Is UPS killing mah beer?!

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Paulgs3

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I discovered Rogue sells their own recipe kits, and they had Dead Guy available. I've been getting my stuff from Rebel brewer who has been awesome in every possible way so far and they also had pacman in stock. WIN!! (note: Rebel usually has the rogue kits, but they were out at the time and I'm an impulsive idiot when it come to beer, probably related to the pacman being in stock?).

The problem is such, Rogue was great in packaging my kit and shipping it, I had a tracking number within 24 hours. My fault was I chose UPS standard, which for me is usually 3-5 days.... With 90+ degree weather, a delay out west, I'm over a week now in transit in what I can assume is an unrefrigerated truck.

Are my grains and hops going to be salvageable?
 
The grains and hops will be fine.....if the yeast is coming with it, you might have trouble. I've tried to make a habit of ordering most of my supplies on line, but hitting the LHBS for my liquid yeast.
 
Your yeast should be fine too. I have ordered kits from Texas on a Thursday and they arrive on a Wednesday the following. I am sure the items sat in a warehouse or on a truck for the weekend. I still made beer and it was delicious. Yeast are pretty badass survivors.
 
You should for sure make a starter with that yeast before you pitch it into your beer. That way you can grow up enough healthy cells prior to pitching in the event that some of them did not survive the journey.
 
I ordered white labs american ale blend and it took like 5 days or so to get to me. I ordered with an ice pack just so it stayed cool for a day or two.

I ordered two vials. I was gonna double pitch them into my porter. I only pitched one vial :( bad mistake. Its been almost two days since I pitched and no fermentation. So now im hoping the yeast arn't dead and I'm gonna have to make a starter with the other vial.
 
You should for sure make a starter with that yeast before you pitch it into your beer. That way you can grow up enough healthy cells prior to pitching in the event that some of them did not survive the journey.

Exactly!!!!! If making a starter is ever important (which it is all the time for liquid) making one in this instance will guarantee piece of mind, and grow any viable cells.
 
I ordered white labs american ale blend and it took like 5 days or so to get to me. I ordered with an ice pack just so it stayed cool for a day or two.

I ordered two vials. I was gonna double pitch them into my porter. I only pitched one vial :( bad mistake. Its been almost two days since I pitched and no fermentation. So now im hoping the yeast arn't dead and I'm gonna have to make a starter with the other vial.

1) This is why you make a starter.

2) It can take up to 72 hrs for fermentation to start

3) No bubbles is NO indication that fermentation has started... use a hydrometer to find out.
 
1) This is why you make a starter.

2) It can take up to 72 hrs for fermentation to start

3) No bubbles is NO indication that fermentation has started... use a hydrometer to find out.

Yea my question is when it takes that long for fermentation to start....does that effect the overall quality of your beer??
 
Yea my question is when it takes that long for fermentation to start....does that effect the overall quality of your beer??

No. It's just the normal lag time that often happens while yeast either comes out of dormancy or reproduces enough cells to do the job. If you've kept your fermenter closed, then there's no issues whatsoever.

Just because you don't think anything is happening in that 72 hours, or don't see anything happening during that time, doesn't mean that's the case. There's a veritable orgy of activity going on, yeast is getting it on reproducing, building up a krausen and is already doing some fermentation, it just isn't that dynamic.

But there is plenty of activity going on, which is protecting your wort and everything is fine.
 
as long as it wasnt infected before and you dont have any mold or wierd stuff growing, its probably fine. you must remember that the cool, sugary environment is perfect for growing a variety of nasties, and it doesnt take long to get going.
 
I am curious about something that has been itchin my knoggin for the last couple of days. I have spoken to white labs (whose liquid yeast i use) and for the applications in which i am using thier liquid yeast (not big beers, and yeast is in date) that there is no reason to make a starter. yet, everyone here says you have to make a starter if you use liquid.

It kinda baffles me a little, generally when i want an expert opinion i go to the source, and the sources opinion seems to differ greatly from the opinions of most on here, not saying at all whos wrong or whos right becouse i have very little knowledge of the subject, just makes me wonder what the real deal is?
 
I am curious about something that has been itchin my knoggin for the last couple of days. I have spoken to white labs (whose liquid yeast i use) and for the applications in which i am using thier liquid yeast (not big beers, and yeast is in date) that there is no reason to make a starter. yet, everyone here says you have to make a starter if you use liquid.

It kinda baffles me a little, generally when i want an expert opinion i go to the source, and the sources opinion seems to differ greatly from the opinions of most on here, not saying at all whos wrong or whos right becouse i have very little knowledge of the subject, just makes me wonder what the real deal is?

Good point.
 
Back to the original poster, I have to say I made a big mistake by ordering kits with liquid yeast from a big supplier in Austin Texas that shipped my order out on Thursday or Friday and it sat in the warehouse over a weekend in 100 Degree heat and when I opened my first vial it smelled like an elephant first took a dump in there and then crawled in and died and was at the peak of rotting when I opened. I called up the supplier and he happily made things right by refunding my money to my card. I then ordered from a Minnesota company for just the yeast and got it in two days unharmed. I am still glad I ordered from the Texas company though because they were the best tasting kits I every brewed and one even took 1st place in a fairly large contest. They were clone kits too and I couldn't tell the difference. I even order double ice packs for each vial from Texas, but it wasn't enough.
 
I am curious about something that has been itchin my knoggin for the last couple of days.

... just makes me wonder what the real deal is?

I don't think its 100% necessary, but I don't see anything wrong with being a little extra cautious by making a starter. I've done it both ways and it seems that my beer is just a little better when I use a starter. In the end, to me at least, its worth the cup of DME for both the improved quality and peace of mind.

Like alot of other people, when I order from Austin I always get the ice packs. It always seems that no matter what, the kits always arrive on a Wed. and sit over the weekend. Its another reason I use starters. Nothing against them down in Austin at all. They've always been fantastic, its just the nature of distance and shipping and me not wanting to fork over a small fortune for better than standard shipping.
 
I don't think its 100% necessary, but I don't see anything wrong with being a little extra cautious by making a starter. I've done it both ways and it seems that my beer is just a little better when I use a starter. In the end, to me at least, its worth the cup of DME for both the improved quality and peace of mind.

Like alot of other people, when I order from Austin I always get the ice packs. It always seems that no matter what, the kits always arrive on a Wed. and sit over the weekend. Its another reason I use starters. Nothing against them down in Austin at all. They've always been fantastic, its just the nature of distance and shipping and me not wanting to fork over a small fortune for better than standard shipping.

I think this gentlemen and I are in the same boat on shipping from Austin. He is in the neighboring state of Indiana and I bet we have the same shipping times.

I myself do not always make a starter with the Wyeast smack packs, which is why I prefer them as I can prove the yeast are alive without a starter. When I am forced to use White Labs vials or do something with an OG over 1.050 I do make one. With the vials there is no way to really prove viability. They say you can look for tiny CO2 bubbles after shaking, but I did have a vial that failed to start in a starter that appeared to bubble after shaking before pitching. Twas a good thing I had mad the starter.
 
I'm a rookie at brewing and ordered a batch from Midwest with liquid yeast and had to dump it down the drain. It took a week to get to Phoenix and it was 112 when I got the package......outside! Who knows what it was in the back of that truck in a box. I tried to do a starter but had no results. If I ever do get liquid online again, it will be in the winter and I will make a starter for it. For $1.50 more I can get fresh stuff from my local store.
 
I have a question to ask everyone touting that they buy from their LHBS. How do you think the LHBS gets their yeast? Now I'm not discounting there's peace of mind buying there as I buy my yeast locally along with bulk grain. I have received a dead vial of yeast about three months ago and tried to do a starter. Got nothing it was dead in the water, I forget what yeast it was if my memory serves me (usually a disservice) it was wyeast scottish ale or something like that. Luckily I keep packets of nottingham around.
 
I have a question to ask everyone touting that they buy from their LHBS. How do you think the LHBS gets their yeast? Now I'm not discounting there's peace of mind buying there as I buy my yeast locally along with bulk grain. I have received a dead vial of yeast about three months ago and tried to do a starter. Got nothing it was dead in the water, I forget what yeast it was if my memory serves me (usually a disservice) it was wyeast scottish ale or something like that. Luckily I keep packets of nottingham around.

my LHBS gets in a insulated box from white labs chock full of tubes and ice packs. it arrived on a monday shipped the Wednesday before in 100 degree heat and the tubes where still chilly. i grabbed one of the boxes kept a growler cool for 8 hrs in about 80-85 degree temps
 
my LHBS gets in a insulated box from white labs chock full of tubes and ice packs. it arrived on a monday shipped the Wednesday before in 100 degree heat and the tubes where still chilly. i grabbed one of the boxes kept a growler cool for 8 hrs in about 80-85 degree temps

This is quite true. LHBS order in multiple quantities so the manufactures can ship to them with special handling at minimum cost like this. In my case my LHBS is actually a wholesaler who does a full stock retail as a service to the community since this is a major city and we were so poorly in need of a LHBS when he opened. There is now another LHBS on the Eastern side of town, but they are very, very small and many things have to be put on his list to order and then you have to wait until he has enough people waiting on stuff to make it cost-effective to go through with the order, then he calls you when it's ready. From what I have heard they are good people though. I just had it come up though that my LHBS was out of Wyest Kölsch yeast and he told me it would be ten days before it came in because he had just ordered a huge stockpile of yeast (they burn through it like a forest fire) and for some reason there was a run on Kölsch yeast. I have only had him run out of something I needed one time before and he got the yeast I needed in two days.
 
Shipment finally arrived. Sorry for the confusion, but Rebel shipped me the Pacman I needed, that is kinda why I was giving them the thumbs up as I got the yeast for this kit in two days after I ordered it. I got the yeast from Rebel, the kit from Rogue, and the Rogue shipment went cross country.

The only thing that was in the shipment was grains and hops and I was concerned about them "cooking" in the 90+ heat for over a week.

I'm gonna brew it and see how she taste!
 
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