How soon is too soon?

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phecke

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Hey there everyone, my question is a simple one. How soon is too soon to make the move to AG brewing? I've been interested in brewing for the better part of the last 5 years. Since I was 20 and in college I've wanted to brew, and since then I've read everything that I could get my hands on regarding it, so I feel pretty confident that I could do AG. Now that I've graduated and paid off some bills I have the cash flow and the space to brew, and I recently just finished my second extract brew.

The first one came out great, and I have no reason to expect the second to be any different. I have done full boils for my extracts so I also have all of the necessary equipment to do AG with the exception of a MLT and hot liquor tank, and the only thing I'm not doing now in the AG process is mashing and sparging. I was only worried about the sparging procedures, but I've read the major threads about batch sparging and I'm pretty sure I can handle that.

So, do you guys think moving to AG after only two extract brews is a good idea or should I wait a bit longer to make the jump?
 
I have a lot of friends ask me to show them how to brew. They'll come over on brew day and I'll show them the ropes. The problem is, I do all grain. It's not the easiest way to jump into the hobby.

Three of the people I've taught are now brewing quite often, and all of them started out doing all grain right from the start.

I say go for it.
 
You can easily do AG with just a large fine-mesh bag added to your current equip; should run you < $10 easily.

There's no real reason to delay, unless you really want to focus on some other aspect of brewing for a while. But I'd recommend doing at least one partial mash first--that'll introduce you to the basic processes, but with half your OG coming from extract it won't be as big a deal if you get poor efficiency on it. After 1-2 of those, you'll have a little more knowledge of how to move on to AG.

I did 4 extract brews before doing my first PM. Brewing good beer is mainly a matter of getting your reps in to dial in the process and trying to learn as much from every brew as possible. If you're comfortable with the mechanics of the process, there's no reason not to start getting your reps in on mashing/sparging too if that's what you want to do!
 
I really do think I have a good handle on fermentation and sanitation. I have my most recent brew (an ESB) sitting in the primary right now in a converted mini-fridge. Airlock was bubbling away after only 6 hours (I used a 1L starter and a homemade aquarium aerator) and temp of the bucket is holding at 65 degrees. Brew days went just about as smoothly as possible too.

If I can work up the courage and get to building an MLT, I'll probably make the switch soon. Thanks a bunch for the quick replies, if anybody else has a suggestion or two, I'd love to hear them.
 
I wish I had gone the route to begin with. It really isn't that hard. Just some good reading. I had to look up strike water and all that and after that boom. I did about 10 extract batches and have seen my quality grow since moving up. The required equip is a cooler, propane burner and a larger pot. I am doing AG in my condo and it isn't that big. Make the move, ask the questions and do it. We will help.
 
My second brew was AG, and my own recipe from scratch, to boot. It actually turned out pretty well. Not great, or life changing, but enjoyable enough, with no glaring flaws and a couple of nice aspects. Make the jump when you have the equipment, desire, and knowledge each in good enough quantity. Reading over a good book helps, and asking questions here will sure help as well. It's really not that difficult, mainly just more time intensive (especially at first).
 
I did 3 extracts and then made the jump to AG this weekend & I just noticed fermentation/woot! GO FOR IT (John Palmer & HBT are your friends!) :mug:
 
you'll need a wort chiller too, but definately go all grain. its like fresh squeezed juice instead of concentrate. i did 3 extract batches before i switched.
 
you'll need a wort chiller too, but definately go all grain. its like fresh squeezed juice instead of concentrate. i did 3 extract batches before i switched.

Since he's already doing full boils, there shouldn't be a difference in chilling needs just switching from extract to AG.
 
Go for it, you will never look back.

Print out a to do list on brew day that you can follow and tick things as you go and it couldn't be easier. Brewsmith has that function and the software helps out a lot so use the brew sheet.

The first couple will be a learning curve but its like that with most or even us guys when we change equipment as you learn the quirks of your system and what works best.
 
If I can work up the courage and get to building an MLT, I'll probably make the switch soon. Thanks a bunch for the quick replies, if anybody else has a suggestion or two, I'd love to hear them.

I built a cooler MLT based on this thread. So easy and works great.

I'm another vote for just going for it. Why wait? It sounds like you already have some basic knowledge, so the rest will come with practice. As far as the difficulty of AG: making sure things were sanitized on my very first ever brew (extract) required more focus and attention than mashing and sparging on my first AG brew. It's just more steps and a little more time, but once you know the general progression of brew day it's very manageable. Not at all as scary as some make it sound.
 
It is only too soon if you don't want to go to AG. In other words, if you want to do it, it is time.
With the equipment you already own, all you really need now is a MLT. They are not difficult to build, many threads on HBT on how to make one.
Some say you will never look back, others still do the occasional extract, especially if they don't have the time to devote to the mashing process, but want to make beer.
 
Yeah, definitely go for it. The one thing I would recommend is not to love the recipe for your first batch. My first all grain was supposed to be an Irish red, but I missed my temps and ended up with a super low efficiency. The beer was watery, and I haven't been able to bring myself to brew that recipe since. It's hurts just thinking about it.
 
Sounds like I'll be going for it sooner than I thought then, which I can't say I'm upset about. All-grain was what I wanted to do from the get go, but was just a little scared. After doing some extract batches and reading all the posts on here, my confidence has definitely gone up.

All I need is another large pot for my sparge and mash water, and an MLT and I should be good to go. I'm already using a turkey frier as my brew kettle and heat source, and I already have an immersion chiller for because I did full boils.

Thanks for the encouragement guys, I'm sure I'll have some questions along the way, and I know you all will be there to help me along, so time to take the plunge it seems! Thanks again!
 
Started straight to AG. Read How to brew, this forum and a couple of other sources on all the process until I had a clear mental picture of the whole thing. I practiced a bit with the equipment using water. And so far I've done 2 batches successfully, one is bottled and the other is fermenting. So far so good. It is awesome to see the transformation from start to finish. Go for it!
 
Yeah, definitely go for it. The one thing I would recommend is not to love the recipe for your first batch. My first all grain was supposed to be an Irish red, but I missed my temps and ended up with a super low efficiency. The beer was watery, and I haven't been able to bring myself to brew that recipe since. It's hurts just thinking about it.

Stop being such a Pvssy! Get your recipe back out and show it who's in charge around here! Whoop it's @ss!

In fact, make it EXTRA STRONG, just to show it what for! If any of my beers treated me that way, I'd boil em hard and put em away wet!
 
Stop being such a Pvssy! Get your recipe back out and show it who's in charge around here! Whoop it's @ss!

In fact, make it EXTRA STRONG, just to show it what for! If any of my beers treated me that way, I'd boil em hard and put em away wet!

You're probably right. It's been a year and a half now. It's time to move on. An Irish red with 8% alcohol might not be style appropriate, but doctor's orders supersede beer style specifications.
 
So when building an MLT, I see rectangular and round coolers being used. It seems to me that the rectangular may be better for batch sparging and not so much for fly, where the round is better for fly sparging. I intend to batch sparge (at least at the start) so I was thinking rectangular, but I see plans for a pretty simple round conversion listed above. Can you batch sparge in a round? Is it harder to do so? Should I just get a rectangular and go from there?
 
Round works just fine for batch sparging - did my first AG this past weekend (started w/ extracts in May) with the 10 gallon Home Depot cooler and it performed like a champ.

I think the only possible downside to the round ones are sometimes they can be harder to locate and you can get bigger sizes in traditional rectangular coolers.
 
One problem with BeerSmith, it's windows only. Yeah I'm one of those Mac people. I've been playing around with BeerTools Pro though and it's nice for recipe formulation as far as I can tell so far. Dunno about strike and sparge temp calculations, if it even does that.
 
My second brew was all grain. Reminds me of something a guitar teacher told me once when I was 14 and he asked me why I was learning guitar. I told him "because I want to learn to play banjo." He told me to take banjo lessons. If you want to be an all grain brewer, brew all grain.
 
One problem with BeerSmith, it's windows only. Yeah I'm one of those Mac people. I've been playing around with BeerTools Pro though and it's nice for recipe formulation as far as I can tell so far. Dunno about strike and sparge temp calculations, if it even does that.

I use BTP, and it'll do pretty much everything you need. It's missing a few small things, but nothing major. Strike, infusion, sparging calculations...it's all in there. It's under window/calculators. Then use the mash tab in the calculators section.
 
Did 2 extract that didn't turn out so well. So I got myself a copy of Papazian, Palmer and started reading. Then built my MLT, wort chiller and bought a Barley Crusher. Beer was pretty good after 5 tries, and quite good after 15. I'm up to 40 now in a little over 18 months and am having a good time.
 
I use BTP, and it'll do pretty much everything you need. It's missing a few small things, but nothing major. Strike, infusion, sparging calculations...it's all in there. It's under window/calculators. Then use the mash tab in the calculators section.

Yeah, I figured it may be in there, but I just haven't had the time to really play around with the program yet. Like celticcolorado though, just the little that I have though has inspired confidence into going AG.

DustBow said:
Round works just fine for batch sparging - did my first AG this past weekend (started w/ extracts in May) with the 10 gallon Home Depot cooler and it performed like a champ.

I think the only possible downside to the round ones are sometimes they can be harder to locate and you can get bigger sizes in traditional rectangular coolers

I'll probably go with rectangular, seems to me they're easier to find, cheaper, bigger, and maybe easier to put a bulkhead in due to flat instead of curved sides. If I want to do fly sparging in the future, I'll buy a round and convert the rectangular back into a regular ice chest.
 

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