All grain or kegging - which one first?

[BeerFan21]

Hello to all my fine fellow homebrewers,

I have a question for you: The chicken or the egg...

Which would you get first, all grain system or a kegging system?

It's xmas time and I am either having my wife buy me an all grain system (from NB) or the kegging system (from NB). I am leaning toward the all grain system because I currently do not have the refridgerator or kegerator to keep the keg cold...

I am working with the tap-a-draft system on my last batch which seems to do an ok job as long as a drink the beer quickly (which this last batch was an issue because I have also been going through a bourbon phase).

Thoughts? Comments? Opinions?

Cheers!

 

[Crazybrew04]

i just switched to all grain and it is way more fun to me than the extract or pm brews I was doing. Not that I didnt love doing that too

 

[bob1852]

I was in a similar situation ~2 years ago.

I chose all-grain and was happy I did. Now, I just bought a kegging set up from kegconnection.com (a vendor on here), but yes, I still need to get a keezer set up before I start filling the kegs.

 

[blizzard]

I went AG first and then kegging very shortly thereafter. For me, the AG process is a little more fun and got me out of the kitchen. Kegging was a just a nice bonus. If I did it again I would do it in the same order.

 

[shamrockdoc]

I would go AG as well

 

[lumpher]

same for me. went all-grain, then accumulated the kegging stuff.

 

[Myrdhyn]

I did it the other way around. Kegging first (right off the bat actually), then AG. However, when I started brewing I was in a tiny apartment and AG wasn't really a consideration at that point. In hindsight, given appropriate space for both/either, I'd say definitely AG before kegging.

 

[finley]

I did kegging first, then All Grain. If I had to do it over, I'd go all grain first. All grain setup costs less to do right. Kegging kinda sucked until I built a kegerator. All grain batches will cost you less money than extract batches do, so you can put the money saved towards a future kegging purchase.

 

[Bulls Beers]

All grain first then keg. I did extract batches for 6 months and went to AG. Kegging came a short while later.

 

[Hemsworth]

I went with the kegging first...but I know now that I should have gone AG first. It is so much more fun!!

 

[Hannable1975]

Went AG first - I figured I wanted to make clear beer in bottles , THEN I could use gas and Keg it ...

 

[1990dtgl98]

My first AG batches were to fill my first kegging setup. So I went all out and did both first.

However, in terms of cost, I would do AG first if I could only do 1. Allows you to really tweak the recipe (with mash temps, etc.) and it's cheaper to brew the same partial mash recipe.

Kegging is fun, but AG is really where you can start learning new things.

 

[msa8967]

I went all grain first (7 months) ago because it was cheaper to start with than kegging. The quality of my beer improved so much that my wife really supported my moving to kegging so that she could have two homebrew choices on tap.

Ypu can use the brew in a bag instructions described in this forum for just the cost of a large paint straining bag and this is very cheap to see how much you might want to get into all-grain brewing.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/

 

[Pick]

I started kegging first. I always hated messing with bottles and capping. With kegging, you don't have to wait as long to start drinking and you have more control over the carbonation process.

 

[daddarioc]

I started kegging first. I always hated messing with bottles and capping. With kegging, you don't have to wait as long to start drinking and you have more control over the carbonation process.

Ditto.

I'm anticipating the move to AG will come soon for me though .

 

[IffyG]

I jumped straight into kegging. If I hadn't have done that, I sure as hell wouldn't be brewing any more.

 

[SamuraiSquirrel]

ALL GRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess it depends how happy you have been with your extract brews. Some people can make good extract beer. I never could. Once I switched to all-grain there was a night and day difference in my brews. They were actually comparable to craft brews you would get in the store. My extract brews all had this home-brewish taste that just bugged me. All grain took care of that FOR ME.

That being said, if you're happy with how your extracts have been turning out then get a kegging setup first. If you're not then get all grain equipment first.

 

[optimatored]

Kegging first...

 

[Sparky]

Go both, but if you must decide:
(1) AG
(2) Keg

 

[NickN72]

I would go AG first, especially if you don't have a way to keep your kegs cold.

I did both about the same time, which was great, but i would do AG before kegs if i had to choose.

 

[JonK331]

I say if you don't mind bottling then go all grain first. If you dread bottling and it is your least favorite part of the process, then keg first.