The "bad advice I got from the LBHS" thread

[jmo88]

"The fruitiest hop with the most grapefruit characteristics is glacier."

Nope!

 

[mummasan]

Grind any smaller than .40 and you will only make flour!
Just pour the yeast (whitelabs vial) into the fermenter and you're good to go!

There are other examples...in general, though, my LHBS is ok. Good thing too, because the next closest one is on the Big Island.

 

[Pickngrin]

Bad advice abounds!

 

[syd138]

I know who you are talking about. Their chicago location is much better for the brew info.

Not if you are talking about Brew and Grow..

those guys are arrogant pot heads that know absolutely nothing about brewing. They are complete jerks and offer terrible service. I have gotten terrible advice.. and they have flat out refused to help me with recipes, etc.

Bev Art on 95th and Western is great though.. those guys really know what they are talking about and are very helpful

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Not if you are talking about Brew and Grow..

those guys are arrogant pot heads that know absolutely nothing about brewing. They are complete jerks and offer terrible service. I have gotten terrible advice.. and they have flat out refused to help me with recipes, etc.

Bev Art on 95th and Western is great though.. those guys really know what they are talking about and are very helpful

I too am a bit sick of the Brew and Grow crews (which seems to be univerally hippies) but I think we should lay off a bit. They were probably hired primarily to sell indoor growing equipment and not introduced into homebrewing until they started working there.

I've learned not to take any advice from them, but at least in Rockford they're all nice people.

 

[kornkob]

When I was shopping for the SWMBO's wed ring, I received this advice from the guy I eventually bought from. It's the best test to see if (1) Someone knows what they're talking about and (2) if they're trying to screw you.

I find that one of the litmus tests for a retailer who actually knows what he is talking about and is an honest retailer is someone who can cite viable, independent sources of information and/or refer you to a competitor who is as good or better than they are at what they do.

 

[kornkob]

Yeah, I've since tried several homebrewed and commercial smoked porters, and have yet to try one that I could finish. In retrospect, I am almost certain that this was an old kit that they probably were more than happy to unload on the unsuspecting kid I was at the time.

Or that particular retail drone actually preferred smoked stout and thus was selling his personal bias. Or he heard someone come in and brag about how awesome the smoked porter was and thus recommended it based on that. Or because the drone drank a plain old porter the night before and thought was was awesome so he pushed the smoked porter thinking that if the porter was good than obviously the smoked porter must be better.


I'm more inclined to blame incompetence or indifference than malice in most cases of retail drones selling the wrong crap or giving bad advice.

 

[maskednegator]

Just pour the yeast (whitelabs vial) into the fermenter and you're good to go!

This is actually excellent advice for certain styles of beer.

 

[Revvy]

This is actually excellent advice for certain styles of beer.

Uh, only if your beer is 1.025 og or below. For just about everything else you really should be making starters with liquid yeast.

 

[maskednegator]

My understanding is that a variety of styles (saisons, certain wheat beers) that have estery or phenolic flavors and aromas benefit from underpitching yeast.

 

[SFBEER]

My LHBS is run by 2 guys. One is the beer guy and one is the wine guy. They seem to have decided years ago on this arrangement. They both know a little about the others specialty but if you have a specific question then you want the right guy. I have seen them call each other at home for the answers if needed. They do extract brews with specialty grains right in house so they have a pretty good handle on somethings.

 

[Revvy]

My understanding is that a variety of styles (saisons, certain wheat beers) that have estery or phenolic flavors and aromas benefit from underpitching yeast.

When you want a certain flavor quality to your beer it's better to use strains that produce phenols and any other characteristics naturally and pitch a healthy amount of it. That way you have a measure of control of it, and there's also no worry about stalled fermentation from stressed out yeast. It also has an extra benefit of cutting down on lag time amongst other things. You can also play with temps to push the envelope.

But making a starter if always a good idea. For one thing it ensures the viabilty of the yeast (and therefore less "is my yeast dead" threads.) It also makes sure there is enough yeast to get the job done.

Besides it's doubtful THAT was what the LHBS guy was intending when he gave that information; the nuances between producing phenols in certain styles of beer. More than likely he was just generally making a blanket statement. If he had gone into the discourse you suggested that COULD BE construed as possibly good info, if he went into the different theories.

But I don't get the feeling that was the context mummasan was referring to.

 

[phrogpilot73]

My first visit to my old LHBS was simply fantastic. Starting shooting the breeze about brewing, and that I was thinking about starting. Asked what would be best to start with Ale Pales, Better Bottles, or Carboys. His suggestion? Start with the cheapest equipment that will work - and invest in a good set of ingredients. If you don't like homebrewing, you won't have invested a lot of cash, if you're on the fence - a good set of ingredients might push you over, and you can always upgrade to better equipment later. He didn't have the boxed "kit" available, so he grabbed all the equipment that was in the kit, and threw in a copy of "How to Brew".

When I went back to figure out how to start kegging, he talked me through how to build a jockey box, how much beer line to get (8 feet), and even helped me figure out what temp to carb at if it wasn't going to be in a kegerator yet...

Since we moved, I've stopped by the LHBS here and I haven't been impressed. I now view Brewmasters Warehouse and Williams Brewing as my LHBS.

 

[Revvy]

My first visit to my old LHBS was simply fantastic. Starting shooting the breeze about brewing, and that I was thinking about starting. Asked what would be best to start with Ale Pales, Better Bottles, or Carboys. His suggestion? Start with the cheapest equipment that will work - and invest in a good set of ingredients. If you don't like homebrewing, you won't have invested a lot of cash, if you're on the fence - a good set of ingredients might push you over, and you can always upgrade to better equipment later. He didn't have the boxed "kit" available, so he grabbed all the equipment that was in the kit, and threw in a copy of "How to Brew".

When I went back to figure out how to start kegging, he talked me through how to build a jockey box, how much beer line to get (8 feet), and even helped me figure out what temp to carb at if it wasn't going to be in a kegerator yet...

Since we moved, I've stopped by the LHBS here and I haven't been impressed. I now view Brewmasters Warehouse and Williams Brewing as my LHBS.

Sounds like you experience was like mine, finding a "winner" lhbs right off the bat.

 

[Revvy]

This was a good discussion we had awhile back, with a guy who was looking to open an LHBS. It's sort of the opposite of this, in the sense that some of us offered insight into what a good lhbs should be like.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/do-you-support-your-lhbs-140076/

 

[phrogpilot73]

Sounds like you experience was like mine, finding a "winner" lhbs right off the bat.

Exactly... It wasn't until my 3rd or 4th visit that I realized he was a classmate from high school! I only wish the one closest to me in VA Beach was better. When the owners are there - no problems, when they're not...

 

[srm775]

Not if you are talking about Brew and Grow..

those guys are arrogant pot heads that know absolutely nothing about brewing. They are complete jerks and offer terrible service. I have gotten terrible advice.. and they have flat out refused to help me with recipes, etc.

Bev Art on 95th and Western is great though.. those guys really know what they are talking about and are very helpful

When I went there, they've been pretty good. They support the hobby in the area and used to be pretty active in the hobby. Now, the bulk of their business is growing supplies, so you can't really blame them for making that their primary focus. I mean, the $50 you spend on supplies doesn't really compare to the 3 grand the guy behind you is spending on growing equipment and supplies. He must have the nicest tomatoes in the neighborhood.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Tomatoes...right.

 

[amercuric]

Tomatoes...right.

i lol'd.

Seven Bridges in Santa Cruz has one or two really knowledgeable kids that work the front desk. It was akward at first because I applied for the same job, but it's all good.

 

[johnnyc]

It hurts since the guy was helpful in the beginning but I overheard him today tell a new brewer that ice from Kroger was sanitary and he could dump that into his wort. Went so far as to say it was cleaner than the ice from his fridge. He's not even familiar with starters, he only uses dry yeast. Sure it works in many situations but there's so much variety to be had w/ liquid yeast. I actually introduced him to biab too...He's only done extract and thinks that all grain takes 7-8 hrs.

 

[michael.berta]

At my LHBS an employee told a customer that Caramunich 60L is can be subbed for munich malt in ANY beer if he brewer wants something a little darker. Imagine a beer with Caramunich as a base malt....

 

[Sea]

The owner of my OLD LHBS ( which mainly exists to sell cigs) once told me that with the quality of today's malt extracts, he couldn'tsee why anyone would want to brew all grain! Thankfully I never really listened to him, and there's been a new shop to open in our area which is much better.

 

[TheFlatline]

Sadly, I have 2 choices for my LHBS. First is across town (20 minutes), and is pathetic for turnover. I think if anything, they concentrate on wine anyway. I never really asked them for advice, because let's face it, when there's a thick layer of dust on your bags of grain, your extract cans are rusted, and a 3 piece airlock is 6 bucks, you know you're going to get spotty advice.

The next real option is a 45 minute drive away, but is the home of the Maltose Falcons. Fantastic store. Great turn over, and I've never really had bad advice from any of them. But it's a trip.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

I'd gladly take advice from the home of the Maltose Falcons...

 

[oldschool]

before i actually got in to it, my LHBS guy said that anything but a 20 boil kit was a waste of time. His beers were watery and cider tasting, his bock was crap as with most of them. He told me that i should never use glass carboys. When i said that a book i read advised me to use them, he replied "then you are reading the wrong book." (he had that exact book on his shelf)

 

[sonetlumiere85]

Can employees of LHBSes share idiotic things customers say to them? Because I got a real gem today - a guy wanted to make what I eventually determined was his conception of an imperial porter. He then said, "well, I really want to make something like Dark Lord from Three Floyd's..do you have a recipe for that?"

After I looked up a clone recipe and started going through what would be required, he realized it'd cost more than $50, because, ya know, there's like 12 lbs of fermentables for an extract batch, etc. Then, he revealed that he wanted it to be ready by Christmas! I didn't have the patience to explain why that was impossible, and directed him to a Bavarian Hefeweizen.

Some customers are pretty clueless.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Can employees of LHBSes share idiotic things customers say to them? Because I got a real gem today - a guy wanted to make what I eventually determined was his conception of an imperial porter. He then said, "well, I really want to make something like Dark Lord from Three Floyd's..do you have a recipe for that?"

After I looked up a clone recipe and started going through what would be required, he realized it'd cost more than $50, because, ya know, there's like 12 lbs of fermentables for an extract batch, etc. Then, he revealed that he wanted it to be ready by Christmas! I didn't have the patience to explain why that was impossible, and directed him to a Bavarian Hefeweizen.

Some customers are pretty clueless.

And most of these customers are probably clueless because of people like you who aren't willing to take the time to explain to them the rights and wrongs of homebrewing. Most LHBS employees expect everyone to know as much as they do. This is simply not true. If they aren't part of an online community, they are relying on YOU for information and guidance. Play the part and give them a hand before you call them clueless.

By the way... you're payed to work at that LHBS. Do your job and help the man. It's not like you have something better to do while ON THE CLOCK. And if you say you did have something better to do...I'm sure your boss would say differently.

 

[Pappers_]

Southern, I hear you - it would have been nice to have taken the time to explain why it wouldn't be ready by Xmas. On the other hand, with an entire thread dedicated to pointing out idiotic things said by lhbs employees, I think it's fine to allow one to vent about a customer - we don't need to berate them for it. Just my two cents.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

If the customer would have something completely idiotic, I wouldn't have said anything. Not everyone knows about aging beers, especially new brewers. But, the fact that the LHBS employees are paid to help people, and he's clearly stating he didn't want to help... it just irritates me. This is probably a big reason we have new brewers on here asking so many obvious questions and freaking out about their beers.

My mistake for jumping on you like that sonet...it's just a touchy subject since I'm from Rockford and my LHBS is lame about helping people. Very nice people, but worthless info. I had to teach myself how to homebrew and ruined a lot of beer at the beginning because of it.

 

[srm775]

Southern, I hear you - it would have been nice to have taken the time to explain why it wouldn't be ready by Xmas. On the other hand, with an entire thread dedicated to pointing out idiotic things said by lhbs employees, I think it's fine to allow one to vent about a customer - we don't need to berate them for it. Just my two cents.

True enough ... plenty of idiots on both sides of the counter to go around.