Preparing for my first brew...

Last week I placed an order for my beginner kit. On Friday I checked FedEx's website and they said it would be delivered today (monday)....WHY DIDN'T I ORDER IT A DAY SOONER!?!?!? Oh well.

I woke up this morning feeling like I kid at Christmas. I couldn't wait for my kit to arrive. While I was trying to navigate my way through snow and ice to get to work the car in front of me started spinning like a top doing 360's on the highway. I had two options, hit the car or swerve into the median. I choose the median and I got stuck...CRAP! Oh well.

I managed to get myself unstuck and navigate safely the rest of the way to work as visions of home brew danced in my head. At about 10am a package arrived at my work for me. SWEET IT IS HERE!!! Actually it ended up being my new battery for my laptop....CRAP! Oh well.

I went to lunch and headed to my LHBS to pick up the ingredients for my first brew. They are closed due to bad weather....CRAP! Oh well.

Knowing it would make me late to get back to work I headed to the next closest LHBS to pick up my ingredients. When I got back to work I was told that I can go ahead go home due to bad weather but my kit still hadn't arrived...CRAP!

I checked the FedEx website for the 20th time today and it reassured me that it said that it was out for delivery early this morning. I tried to do anything to make the clock go faster. Sometime between 2pm and 3pm I called FedEx and they assured me that it would be delivered today but they were running late due to the weather. Ok, even though I would rather be at home, I can stick it out at work for a little longer in order to get my kit. 4:45pm FedEx guy shows up...IT'S ABOUT FREAKIN TIME!!! I go out to meet him and he tells me he doesn't have any deliveries he is just there to pick up packages....WTF!?!?!?!? He informs me that no ground deliveries were made today and it wouldn't be delivered until tommorow...WTF!?!?!?!?

I'm pissed! I waited around all day at work when I could have been at home instead! I called FedEx's customer service and demanded to speak to a supervisor. After explaining what happened she said that it is going to be delivered today, I informed her again that the FedEx driver told me NO ground packages were being delivered in my area due to weather. She put me on hold and contacted the local hub. She came back and said that they were not going to deliver it to me as if that was somehow brand new information. She transfered me to a "customer advocate" member. I repeated my story again to the customer advocate again being sure to let her know that this was a life or death package and that I waited at my work ALL DAY LONG for it when I could have been at home instead. She put me on hold and contacted the local hub.

After several minutes she returned to the line and informed me that the trucks were loaded early in the morning and the weather got worse and worse and they decided to not make any deliveries....as if that is supposed to make me feel any better! I repeated again that this package was a matter of life and death that I couldn't live without and that I could have been at home all day long spending time with my mother who is on her death bed and my child who has a fatal disease but instead I was forced to slave away at my job all day long waiting for the life saving cure that was in this package.

I told her I had several questions:
1)Why was the website not updated to show that the package would not be delivered today?
2)Why was the customer service line not notified that no packages were being delivered in my area?
3)Why was UPS able to deliver my battery but FedEx couldn't deliver my package?
4)Why was the FedEx driver able to get to my work to pick up packages but not able to get to my work to deliver packages.

She informed me that it was physically impossible to update the website, notify the customer service line, or put my package on the truck that the FedEx driver drove to my work because all of these things would defy the laws of physics and create a black hole on earth that would destroy civilization as we know it....you know kinda like dividing by 0. After listening to her pathetic excuses that basically amounted to blah blah blah I'm really sorry blah blah blah f**k you because I don't really care blah blah blah I decided to end the conversation, hang up and pout the rest of the way home. ...CRAP! Oh well.

Needless to say, I needed to vent. I doubt anyone will actually read this but that is OK because it made me feel better.

Hopefully my first brew will be more successful than today went for me. I NEED A BEER!

Jeremy

I've heard so many Fedex horror stories, but have yet to have one myself. Hope you get your stuff before the weekend so you can brew!

On a side note, the only (and let me repeat ONLY) thing I like about Cleveland is that the whole freaking world doesn't stop because of snow.

+1 edcc, iowa don't stop for any snow either... to the OP, that sucks majorly man... i hate when stuff doesn't arrive!

That story sucks.........Man so Fedex Bad. I wanted an extract kit for this weekend I might have to deal with LHBS for my extract kit. I'm brewing either way this weekend damn it..........

I got an empty primary and that is a crime against nature.

i read that whole rant, and I'd like a voucher for my 3 minutes please. I was expecting a happy ending.

I had a UPS delivery that couldnt get delivered last tuesday b/c of weather. instead of waiting on them to get their ducks in a row, I called and had them hold the package for me at the service center and i went and picked it up myself. you might try that

I've had issues with both FedUp and UOops. Fedex once updated on their website that my address didn't exist even though I had received a package from them a day before!?! I had to call them up locate the package and drive to their hub and pick it up myself.

Yeah, sorry no happy ending here. If it was just an extract kit I was waiting on I probably would have picked it up from my LHBS however it was my entire equipment kit. They wanted about 50% more even after I paid shipping costs. No thanks! I'll wait for my kit to arrive.

Louisville is retarded when it comes to weather. They will cancel school and everything else when we only get an inch or two of snow but the other week all of the roads were completely covered in a sheet of ice and they didn't close anything....there were about about 6-8 bus crashes that day. They never seem to be able to get it right!

Any who, hopefully the kit will arrive today and I can get started.

Jeremy

I've noticed that the farther south you go...the less snow it take for civilization to end. Hell, its so bad that I think FL got 1/4 inch of snow, and suddenly noone could get out of their driveways.

Hey, Jeremy...I'm with ya! When I'm expecting something really, REALLY good to be delivered by Yoops, FedSex or the postal dudes, I'm just like a kid at Christmas! And being retired, I KNOW what time the FedSex truck goes by the house! Dayum, it sucks big time when the weather screws up deliveries!

glenn514

Some days you just have to take a deep breath and tell yourself that for whatever reason, the universe doesn't want you to brew that day, or that week, or whatever. Maybe the stars will be better aligned today.

Like l1ranger said, you could have driven and picked it up yourself. Just playing devil's advocate there for a second.

Once you get this batch bottled, you are going to want to suck it down right away. BE PATIENT. The longer you wait, the better it is. For me, that was the hardest part. Waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Is it done yet? How about now?....Once you bottle, brew another batch and keep stockpiling empties for that batch. Next thing you know, the 2nd batch will be bottled and the 1st will be ready to go. Then get your 3rd going....

heh, mine was due in friday; i was so excited, i even took the day off so i could sanitize/clean everything, make a starter, and be ready for brewing on sunday/monday.

well FedEx decided that it was a great idea to postpone deliver until tuesday; so here i sit today, waiting to go home and pick up that good o'le kit. now i'll be forced to attempt my first brew on a thursday night

^^if this is not recommended, someone please inform me

Thanks for all the encouragement guys. I guess I really need to learn a little patience anyways if I am getting into this hobby huh?

Jeremy

If you are very impatient ( like me) get another kit SOON and another and another etc...I do not necessarily get impatient waiting to DRINK the beer ( not a big drinker) but I LOVE fiddling with stuff so I am as happy brewing...racking...cleaning...building whatever as long as I have SOMETHING brewing related to do..... I have brewed 3 AG batches in the last 7 days and plan another for this sunday with some company interested in seeing the process.

wawawrx said:

heh, mine was due in friday; i was so excited, i even took the day off so i could sanitize/clean everything, make a starter, and be ready for brewing on sunday/monday.

well FedEx decided that it was a great idea to postpone deliver until tuesday; so here i sit today, waiting to go home and pick up that good o'le kit. now i'll be forced to attempt my first brew on a thursday night

^^if this is not recommended, someone please inform me

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depending on your equipment, It might be wise to wait and do it on saturday.

granted, I've only done two batches. I do a full boil stove top, and I don't have a wort chiller. I can achieve a good rolling boil with my stove, but it does take a fair bit of time to get it going and it takes a good while for the wort to chill. I didnt time my first batch, but I was up rather late waiting for the wort to cool enough to add to my fermenter and pitch the yeast. The second batch, this past saturday, was started at 1 PM. after steeping the grains, achieving boil and boiling for 1 hour and letting the wort cool, it was after 7 before I pitched the yeast. if you start on a weeknight, it could cause a very late night.
now if you have a propane burner and a good wort chiller, this could significantly reduce the time it takes to boil and chill the wort and a thursday night brew might be more realistic.

Patience is something that I have never had the chance to experience!

Quote: "I guess I really need to learn a little patience anyways if I am getting into this hobby huh?"

+1, and sanitation!

FallsDamBrewery said:

Patience is something that I have never had the chance to experience!

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i'll drink to that

I have never had the patience to learn patience.

For a first brew, I would not recommend brewing unless you have a good 4-6 hours to do it in. It may not take that long but you cannot enjoy the process if you feel rushed!
Take your time to brew and take notes! In the end you will be happy you did! IMHO

As far as the weather, what is the deal? Here in Portland if we get just a dusting it seems like the entire city shuts down. I have to admit though, it is nice to see the two snowplows the city seems to have keeping the major highways clear. I love having to chain up to get to the highway then de-chain to go across town just to chain back up to get off the highway!
Sorry for the off-topic rant, I guess we all have our weather burdens to bear!

Keep brewing!

FedEx is OFFICIALLY the WORST company in the entire world!! My package still did not get delivered AGAIN today! They said that if I wanted to I could stick around my office until 7:30pm and the package would get delivered then. You have to be kidding right? I asked if I could just go and pick it up and they said I could but I wouldn't be able to do so until late tonight or possibly tommorow. Since I live in the country and work in the city the FedEx hub is about an hour away from where I live.

What a freakin joke! FedEx SUCKS!

Jeremy