The "bad advice I got from the LBHS" thread

mklawz said:

Sore subject? eh, not really. I just dont like the trend Ive been noticing of forum users making their LHBS folks out to be unhelpful, conceited, and/or complete buffoons. Because at the shop I work at, no one is like that. Ill readily admit the owner might give some advice to people that I might not do myself, but that is because there are many ways to do things, not because the man doesnt know how to brew beer. In fact, that couldnt be further from the truth!

A lot of the advice we give might be catered more towards newbies, and advanced brewers might find more help online. And sure, there is probably a lot of strange advice out there - perhaps the employees were idiots, but I havent heard anything at my shop that would make me jump in the conversation and challenge them.

BTW, the LHBS bashing Ive seen other places than just this thread. Sorry if I took my defensive stand out on you...

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tedski said:

My favorite one is this: A LHBS owner said to me, "You should bottle straight out of the carboy. Bottling buckets are known for contamination and there's no way to truly sanitize them. If you use a bottling bucket, you WILL get an infection."

On one hand, I see where he's coming from about minimizing contamination by eliminating the bottling bucket. But, I also think there's no way to thoroughly mix in priming sugar and not kick up any sediment.

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tedski said:

I agree that it is harder to clean a bottling spigot than to clean a bucket/carboy. Do you disagree that is is harder to ensure an even dilution of priming solution in a carboy than in a bucket?

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tedski said:

I agree that it is harder to clean a bottling spigot than to clean a bucket/carboy. Do you disagree that is is harder to ensure an even dilution of priming solution in a carboy than in a bucket?

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remilard said:

Why would it be hard to do it in a carboy? Are you stirring it in with your hand in the bucket?

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dfohio said:

Why is that bad advice? If your basement is 55 in the winter then you probably do need to have your temps up for an ale. Knowing the temperature you ferment at is crucial for trying to repeat a good recipe.

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ReverseApacheMaster said:

My LHBS recently told me I should buy yeast and throw it in my wort. Man, what idiots.

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MrInternet said:

I hear you man... I was a software consultant for 8 years, I'm well versed in idiot customers. However, look what happened... he left YOUR store JUST AS CLUELESS as he entered it. I think that's the gripe people are going to have with your story. This thread started to vent against LHBS employees because they are expected, if not required, to know more than the average homebrewer. The average homebrewer, unfortunately, is "clueless", as you say, and it's your job to make them smarter than when they entered your store. This is why you even have threads like this... we've ALL been treated like second-class citizens at a LHBS before, and it's just a shame. He's going to try that Hefe, hate it because it's nothing like what he had in mind, probably never come back to your store, and may even get out of brewing entirely. All of those are a crying shame.... and you could've avoided it.

That's all... I know it's hard to have patience with the same noob questions 40 times a day, but if you only wanted to deal with educated beer connoisseurs, you need to go tend bar at a beer snob joint instead of working at a LHBS... my two cents, anyway.

I would have just told the guy that Dark Lord wasn't doable by Christmas... and explained why. But he could have had a robust porter done by Christmas no problem, and that would have been WAY closer to what he was looking forward to having/sharing...

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mklawz said:

In regards to sanitation, I am referring more to the spigot on the bottling bucket that can harbor bacteria and crud. Not the bucket itself but the spigot. Personally I never had a problem with mine, but I just got into the habit of using a carboy to bottle from and I feel more comfortable with it than passing my beer thru that spigot.

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sonetlumiere85 said:

Not to only quote you, but I had to quote someone. To the people responding to my oversimplified summary of an encounter with a customer: I was summarizing. I helped the guy out as much as I could. Some customers guide the conversation, even if you try to explain things to them, they change the subject and aren't interested in what you're telling them. I understand that some of you are sore about experiences with LHBSes, and that's too bad. People are just people. Sometimes they give out bad advice or gloss over important points, and misunderstandings happen.

I was actually very helpful, in my opinion, to the customer. I told him that a beer like Dark Lord would not only cost over $50 (he said he was on a budget and flinched when I said $50), but would likely take at least a month or so until it tastes good, he became more interested in a beer that would be ready quickly. I told him that I really like Milds, Hefeweizens, and other session beers that are ready quickly. He said he'd be interested in a hefe, so we talked about that. I was simply summarizing, I didn't intend for my allegory to be a bragging session or show of superiority. I know that I'm not the most knowledgeable person about every single subject related to homebrewing, kegging, wine making, sake making, cider making, soda making, hop growing, and all the other minutiae that constitute my store's business operations, and I'm pretty ok with that. The fact of the matter is that my employer saw a quality in me that convinced them to hire me for the job that I now perform. I'm sorry that it upsets some of you that an employee would ever avoid pouring every little bit of knowledge they have crammed in their brains (and trust me, it's probably more than you think we have) into a customer's ear every time said customer walks through the door. Some people really don't want help, they just want to buy things and leave. It seems like a lot of you are like that, and that's fine. Just don't get pissed at me when I ask you if you have any questions, I'm just trying to do my job.


(also, it's the internet, take it more seriously).

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sonetlumiere85 said:

Not to only quote you, but I had to quote someone. To the people responding to my oversimplified summary of an encounter with a customer: I was summarizing. I helped the guy out as much as I could. Some customers guide the conversation, even if you try to explain things to them, they change the subject and aren't interested in what you're telling them. I understand that some of you are sore about experiences with LHBSes, and that's too bad. People are just people. Sometimes they give out bad advice or gloss over important points, and misunderstandings happen.

I was actually very helpful, in my opinion, to the customer. I told him that a beer like Dark Lord would not only cost over $50 (he said he was on a budget and flinched when I said $50), but would likely take at least a month or so until it tastes good, he became more interested in a beer that would be ready quickly. I told him that I really like Milds, Hefeweizens, and other session beers that are ready quickly. He said he'd be interested in a hefe, so we talked about that. I was simply summarizing, I didn't intend for my allegory to be a bragging session or show of superiority. I know that I'm not the most knowledgeable person about every single subject related to homebrewing, kegging, wine making, sake making, cider making, soda making, hop growing, and all the other minutiae that constitute my store's business operations, and I'm pretty ok with that. The fact of the matter is that my employer saw a quality in me that convinced them to hire me for the job that I now perform. I'm sorry that it upsets some of you that an employee would ever avoid pouring every little bit of knowledge they have crammed in their brains (and trust me, it's probably more than you think we have) into a customer's ear every time said customer walks through the door. Some people really don't want help, they just want to buy things and leave. It seems like a lot of you are like that, and that's fine. Just don't get pissed at me when I ask you if you have any questions, I'm just trying to do my job.


(also, it's the internet, take it more seriously).

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IffyG said:

How do you bottle from a carboy? What kind of set up do you need?

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sonetlumiere85 said:

Can employees of LHBSes share idiotic things customers say to them? Because I got a real gem today - a guy wanted to make what I eventually determined was his conception of an imperial porter. He then said, "well, I really want to make something like Dark Lord from Three Floyd's..do you have a recipe for that?"

After I looked up a clone recipe and started going through what would be required, he realized it'd cost more than $50, because, ya know, there's like 12 lbs of fermentables for an extract batch, etc. Then, he revealed that he wanted it to be ready by Christmas! I didn't have the patience to explain why that was impossible, and directed him to a Bavarian Hefeweizen.

Some customers are pretty clueless.

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ReverseApacheMaster said:

My LHBS recently told me I should buy yeast and throw it in my wort. Man, what idiots.

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Synovia said:

If its dry, thats pretty much what you do.

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Pickngrin said:

Note: No LBHS owners or employees were harmed in the posting of this thread.

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ReverseApacheMaster said:

I was just kidding.

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ReverseApacheMaster said:

My LHBS recently told me I should buy yeast and throw it in my wort. Man, what idiots.

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