I'll start by saying that I've been brewing for years and have countless batches under my belt. During this time, I have used one HBS - The Reno Homebrewer - and the owner is excellent. This weekend, I took a trip to Vegas to visit my brother. He wanted to learn how to brew, so we headed down to his local HBS.
I walked up to the owner and asked him for a beginner equipment kit. He asked me what I meant. I clarified. So he showed me a box (all sealed up) with nothing labeled on the outside and described to me what was in it. It was only $60 and included a glass carboy - score! I told him we'd take it... then the cross-selling starts. He told me we needed a capper and caps. It doesn't come with one? No, that's an extra $40!! Luckily, my brother has a capper. So we just had to buy the caps. He asked what kind of ingredient kit we would like. I told him something simple - just extract. How about a blonde ale? Sounds good. Luckily, it's also the cheapest. It doesn't come with the starter kit? No, that's an extra $30!! Hey bud, I didn't ask for the barleywine kit - just a simple ale. 6.6 lbs of extract and 2 oz. of hops. $30. Well, we needed ingredients, so we took it. How about a book? Of course.. it doesn't come with a book. No thanks. I'll teach him myself. He told me I didn't really need a book anyhow. The ingredient kit has instructions. Told him I didn't even need those, but thanks. I needed a couple of extra plastic buckets, too. $12 each
So we get home and open up the ingredient kit. There are "instructions" but not really. It just lists all the ingredients and times next to them. Extract cans - 60 minutes, hops - 60 minutes, campden tablet - 15 minutes. Of course, I knew what this meant, but for someone that has never brewed before, it would mean a call to the HBS for clarification. They probably charge for advise. We didn't use the campden tablet. I've never even heard of those used in beer making.
Anyhow, the beer was bubbling away happily when I left on Monday and I wrote out instructions on what to do from here. I also let him know to deal with morebeer from now on as his HBS is a ripoff.
I walked up to the owner and asked him for a beginner equipment kit. He asked me what I meant. I clarified. So he showed me a box (all sealed up) with nothing labeled on the outside and described to me what was in it. It was only $60 and included a glass carboy - score! I told him we'd take it... then the cross-selling starts. He told me we needed a capper and caps. It doesn't come with one? No, that's an extra $40!! Luckily, my brother has a capper. So we just had to buy the caps. He asked what kind of ingredient kit we would like. I told him something simple - just extract. How about a blonde ale? Sounds good. Luckily, it's also the cheapest. It doesn't come with the starter kit? No, that's an extra $30!! Hey bud, I didn't ask for the barleywine kit - just a simple ale. 6.6 lbs of extract and 2 oz. of hops. $30. Well, we needed ingredients, so we took it. How about a book? Of course.. it doesn't come with a book. No thanks. I'll teach him myself. He told me I didn't really need a book anyhow. The ingredient kit has instructions. Told him I didn't even need those, but thanks. I needed a couple of extra plastic buckets, too. $12 each
So we get home and open up the ingredient kit. There are "instructions" but not really. It just lists all the ingredients and times next to them. Extract cans - 60 minutes, hops - 60 minutes, campden tablet - 15 minutes. Of course, I knew what this meant, but for someone that has never brewed before, it would mean a call to the HBS for clarification. They probably charge for advise. We didn't use the campden tablet. I've never even heard of those used in beer making.Anyhow, the beer was bubbling away happily when I left on Monday and I wrote out instructions on what to do from here. I also let him know to deal with morebeer from now on as his HBS is a ripoff.
