The Venting Thread: Let It Out, Folks!

[Conehead]

shipping costs, man. what the butt.

that $35 sack of pale malt turns into $70.

Way more than that if you live in Canada. I drive 1 1/2 hours to Toronto to pick up stuff and it is still cheaper than shipping.

 

[Conehead]

Went to the Blichmann website to find the very small red o ring for the pressure relief valve for my 14 gallon conical. Cost? 25 cents. Shipping to Ontario, Canada? $50.00. I think it would of been cheaper if I sent it to Mars.

 

[Sunfire96]

Signed up for AHA last month and was told I'd get a pound of azacca hops. The month is over and now we're over a week into October and no mention from them about the hops. By the time they ship out there will be snow on the ground. Who wants to brew with tropical hops in the middle of winter?

 

[soccerdad]

My beef is with the damn undershorts they make these days. Every time you think you got it figured out where the peep hole is, and how to open it, some Ralph Lauren wanna be changes the design and you gotta start over. Especially difficult on brew days when sampling prior beers is mandatory. From now on, I'm brewing French style - no undies!

 

[Beerstein]

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.

mine is the same way. but its run by elderly couple who are very nice, so i cant blame them.

 

[Beerstein]

My beef is with the damn undershorts they make these days. Every time you think you got it figured out where the peep hole is, and how to open it, some Ralph Lauren wanna be changes the design and you gotta start over. Especially difficult on brew days when sampling prior beers is mandatory. From now on, I'm brewing French style - no undies!

how about tactikilt? i think there is one out there rated to hold ten bottles. then you have a place to store your drink while brewing.

 

[IslandLizard]

Went to the Blichmann website to find the very small red o ring for the pressure relief valve for my 14 gallon conical. Cost? 25 cents. Shipping to Ontario, Canada? $50.00. I think it would of been cheaper if I sent it to Mars.

I had the same issue with my similar, but smaller, 7-gallon conical. Any rubber o-ring of that size will work fine, got a few at a plumbing hardware store, among other things of course. Some buy o-rings by the 100-pack from McMaster's... for like 5-8 bucks, shipped.

Now that (large) lid gasket would be a whole different story.

 

[easttex]

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.

I believe TB will continue doing online orders and allow local pick up like they've been doing but their storefront is officially closed. They're also making up discontinuing custom recipes and will only sell malt by the pound.

 

[Ogilthorpe2]

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.

I‘m no mathematician, but….

 

[Bassman2003]

I believe TB will continue doing online orders and allow local pick up like they've been doing but their storefront is officiallt closed. They're also making up discontinuing custom recipes and will only sell malt by the pound.

I need to call them and ask about the situation. It sounds like they are cutting back on workers present and filling a 1/4 lb of this and that is more than they can do.

 

[Ogilthorpe2]

Also, this ad that keeps popping up on this site. I realize this is a site dedicated to the production and consumption of alcohol, but this is in really poor taste IMO.

 

[beersk]

View attachment 745279
Also, this ad that keeps popping up on this site. I realize this is a site dedicated to the production and consumption of alcoho, but this is in really poor taste IMO.

That's pretty funny, but maybe just a little insensitive.

 

[Tom R]

That's pretty funny, but maybe just a little insensitive.

Especially when a relative (who was an alcoholic) died of liver failure.
It would seem they could have made a better choice.

 

[sibelman]

Frustration that ended well: I placed an online order with my usual LHBS, FH Steinbart. Later, I called about pickup timing and they said it was all there except the Trappist/Abbey yeast I needed was now out of stock. Figuring I'd get the yeast at another fine LHBS (we're so fortunate here in Portland!) I visited and grabbed the malt --I didn't notice they left out the hops too. Dang!

BUT -- they soon phoned to tell me about the missing hops, and that the yeast would be in shortly, credited my card for the yeast, and then delivered yeast, hops, and a T-shirt to my house the next day!

 

[BrewZer]

My beef is with the damn undershorts they make these days. Every time you think you got it figured out where the peep hole is, and how to open it, some Ralph Lauren wanna be changes the design and you gotta start over. Especially difficult on brew days when sampling prior beers is mandatory. From now on, I'm brewing French style - no undies!

Jockey's been sewing the same way since last century...

 

[Iowa Brewer]

Frustration that ended well: I placed an online order with my usual LHBS, FH Steinbart. Later, I called about pickup timing and they said it was all there except the Trappist/Abbey yeast I needed was now out of stock. Figuring I'd get the yeast at another fine LHBS (we're so fortunate here in Portland!) I visited and grabbed the malt --I didn't notice they left out the hops too. Dang!

BUT -- they soon phoned to tell me about the missing hops, and that the yeast would be in shortly, credited my card for the yeast, and then delivered yeast, hops, and a T-shirt to my house the next day!

Class act!

 

[NewJersey]

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.

The top and bottom are the bulk of the cost of making a corny AND they sell more 5 s than 2.5s.
This is no trick just regular simple economics

 

[mashpaddled]

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....

Dr. Jekyll's in Pantego I believe still sells homebrew supplies. I never bought homebrewing supplies there so I'm not sure what prices or selection look like. The other place that sells a small variety of grain is Foreman's General Store in Colleyville but the yeast was always concerningly old and the hops of an unknown age and ridiculously priced. Still, if you're in a pinch to get grain it's an option a little closer to the Dallas side.

It's crazy to think five to ten or so years ago there were so many homebrew shops in the area. Fort Worth had Foreman's, Texas Brewing, Brewhound, that place in south Fort Worth near Arlington and Dr. Jekyll's. Dallas had HH and Fine Vine. I am sure I am forgetting a few shorter lived stores. Most of the older shops aside from HH I believe started as winemaking shops and adopted to brewing with the surge in homebrewing at the time.

Homebrew Headquarters missed the boat a decade ago on internet sales when it could have expanded its footprint. I know they had a dedicated following in the north Dallas suburbs but they could have been a bigger player in homebrewing regionally (especially after AHS fell apart) if they had wanted it.

I'm not surprised at all that Texas Brewing is closing their storefront. In all the times I went there over the years they kept expanding the storefront but there was never many people in there at once. With how much people buy online and an overall slowdown in homebrewing it doesn't make a lot of sense to operate a storefront when they could use that space to fulfill online orders.

 

[Brewdog80]

I‘m no mathematician, but….

Yeah, sorry, fats fingurs... But yah know what ai meant..... dontxha? I hate typing on dang phone.
Oh, met the owners of the lhbs the other night at the annual beer and chili fest at one of the Catholic churches in town. Not so good chili this year, but a lot of decent and ugh, homebrews. They had a booth and I talked and bought a bit from them. They had already had a LOT of feedback about yeast. So hopefully they will start stocking more varieties.

 

[Pils Brosnan]

TILT HYDROMETER REPEATER

Step 1: buy a TILT hydrometer
Step 2: get frustrated as the piece of **** does not have enough power to transmit through a stainless fermenter
Step 3: buy a separate REPEATER for $60. Now you have two pieces of equipment floating in your beer

What the actual festering donkey odour

 

[beersk]

TILT HYDROMETER REPEATER

Step 1: buy a TILT hydrometer
Step 2: get frustrated as the piece of **** does not have enough power to transmit through a stainless fermenter
Step 3: buy a separate REPEATER for $60. Now you have two pieces of equipment floating in your beer

What the actual festering donkey odour

I had this frustration when fermenting in a keg, but it worked fine when fermenting in my SS Brewtech brewbucket. I felt the same way... It is really nice to see where your beer is at in fermentation. I wanted one so I could know when to spund.

 

[scrap iron]

I ordered some o-rings and a silicone gasket for my Anvil fermenter bucket on 7/16/21. My card was charged and I still have a processing note on the order at their website. I imagine they are sitting on a freight container somewhere. The shipping cost as much as the products.

 

[Deric]

TILT HYDROMETER REPEATER

Step 3: buy a separate REPEATER for $60. Now you have two pieces of equipment floating in your beer

Uhhh.... the Repeater is not suppose to be in the fermentor.

 

[bwible]

TILT HYDROMETER REPEATER

Step 1: buy a TILT hydrometer
Step 2: get frustrated as the piece of **** does not have enough power to transmit through a stainless fermenter
Step 3: buy a separate REPEATER for $60. Now you have two pieces of equipment floating in your beer

What the actual festering donkey odour

I use my tilt in a glass carboy 15 feet from the old retired iphone 5s I use for recording it. There is a regular door between the tilt and the carboy. And I still have connectivity problems. The software quits constantly after a short time and I have to keep restarting it. I can’t do that when I’m out of the house too.

I know a 5s is pretty old but it should be more than enough for this.

 

[bracconiere]

this really isn't venting, but the feed store was out of whole barley....looks like i have a couple of oat malt stouts in my future....


(i think i'll order another box of corn flakes for a giggle!

 

[hotbeer]

My beef is with the damn undershorts they make these days. Every time you think you got it figured out where the peep hole is, and how to open it, some Ralph Lauren wanna be changes the design and you gotta start over. Especially difficult on brew days when sampling prior beers is mandatory. From now on, I'm brewing French style - no undies!

I have to have a fly or peep hole??

I thought the new fashion was not to have them since AFAIK, most like me, just pull down the elastic band instead of trying to fit it through some obstacle course.

 

[Spikybits]

Signed up for AHA last month and was told I'd get a pound of azacca hops. The month is over and now we're over a week into October and no mention from them about the hops. By the time they ship out there will be snow on the ground. Who wants to brew with tropical hops in the middle of winter?

i am in the same boat - do not think were getting the hops because they use the infamous "while supplies last"

 

[T Murph]

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

I must have been drinking meads when I wrote that. But I think the Torpedo Kegs are interesting. I like the sizes available and they are stackable.

 

[Sunfire96]

i am in the same boat - do not think were getting the hops because they use the infamous "while supplies last"

I did finally get mine about a week ago. How about you?

 

[Deadalus]

I must have been drinking meads when I wrote that. But I think the Torpedo Kegs are interesting. I like the sizes available and they are stackable.

Just messin' with ya. Being stackable is a reasonable difference. I like the 6 gallon size. If I buy new ones, I'm thinking about buying those since that's my recipe size. I think they are just taller.