Why can't we all get along?

Why Can't We All Get Along?

I've noticed that a lot of newer homebrewer's see All-Grain as the holy mecca of beer perfection, like the minute they put the braid on their cooler and fire up the propane, their beer is "magically" going to be perfect.

I've also noticed some of these come back to the board with problems.

With bad, or dissapointing batches.

Many of these problems, I've noticed, were not complex issues having to do with the ph of the mash or conversion of starch to sugar, or anything specific to the all grain process, but were in fact, basic brewing mistakes, the same ones that many begining extract brewers make.

Issues dealing with basic sanitization, or hydrometer readings, following instruction, fermentation temperature, or even, simply, a lack of patience.

These are issues having to do with basic brewing process. Not the methodology or ingredients they used.

To be honest, if their process sucked as an extract brewer...adding more variables to the mix, as comes with brewing all grain, is just going to increase the potential suckiness....Not make their poorly made beer magically better.

I've really wanted to jump in on some of the n00b "Should I go straight to AG?" or "I'm going AG!!!" threads, or threads of people who have only done 1 or 2 beers and want to "make the leap" because they weren't happy with how their beer turned out.

I've wanted to tell them that they really should nail their process down, they should perhaps slow down and get a few more beers under their belt. I've wanted to suggest that they figure out why their recipes didn't turn out and work on that until they make great beers with extracts (like so many people do, many which have even won awards.)

And most of all I've wanted to tell them to quit blaming malt extract for their lousy beers....

I've choked down some mighty foul AG's and enjoyed some fantastic Extract beers, and even a few surprisingly good Mr Beer made beers...It's not the method that makes great beer, it is the brewer

See, I don't consider myself an AG'er or an Extracter...I'm a homebrewer, I make the best damn beer I can! The way I choose to do it differs from batch to batch, recipe to recipe, time commitment or mood...But, I put the same effort and skill in an Extract recipe, as I do to an allgrain.

Some of my best beers are extract w/grains, I've done a couple of them as AG and realized that they taste the same, if not better as their original extract recipe...(My amber ale and Yooper's dead guy clone, are two examples.)

So I don't NEED to spend the whole day brewing AG to make those beers.

Because I live in a loft with no yard, the vast majority of my beers are done as partial mashes, extract w/grains or lately, 2.5 gallon all grain experimental batches in various styles.

I haven't yet made the "leap" to insulating a large volume brewpot to do full volume boils inside.....So for me full volume AG is more of a social gathering with a group of brewers, or a single brew buddy, at their house.

It's a special "treat" to get to do this, stand at a turkey fryer for hours, but it will not gaurentee that the beer I make is going to instantly great because it was made totally with grain and not extract.

The great beers I make (as opposed to the flops, and I have had a few) are the result of the attention and skill that I put into the entire brewing process whether I'm standing at my stove dumping in extract, or draining my mashtun.

It has to do with proper cleanliness and sanitization, paying attention to fermentation temperature, having a well balanced recipe...and all the meticulous details of the brewing process, whether it is the handful for an extract batch or a whole "tech rundown" for an all grain recipe.... The beers that have not turned out, failed not because of the ingredients I used, (meaning grain or extract) but because I failed to pay meticulous attention to my process as a brewer...I got sloppy in some way.

I slipped in some way, not because I brewed using one methodology over another.

The problem I see is that too many recent converts, and some EAC's keep encouraging the idea that All Grain = instant perfection and status as a "real brewer." That you are somehow less of a brewer if you don't mash your own grain.

But couldn't this logic then also be used to say that if you don't malt your own grain at home, or grow your own hops, then you are less than the All Grain Brewer who does?

What I'm getting at can be summed up by this simple statement,"If you are brewing allgrain, and start an "is my beer ruined" or "my fermentation hasn't started" thread, and you have to be told to take a hydrometer reading because you haven't yet, then there is something seriously wrong with your fundamental brewing process, and perhaps you need to step back from something complex and return to basics.

Now before I get slammed for this blog by some of you, I already know the pros and cons of each style. I know you get a lot more control over the finished product with brewing all grain...I know the potential for extract twang and scorched extract...And I'm fully aware of the cost benefit of buying bulk grain for AG...In fact I have probably brought those things up on occasion....As well as some of the ways aroung some of the extract pitfalls.

I don't need to be "converted" to one way or another...I already do it all (except malt my own barley...yet)

I'm just saying that we should shy away from evangelizing our prefered method, most of those who do it are overly enthusiastic new "converts" to all grain, not the majority of brewers. That we are all here for the same reason....And that whether or not is made by opening a can of hopped extract, or light a fire on the turkey fryer, the end product is still beer, and that in the end we are all members of the same noble brotherhood...

That of the brewer.