since switching to all-grain.....

There was a recent post questioning whether switching to all grain would overall improve the brewing of beer. As a preface, i am answering this question while drinking my latest all grain cream ale, so maybe i am biased, but without a doubt, my answer is YES!
I can absolutely attest to a SIGNIFICANT improvement of beer since making the move to AG. To quantify this statement, i submit the following: when i brewed extract (and i did for years), i did in the end have beer, but it almost always had a dinstintive "homebrew" taste to it. Also, with brutal honesty here, my HB was never betterthan something i could buy. Right now drinking this latest HB, i can say that this beer tastes 10 x better than the commercial creams i have ever had. No "HB" taste whatsoever. In fact, the taste brings me back to my younger days when we would steal my dads "Gennessee Cream Ale", but like i said, way better. This was my 3rd attempt at AG, and i knew from the first batch i was onto something. I will leave it up to the pro's here (moderators) to dissect my opinion, but here is one man's experience. Cheers my friends!!!

I have to agree. I brewed 2 extract kits just to learn the ropes and then switched to AG. I feel confident that I can discern an extract from AG with my eyes closed. The food analogy is a good one. Fresh ingredients vs canned/dehydrated extract? Which do you THINK is going to taste better!?

I've tasted some excellent extract homebrews that would be difficult to distinguish from all-grain, but I agree that most of them have that "homebrew" taste that isn't too pleasant.

I'm not quite so sure. I made 4 extract and 4 partial mash while collecting my AG gear. A couple of those were among my best.

But I enjoy the process of AG more than extracts. I have read the analogy of baking a cake using a boxed recipe or making the same cake from scratch and which is more satisfying.

I like brewing from scratch. That reminds me, I am waiting for a cooler day to dig into my 55lb sack of Maris Otter!

I rarely do extracts but when I do, I do at least, some steeping and 90% of the time, a partial mash and it is significantly better than plain extract.
That said, extract is so much better than what I used in the early 80's, not to mention the quality of the yeast is much better as well.

Yes indeed. Stay thirsty my friend.

100% agree i recently made the switch from 5 gal extract to 10 gal all grain. I did extract for 3 years and was never 100% satisfied with the results. My first all grain batch was easily 10 x better than any extract I have made. And its the same price to make twice as much beer. Only down side I can think of is the 5 hour brew sessions instead of 2 hours. And the clean up.

Ive only been brewing since may and I started on extract kits, they tasted ok but now I do AG mini mash brews 3 gallon batches, this way I can do more brewing and loads of different batches. I think that if u enjoy brewing then AG is best but if u just wanna make a quick batch and care more about time saving then extract is the answer.

Some further self-analysis: even though some of my procedures HAVE improved over time (better wort chilling, lower ferm temps, bigger boils), this has been a gradual improvement over many years. The dramatic improvement occurred on my first AG; and i knew right away when i drank the green beer (my FG test vial) coming out of the carboy. No twang, just great "real" beer taste and best of all..........this has been confirmed by others as well.

I guess that's one of the great things about the hobby, you can "move forward" at your own pace, when you have the time and money and ultimately....u always have beer to show for your efforts.

I found that my first few batches of extract using dark lme all tasted the same even though they were a black ipa, a stout, and a brown ale. The dark lme simply has a taste to it that isn't right for all recipes.

can't remember who said it first but there's sumthing about using freshly milled grains and the smell from the mash pot, don't think i could go back to extract unless i had no choice, not even to knock out a quick batch

i did 4 extracts, 2 from a box and 2 extract recipes i put together but the reward from a sucessful all grain tops it all imo

One of the very best beers I've ever had was a homebrewed extract beer that a friend at my homebrew club made. So while you may not be able to make excellent extract beers, I know that it is possible.

I can honestly say, I really haven't tasted the "homebrew twang" that everyone associates with extract brewing. When I first started brewing, I made some very good extract recipes. I think a lot of my success had to do with the fresh LME I purchased from my LHBS. I never purchased canned or pre-packaged extract kits. It wasn't the quality of the beer that made me want to move onto all-grain; it was the process.
When homebrewers claim that their AG beer is 10x's better than their extract brews, I think that's a bit over-stated or the effects of drinking too much homebrew.

Looking back, I rationalize the whole extract thing to the learning curve of brewing. 99% of us start out with extract. Many move on to PM and AG eventually. I have learned so much since my extract days. I often wonder what I could make with an extract recipe now.....since I know so much more and have more extravagant equipment. So, was it my inexperience, or the extract that was at fault years ago?

Zymurgist05 said:

I can honestly say, I really haven't tasted the "homebrew twang" that everyone associates with extract brewing. When I first started brewing, I made some very good extract recipes. I think a lot of my success had to do with the fresh LME I purchased from my LHBS. I never purchased canned or pre-packaged extract kits. It wasn't the quality of the beer that made me want to move onto all-grain; it was the process.
When homebrewers claim that their AG beer is 10x's better than their extract brews, I think that's a bit over-stated or the effects of drinking too much homebrew.

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my 4th and final extract batch was the belgian white recipe from brewmaster bible i believe and it still was one of my favorites, not knockin extract brewers but your right saying people over rate their "all grain" beers its not the end all be all

After about 3 years of extract brewing and trying everthing I could think of or read about to get rid of the twang I finally tried all-grain. Now I have been brewing all grain for about a year and there is no question that my beers are way better. No twang anymore. I even went back a few times to make extract batches and still had some of that twang flavor. Same yeast starters, O2, fermentation, conditioning, etc as my all-grain process. All-grain made a huge difference in my beer quality!

Pappers_ said:

One of the very best beers I've ever had was a homebrewed extract beer that a friend at my homebrew club made. So while you may not be able to make excellent extract beers, I know that it is possible.

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My club loves my IPA. You should see their faces when I tell them it's extract

I think the twang comes largely from LME. If you switch to DME, you won't have that issue. I've made multiple extract batches that were fantastic, but all from DME. The quality of products, freshness of ingredients play a huge roll in extract brewing. The shelf life of grains is significantly higher than extracts, so you there is a much larger window for success with AG. Nonetheless, pure extract brewing takes 1/2 the time, offers up 98% of the quality, and IMO, is the best way to start off.

I've done some huge extract brews (9#s DME plus 5#s of grain) with partial mashes, where I've added the DME prior to the mash, to obtain the lower FG that I needed. The black rye IPA (Wookie Jack clone) that I made came out beyond amazing, even though ~80% of the sugars were all from DME.

It's all about how you use extract. It's another tool in the toolbox, and used properly, it can craft some works of art.

It has been a while since I've made an extract batch, but I'm not going to knock it either.

The last time I tried extract was when I had the idea to do my normal AG IPA outside while making a LME Centennial Pale on the stovetop. Brew day went perfectly and both brews fermented as normal. Put both on tap and even though they weren't the same beer you could tell that the Pale was a step below the IPA.

But...I made a Belgian Quad with DME and it won second place in a comp.

I noticed the extract twang when I was making Mr. Beer kits. Since then, I have been satisfied with the 5 gallon extract kits that I have made so far. That being said, I may feel differently when I move to AG. Until then, I am content to while away my time drinking beer from extract kits.

In this issue, I have to put it on the brewer. You do need fresh LME or DME, but otherwise there is no difference. Half my beers are extract and half are AG, but when I'm drinking them I cannot tell the difference (and would have to look in my brewing log to remember). Fermentation temps and a little aging are the keys.

I also noticed a huge increase in quality moving to all grain. I always hear about award winning beers brewed with extract, so I'm sure it's possible.

I have no doubt that better brewers can brew better extract beers than my all grain beers, but given my skill level all grain beers produce noticeably better beers.

Also, my lhbs doesn't even carry lme, only dme.