What's the best part of going All Grain?

I recently made the leap myself. Some will say cost savings. Others, better control over your end product.

Personally, I believe the biggest advantage is no more sticky arm hairs from dumping bags of DME into the kettle!

I think the best part is owning more of the process, turning grain in to beer is satisfying more than mixing extract was for me.

I agree with oneandahalf. There's a personal satisfaction I get from the processes of crushing the grain, extracting the malt sugars, etc. My extract beer was/is good, but I like the "hands-on" feeling of making beer from all-grain.

Yeah... but those sticky arm hairs!

It is like cooking...one of my best meals is opening cans (olives, artichoke hearts, pesto) and tossing in a few other raw ingredients like cherry tomatoes, feta and red onion (the only thing I have to chop) then mix it with pasta...this is extract brewing to me.

All grain would be the same recipe but you make the pasta fresh, break down the artichokes for the hearts (and steam them) buy artisan olives at a specialty store and make the feta from raw goats' milk. Growing the tomatoes yourself is akin to growing hops.

Is one better than the other...depends on how good you are at each step. Is one a lot more work...sure. Is one potentially cheaper if you have all the "stuff" to do it...you bet, especially when you buy in bulk.

AG is lots cheaper, especially if you buy malt and hops in bulk, and reuse yeast.

Otherwise, the beer can be comparable quality if well made. I've had terrible AG beers given to me, and excellent extract beers. And vice-versa.

I'd probably make objectively better beers if I did extract batches again, with the skills and equipment I now have regarding sanitation, temperature control, etc. But I wouldn't enjoy it anything like as much.

I love planning my malt bill. I love measuring the grain at my LHBS, grinding it myself, and I love every part of the mash from doughing in, to sitting beside the kettle with a good book and a bottle of Adnams to pass the time, to sparging, pouring myself a Hot Scotchie, and kicking the burner back on for the much-anticipated boil.

Drinking the beer is fun and all, but the brewday is eight hours of working with my hands, in the sun, smelling every step of the process and sneaking tastes of the ingredients and wort. It's washing bottles with my son, and telling my wife about what I'm doing and how it's different from last time. It's being excited when a new malt changes the color in a way I didn't expect.

When I brew, I get to have the kind of day I wish I could every day. All grain means there's more of it, and it means I have more details to obsess over when I'm not drinking. Prost!

Yooper said:

AG is lots cheaper, especially if you buy malt and hops in bulk, and reuse yeast.

Otherwise, the beer can be comparable quality if well made. I've had terrible AG beers given to me, and excellent extract beers. And vice-versa.

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Wish I had storage to do bulk grains... still $1.75/lb is a lot cheaper than extract.

The other thing i forgot to mention is "tinkering" as my wife says. AG gives the shadetree mechanic much more to tinker with and build. Milling tables, mash tun maybe even a false bottom, wort chiller RIMS HERMS E-kettle...you get the idea, for the man or woman who likes to tinker AG is an awesomer hobby than extract

oneandahalfshepherds said:

The other thing i forgot to mention is "tinkering" as my wife says. AG gives the shadetree mechanic much more to tinker with and build. Milling tables, mash tun maybe even a false bottom, wort chiller RIMS HERMS E-kettle...you get the idea, for the man or woman who likes to tinker AG is an awesomer hobby than extract

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True story. Done my share of tinkering with extract, but I'm already 2 coolers deep into tinkering with AG.

I like both extract and all grain and still do both depending on how much time I have. The part I like about AG he most is creating my own recipes.

Started my 3rd year of AG brewing this summer and my recipe writing has gotten a lot better this year. I think a lot of it is gaining a better understanding of base malts.

Mostly, I like the process and the control. It's not any harder and if I make a mistake, I made the mistake. I didn't get some old or bad extract by accident.

In my first summer doing ag I already love the build up of deciding on what to brew designing the recipe, figuring out the requirements for my system and then the brewing process. The inevitable tinkering and adjustments that need to be made on brew day are also fun and exciting.

I think to some degree it is the "living the dream" of being a homebrewer. I have made and tried others extract beers that were excellent. I think PM is a highly viable alternative.

But when you have a 3 vessel All Grain system, the process overall is comparable to what you see when you go to a professional brewery. Maybe a pro is more attuned to the science, the details, the process, but I feel a connection with what I do and what they do that inspires me to get there.

I have a friend at a very major brewery, they do trial batches on a system not incredibly different from mine, and then if they want to add the beer to their portfolio, it is scaled up to their huge system.

I love that connection. I am certainly no pro, but I fantasize that with time, study, dedication, and practice, I could gain the skills to produce truly world class homebrews.

any body can buy a can of sauce, but when you break them down from the create into sauce, its a great feeling. i personally dont call anything that came from a can totally home made. i cooked it but its not like my grandma used to do. my wife is still impressed i haven't killed anyone with my "concoctions" yet

Yooper?? You given me lots of advice on this website and I thank you so much but I didn't know you were a packer fan!! BEAR DOWN! J/K

I really love the difference in clarity I have with my all grain beers.

My pale beers (Kolsch, Pale Ale) come out looking amazing with all grain as opposed to the "slightly cloudy" look from partial mash.

What is the best part of going all grain?? Hands down the smell of the mash. The rest of it is pretty fun too but that smell is something special!!

HBngNOK said:

I agree with oneandahalf. There's a personal satisfaction I get from the processes of crushing the grain, extracting the malt sugars, etc. My extract beer was/is good, but I like the "hands-on" feeling of making beer from all-grain.

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+1 on this. It makes it more of an art. It's like cooking from scratch vs. out of a can.

I freaking love mashing! Who would have thought it would be so much fun.

I also enjoy the cost savings, and the different choices in grains.

mm1473 said:

What is the best part of going all grain?? Hands down the smell of the mash. The rest of it is pretty fun too but that smell is something special!!

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This. The smells are exquisite.

+1. I didn't realize I appreciated clear beers until I started making them. One comment I received during a recent homebrew competition was "brilliantly clear" for several submissions.

And pretty much everything that everyone else mentioned. The ability to develop the recipe, select the ingredients, try new techniques, etc. gives the brewer complete control over the end product. And in the end, it's one the brewer can truly call their own.

Danbreeze said:

I really love the difference in clarity I have with my all grain beers.

My pale beers (Kolsch, Pale Ale) come out looking amazing with all grain as opposed to the "slightly cloudy" look from partial mash.

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Agree with everyone here.
With AG, its the extra time needed to make it all happen, the different grains to experiment with, the lack of the "twang" I notice on extracts after 2 weeks of bottle conditioning(I can always tell an extract from an AG batch at 2 weeks time in the bottle by that "twang". It goes away after 4 weeks in the bottle for extracts though which is good), and the geek in me just loves to have more control over the process.

The downside is I have had to move my entire brew day/process outside due to the batches I am brewing size-wise as a full boil brew is not electric stove friendly for a good 60-90 minute boil(if you can get it to boil at all on an electric stove)...lol.. In the summer/early spring, the bugs can be tricky as well. I have moved from a cheap eBay brewpot to a tricked out Keggle and am up to 2 coolers, a wort chiller, and a hop rocket for my AG batches so I continue to add more equipment which is good for me(not so good for SWMBO).
Its more time, more process, more concentration(and you really need to hold back on the beer drinking during an AG brew until you are cooling the wort as brewing on a buzz is not very brew friendly from my experiences ).
BUT its totally worth it. I love my AG brew days.

I have to go outside to the garage because the built in microwave/exhaust in our "new" house is too low for my pot to cook indoors anymore. Hot in summer, cold in, well, you know, there. I AG brew for a couple of reasons: It is less expensive per batch, I get to learn a lot from brewing software related to Style. So, If I ever enter a contest again, I will put it in the correct style group. The last contest I put my beer into, it was suggested to me to enter into a different style than I had planned, and I got killed by the judges,
Oh, wait, why do I home brew AG batches? Because every now and then my wife comments, "Your porter/style is better than this." On the last porter we tried at a local brewpub, their porter kinda sucked. The mouth feel was thin, it smelled okay, the color was good, and I picked up notes of coffee, but that was it.
Forgive me for patting myself on the back, will you please?

The post mash Hot Scotchy.

I made 3 extracts (from kits) and just made my 4th AG on Sunday. In about a 2 year period. Wow.

Anyway, I like the AG better because I understand brewing much more. With the extracts, I was "making beer" but didn't know how or why I was doing anything.

Part of that comes with more education and experience, but that's my favorite part.

The biggest bonus was with what was generally a standardized process I really came to understand the physics and chemistry of making beer much better. It was the event that let me wrap my head around the entire process and start to delve into the individual and nuanced aspects head-first. Whereas Extract was a process that seemed cobbled together and the result of needing to make changes to a process based on limitations, All Grain was (and is) the unencumbered aspect of making beer.

The yowls of complaints from the kids when the scents from a sour mash waft throughout the house. I do my best not to reply in an evil chuckle but I'm not always successful.

The best part of going all grain? There are many merrits to going all grain, it's difficult to select just one, but if I have to...

I'd say it's probably because the best beers I've ever made have been my all grain beers.

I still make Partial Mash beers from time to time, so it's not just that my technique/process have improved over time, there is a clear difference between my PM and AG batches; I've made my blonde ale back to back AG and PM, the AG version is just that much better in every category, and I've got my blonde recipe down.

Let me analogize here; it's similar to when I make my Blueberry wheat - the blueberry wheat that uses just berries is better than the blueberry wheat that is partial berry partial extract.

Also my wife hiding out in the bedroom because the first floor of our house smells of glorious wort isn't too bad either; for multiple reasons; 90 minute mash, what else am I going to do with all that extra time?

Pride and sense of satisfaction.

It's enjoying a delicious beer and marveling at the fact that I made such succulant nectar by myself, from scratch. And receiving similar remarks of incredulity from friends and family with whom I share my beer. That feels great.

Taking a bucket full of grains and turning that into beer. It's a very satisfying experience. Extract brewing feels like cheating now.

Cost Savings and more easily reproducable recipes. I've only done one clone, the rest have been my own creation or a tweek to a basic starting point for a recipe. I love the whole process, DME (never used canned syrups sh##) is actually easy to work with but really way more expensive than just grain.. I love the smell of 10-15+ lbs of grain..hhmmm makes me hungry and thirsty, cleaner overall profile too.

It is a combination of everything for me. Although I haven't brewed in forever, I miss it dearly.
When I get into a hobby, I end up wanting more and more control over the process. All-grain opened up a new world for me and the more I did it the more I enjoyed the process. I love everything from developing the recipe, to grinding the grains, the mash, sparging, and boiling. Oh, and the cost savings doesn't hurt either!

I am still doing extracts but building up my equipment for AG. I really enjoyed all the comments about personal satisfaction...I work in an old school hobby shop (trains, models, slot cars) and all the customers talk about satisfaction and stress relief as the reasons they build things. great thread and I can't wait to start AG brewing!

jessej122 said:

Yooper?? You given me lots of advice on this website and I thank you so much but I didn't know you were a packer fan!! BEAR DOWN! J/K

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As a diehard bears fan I am willing over look the fact that she a packer backer but that's only because i respect her as a fellow brewer

to the op I am a retired chef and always enjoyed the process of combining and melding flavors when creating dish's and that what I enjoy most about AG.

Its fun to pick up the different kinds of grain and see what really goes in your beer.

Dutchbier said:

I am still doing extracts but building up my equipment for AG. I really enjoyed all the comments about personal satisfaction...I work in an old school hobby shop (trains, models, slot cars) and all the customers talk about satisfaction and stress relief as the reasons they build things. great thread and I can't wait to start AG brewing!

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My switch was drastic and sudden. I kinda just bought ingredients and forced myself into AG. My last 2 have been VERY large brews that would be cost and equipment prohibitive previously.

Got to play with the grain mill at the LHBS yesterday. That was pretty cool. Another way to potentially hurt myself... Yay, AG!

that's an easy question....

the taste

One of the things that I enjoy about all grain is that I start with four basic ingredients and end up with so many different flavor combinations. They are all so different and the water is the only thing that is exactly the same from one batch to another.

Mark