Mini mash vs. All grain - Mini Mash wins

Just to fan the flames a little, I made A LOT of extract beers that were way better than commercial micros and my own AG beers. I just like the satisfaction of "making it from scratch".

Using the logic in the OP... If PM makes better beer than AG, then wouldn't extract be better than PM?

One of my best beers ever was a PM Witbier. Not because it was a PM, but because I had a very good fermentation temperature. Everything was just right and the conditions were very good for fermenting such a beer.

IMHO, as long as everything goes halfway fine on brewday you will be more than halfway OK. Fark up your fermentation and you'll look at some less than great beer.

i wonder if the guys that make the extract do AG?
who knows
i wounder if the ag that you dont like whould have been better with a longer boil
as extract beer is twices boiled

Hello everyone! I'm a noob to homebrewtalk.com and home brewing. However, I did brew a batch with a Mr Beer a few years back. Which turned out great if you ask me. It was almost a Blue Moon from what the old lady said. Not what I was going for but all of my friends liked it. lol Anyway... I posting on this thread because I wanted to know whether All Grain or Partial Mash brewing would be the better road to take with my first batch.

All AG really gives you that PM and extract doesn't is more control. If your just are just starting out, you don't know what to do with the control it gives you.

My analogy is:
#1. Mr. Beer is like Speghetti-Os.
#2. Extract is like cooking can of pasta sauce and speghetti noodles.
#3. PM is like adding extra ingredients to personalize the flavor of #2.
#4. AG is like making both the noodles and sauce from scratch.

Also, there is a lot of up front equipment costs with all grain. I'd recommend starting extract or PM. As you get a better understanding of what you are doing, step up your equipment purchases for AG.

Beernik said:

All AG really gives you that PM and extract doesn't is more control. If your just are just starting out, you don't know what to do with the control it gives you.

My analogy is:
#1. Mr. Beer is like Speghetti-Os.
#2. Extract is like cooking can of pasta sauce and speghetti noodles.
#3. PM is like adding extra ingredients to personalize the flavor of #2.
#4. AG is like making both the noodles and sauce from scratch.

Also, there is a lot of up front equipment costs with all grain. I'd recommend starting extract or PM. As you get a better understanding of what you are doing, step up your equipment purchases for AG.

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I would like to correct your analogy, good sir, because I feel like it's not accurate. OK, I may be playing with words here, but I feel this is more accurate: .

#1. Mr. Beer is like Speghetti-Os.
#2. Extract is like cooking can of pasta sauce and speghetti noodles.
#3. Extract + steeping specialty grain is like adding extra ingredients to personalize the flavor of #2. Think about some herbs and spices.
#4. PM is like adding more ingredients and using a mix of your tomatoes and tomato sauce you bought in a store (you're using already-made tomato sauce as a base and you add your tomatoes to add some more freshness). You also add herbs and spices.
#5. AG is like making both the noodles and sauce from scratch.

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Just to be sure... is mini-mash and partial mash the same thing?

The Pol said:

This hobby is taken way too seriously I think.

Doesnt matter how anyone does it, doesnt matter if thier beer is crap, as long as they like it.

We love to debate those things that we cannot debate, because they are subjective and different for each individual. One dude thinks it is GREAT to brew hands off, it is the "best way". Another dude thinks it is GREAT to brew totallyhands on, it is the "best way".... now try convincing each other. Basically, we are bored.

This is why I love the threads that start with "what is the best way to...." Because 10 different people, have 10 different "best" ways. It is a hobby, a very personalized one at that, there is no best way, just mine and yours.

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That's honestly the thing I love about it the most. When I brew, I am the captain of the ship for once. It's my prerogative when something goes wrong or a tough decision has to be made. No one gets to tell me what to do. I wish I could do this for a living.

This is just my opinion, but...

Until we got control over our water profile, our extract and partial mash brews were better than our AG attempts. There has been a lot of speculation as to the reasons, but we got consistent off flavors that disappeared when we adjusted our water profile. Since that effort we have made very enjoyable views, and moved on to experimenting with hop additions, timing, etc. I really believe the water is critical in all grain brewing, and most of the information on water profiles are pure rubish.

End of personal rant...

Thank you everyone for your input on AG and PM. I'm going to go with PM for my first shot at brewing. Not sure what I'm going to do yet but I'll post back once I've given it a shot to let everyone know how it turned out.

Thanks again