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**Austinhomebrew** · 09-01-2008, 03:09 PM

A couple times a year we get a complaint that when the customer opened their liquid malt extract container there was mold on the surface of the extract. This means that the customer had the extract for a couple of months at room temperature.

The fresh liquid malt extract you receive from us, if left for months will grow surface mold. This is not because the extract is not fresh. You can use a cheese analogy. If the cheese is fine when you buy it, and a couple months later there is mold on it, it is not because the cheese wasn't fresh when you bought it. Grocery stores will not take back cheese you bought several months ago because there is mold on it.

There are several things I can do to stop the mold from growing and I need to know which one you think I should do.

1. I can do nothing and keep trying to educate people.

2. I can switch to DME on all of the kits but the price would go up drastically.

3. I can take some everclear and dilute it into spray bottles. Spray the extract on top when we package it up.

4. I can put an expiration date on the extract, but then people will order from the place that claims their extract will last a year without growing mold.

5. I can increase the price of extract to cover replacing the extract that people leave at room temperature for months.

It doesn't happen very often but when it does people go straight to the forums about it. Most of the time they don't even contact me about it. Then the thread gets out of control about where to order "fresh" ingredients when we have the freshest extract available. We sell over 67 tons of liquid malt extract a year (this doesn't even include DME). We have trouble keeping it in stock so it has to be fresh.

Forrest

P.S. When making posts about Austin Homebrew Supply please do not abbreviate to AHB or AHS. I search the forums to answer questions and solve problems concerning our store. Forums won't let me search for 3 letters. If I am able to search for the word Austin, I can help solve problems and answer questions I need to answer. Thanks for your help in this matter.

quickerNu · 09-01-2008, 04:37 PM

Hopefully, when people rush to the forum to complain about this, we can educate them, so you won't have to bother with unnecessary additional steps. I would like to help keep prices low!

johnsma22 · 09-01-2008, 04:39 PM

Forrest, to be perfectly frank, if someone is dim enough to think that they can leave ANY fresh foodstuff, that doesn't have preservatives, out at room temperature for months then they should just go and buy a case of Bud and give up homebrewing!

No body would go and buy a gallon of milk, leave it out on the counter, and be surprised when they come back and find that it has spoiled, would they?

When I used to buy LME, and knew that I wouldn't be using for several weeks, I would do two things. First, I would pour a little vodka on the top. Just enough to cover the surface. Second, I would place it in the fridge. I had some kept this way for 4 months before without any signs of mold.

Honestly Forrest, I think that you just need to place a disclaimer on your website that you are not responsible for replacing ANY LME that has gone moldy that was purchased beyond a certain cutoff date. Proof of purchase would be required.

Beerrific · 09-01-2008, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnsma22

Honestly Forrest, I think that you just need to place a disclaimer on your website that you are not responsible for replacing ANY LME that has gone moldy that was purchased beyond a certain cutoff date. Proof of purchase would be required.

I agree and a sticker on the lid with a "Best By" date would also go a long way. Include a simple explanation: "this is a food product...." and what can be done to extend its life (vodka, etc.).

Also, with the search thing, you can use the built in Google search and it will let you search for three letters.
For example:
A home brewing beer and wine making civilized discussion community. Also with beer/wine/mead/cider discussion, pub talk, and general chit-chat. - Search Results for ahs

Repsychler · 09-01-2008, 05:26 PM

I think we all end up spending too much time and money on things because they have to be made idiot-resistant. Therefore, I don't think you or your customers with more than 2 working brain cells should have to pay for this.
The first thing that comes to mind is to put a sticker or note with the LME saying "Hey Mr. Dumass, if you're not going to use this right away here's what you do..."
That would probably take care of the noobs that just don't think about it. The real idiots can't be helped, so if you have to replace theirs, spike it with birth control.

Wrathbone · 09-01-2008, 05:54 PM

I like the idea of a sticker on top of the container educating consumers on how to keep mold away.

I purchased 2 kits from you a couple months ago, and knew one would be sitting around for about a month and a half before I got to it. You told me to put a little vodka on top and swish it around here and there, and when it came time to use the LME it was mold-free.

Some people may not be smart enough to inquire about this beforehand, but if you put a label on top of the container and maybe a little disclaimer on the site, it should take care of the issue.

nostalgia · 09-01-2008, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wrathbone

I like the idea of a sticker on top of the container educating consumers on how to keep mold away.

+1. Great idea. You can have the disclaimer right on it. "This liquid malt extract is a fresh, perishable food product. Austin Homebrew Supply cannot be held responsible for spoilage due to improper storage."

I know when I got my last Austin order with 3 of those nifty white buckets, they all went right in the fridge like any perishable foodstuff.

For future reference, if I do find mold on my LME, it's not going to hurt anything, is it? I mean I'm going to be boiling the bejeezus out of it...

-Joe

its02003 · 09-02-2008, 12:37 AM

My suggestion is to have a disclaimer on the website which has been programmed into the order confirmation site IF you have a kit in your cart. That would prevent you from having to waste time, paper, ink, and other resources to edumacate people on how to properly store their products.

Maybe you could work it into an email or something like that and include that people should freeze their hops and keep them away from light.

All of those things would work towards a more educated consumer and some day, they will look back to their early days of brewing and say "Man, Austin Homebrew really helped me out when I didn't know much. I actually was able to keep my ingredients fresh for a long time. I will certainly buy from them again!" But I seem to think that an electronic solution would be more cost effective in the long run. I personally don't use LME and when I did, it never sat around long enough to GET moldy, so I didn't know this was the case.

I wouldn't kill yourself over this. You get enough Word-Of-Mouth props from us on this site (thats how I became a customer!) to cover a few disgruntled idiots.

homebrewer_99 · 09-02-2008, 02:08 AM

Better yet, if people stop buying it maybe they'll stop making it...

**Chriso** · 09-02-2008, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nostalgia

For future reference, if I do find mold on my LME, it's not going to hurt anything, is it? I mean I'm going to be boiling the bejeezus out of it...

Correct. You can safely scrape off the top layer, and continue as you were. It is merely a surface thing.