The truth hurts

I was a my liqueur store that also sells home brew supplies. The owners were at a Horse Show and I was just stopping in to get bottles caps.

There is a guy with 3 lbs of LME asking the counter person who knows nothing what hops go with this.

Being the only one in the store that knows brewing I took him under my wing and explained this was only the base for a recipe.

He asked if I had any recipes which I actually had ALL of them in the car but . . . . do I really want to go THAT deep with him.

So I pointed out some kits. He said his plan was having a brew party. Brew Saturday and then NEXT week Bottle and brew another batch.

sigh!

o man! THIS is where the "it tastes like homebrew" gets its name.

Where do I start. So I said NORMALLY I don't bottle for 3 to 4 weeks but he didn't really want to wait that long. I then explained that I make VERY good beer BUT, if you can shorten the process.

I did manage to talk him into waiting longer but I'm not sure it "took".

He left thanking me (along with the counter person). I pray for him.

Gotta make a couple duds before you understand the value of patience in this game.

It took 2 fairly nasty Mr. Beer kits for me to figure out that it wasn't the way to go.
But hey it did get me started. I took it up to the next level, and then the next, and now I guess I'm a bit of a freak :0

Tonedef131 said:

Gotta make a couple duds before you understand the value of patience in this game.

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It's the only way you learn!

I'm really glad I have a persistent nature when it comes to things I'm passionate about. My first beer was "marginal" at best, but something told me to keep trying because if someone else can do it, so can I.

I still have a down and dirty quickie recipie i use when I need beer quick.

So do I, boydak, and I'm probably gonna brew it up tomorrow. Gotta resaturate the pipeline...

Bob

I'm really glad I have a persistent nature

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I tossed my first batch and #2 totally sucked - THEN I got a clue!

So you can't bottle after 3 days??

svengoat said:

So you can't bottle after 3 days??

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No, you have to wait at least 3 1/2 days.
The extra 1/2 day gives it time to mellow out a bit...........

Should have pointed him in this direction. At least after his first batch is not so good he will might decide to read up on it some more and learn some whys and why nots.

This weekend at the LHBS, someone came in and asked for an all grain kit. It was his second batch ever, and he was determined to do it that night. He had a 5 gallon pot, that was it.

I spent several minutes trying to talk him into delaying, then several more trying to give him the quick and dirty version how-to. I made him a quick pale ale recipe, got him a total of 13.5 lbs (his poor efficiency couldn't possibly have been 50%), a big old nylon bag. Told him the brutal truth (there's no way you can pull this off, if you do, you are a god) and wished him luck.

I hope he waited and at the very least came here or to How to Brew - By John Palmer like I recommended.