That was my thought, which seems quite sensible. So why do people pay $ for their AG systems? Does a smaller strike mean the flavor is lost? As a noob I’m happy to give it a go regardless, just wondering
BTW, my apologies for being geo-centric. Hadn't noticed you're an Aussie, and some of what I suggested might not make sense for you. I'm sure you can find someone in Australia who sells BIAB bags.
As to why people pay $ for their AG systems, there are several reasons I can think of. First is that having to diddle with smaller batches, add-up water, adjusting recipes to deal with this, and so on--well, I prefer not to do that.
Second, it's an element of control--starting with their own grain mill. Homebrew supply stores that sell grain will crush it for you, but invariably, it seems, that crush is too coarse, sometimes resulting in uncrushed kernels, or just generally incomplete crushes. I control my crush exactly. Further, crushed grain is subject to oxidation, and the closer to brewing you can crush that grain, generally the better. Flavors in oxidized grain are muted. This isn't a huge issue unless you wait a fairly long time with crushed grain before you brew with it, but it's one reason why people have their own mill.
One of the tenets (if you want to call it that) of BIAB brewing is crush the grain finely. Local stores won't probably do that, base on experience here. Thus, your own mill. And when you have your own mill, you end up looking into buying grain in bulk, which can (at least here) drastically reduce the price of malt.
And along with that: homebrew stores sell kits including already-crushed grain, the yeast and hops you'll need, so you don't have to make any decisions about recipe. But most home brewers eventually want to do their own recipe-building, and having your own mill can make that much easier.
Third, a more $ system allows you greater control over certain variables in your brewing. Size of the grain bill, for instance. You can if you have the capacity go large, and also of course, small.
And if you really start to get crazy with the $, you can do step mashes, control mash temps to within a degree, which makes it easy to control the characteristics of the beer (lower mash temp = drier finish, higher mash temp = sweeter finish, and you can control or do both).
Fourth, some people like the bling, or coolness factor. Shiny stainless steel and all that. It's the Rolex watch factor--LOOK! LOOK! Well, I have that, too.
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It's like any hobby--there are different things different people want to get out of it.
That said, you can make really good beer using BIAB. I have all the bells and whistles, well, most of them anyway. I miss the days of doing BIAB, as it's simple, effective, and quicker. I brewed yesterday and it was nearly 5 hours from start to finish. With BIAB, generally it would be 3.5 hours. Less to clean, quicker setup...more relaxed brew day.
That's what's cool about this hobby, IMO--you can brew good beer, maybe even great beer, with a minimal setup. Or you can dig into your children's inheritance and go large.
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One last thought: what people can afford and how they enjoy this hobby varies with resources and where they are in the life cycle. My kids are grown and gone; no way I could afford to do what I'm doing if it were 15 years ago. So I have toys that would have been impossible to buy back then. People with young children, people still in college--maybe not so much.
But I started out with an inexpensive kit, and learned, learned, learned about brewing. As I learned to make good beer, I began to add equipment that either sped things up or made my life easier. But I remember the first beer I really hit, and I still brew it. It's a Rye ale and it's great.
What I sort of regret--though I'm still not sure how I could have foreseen where my brewing has ended up--is money spent on equipment that I upgraded later, costing me much if not most of the initial investment. I've sold some of that off at a partial loss, but I sort of wish I'd made better choices early on. Again, not sure how I could have done that--didn't know how much I'd end up liking this, etc. etc. etc. And it didn't seem like the smart choice at the time.
So--if you can and it's within your resource base, try to buy a little better than you think you need. If you end up buying another kettle (you don't need to--this is an example), go the 10-gallon route not the 8-gallon route. If you buy a propane burner so you can brew outside, buy one with more rather than fewer BTUs. More BTUs = faster. Same with an immersion chiller, same with....well, everything.
Think about where you want to be a year from now, and how you might get there. Maybe you can save money by cutting out the daily latte from the coffee shop, or sell off items you don't need any longer, or find a few quick part-time gigs...
Anyway, always remember the number one rule of home brewing: if you're not having fun doing it, you're doing it wrong.
