All-Grain vs Extract Taste

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bobbyc

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My second batch of all-grain beer was kegged last week, and just last night we started drinking on it. I've noticed a very significant improvement since I've moved from extract to AG. As in, both AG batches I've finished have been awesome. Of the extract batches, some were good, some were OK.

Has anyone else seen such an improvement after their move to all-grain? Or is it just a coincidence that my 2 personal best beers have been all-grain?

Either way, hooray for homebrew!
 
I just tasted my first AG over the weekend and it was very good. I have only done 2 extract kits and then moved to the AG and I did find a very noticeable improvement on the flavor and smoothness of the beer.
 
Just cracked my first (mostly) AG batch this past weekend, a pale ale recipe from Papa Charlie. The taste was very good, although I'm not sure how much better than some of my later extract batches (too many variables at play, plus the pale ale is still a little young). The color, though, was a very nice, pale golden color that I would not have been able to get (at least very easily) with extract. It was a little hazy, but I'm 99% sure I forgot the Irish Moss. Very nice beer, if I do say so myself...
 
I don't taste a big enough difference to drive me to all grain, all the time. I really like doing partials best. I suspect, on the dark side, purity is less important.:eek:
 
I find the flexability of being able to tailor my recipies to my tastes
easier doing AG then I did with extract. I do find the taste to be
better than any extract brew I have made. Comes from using
fresher ingredients in the brew, ie; fresh crushed grains. I did
have some remarkable extract brews however.
 
Oh yeah, I had some good extract brews... but plenty of sub-par ones. Stuff I drank because it was my beer... but I wouldn't really have purchased again if it had been commercial. So far, 100% of my AG batches is stuff I can't stop drinking. I'm happy.
 
I can't say that I taste any difference. There are a lot of reasons people go AG. A possible improvement on taste could certainly be one of the better ones. You reallly have to want to spend the time on the process. This is a ... I really love it... or a ... I really hate it... kinda thing.

There is certainly a diffeence in cost. Without a doubt....
 
Put me in the crowd that can't tell a difference. I haven't had any of my extract and AG batches side by side, but I've made good and both of both methods. I have a friend who brewed extract for a long time before moving to AG and his beers were at least as good as mine if not better.

I do brew AG because I like the process and enjoy it. But at the end of the day, I'd be really afraid to say I could pick out an extract beer in a blind taste test!
 
A fine brewed extract batch is just as good if not better than most AG batches. ARe you crazy?...Not quite.
I have been brewing AG beer for 7 years and, through trial and error, I have perfected my craft. With the equipment I have I make damn good beer. I have worked really hard at attempting to conrtol the variables and would like to think I am doing a pretty good job.
I brewed extract beer for 3 years prior to switching to AG. I had more succesful batches of extract beer in that 3 years than I did with 3 years of AG. Why? Because one of the very important steps in brewing (the mash) has been done for you.
Most people think that just because you move to brewing AG beer that that you will automatically brew better beer. It actually gets harder to make good beer. I am not by any means trying to discourage anyone from moving on to AG, but what I am saying is this. If you think it will magically improve your beer your mistaken. I have seen many a brewer make the move to AG for the sake of making better beer. They went from making good beer to not so good beer. They didn't have a firm grasp on the mechanics of mashing, coupled with not understanding specialty grains and how to formulate recipes with them.
I usually encourage new brewers to stick with extract for few years. There is plenty to learn with just yeast, hops and specialty grains. When I moved onto AG beer I had a pretty well rounded understanding of what ingredients made a paticular style. Now all I had to do was learn to mash.
 
You know..... I don't believe I have seen this said as well as you just said it. You are very right though, many think that when you switch to AG your beer becomes magicly better. Nicely said!
 
A supplier of both malts and extracts to the brewing industry did a side by side brew of the same beer (scottish ale). They used whole malts in one brew and extract with steeped specialty grains in another. The beers were fermented with the same yeast, hooped with the same hops and treated the same. Both beers were kegged and offered for tasting to professional brewers at a national brewing conference. More than 100 brewers tasted the 2 beers and when asked which was all grain and which was extract, the were only correct 50% of the time. Basically they could not tell the difference. The beers were made by a professional brewer. Keep in mind these beers were made with only the freshest ingredients.

Dr Malt :)
 
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