freezer contents over time, making burn more likely.

Chest freezer, not self defrosting.

It's in the fridge now defrosting. Looks pretty normal so far. Once it's defrosted, I'm going to give it a go. What's to lose but some pellets and time. If it turns out bad, I can always pitch it at that point.

[Bentley]

If the Cryo-Vac is intact, my record is 40 months.

How is it packaged?

It's from Costco in their sealed plastic.

[Berniep]

As a person who grew up on a farm with very frugal parents that had all their meat butchered and frozen, we would think nothing of eating piece of meat that was two or even three years old as long as it smells and looks good after defrosting.  That is in a deep freezer that maintains at least 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

[DaisyCutter]

I would cook it.

[Bentley]

Even if the cryo-vac is not intact, worst that can happen if it has been frozen the whole time is burn, then you just eat around the bad stuff!

[triplebq]

Use it for a test cook to try a different cooking method. If you normally go low and slow try hot and fast. At worst case if you don't like it throw it away.

[yorkdude]

Use it for a test cook to try a different cooking method. If you normally go low and slow try hot and fast. At worst case if you don't like it throw it away.

Now that is thinking!

[RWhyman]

So here is what went down.

Trimmed up and seasoned last night with salt, pepper and Bovine Bold from Plowboys. Wrapped and into the fridge overnight.
Put on the Yoder this morning and smoked at 260º, wrapped in foil at about 180º and added a bit of beef stock with worcestershire . I meant to wrap it earlier, but work got in the way. Probed it at 202º and decided it was done. Put it in a cooler covered in towels for a couple of hours.
Might be one of the best ones I've done.

I have hopefully attached some photos