Is my LHBS Rep on Crack?

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Mike35673

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I was asking him what he felt about two Brewer's Best kits..An American Cream ale and a Blond Ale. Telling him I wanted to brew them now, so they would be ready and peaking around spring/summer.
He tells me that this is stupid cause he guarantees they will go bad by then.
Thats what he said they will go "bad"
So I didn't buy, of course, but is he nuts? He said 90 days is far too long.
Plan would be 2 weeks in primary, 1-2 in secondary, then bottle. It's Mid December now, I was hoping for an easy drinking, light brew say March/April. Is that too long to store?
 
Is he on crack: anything is possible.

Will the go bad in 4 months: Definitely not.

The last Blonde Ale I did, I left in Primary for 2 months, then bottled. That was in 2007. I think I drank the last one the other day....lol
 
It won't go bad by then, lol! As long as you practice good sanitation you're golden.
 
It sounds like he believes the hype of the "born on" dates. My dad also told me that you shouldn't drink any beer that is more than 90 days old. He told me "Fresh beer is good beer!"

Now, some beers do taste better young, while some beers need months or years to age to their best. But as a general rule, some conditioning makes a beer better. The flavors meld, the beer clears, and excess "stuff" falls out of suspension. I would think that 12 weeks from brewday would be a great time to open the first cream ale! You even have time for some cold conditioning.
 
Back when I was young, (gum smack), breweries bragged about how long they aged their beer.
 
Thats the prob with a LHBS. 90% of the guys seem to think that they know something about beer the moment they put their name tag on.

I called my local LHBS yesterday afternoon to see if they had gotten Imperial Pint bottles in yet. I also needed some light DME so I asked about that. The convo went something like:

"Yeah, we got a couple cases of Dried Malt Extract in the other day. They're in the walk in freezer."

"What?!"

"Oh, you mean for home-brewing"

"Yeah"

"Let me check"


5 minute wait

"Yeah, we have tons of it."


The one truly knowledgeable person there either quit or got fired a few months back. A damn shame.
 
Well, both those styles are low-gravity, and not highly hopped. So their shelf life for 'peak' flavor is shorter than, oh say a stout or porter.

Maybe he's just an extreme beer snob and feels they need to be minimally aged and drank young while at peak. But if that's his feelings, he should state it that way instead of preaching it like gospel.
 
Neither of those beers needs anywhere near that much time so four to six months from now they will probably be past their prime but as long as your sanitation and storage is good there is no reason they will not be drinkable. The LHBS guy does sound like a ******. If he had any smarts and salesmanship he might have suggested that you wait a while to brew those light ales and brew a bigger beer now that will benefit from lots of time.
 
Bad for business if you are waiting that long. It would be better for the business if you made and drank beers every other week.
 
+1 on that, mitch!

<sarcasm>OP, you should be brewing that BB cream ale kit today, and getting it into the bottle on Friday after 5 days of fermentation. Then start the blonde ale kit on Saturday, bottle that on Wednesday after, and start drinking the first batch at the same time.</sarcasm>
 
khiddy said:
+1 on that, mitch!

<sarcasm>OP, you should be brewing that BB cream ale kit today, and getting it into the bottle on Friday after 5 days of fermentation. Then start the blonde ale kit on Saturday, bottle that on Wednesday after, and start drinking the first batch at the same time.</sarcasm>
Click to expand...

Fail. He should drink the malt while sniffing the hops and yeast or else it will go bad.
 
BigEd said:
Neither of those beers needs anywhere near that much time so four to six months from now they will probably be past their prime but as long as your sanitation and storage is good there is no reason they will not be drinkable. ...
Click to expand...

I am hard pressed to think of a handmade, bottle-conditioned beer that I've had that is past its prime at four months, or even six. As always, your mileage may vary . . .:tank:
 
I am hard pressed to think of a handmade, bottle-conditioned beer that I've had that is past its prime at four months, or even six. As always, your mileage may vary . . .
Click to expand...

I prefer to drink my IPAs much earlier, like 2 months old because the hop aroma fades over time. They are still plenty tasty at 4 months, but I would say past their prime.
 
weirdboy said:
I prefer to drink my IPAs much earlier, like 2 months old because the hop aroma fades over time. They are still plenty tasty at 4 months, but I would say past their prime.
Click to expand...

Maybe we've got a definitional distinction here - I'm starting counting from brew day, not bottling day. Are you? If so, hardly any of my bottle conditoned beers are anything more than just getting ready to drink at 2 months, including dry hopped beers.

But that's what makes this such an interesting hobby - everyone's got a different palate, different preferences, different processes. Cheers!
 
My second batch was an IPA I didn't give near enough time in the bottle. The recipe said "bottle condition for 1 week or more" and I did. Lesson learned.
 
Am /really/ I the first person here to assume that the LHBS guy thought you were talkigna bout the KITS themselves, not the finished product?!?!

Seriously, I admit it would be crazy to think that a homebrew would be "bad' after no more than a few months (the fact that the yeast are in the bottle can make a positive difference in storage sustainability), but it sounds more like the guy thought you mean you wanted to store the KITS themselves until next spring! >.<

Whatever. :p
 
I thought I was pretty clear about wanting to brew it now.
He appears to be the classic snobbery kinda ******-y guy. While I was browsing the shelves, I overheard him and two other guys laughing because some guy didn't take a FG rading of his wine. With the "what a dumbazz" kind of attitude.

Two weeks ago when I was looking for a Russian Imperial Stout, The shelves were kinda bare and I asked him if he was getting any in soon.
"Yeah in a couple weeks" almost like I was inconveniencing him by asking.
Then I find two Russian Imp Stouts on the shelves.

I would NOT shop there, but his prices are very very good. I figure I will just go in there and not ever ask him for advice and believe I know more than him.
 
At least now you know the guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Best to get your advice here! The owner of my LHBS (who is basically never there) is a knowledgeable beer guy, but the people working for him are terrible. The things they have told me have ranged from just ridiculous to outright dangerous. Hey...I don't mind if someone doesn't know something. No problem; most everything is a learning process. But just ADMIT you don't know. Don't make stuff up.

Let's see...top three ridiculous things I have been told by LHBS workers in Winnipeg:

(3) my recipe called for Wyeast 1318 London Ale III but all they had was Wyeast 1028 London Ale. I was told not to bother ordering in the "right" yeast because it was essentially the same. It had to be, right? "London Ale" is in the name!

(2) same place, different time. I was looking for a 2-gallon carboy to bulk age some white wine to do as sparkling. All they had was 3-gallon carboys, and the girl said "So you'll just have some extra headspace. It won't hurt anything!" Ummm....yeah. At least I knew better that time.

(1) different place, about three months ago. LHBS owner who has owned his place for decades; his focus is wine but he sells a fair number of beer kits as well. I often brew six gallon beer batches from Brew House kits and always do secondary fermentation in a six gallon carboy which leaves some headspace. He told me I was risking oxidizing the beer and that I should be topping up to within a few inches of the airlock with water. He actually said this.
 
osagedr said:
At least now you know the guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Best to get your advice here! The owner of my LHBS (who is basically never there) is a knowledgeable beer guy, but the people working for him are terrible. The things they have told me have ranged from just ridiculous to outright dangerous. Hey...I don't mind if someone doesn't know something. No problem; most everything is a learning process. But just ADMIT you don't know. Don't make stuff up.

Let's see...top three ridiculous things I have been told by LHBS workers in Winnipeg:

(3) my recipe called for Wyeast 1318 London Ale III but all they had was Wyeast 1028 London Ale. I was told not to bother ordering in the "right" yeast because it was essentially the same. It had to be, right? "London Ale" is in the name!

(2) same place, different time. I was looking for a 2-gallon carboy to bulk age some white wine to do as sparkling. All they had was 3-gallon carboys, and the girl said "So you'll just have some extra headspace. It won't hurt anything!" Ummm....yeah. At least I knew better that time.

(1) different place, about three months ago. LHBS owner who has owned his place for decades; his focus is wine but he sells a fair number of beer kits as well. I often brew six gallon beer batches from Brew House kits and always do secondary fermentation in a six gallon carboy which leaves some headspace. He told me I was risking oxidizing the beer and that I should be topping up to within a few inches of the airlock with water. He actually said this.
Click to expand...

I agree this place far and away educates me and is a great resource. But I want to believe a LHBS would be helpful, knowledgable and courteous. After all, more homebrewers mean more sales for them right?
DUMB
 
osagedr said:
At least now you know the guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Best to get your advice here! The owner of my LHBS (who is basically never there) is a knowledgeable beer guy, but the people working for him are terrible. The things they have told me have ranged from just ridiculous to outright dangerous. Hey...I don't mind if someone doesn't know something. No problem; most everything is a learning process. But just ADMIT you don't know. Don't make stuff up.

Let's see...top three ridiculous things I have been told by LHBS workers in Winnipeg:

(3) my recipe called for Wyeast 1318 London Ale III but all they had was Wyeast 1028 London Ale. I was told not to bother ordering in the "right" yeast because it was essentially the same. It had to be, right? "London Ale" is in the name!

(2) same place, different time. I was looking for a 2-gallon carboy to bulk age some white wine to do as sparkling. All they had was 3-gallon carboys, and the girl said "So you'll just have some extra headspace. It won't hurt anything!" Ummm....yeah. At least I knew better that time.

(1) different place, about three months ago. LHBS owner who has owned his place for decades; his focus is wine but he sells a fair number of beer kits as well. I often brew six gallon beer batches from Brew House kits and always do secondary fermentation in a six gallon carboy which leaves some headspace. He told me I was risking oxidizing the beer and that I should be topping up to within a few inches of the airlock with water. He actually said this.
Click to expand...

Wait, are you saying in #2 that the LHBS is stupid for telling you extra head space is okay and then in #3 that they are stupid for telling you that extra head space is not okay?
 
Mike35673 said:
I thought I was pretty clear about wanting to brew it now.
He appears to be the classic snobbery kinda ******-y guy. While I was browsing the shelves, I overheard him and two other guys laughing because some guy didn't take a FG rading of his wine. With the "what a dumbazz" kind of attitude.

Two weeks ago when I was looking for a Russian Imperial Stout, The shelves were kinda bare and I asked him if he was getting any in soon.
"Yeah in a couple weeks" almost like I was inconveniencing him by asking.
Then I find two Russian Imp Stouts on the shelves.

I would NOT shop there, but his prices are very very good. I figure I will just go in there and not ever ask him for advice and believe I know more than him.
Click to expand...
Which store are you talking about? I'm in Roseville by the way.
 
Mike35673 said:
Kuhennen's(could be spelled wrong). Mound and Old Chgo.

Ive been to cap and cork, but they are quite a bit more expensive, on everything.
Click to expand...

I'm going to have to check them out, but not listen to their advice of course.;)

I just would have been very surprised if you got that advice from cap n cork because they told me I need to age everything longer. I really haven't been asking any stores for advice lately, I get most of my information from here before I even make the trip.
 
remilard said:
Wait, are you saying in #2 that the LHBS is stupid for telling you extra head space is okay and then in #3 that they are stupid for telling you that extra head space is not okay?
Click to expand...

I never used the word "stupid", but...

Head space for wine after it is degassed is bad news.

Head space for beer chock-full of C02 for the period of secondary fermentation is harmless.
 
I brew my own but my friend orders howmbrew from a LHBS. They won't sell it to you unless you have a dedicated fridge for the 8 cases and then they tell you it will be bad in a month and a half. When I explained that it takes close to that before I will bottle my homebrew my buddies remark was. "So that's why it tastes better." Some people just don't understand.
 
Neonsilver said:
I'm going to have to check them out, but not listen to their advice of course.;)

I just would have been very surprised if you got that advice from cap n cork because they told me I need to age everything longer. I really haven't been asking any stores for advice lately, I get most of my information from here before I even make the trip.
Click to expand...

Yeah and I am still a fairly green noob so when this guy, who I would expect to be an expert, tells me this, it gives me pause.
Trust me, I went home and chewed him out -to myself of course -.
 
I have done many Brewers Best kits. I have never had any go bad over time. Some of them are a year old and still taste fine. The Russian Imperial Stout tastes better the longer it ages in the bottle. It didn't start tasting right until 6 months had passed. The only beer I have ever had go bad was kits built by my LHBS. The beer would go bad after 30 days in the bottle. According to everyone on here their extract was kept at too high of a temp in the store. So I would take their advice with a grain of salt. If something doesn't sound quite right, post it on here. You'll get the right answer.
 
Mike35673 said:
I would NOT shop there, but his prices are very very good. I figure I will just go in there and not ever ask him for advice and believe I know more than him.
Click to expand...

That's a good way of thinking about it.

Another way to think of it is that you might pay a little more at a different store, but if they are giving you consistently good information and treating you like a valued customer, you're still getting a good deal. In the end I'd rather pay 10-15% more to get the good information and treatment. That works out to about $5 more for a kit. Price and value are NOT the same thing.

That's the reason I'll choose a mom & pop store over Wal Mart 99 times out of 100.
 

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