BrewDey said:
So I've been enjoying extract brewing a lot, but I feel like I've gotten the hang of the general process pretty well and would eventually like to go AG for taste and a better cost per batch. I don't even fully understand the whole process of mashing/sparging, but I'm interested in the investment necessary in terms of equipment. About how much could I expect to spend to have all-grain equipment? Is it readily available? Equally important is the amount of time needed per batch-I love the fact that I can do a batch of extract brew after work (even after dinner), and still get to bed at a reasonable hour during the week. How much time does going AG add to the entire brewing process? Finally-and I know it's subjective-how much better is AG beer? Any help is much appreciated!
Most of the posters have already answered your Q's regarding equipment investment. You can get a SS false bottom that fits into a cylindrical picnic cooler, and a spigot that fits it, and you have a mash/lauter tun.
For me, the big jump in time was when I went from extract to partial-mash. Essentially, you add at least an hour and a half to your brew time. And that's assuming a hefty burner element that heats up your mash water quickly, and a simple single-infusion 60-minute mash, with quick sparging and draining and no hangups. In the real world, you're looking at roughly 2 hours more, plus the extra equipment to clean up at the end. You also need to realize (which I didn't when I started AG) that going all-grain means that, often, you start off with pre-boil wort volumes that need to be boiled down (evaporated) before you can even add your
boiling hops and start your boil timer. Otherwise you end up with post-boil volumes in excess of 6 gallons for a 5-gallon batch. In other words, in order to rinse enough of the sugar from the grains to get good efficiency, you need to sparge with alot of water, which leaves you with large pre-boil volumes.
My timing for 2 side-by-side batches is usually as follows: assuming I've measured out my grain ahead of time and I can start heating my mash water right away, I'm looking at 6 hours from first flame to squeaky-clean brewhouse and fully aerated and capped carboys. This past weekend, I started at 10am, and brewed one AG and one PM. I was cleaned up and breathing easily at 4pm. This is the life of AG. You can't really do an AG on the fly, like you can with extract, and still be in bed at a normal hour. I usually wake up before sunup on a weekend day, and finish by noon, so I can have the second half of my day for other stuff.
As for the taste/quality difference...so far, I noticed a bigger difference between extract and partial mash than between partial mash and AG. My best batches, IMHO, have been during my PM phase. I would suggest going PM before going AG. You get most of the control over your grain bill, without worrying so much about efficiency, etc. But when you go to PM from extract, you will notice a huge jump in quality. Extract, I think, has a distinct extract-y "fake" taste when used in large quantities.
