Just a shout out to Extract from an AG Brewer

[IrregularPulse]

I just wanted to post to mention, I am currently drinking my favorite brew to date. Recipe??
*EDIT*
3lbs 4.8 oz Amber LME
4 lbs Extra Light DME
1oz Simcoe 60 min
1oz Simcoe 15 min
1oz Simcoe 5 min
1oz Simcoe 0 Min

Would have either been Notty or S04. Don't remember. I think S04

I've been brewing Ag for about a year and a half now. I brewed this extract batch to get a quick brew day in.
AG is not the ticket to great beer as many extract brewers think or hope it to be. The ticket is cleanliness, patience, and fermenting temperature control. IMO You can make great beer with extract. My current IPA is proof.

 

[Pappers_]

Word, tru dat, fo' schizzle.

 

[david_42]

Impossible! And people who claim they win awards with extract beers are posers.

Must admit, my GF extract IPA is going to take some adjusting.

 

[Reedwalker]

Thanks for the reassurance IP :rockin:

I haven't gone AG yet but I'm in no rusg because I believe this fact to be true. Although I think some steeping grains help! Could be my imagination though.

 

[Pivot]

I just wanted to post to mention, I am currently drinking my favorite brew to date. Recipe??

Amber LME
extra light DME
Simcoe Hops

I've been brewing Ag for about a year and a half now. I brewed this extract batch to get a quick brew day in.
AG is not the ticket to great beer as many extract brewers think or hope it to be. The ticket is cleanliness, patience, and fermenting temperature control. IMO You can make great beer with extract. My current IPA is proof.

what are the actual measurements of each of these ingredients? sounds simple and cheap to make, but gooood

 

[IrregularPulse]

I don't remember and I left my laptop at work. I'll try and remember to post Monday.

 

[cryptonic84]

+1 to extract being good beer! had AG brew too, which is also good

 

[SevenFields]

Good for you for coming out and saying it!
I hate that some(not all)All grain brewers feel that their beer is far superior to extract brews. You can make some great beer by extract brewing and you can make some horrible beers doing all grain. Its all about the love you put into it!

 

[buzzkill]

I was proud of all my extract brews. they were darn great!! I went all grain cuz I wanted to save money in the long run. but I have been thinking of doing a quicky sometime just for fun.

 

[Bopper]

I totally agree. I've been brewing for about four years now and I'm very happy with the quality of beer I make using extract with steeping grains or partial mash. As IP said, temperature control and cleanliness are probably the most important things necessary to making great beer. All grain is a lot of fun and you can make fantastic beer with that method but its definitely not the holy grail to improving beer quality.

As long as I'm living in my condo and don't have a room to build a HERMS or RIMS setup, I'm sticking with extract.

 

[Fingers]

Last winter I went back to extract because it was just too damn cold out for AG. I drank those batches in the spring and they weren't nearly as good as the AG batches. I do have very heavy water so it may have been the well water I used and the water they used to make the malt syrup combining to make something else. Perhaps I should try a batch with RO water and see how it goes.

 

[wildwest450]

I just wanted to post to mention, I am currently drinking my favorite brew to date. Recipe??

Amber LME
extra light DME
Simcoe Hops

I've been brewing Ag for about a year and a half now. I brewed this extract batch to get a quick brew day in.
AG is not the ticket to great beer as many extract brewers think or hope it to be. The ticket is cleanliness, patience, and fermenting temperature control. IMO You can make great beer with extract. My current IPA is proof.

Perhaps your all grain beer sucks, thus it seems that extract is good.

 

[jbambuti]

I do extract with steeping and am very careful with sanitation and temperature. My beers have been getting much better over the past year and a half.

 

[HalfPint]

Craigtube agrees.

 

[EO74]

YES craigtube agrees!!!

 

[HalfPint]

Perhaps your all grain beer sucks, thus it seems that extract is good.

BURN!!

Your brew sculpture still treatin you good west?

 

[zinger084]

I don't know if I will ever go AG because it takes so much more equipment, room, time, etc. I have made some awesome beer with Extracts and I intend to keep up the extract brewing...

 

[IrregularPulse]

I was proud of all my extract brews. they were darn great!! I went all grain cuz I wanted to save money in the long run. but I have been thinking of doing a quickly sometime just for fun.

Same here. AG is cheaper once you have the equipment. I'd do more extract batches to squeeze quick brews in, but the extra cost is enough to just use an afternoon and brew an AG batch.

Perhaps your all grain beer sucks, thus it seems that extract is good.

My first couple did for sure. Because I jumped AG as a "make my beer better step". It didn't work. but now I consistently make good AG beer and extract beer. I really do want an aeration stone though. I think that's the final missing link between between my current brews and what I want to brew.

I don't know if I will ever go AG because it takes so much more equipment, room, time, etc.

I went AG because it took more time and equipment. That's part of the draw of AG is building all the equipment. That's, IMO, just as fun as brewing. It's nice to hang out on a Saturday or Sunday and just relax and brew all day.

 

[Judge]

+1 to the OP.

I went AG ten years ago following the Conventional Wisdom of the day: A) all grain is ALWAYS better than extract, and B) liquid yeast is ALWAYS better than dry. I acquired the equipment, learned the processes and made some pretty good beer.

Things have changed since the late Nineties. The quality and variety of extracts is better now and we have much better quality and more variety of dry yeast.

Recently I have come to believe that extract brewing with dry yeast is just as good as more sophisticated methods for the styles of beer I prefer (simple pale ales). Granted, it is more expensive and you have less control over the process, but it's easier and faster. Fresh ingredients, proper sanitation, full boils and temperature control are the keys to any good homebrew regardless of method.

YMMV

 

[petep1980]

I'll say my all grain beer has sucked. I have one killer oatmeal stout partial mash recipe, but other than that my AAA, APAs and everything all grain has been disappointing.

I am going to try a all grain raspberry wheat I think come next spring, but that's about it.

 

[IrregularPulse]

recipe in OP

 

[wildwest450]

Your brew sculpture still treatin you good west?

Yup, so far so good. I got a pump so it's balls out.

 

[maida7]

I don't know if I will ever go AG because it takes so much more equipment, room, time, etc. I have made some awesome beer with Extracts and I intend to keep up the extract brewing...

Ditto! I've been brewing on and off for over 10 years. I have no desire to do all grain. I make super good beer with extract.

 

[SamuraiSquirrel]

I'd have to say that my first A.G. batch was better than all of my previous 6 or so extract batches.

I even missed my target O.G. by a bunch and my final volume was way short. Still tasted better than the previous extract brews I had made.

It's quite possible that other aspects of the process improved since it was my 7th or so batch or even that the recipe was just more of what I was looking for. Could be a combination of those factors.

I haven't had the desire to go back and do an extract batch yet. Maybe I will have to try it just to see if there is a difference now.

 

[jbambuti]

Craigtube agrees.

Big difference between making good extract beer and this Bozo. If you don't like extract brewing, don't brew it. Please step down off your AG soapbox. Some of us brew extract because we don't have the time, the space, or the money to lay out for the equipment. No need to be insulting. Stay in the AG forum if you don't like extract discussion.

 

[HalfPint]

Big difference between making good extract beer and this Bozo. If you don't like extract brewing, don't brew it. Please step down off your AG soapbox. Some of us brew extract because we don't have the time, the space, or the money to lay out for the equipment. No need to be insulting. Stay in the AG forum if you don't like extract discussion.

lol it was a joke.

I've been brewing AG and Extract/Pm for years. Shoot, I brewed a PM on Sunday. I have nothing against extract and still make them from time to time. I have made dozens of delicious extract beers.

I made an APA (AG) last Wednesday and it came out like crap. I over sparged and it's OG was 1.045 instead of the 1.055 or so I was looking for. I'm sure if I had made that same recipe with extract, it would be much better. It's very easy to make a poor extract and a poor AG batch depending on your techniques. Mine the other night weren't that great.

I'm just saying Craigtube b/c if you've watched any of his videos, he talks about how great his extract brews are.

I also have nothing against Craigtube like some of those other people who pick on him b/c they're sitting behind a monitor and feel empowered or something.

 

[HalfPint]

Yup, so far so good. I got a pump so it's balls out.

PUMP!!

<---------JEALOUS!

Well, I've recently heard that the manufacturer is charging over $100 to ship that unit due to a lot of them getting broken during shipping.

I hope I can still get it somewhere, I just have to keep calling around.

What pump did you get?

 

[Tripod]

Thanks IP for the recipe!

I'd like to give it a try. Did you dry-hop at all or just add the 0-min hops and then strain before adding to the fermenter/carboy?

-Tripod

 

[IrregularPulse]

No dry hop. But I'm considering throwing an ounce in a tea ball and tossing in the keg this weekend while I have the simcoe's out for a centennial blonde brew with all simcoe.
I use a SS Scrubbie around my dip tub in my keggle that picks up whole leaf and pellet hops very well.
And that recipe was a full boil.

 

[Gritsak]

Did you use hop pellets or leafs? Nice, simple recipe. I may give this one a shot for my next brew, but dry hop an ounce or so in the secondary.

 

[Apendecto]

Thanks IP for the recipe!

I'd like to give it a try. Did you dry-hop at all or just add the 0-min hops and then strain before adding to the fermenter/carboy?

-Tripod

No dry hop. But I'm considering throwing an ounce in a tea ball and tossing in the keg this weekend while I have the simcoe's out for a centennial blonde brew with all simcoe.
I use a SS Scrubbie around my dip tub in my keggle that picks up whole leaf and pellet hops very well.
And that recipe was a full boil.

I'm pretty new to this but I always wondered what *Hops at 0 mins* meant. Do you let it sit for a while? I always assumed when you were done with the boil, you should cool that bad boy pronto.

Also, no seeped grains?

Thanks.

 

[cryptonic84]

0 mins is 0 mins. or in other words at flame out. the residual heat from the brew kettle while the wort cools releases the oils from the hops leaving a beautiful hop aroma.

also no steeping grains from what i see. not really needed if you are going big hops. then of course with amber and light extracts there are multiple types of base grains in use. he probably originally tried some steeping grains but that just leaves some color and flavor, no real benefit toward fermentable sugars.

 

[IrregularPulse]

he probably originally tried some steeping grains but that just leaves some color and flavor, no real benefit toward fermentable sugars.

Nope there were no previous batches. I just wanted a quick brew day so I figured I'd try Amber malt with nothing else to what it tasted like. Kind of like an extract SMaSH brew if you will.

I had bought a lb of leaf so been using them up.

 

[Gritsak]

Made this beer about 4-5 weeks ago..drinking it now and it's really nice. I tweaked the hop amounts by increasing the 60min addition a little, and dry hopped with 1oz of simcoe for 7 days, then 1oz of ahtanum for another 7 days.

I'll probably try S-05 next time instead of S-04, but it's really drinkable and quite tasty.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Saw your post last night but was browsing on he wii and sucks to type with the wiimote. Glad you liked it. I probably wouldn't make it again. It started becoming too bitter with not enough malt balance and no hop flavor or aroma. If I did it again, I'd move my 60minute addition to 50 minutes and increase the others and dry hop.