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Madchester7

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I bought, amongst other items, 25kg CHATEAU special b (uncrushed). After I sent them an email complaining that they sent me an inferior product from a different brand bagged in their own sacks I was told that they buy their malt from CASTLE MALTINGS then rebag the grain in their own branded sacks to promote their business. That sounds like a tall story to me I mean why would you go to such trouble it sounds like nonsense.

I feel like I've been conned.

Oh I didn't get an explanation until I pushed them on the subject which also makes me more suspicious.
 
I bought, amongst other items, 25kg CHATEAU special b (uncrushed). After I sent them an email complaining that they sent me an inferior product from a different brand bagged in their own sacks I was told that they buy their malt from CASTLE MALTINGS then rebag the grain in their own branded sacks to promote their business. That sounds like a tall story to me I mean why would you go to such trouble it sounds like nonsense.

I feel like I've been conned.

Oh I didn't get an explanation until I pushed them on the subject which also makes me more suspicious.

was your username just chester7 before this happened ?:lol::whistle:
 
Makes perfect sense to me. Surely they would buy it in bulk then make up the quantities to order? It's not like people are queuing up to buy 25kg sacks of Special b.

How do you know it's inferior to Castle Maltings stuff?
 
I follow them on social media and they have been promoting their new milling line and new sacks. Other users have mentioned having their grain in sacks. Makes sense to me. Perhaps they were a bit slow responding because its a Sunday?
 
Err Chateau and Castle are the same maltster.

:lol: it hadn't even registered with me that this is what he was getting at until I read your post and went back to re-read (I thought he just meant he found their explanation rather dubious). Someone wasn't paying attention in GCSE/SG/equivalent French!
 
Not really sure what the issue is?
But in bulk ..re bag it. Standard practise is it not?

Exactly. They aren't going to buy in branded 25kg bags of specialist malts from their suppliers on the off chance that one of their customers might want one!
 
Makes perfect sense to me. Surely they would buy it in bulk then make up the quantities to order? It's not like people are queuing up to buy 25kg sacks of Special b.

How do you know it's inferior to Castle Maltings stuff?

Grain is sold in 25kg sacks, so a ton would be 40 sacks which means they would unpick the stitching on the sacks and rebag them in their own sacks, now that is a ridiculous thought. Not that GEB would be buying a ton of special b.

CASTLE Maltings print production batch number and expiry date on the sack so you know how fresh the grain is and if there is a quality issue they can trace the history of the grain.

On the Geterbrewed bag there's nothing except where someone has scribbled on the bag with a sharpie.

I know there is a difference in quality because I have some special b from a different supplier.
 
I follow them on social media and they have been promoting their new milling line and new sacks. Other users have mentioned having their grain in sacks. Makes sense to me. Perhaps they were a bit slow responding because its a Sunday?

I sent the email on Monday 10th October at 2pm and had no reply all week. Only when I sent another email on the Sunday 16th October did they respond.

Not the level of customer support one expects after spending almost £200 on ingredients and a few bits.
 
Err Chateau and Castle are the same maltster.

Sorry but you don't know what you are talking about.

CASTLE Malting is the name of the maltster. Chateau is the prefix they give to their various malts some of which are registered trade marks (like "Coca Cola" is a registered trade mark for their coke drink). Chateau Special B is one of these registered trade marks.

So to analogise what Geterbrewed are doing is either buying "Coca Cola" and re packing it in a "Rola Cola" bottle (hence ridiculous idea) or advertising "Rola Cola" as "Coca Cola". I hope you understand what I mean. :thumb:
 
:lol: it hadn't even registered with me that this is what he was getting at until I read your post and went back to re-read (I thought he just meant he found their explanation rather dubious). Someone wasn't paying attention in GCSE/SG/equivalent French!

I don't understand what you are saying, could you elaborate?
 
Grain is sold in 25kg sacks, so a ton would be 40 sacks which means they would unpick the stitching on the sacks and rebag them in their own sacks, now that is a ridiculous thought. Not that GEB would be buying a ton of special b.

Is that definitely the case? I'd imagine it'd be a bit of a nightmare for breweries having to open a load of sacks whenever they come to do a brew.
 
Anyway thanks for your support and understanding everybody :thumb:

It's great to know there's a forum who support each other without ridicule and promote good practice for the benefit of each other.
 
Is that definitely the case? I'd imagine it'd be a bit of a nightmare for breweries having to open a load of sacks whenever they come to do a brew.

Yes that is what breweries do.

I was on a tour at Moorhouses in Burnley a couple of weeks ago and they have 25kg sacks. Their 12 fermenters each hold 50 brewers barrels.
 
I don't understand what you are saying, could you elaborate?

After @Yeastface's post, I re-read yours and (what I believe YF was getting at) the way you capitalise CHATEAU and CASTLE appears as if you are trying to say that you bought Chateau but were given Castle. Now you've been replying to the thread it appears this isn't the case so I apologise.

However, I still don't see how them buying in bulk and selling in smaller quantities isn't a plausible answer.

Firstly, the best way to keep prices down (and GEB are one of the, if not THE, cheapest HBS around) is to buy in bulk quantities.

Secondly, how do you know that maltsters only sell their malt in 25kg bags? If Castle are selling wholesale to microbreweries and larger HBS's it would seem to be an unnecessary cost to bag everything up in 25kg bags, especially for base malts (although it wasn't a base malt you bought), where a microbrewery would be needing hundreds of kilos at a time or an HBS would be needing to crush the malt themselves (again I realise this wasn't the case in your situation)!

Finally, what you are trying to say they are doing (i.e. Passing off an "inferior" malt as Chateau Special B) is illegal and if you are so confident that this is what they are doing you should be contacting Belfast Trading Standards about it. They would investigate and take action if necessary. However, I would suspect they are answering truthfully considering their reputation!
 
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