Does unopened fuel go bad, if kept in reasonably controlled environment? Say 2 years in the original shipping case?
I have heard yes, and have also heard no.

NO

not if its not opened

I have at least 20 gallons of Cox fuel in pint cans that is well over 25 years ld. I use it in my YS engines instead of 20% fuel. I also have about 16 gallons of Hobby Shack White Lightning that I bought 10 years ago. Runs fine. Just keep it in a dark cool area and it will last forever.

I talked to a guy at a sway meet about why he was selling 10% gallons for only 5 bucks apice and he told me it was a year old and that it does lose its nitro content because it does seep out of the plastic jugs. He said if it were glass it wouldn't do it but who wants to pay for glass when we usually just use it up first.

I have never seen fuel go bad if unopened and kept in a stable enviroment. Power master cans will begain to rust internaly after about a year though.[]

Byron uses special bottles to prevent fuel degradation. And I had a bottle of 10% Byron that was over 7 years old, half full and it was fine. The cap was installed after I used half, got out of the hobby a few years and ran it again, no problem.

In a plastic jug, properly capped and kept out of direct sunlight, fuel will not go bad, period. It may have some castor snowflakes appear to settle out if it got good and cold during storage, but a couple good shakes and its as good as new. Byron uses the same plastic that everybody else does, HDPE. There is no need to use anything else as nothing will leak in or out of your fuel in HDPE bottles.

Well, I feel better now. I always beleived that fuel went bad over time. A new hobby shop a few miles up the road has opened, & they bought out another shop. Some of the items from the other shop were there for a few years. I don't know if the stock of fuel is from the older shop, but it does'nt really matter, it would appear.
Thanks for the info guys.
BTW, it is Byrons fuel, and I prefer to use Byrons, but the other shop won't carry it.