Really, Midwest Supplies?

[rico567]

Three weeks ago, I ordered a few supplies from Midwest, including a liquid yeast (WY1007, German Ale). It was delivered USPS on a pretty warm day. I put it in the crisper in the fridge, and we went to Colorado for a week. Got back and made a Turbodog clone right away, and the yeast ripped through that wort faster than I've ever seen yeast go. No starter, nothing else. Just smacked it, and pitched it.

I've ordered a LOT of liquid yeast from Midwest over the last five years, and have NEVER had a bad pack. I did have one sachet of dry yeast (Nottingham) that was evidently dead, as it never did anything, so I repitched.

I can see no basis for your claim that Midwest has somehow done something wrong here; none of my yeast has ever been "refrigerated" in transit. And I most certainly don't understand why you didn't make some attempt to verify whether or not the yeast was still active (very, very easy to do with a Wyeast Activator). Think it through next time.

 

[cdeme123]

This brings up a great point. Does anyone have any insight to how your brewshop gets the yeast? Was it refrigerated on the UPS truck? What about all the other ingredients?

The brewshop I go to has big tubs of malt in the back. How often does it get replenished, how old does it get? If I brew a beer and it has some funkyness to it, is it something i did wrong, or did I use stale ingredients?

I have always wondered about that.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,that does matter. Just go to the one that has high turnover for the freshest ingredients.

 

[Jakeintoledo]

You sound like me when I'm in an argument with my wife...

If, by that, you mean, I apparently apologized in a roundabout way, and get to continue to listen to people piss and moan about my comments for more and more threads? Then, yes. Frankly, if my wife had spent this much time giving me 5hit about a comment I had made, I would have executed a murder/suicide pact.

So I'm now going to clearly and directly apologize for the comments I made against Midwest Supplies. I do this for two reasons--(1), and most importantly: I was completely wrong, and I see that now, after being shown where to find the cold packs (NOT in shipping where they should be, but as an item in inventory to pack with the box.) I maintain still that liquid yeast, which is stored refrigerated, traveling for two days in a small box in a hot truck probably is detrimental to the yeast, at best. While I maintain that my point is valid, nevertheless, I could have maybe phrased my posting WAAAAAAAY differently than I did. At the time of posting, I was frustrated, and would have worded it differently. (2) and perhaps more importantly for me, those people who will now come on this thread and berate me for not 'reading the information' or 'following directions', I now get to berate them for being so quick to post comments before reading through this entire thread.

I eagerly await the numbnuts who don't spend the time to read through the comments before posting.

And for the rest of the folks who read this, get a chuckle at my expense, and move on, I say 'happy brewing' and also add 'you were a noob once too'.

 

[blakelyc]

I don't begrudge the OP a frustrated opinion. I agree that shipping options should be in shipping. Having architected some very large e-commerce sites (way bigger than any brew supply), things like this frustrate me too.

People's reaction to this post, however, are just plain rude and honesty make me regret financially supporting the site. Makes me wonder how many good questions go unasked or good comments go unsaid for fear of the ridicule of the hive mind.

 

[Yooper]

People's reaction to this post, however, are just plain rude and honesty make me regret financially supporting the site. Makes me wonder how many good questions go unasked or good comments go unsaid for fear of the ridicule of the hive mind.

Please use the "report this post" button for all rude or unnecessary posts, so that we can keep the fear out of ridicule out of asking questions.

No one reported ANY posts in this thread, but I deleted quite a few that were "piling on" and/or just unnecessary.

We want our forum to be a friendly place and not a place where people are afraid to ask questions.

 

[blakelyc]

Thank for that, Yooper . I usually use the iPhone app to read on my morning commute (riding a bus into NYC, not reading and driving). I never noticed that function is available via a small blue downward-pointing triangle on the header of each post that brings up another menu.

Thanks again!
-b

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Ordered a batch of ingredients for a brew this weekend, including East Cost Ale from White Labs. Shows up two days later in a box. No attempt to refrigerate. Wondered if I should have checked some box marked 'cold shipping' or something, so went through the steps to order again, and saw nothing to select that.

So, I wonder:

A) any chance that yeast survived? And if not,

B) do the people at Midwest Supplies know how yeast works?

I trashed it n irritation and went to my local supply store and got some wyeast that was refrigerated.

Whiskey tango foxtrot.

Odds are you tossed perfectly good yeast. I'd have at least made a starter to proof it. Midwest DOES have an insulated pouch to ship yeast:
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/deluxe-yeast-shipping-packet.html
For $1.75 you could've had it shipped in one.

I've bought from Midwest many times and never had a problem. Always got exactly what I ordered & always arrived in good shape & on time.
No offense dude, but you've only yourself to blame on this.
Regards, GF.

 

[ktblunden]

I don't begrudge the OP a frustrated opinion. I agree that shipping options should be in shipping. Having architected some very large e-commerce sites (way bigger than any brew supply), things like this frustrate me too.

People's reaction to this post, however, are just plain rude and honesty make me regret financially supporting the site. Makes me wonder how many good questions go unasked or good comments go unsaid for fear of the ridicule of the hive mind.

The thing that really set people off isn't that the OP asked a question, it's that he publicly trashed a respected vendor for something that wasn't exactly their fault and didn't try to take it up with them first. HBT is a high traffic forum and negative posts can directly affect vendor sales. It's always a good idea to take an issue up with a vendor directly and give them a chance to explain or make good on it before you crucify them.

 

[merlin306]

If, by that, you mean, I apparently apologized in a roundabout way, and get to continue to listen to people piss and moan about my comments for more and more threads? Then, yes. Frankly, if my wife had spent this much time giving me 5hit about a comment I had made, I would have executed a murder/suicide pact.

Yeah, that's about what I meant

 

[Jakeintoledo]

Blakelyc and yooper, thanks for the backup. It's not been the whole site that has bashed me, but just a handful of users. As for those guys, I'm happy to provide a service to them insofar as I make them feel superior and better than me, and to a person who otherwise never feels that way, I'm happy to provide such a service.

And for the people who didn't see back in the thread, I fully admitted I'm an idiot.

I just wished I could see what trash talk was getting stubbed by the mods. I'd bet I'd get a kick out of it.

I also do still have the yeast. I'll be trying to do a starter soon.

 

[Jakeintoledo]

Odds are you tossed perfectly good yeast. I'd have at least made a starter to proof it. Midwest DOES have an insulated pouch to ship yeast:
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/deluxe-yeast-shipping-packet.html
For $1.75 you could've had it shipped in one.

I've bought from Midwest many times and never had a problem. Always got exactly what I ordered & always arrived in good shape & on time.
No offense dude, but you've only yourself to blame on this.
Regards, GF.

None taken. Not sure if you read te whole thread, but I essentially claimed much of the fault of this.

 

[KurtB]

An interesting thing that I noticed on Midwest's web site is that if you choose to add their recommended yeast to one of their premade kits, I don't see a choice to have the yeast shipped cold. You have to go to the yeast page and add that option manually.

You would think that if they have the option when buying individual yeast packages, they would include the option when ordering one of their kits as well.

 

[Dan]

I made the same mistake one summer and the yeast spent about 7 days in transit. I panicked and called Midwest, they said I could just make a starter to see if the yeast was still good and in the same breath said they'd send me a new vial at no cost to me.

My fault not theirs but being the great company they are they took care of me. I've never had a reason to badmouth them.

 

[BrokenArmBrewing]

^ I second that....thumbs up the the comment about reading special instructions. A good friend put in the special instructions for a hand drawn elmo brewing beer, and they DID it!

 

[seatbelt123]

Please use the "report this post" button for all rude or unnecessary posts, so that we can keep the fear out of ridicule out of asking questions.

No one reported ANY posts in this thread, but I deleted quite a few that were "piling on" and/or just unnecessary.

We want our forum to be a friendly place and not a place where people are afraid to ask questions.

Yooper, I think some of the animosity towards these posts is warranted. (Full disclosure: I think i got dinged for a post.)

We've all seen too many good small businesses tossed under the bus because of simple misunderstandings and the ease of complaining online. The large (and growing, I mean you Farm House!) on-line suppliers are popular because they generally do a great job. As consumers we have the responsibility to make sure that our public complaints are reasonable. In this case I think we learned that Midwest did their best to help the buyer make the right purchase. But this thread and the headline are permanent.