Man I am pissed!

[Pumpkinman]

Before Christmas, we visited a friend that had 45 gallons of wine, 3 types in 15 gallon demijohn.
at the time, I noticed that he had siphoned a 3 gallon carboy from one of the demijohn and didn't top it off.
He was going to start bottling and wanted me to taste the wine, but as soon as I saw the carboy, I could see the white film on the wine and knew it couldn't be good...
I smelled it, it was a horrible sulfur and sour vinegar smell, the wine was toast, but the others also had a sulfur smell, not terrible, but enough that I could smell it.
after talking with him, he told me that he never stabilized the wine, no meta at all during the whole wine making process, this was the advice he had received from the LHBS owner...
I had him add meta and told him to make sure that everything was sanitized before he started bottling.
I don't know how he bottled or how much of a sanitized environment he was in, but I just got off the phone with him and he said that every bottle was bad, they all smelled bad of sulfur and/or sour....
That in itself doesn't make me mad, the part that pisses me off is that he went back to the knucklehead LHBS owner and brought a bottle to him and explained that he added meta (3/4 tsp per 15 gallon) before bottling and this ******* told him that this is what spoiled the wine!
Are you freakin kidding me??!
And he believed him......

 

[Wade E]

Get that friend on here and all 14, 274 of us will tell him that the LHBS that he went to is really LH BS!!!!!!

 

[btom2004]

I'm equally pissed.
That has got to be the saddest thing I have ever heard.
What a waste of wine.
It brings tears to my eyes.

Invite your friend and the person who he was dealing with to this forum.

 

[Julie]

I'm with Wade, get him on here! And there has been other stories about LHBS that have been given bad advice. What a shame.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Nothing like helping out a friend - and get stabbed in the back at the same time. I really like Wades comment !! Please tell him to get involved in the forum and I am sure he will learn alot !! and then he will see who is right in the long haul

 

[Pumpkinman]

thanks guys and gals!!! I don't claim to know it all, but the basics...I think I might have a slight handle on.
Thanks again!!

 

[fivebk]

Thats what happens when you have know-it-alls.......... THAT KNOW NOTHING!!!!!!!

BOB

 

[Runningwolf]

thanks guys and gals!!! I don't claim to know it all, but the basics...I think I might have a slight handle on.
Thanks again!!

..and you grow some nice pumpkins!

As the others said try to convince him to come on board. Do you know the name of the shop. Lets expose it before others get burnt.

 

[DirtyDawg10]

That's a shame!

 

[cpfan]

Pumpkinman:

Don't know why you're pissed. Your friend is stuck with 45 gallons of bad wine. He's the one that should be truly pissed. Has he tried any of your wine?

Steve

 

[dralarms]

My brother keeps telling me "I don't need all that stuff you are doing to your wine". But keeps telling me "your wine is fantastic".

He still thinks 2.5 gal fruit and 2.5 gal water makes a real nice 5 gal bucket of wine.

 

[Pumpkinman]

cpfan...you have a point, yes he has tried mine and loves it.

I guess I was pissed because not only did the LHBS clown give him piss poor info (he had his wine in the fermenting bucket for 4 months as well?!) But after trying to explain to him why he should do things a little differently, and how....he goes back and asks that clown for advice, and believes him when he tells him that the addition of meta caused his wine to spoil...lol

The funniest part of this story is...are you ready for this?.....

My wife was looking at her facebook page and asked me.."what is so and so doing now", I asked her why she asked, she says "so and so has a pic of himself with a "copper device" (that we are not supposed to talk about here)"
I called my buddy and asked him what in hell was he doing, and why he would post a pic, did he want to spend time in jail?
Apparently, the LHBS clown sold it to him, telling him that if he ran his spoiled wine through it a few times, he could get the alcohol from it......WTF!
I tried to explain that he could have taken that $400 and spent it on a few wine kits, and Daniel Pambianchi's book and had wine a few months and a working knowledge of the correct steps needed to make a batch of wine......
And yes I made him take that damn picture down after arguing the point that it was a federal offense to continue to do what he was doing...

Sometimes I just can't believe the advice people are given....

 

[Deezil]

Sometimes I just can't believe the advice people are given....

Sometimes its the advice that blows me away, sometimes its the fact that someone listened... Usually the combination of both, results in gut-busting, eye-watering laughter

I'd just point him here and let him figure it out

 

[Wade E]

I'm thinking after that those 3 demijohns he had might be being sold very cheaply Pumpkin man!

 

[dangerdave]

That was my first thought! Cheap demis!!! But seriously, WTF? The internet is full of useful and good info on wine making---this forum, notably. Why would he put all that wine in the hands of the idiot at the LHBS? Ugh!

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Really, if someone came up to you with a sulfury smelling wine and just told you that they had just sulfited it recently wouldnt you think the winemaker may have added to much sulfite and made it stink? I know I would, especially if they were new to winemaking. Now the vinegar taste, I would also think that was because the guy was new and didnt know what he was doing. I bet the local home brew supply store is a beermaking store and just sells wine stuff, and obviously doesnt know how to us it, or your friend just cant follow simple directions. When you share good wine with a friend and they believe somebody who hasnt shared a bottle of good wine with them, I think you will waste a lot of time trying to show them the right way. WVMJ

 

[DaveL]

LHBS ?
What is this? a chain or an acronym?

 

[TahunaJR]

DaveL, I had also been seeing this and thought it was an acronym for a board famous store. Then I figured it out. Local Home Brew Store. Now, my head hurts...

 

[Pumpkinman]

Local Home Brew Shop.
WVMountaineer, if this person tells you that he added 3/4 tsp of meta to a 15 gallon Demijohn.....
I've suggested that he start making kits, he will or should be able to follow the directions and get decent wine, consistently....this will be a work in progress, he wants me to go through the next batch with him step by step...I don't know if I have the patience after this.

On a good note, my other buddy that was making wine in the dirty garage with the mice has listened to my suggestion and started making kits...and following directions! He wants to start making at least two kits a month. Thank God! That's one fully converted wine maker...LOL

 

[vacuumpumpman]

HI Tom
I think that you will have a alot more people wanting to follow in your foot steps !! Keep up the great work and keep looking foward !!