homebrewer_99

Recipes 

I'd forget the rusty nails, but chances are every batch will be uniquely yours any way.

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HB Bill

woollybugger2

Recipes 

I was looking for an easy way to brew quality brews: Belgian Trippels, Hefes, Wits, Porters and Brown Ales. I opted for doing mini mashes, a little more complex that pure extract but it was worth it. I like the added "mash" step and I've learned a lot that will apply to my AG setup. I'm still working on moving to AG, I'm not in a real hurry to do so as I feel that my mini mash brews are pretty darn good.

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Woolly Bugger Brewery

Consumed:#2 Hefeweizen, #3 SoHo Brown Ale, #7 Belgian Wit, #9 Belgian Amber
Bottled: #1 Trout Belgian Trippel, #4 Smoked Porter, #5 Apfelwein, #10 Bell's Brown Ale Clone, #11 Belgian Wit, #8 Wee Heavy
Secondary:#6 Trout Belgian Trippel
Secondary:
Primary 1:
Primary 2:
Primary 3: Empty
On deck: ???

JesseRC

Recipes 

Well its seems you've already participated in an AG brew day. I think if you were fine with it, and you were not overwhelmed I would just go with it. There are advantages to both. I just disagree with folks that think you need to start small and then build up to AG. AG is just another way of doing a recipe. I've seen more complicated processes in everyday Culinary recipes.

I have had most of my AG recipes ferment all the way down to 1.005. While my extract ones have gone maybe as low as 1.015. If you're gonna do extract, do the mini-mash, as you have a bit more control recipe wise with specialty grains.

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Jesse

Primaries: Mojave Red (AG)
Kegs: Hibiscus Saison (AG), Orange Kolsch (AG) , Cocunut Porter
Future Brew: Wee Heavy

SteveM

Recipes 

I have a slightly different perspective. Full disclosure: I'm an extract brewer.

I go to tastings every other month and have tasted dozens of beers from both extract and all grain brewers. It could be that there are meaningful differences in outcomes between the two processes but in my opinion those differences are much less significant than the beer style and your personal preferences.

For example - I don't care at all for stouts or porters particularly. I much prefer pale ales. I will always prefer a well made pale ale to a well made stout even if the ale is made with extract and the stout is AG.

I've also found that regardless of the process, some people make good beers within a type and some make poor ones within that same type. I think the quality of what you produce is much more dictated by your craftsmanship than by the process you use.

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Black Diamond Brewery

Think global, drink local.

SnickASaurusRex

Recipes 

This is my take on it:

I got into brewing for precisely one reason. I want to be a brewer. So I have built my system up in a way that has allowed me to upgrade into a system that mimics industrial brewing equipment, but at a home brew scale.

Most breweries use an all grain and continuous sparge method. Some breweries also do partial mashes for several reasons. Professional brewers that do partial mashes do so for several reasons. Increased gravity is the chief reason for this, because their systems are incapable of extracting that much grain. Another reason brewers do this is increased sales volume. Their system cannot produce that much wort at once.

I know of at least to brew pubs that do one or two of their core line up as extract brews. They do this to save time, which saves a lot more money than going with the all grain option, even though the ingredients are considerably more expensive. They are able to produce twice the salable product in the time it would take to make one batch.

Those are some professional reasons for choosing between the methods. now let me explain what I did.

1. I bought a kit that had everything I needed for fermentation. It had a bucket, a 6.5 gal carboy, a 5 gal carboy and all the little things.
2. I bought a turkey fryer and chiller so I could do full boil worts. This is key to creating an upgradable system. Buy the highest capacity items that you foresee yourself using.
3. I began doing full boil extract brews while I built the other all grain components.
4. If you want to do all grain buy the kettle and the chiller that you will need. That way you can always do extract recipes.
5. If you do not want to do all grain then you might still want the larger kettle and chiller just because they are nice additions to any home-brewery.