Extract vs all grain

Ive been all grain brewing for most of my life but I bought a hundred pounds of DME a couple of years ago when I was very busy at work and life and did nothing but custom extract recipes. I made some great beer, so its really just the grass is greener or not on the other side lol or I work harder than you stuff lol If it wasn't so expensive I would continue brewing that way
 
$8.50 a kg from my supplier !
There're different grades on the market ,i only use it for making my starters so cost doesn't really factor into it .

if i wasn't doing such concentrated boils and needing every drop into the FV i'd be saving second or third running from sparge and boiling those to condense them back to close to 1.040
 
Mark D Pirate said:
On another forum I use there's 2 partial mash brewers both placed well in national home brewing comp .

How you treat the wort is more important than who did the mashing , an AG beer can be rubbish and some extract /pm beers are simply supurb
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A good fermentation trumps the fermentables bill every time. A rare absolute.... I use extract for experimentation precisely to take variability out - then I know it's the treatment, the hops, spices, fruits, flavorings or steeping grain or even mini-mash that are causing the change to the recipe. IF your LHBS moves a lot of it and it's fresh, extract CAN be used to make superior beer. You can screw up all-grain far more ways than extract.
jeffpn said:
I think most all grain brewers look down on extract brewers. To me, it's about how deep you want to get into the hobby. Wanna do it the making orange juice way, and do the Mr. Beer hopped extract method? Go for it! Do what makes you happy. Unhopped extract, partial mash, BIAB, 3 vessel. Lots of different ways to make beer. And there's room for everyone to be happy.
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Agreed. There's nothing wrong with extract brewing. It has its limitations but so does all-grain. Proof is in the glass: I'll take a good extract beer over a bad all-grain any day.
 
jeffpn said:
In extract brewing, one would be stuck with the grains used to create the extract. But there are different types of extract, light, amber, dark, etc. It seems to me that it should be possible for someone, who really knew the ins and outs of brewing, to make 2 identically tasting beers: one made from extract, and one made from all grain.
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No that is a great exbeerment there jeffpn:p will have to pitch that to brulosopher.
 
I bet it's been done somewhere already. Let me know!
 
In my early days of brewing, malt extracts were always inferior, and you could instantly tell a beer that was made from them. That's one reason homebrewing was such an obscure hobby in those days - you had to go all grain to get good results.

It seems that's all changed, now, and really quality extracts are available. We should never look down on anyone or anything that creates a tasty, tipplable pint!
 
Hey hey hey now I'm not a looking down on Anyone here.was just stating my opinion on extract all grain brewing talking from my personal experience with extracts it's been probably 2 years since mixing some sticky extract into a brew pot! Yep it's easy and I sure do appreciate a well made home brew top drop. If extract produces outstanding quality reliable replicable brews I'll be first to line up with a glass for a taste test:p. I just ain't going back to extract anytime soon as I've got a sack of grain I need to mash in over the next few months:rolleyes: plus I love the challenge and process of extracting the malt from the mash. Cheers to all, all grain and extract Brewers alike in the end we're all pursuing a great hobby and that Perfect beer. Cheers:).
 
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It's available here too , you probably missed it !
been tempted to do the" texas two step mash" myself and fill both FV with a single mash and decent extract .

The main reason i went AG was the fact i needed to stress a bit more on my only day off a week and taking sole blame when it's not quite right ( where's that sarcasm font !) now i need to adjust my water , brewday has doubled in time .... hang on ? why don't i just roll back the extract brews ?
 
Mark D Pirate said:
It's available here too , you probably missed it !
been tempted to do the" texas two step mash" myself and fill both FV with a single mash and decent extract .

The main reason i went AG was the fact i needed to stress a bit more on my only day off a week and taking sole blame when it's not quite right ( where's that sarcasm font !) now i need to adjust my water , brewday has doubled in time .... hang on ? why don't i just roll back the extract brews ?
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Yea when I walk in a homebrew store I stroll right past the extract section so yep I've been under a rock in regards to extract:). This thread has sure spiked my interest in extract again
 
I just always liked the idea of starting from grain... using extract would take a lot of the fun out of it. But I should probably give it a try just to see how the other half brews!
 
Thurston Brewer said:
I just always liked the idea of starting from grain... using extract would take a lot of the fun out of it. But I should probably give it a try just to see how the other half brews!
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i agree with you there, grain to glass and all that.
kinda like driving for me, i get bored in an automatic. shifting gears makes me feel more in control of the vehicle
 
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