this is probably a dumb question....

i did my first brew with malt extract and grains...

is that partial mash or just considered malt extract... i got one of the kits from midwest...

yes its ok to make fun of me

If they were specialty grains, where all you do is steep them (rather than mash), then no, it wouldn't be a partial mash.

yeah thats what it was so thats just considered extract... what constitutes partial

It's not partial mash, but I think everyone here will agree that you should wait until it's finished, try it, and see how you like it. Once you're comfortable with a couple batches of extract brewing, it's really simple to move on up to partial mash.

Good luck on your first batch, and welcome to the hobby.

When you use grains that need to be mashed rather than steeped in addition to using extract as part of the grain bill would constitute partial mash.

Mashing allows the enzymes to break down the starch in the grains and covert into sugar.

Specialty grains which are steeped contribute to color, flavor, body and head retention and give no sugar (or little? someone correct me).

Here's another conversation on the topic https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/mini-mash-partial-mash-steeping-specialty-grains-163202/

Charliehart1 said:

yeah thats what it was so thats just considered extract... what constitutes partial

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Partial mash would consist of using both grains and liquid malt extract. Rather than steeping grains, you'd actually need to mash the grains (there are a variety of ways to do this...when I first started, I used DeathBrewer's thread on stovetop partial mash) which would imply that you need to
"mash" the grains at a specific temperature for a specific length of time to get a large amount of sugars from the malted barley rather than the extract. You also use extract in partial mash, but it won't be nearly as much as you'd use in pure extract brewing.

Charliehart1 said:

yeah thats what it was so thats just considered extract... what constitutes partial

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Charlie, a partial combines extract brewing with a smaller mash step. You might say its half all grain and half extract. The best way to find out is to see it. Brewtv has an episode where they brewed a Surly partial mash side-by-side next to an all grain. BrewTV can be found in pod casts and probably elsewhere.

thank you reading that thread pretty much summed it up. the first brew is bottled hope its good. another dumb question.. i read about these recipes on this site. there are a few home brew stores here in philadelphia. if i wanted to make one of those recipes i just print out the ingredients and they will know exactly what to give me?

This might help:

Charliehart1 said:

thank you reading that thread pretty much summed it up. the first brew is bottled hope its good. another dumb question.. i read about these recipes on this site. there are a few home brew stores here in philadelphia. if i wanted to make one of those recipes i just print out the ingredients and they will know exactly what to give me?

Click to expand...

For the most part. It depends on how knowledgeable the people there are, and what ingredients they have at the place. There are different maltsters who name grain a little differently, even extract sometimes.

The best thing to do would be to ask questions when you show up. If there is something on the ingredient list that they don't have, they'll probably have a good substitute for it.

These sorts of things, however, aren't common in extract brewing. You should just be able to show up and have them point you in the right direction.