Not a happy brewer

I ordered my first beer kit from here. I was all excited to brew this past weekend. I get all my equipment sanitized, I get out the instructions and read through them, I activate my yeast packet, I compare the inventory list with what is in the box and… my kit is missing a main ingredient. Great!! I call in and they tell me the missing ingredient will ship in 5 days. Not the next day, 5 days. Not good.

what main ingredient is missing?

your yeast will still be good in 5 days. Depending on the gravity of the kit, you can make a starter in the meantime

Agreed. You could leave the yeast alone for two days, open it and pitch it to a starter and that could set you up on schedule with the arrival of the key ingredient. Naturally, you can’t be happy with this, but NB’s customer service is generally outstanding… so I tread lightly when it comes to criticizing them. If it’s going to take 5 days to ship it I’m sure that it is in the name of insuring a quality delivery of the product.

From the “Do as I say, not as I do” department, it’s always a good idea to look through your kit well before brew day to make sure you have everything. Putting together all the specialty grains, extract, hops, etc is just one of those processes that lends itself to mistakes.

And yes, I’m really bad at doing that myself. A couple of times, I’ve been scratching my head during the boil wondering if I lost a packet of hops or if it wasn’t in the kit.

I’ll add a “dont forget to” as well and just mention this can happen where ever you buy your ingredients.

I made this mistake a few past weekends ago. I got bitten twice by the same bug and that was all my fault.

I forgot to double check the grainbill at the LHBS, and forgot to check before brewday too. The gentleman at my LHBS misread one of the ingredients on my sheet. It s/h/b 2 lbs of one grain but he read it as 0.2 lbs.

I was off by 1 3/4 lbs…it was Sunday and the store was closed. I brewed anyway since I plugged my “new” numbers in and it really didnt have too much effect on the predicted outcome for the brew.

I thought about mentioning the shortfall but decided to let it slide. We’re all human and mistakes can happen, but I do check the receipt before I leave now!

Guilty…I now let the brewday OCD take over and lay everything out in the order that I use it. I even go as far as to live the whole thing out in my head, (just like Dewey Cox) before I spark up my burner. That being said…and all of us being human–uh…stuff happens. And our host have always had impeccable customer service in my experience.

Cheers!!

Just put the yeast back in the fridge, no harm done.

Your missing the point.

Interesting, some of the replies to my original post are now missing.

Your missing the point.[/quote]
I believe the correct grammar is “You’re missing the point.” And what point is that? That you’ll have to push your brew day back a few days? It’s lame they’re not putting it in the mail for overnight delivery or faster than 5 days, though. It’s their mistake, they should do something better than that to make up for it.

Your missing the point.[/quote]
I believe the correct grammar is “You’re missing the point.” And what point is that? That you’ll have to push your brew day back a few days? It’s lame they’re not putting it in the mail for overnight delivery or faster than 5 days, though. It’s their mistake, they should do something better than that to make up for it.[/quote]

Oh great, the Grammar Police are here.

That was a pretty simple one that we all learned in basic English class. You’re not going to make many friends around here with that attitude, guy.

+1 for the grammar police. They’re not out often enough these days.

And what exactly is the point that Shade missed? Was the point that people should be raising up a militia against NB for missing an ingredient and setting back your brew day? They rarely do that, and it won’t be the last time you’re brew day gets interrupted. From what I’ve seen people have been commiserating with you here and there… and even thenI don’t know what more you could hope to accomplish with this post. We have, however, gone out of our way to help you with advice and a solution to the problem while you wait. Stop being so defensive.

Him needs to get his self an beer.

:cheers:

My experience has been that NB has solid customer service, although everyone slips up sometimes. If they’re waiting five days to ship, it’s probably because it’s not in inventory. If you feel they’re not going far enough to make this right, tell them! I’m sure they would be happy to do a little more to save the relationship.

[quote=“Signalguys”][quote=“Shadetree”]Just put the yeast back in the fridge, no harm done.[/quote]Your missing the point.[/quote]Crap happens that’s out of your control and the only thing you can do is to accept it and move on - the missing item will get there when it gets there and whinging about it won’t make any difference. You do need to take care of your yeast, though - they are going to make beer for you if you treat them right.

That sucks. NB usually does a great job but don’t pretend they’re above making mistakes which is why the instructions you read include: “- Double check the box contents vs. the Kit Inventory”

It especially sucks that it was a crucial component and that they weren’t able to rush it out to you (that’s the part where I think they dropped the ball).

I would concur, especially with Shadetree, who is usually the first to help out.

He didn’t miss the point. He was giving you sound advice to save your yeast so you didn’t come back and whine about your yeast being dormant. Ungrateful if you ask me…

Oh, great… now the gratitude police are here. :lol:

:cheers:

Whoa, I came in here to see what was up. What a trainwreck.