The Venting Thread: Let It Out, Folks!

[easttex]

Here's my bitch:

Both the major local homebrew suppliers in DFW have closed up. Homebrew Headquarters in Richardson closed and Texas Brewing is closing their storefront. The only LHBS is an hour away in West Fort Worth and while Chris is a great guy, his shop is long way from North Dallas.

So I guess it's back to doing business online, paying freight, and dealing with the fallout when they botch my grainbill....

 

[Zenmeister]

Leaking Corny Kegs...
Resulting in fast draining CO2 tanks resulting in flat beer. I double and triple check my kegs, keg lube my gaskets, but it only takes one small leak and phfffftttt.... empty CO2...
I now fully pressurize my kegs, disconnect the CO2, then reconnect as necessary when I use them.

 

[Iowa Brewer]

Leaking Corny Kegs...
Resulting in fast draining CO2 tanks resulting in flat beer. I double and triple check my kegs, keg lube my gaskets, but it only takes one small leak and phfffftttt.... empty CO2...
I now fully pressurize my kegs, disconnect the CO2, then reconnect as necessary when I use them.

Yes, those leaks are SO deflating (no-pun intended)

 

[crazyjake19]

It frustrates me that I don't actually have a LHBS. I'd gladly support one over online retailers, but our closest shop is 1 hour away and I can't justify 2 hours of my time plus $10+ in gas when MoreBeer has free shipping over $60 and I don't even have to leave town.

 

[Deadalus]

The only LHBS that is reasonably close doesn't carry liquid yeast and doesn't price 55 lb sacks at 55lb prices. It's a small store. So even though there's a craft brewery on the way there, I'm just not going to drive out there to get a few specialty grains.

Next nearest is a great full size store. It's two hours away though. It's a little off the main highway too but I will stop there if it's reasonably possible on the time schedule. I pulled my travel trailer into his lot once, he got a kick out of that. Was good, I threw the yeast in the fridge!

 

[Deadalus]

Torpedo Kegs smaller is less expensive

Why do I have to pay more for a new Torpedo keg?

 

[hotbeer]

I really thought this was "venting" as in venting a fermenter or something like that.

However, if I can vent......

I just find it incredible about all the talk of pumpkin this and pumpkin spice that. Has the world gone pumpkin crazy? Maybe it's just the time of the year.

I actually like pumpkin. In pie and quick breads made with pumpkin. I even like pumpkin sliced up and roasted in the oven.

I just don't seem to understand ones desire to put it in beer. It's not high in fermentable sugars that I'm aware of. And what taste might it give to beer? Or is it strictly the 'spice' part that people want the flavor of in their beer? If so, then why add pumpkin?

Probably a lot of my revulsion for hearing about pumpkin spice stuff is that it's being advertised everywhere for stuff. If I or my wife get a pumpkin spice candle for a gift again this year, I think I'll go bonkers!

Any how, thanks giving me a place to vent. Though I probably went a little outside what you were going for.

Nor am I really bothered by those that like their pumpkin spice beer or anything else.

 

[beersk]

Note to self: send hotbeer pumpkin spice candle for christmas.

Another thing that frustrates me is when I slightly over-fill a keg, am certain the pressure in the keg isn't more than what I have my regulator set to, hook up gas to the keg, and it still flows back into my gas line anyway. Take gas line off, rinse, let dry a bit, and reconnect. Sigh...

 

[jcav]

Note to self: send hotbeer pumpkin spice candle for christmas.

Another thing that frustrates me is when I slightly over-fill a keg, am certain the pressure in the keg isn't more than what I have my regulator set to, hook up gas to the keg, and it still flows back into my gas line anyway. Take gas line off, rinse, let dry a bit, and reconnect. Sigh...

Just get one of these. I have them and they work great!
https://www.williamsbrewing.com/Hom...ll-Lock-Keg-Connectors/Disconnect-Check-Valve
John

 

[Knightshade]

This one has nothing to do w/brewing...but I'm going to throw it out here anyways cuzz it is super fresh in my mind having just "signed off" of work. Then I'll follow up with a HB one.

Deciding to do one last thing before you wrap up your work week because you figure it shouldn't be that tough, and shouldn't take that long. A couple hours later...and it has already been a ridiculously long week anyways...FFS

Was mentioned somewhere but when you start taking it too seriously and you start thinking that maybe it isn't worth the time, effort, etc. I need to crank it down a notch and make this fun again..

 

[Iowa Brewer]

Any how, thanks giving me a place to vent. Though I probably went a little outside what you were going for.

So glad you found the thread, hotbeer, and this is exactly the sort of thing it’s going for: a place to vent all brewing-related frustrations (including flavor fads). Cheers!

 

[Iowa Brewer]

Note to self: send hotbeer pumpkin spice candle for christmas.

thread could also be named “how to push your fellow brewers’ buttons”

and yes, that’s wicked frustrating

 

[Staticsouls]

Sourcing grain for reasonable prices. I have to either drive for almost 2 hours or pay per pound all the way up. I only buy bulk grain sacks. Why do lhbs do this price gouging crap?

Silver lining, since moving to electric, doing full time dad plus work is not as bad as I thought it would be on a brew day.

 

[Brewdog80]

Tell me why the hell a brand new 2.5 gallon corny keg is the same price as a new 5 gallon corny keg. UGH.

Because they sell 10% 2.5 and 99% 5 gallon. There is about a dollar more steel in the 5 vs the 2.5 and exactly the same labor making them. (probably adding some labor to cut the steel in half for the 2.5)

But on a higher note... LHBS closed/sold off. Old guy, I can say that, he was older than me, didn't stock crap for liquid yeast. I never have liked dry, have had bad results. So new guy is opening in evenings as he has a real job. We'll see what he stocks. Otherwise, I'll make a trip it MO once in a while.... Shipping cost is going to kill a lot of things. BTW, free isnt free. I costed a 6 item list (no grain) from a $35+ free vs an add shipping, and add shipping was a couple of bucks cheaper one $100 order.

 

[JaggersBrewingCo]

Sharing bottled beer with people. Going though the whole: "Look after your done all you have to do is rinse them out when your done, and return them" .... Getting them back with cigarette butts and other trash in the bottles, or ones that clearly just set back and have mold and etc growing...

 

[DannyBoy270]

Sharing bottled beer with people. Going though the whole: "Look after your done all you have to do is rinse them out when your done, and return them" .... Getting them back with cigarette butts and other trash in the bottles, or ones that clearly just set back and have mold and etc growing...

I've given up on this lol not too long ago a buddy I gave some beer to forgot and recycled the bottles I gave him. Later he remembered and to make up for it brought me a dozen of some other bottles from a local brewery. It was a nice thought, but they were the wrong style bottle/I dont have a bench capper ...

 

[seatazzz]

Sharing bottled beer with people. Going though the whole: "Look after your done all you have to do is rinse them out when your done, and return them" .... Getting them back with cigarette butts and other trash in the bottles, or ones that clearly just set back and have mold and etc growing...

That happened to me a few years ago; brewed a batch of pepper beer for a friend (he paid for ingredients and maybe a bit more for my time) and said I will need all bottles back, rinsed. Every last one came back with dried crud in the bottom, had to trash about half of them. Needless to say I gave him crap for it, and haven't brewed for him again.

 

[Brew_Dude41]

This:
Fast Prime - Canned Priming Solution

I know that I am pressed for time, and have trouble fitting in a brewday right now, but really!?

What are we coming to as a society that we need boiled sugar water pre-packaged for us?

I could rationalize the canned starter (kinda) but this is too much for me...

 

[FrCorySticha]

This:
Fast Prime - Canned Priming Solution

I know that I am pressed for time, and have trouble fitting in a brewday right now, but really!?

What are we coming to as a society that we need boiled sugar water pre-packaged for us?

I could rationalize the canned starter (kinda) but this is too much for me...

Isn't that basically the same as simple syrup that bartenders use for cocktails?

 

[Bassman2003]

Here's my bitch:

Both the major local homebrew suppliers in DFW have closed up. Homebrew Headquarters in Richardson closed and Texas Brewing is closing their storefront. The only LHBS is an hour away in West Fort Worth and while Chris is a great guy, his shop is long way from North Dallas.

So I guess it's back to doing business online, paying freight, and dealing with the fallout when they botch my grainbill....

Sad to hear about HH. I have been ordering online and picking up the order at Texas Brewing all through the pandemic. Did they stop local pickup? As the storefront has been listed as closed for a long time.

 

[wepeeler]

My vote would be the beef I have with Yakima Valley Hops. I have a subscription with them when ever quarter I get a box of various hops. The delays are unacceptable. They charged my card on September 15th and as of today, October 7, it is still unfulfilled. Last time, it took the 7 weeks to get the order in the mail. On top of that, they don't let you know that there is an expected delay of give reasons for the delays. They are also very unapologetic for their lack of customer service.

Dang man, that sucks. I've found them to be overly helpful. I've called and emailed when I needed something ASAP, and they were VERY helpful and friendly. Just this past week I ordered 3 pounds of Citra on Tuesday, and they ended up going on sale on Friday. I emailed them about it, and they credited my account. No questions asked. They even told me to shoot them an email earlier in the week next time, and they'd let me know what's going on sale!

 

[Knightshade]

Sharing bottled beer with people. Going though the whole: "Look after your done all you have to do is rinse them out when your done, and return them" .... Getting them back with cigarette butts and other trash in the bottles, or ones that clearly just set back and have mold and etc growing...

Sounds like these are good candidates to not share the spoils of your next batch with!

 

[JaggersBrewingCo]

Sounds like these are good candidates to not share the spoils of your next batch with!

Yeah pretty much what has happened. Its kind of funny that the guys that do/ did this are upset that a coworker gets about a case or so a month of mixed brews. This guy not only bought a bottle brush, he runs them trough the dish washer, and kicks in on the next brew...

 

[bwible]

Right now the lack of things at the LHBS. I try to support them as much as possible but it's getting hard. I broke down and bought a bunch of grain online and from a place that offers 2 day shipping. My order has been sitting "In warehouse" for nearly 4 days.

I ordered from a big online place that was shipped last friday from CA and was supposed to be delivered yesterday. Its marked possibly delayed and now has no estimate for delivery. Its 20 lbs of grain, 3 oz of hops and 2 packages of dry yeast. I’m mostly concerned about the hops and yeast.

 

[bwible]

Eventually it's going to come to a major standstill, with no loads coming from Asia because there's no empty containers to load their stuff into. I've been doing this for 14 years and have never seen anything like it.

I can’t say that would be a bad thing. We’ll learn to make things HERE again

 

[camonick]

Its marked possibly delayed and now has no estimate for delivery.

FedEx?
… that’s my gripe!!! I hate FedEx, they are miserably unreliable. I had a package that wasn’t brewing related (thankfully) that took 5 days longer than their estimated delivery time. It arrived and departed Kansas City 4 times before it finally got headed the right way. Thing was plastered with arrival and departure stickers when it finally showed up.

 

[user 298779]

if you're going to brew with breakfast cereal.. if it ain't wheaties, do a cereal mash....

I like it!

 

[Cogswell]

Drove 45 minutes to a LHBS. Walked up to the door. Small sign on door says "No Customers Allowed in Store. Online orders only. Due to the pandemic."

Funny, I was on their website before heading out. I didn't see anything about online only.

Got home. Scoured the website. Not a single damn word about being closed to customers and online-only.

 

[bwible]

Drove 45 minutes to a LHBS. Walked up to the door. Small sign on door says "No Customers Allowed in Store. Online orders only. Due to the pandemic."

Funny, I was on their website before heading out. I didn't see anything about online only.

Got home. Scoured the website. Not a single damn word about being closed to customers and online-only.

I have 2 - one is about an hour away and one is about 2 hours away. The closer one is small and not well stocked. The further one is much much larger and better stocked. I get most of my stuff by mail order now for this reason.

our closest shop is 1 hour away and I can't justify 2 hours of my time plus $10+ in gas when MoreBeer has free shipping over $60 and I don't even have to leave town

…And that is exactly why nobody has a local homebrew shop anymore. I owned a shop from 2000 to 2004. I can’t tell you how many times people came into my store with a morebeer catalog complaing I was selling something for 50 cents more than them, etc. That company has killed off a large number of local shops. They have resources so they can buy in massive quantities and get price breaks that small shops can’t get. They can undercut the small shops and still make 150% profit.

 

[Cogswell]

I can’t tell you how many times people came into my store with a morebeer catalog complaing I was selling something for 50 cents more than them, etc.

Wow. Some people don't have a stich of manners.

That company has killed off a large number of local shops. They have resources so they can buy in massive quantities and get price breaks that small shops can’t get. They can undercut the small shops and still make 150% profit.

See also Walmart. And Amazon. Kind of funny Amazon is doing to Walmart what Walmart did to the rest of American retail.