Can You Brew a Recipe without using all Grain?

[BigHead33]

My friend and I would like to eventually start brewing recipes as opposed to kits. I'm just wondering if you have to use only grain to do this or can you use extract as well. Mashing grain is something we'd like to eventually get into, but for now we are making baby steps and keeping it easier. We are actually looking to brew a pale ale. We like Firestone 31 and Troegs pale ale

 

[weirdboy]

Where do you think your kits come from? They are recipes written using extracts and steeping grains.

Three are some restrictions as to what you can do with extract vs all grain, but there's plenty of excellent beers made using extract too.

 

[tschoolman]

There are award winning recipes for extract and steeping grains. Yes, you can brew-h recipe w/o kits. Trying googling Ken Schwartz -- he has a paper that helps convert all grain recipes to extract and back. March/April 2010 Zymurgy also has an article by Denny Conn that cites the article if you're trying to find it. You could also do a 'mini-mash' with a little base malt and specialty grains. The equipment you're using today for extract brewing would work just fine for that. Good Luck -- you'll love the adventure!

 

[aggiejay06]

Wherever you are buying your kits should sell extract separately as well.

 

[BigHead33]

Thanks for the info guys. Our short term goal is to get a kettle and do a full boil with a recipe. Eventually we'd like to get the ability to design our own recipes, but we definately need furthur experience. The hardest part so far seems to choose a recipe. There are so many. Does anyone know the best place to find clone recipes?

 

[Yooper]

Here on our site is a pretty good place! https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f82/

 

[JohnTheBrewist]

I think you might find the last episode of brewingtv interesting. In this episode they're brewing a Surly clone, but they make two batches side by side. One is a partial mash, like you're talking about. They other is a full mash of the same recipe. It's shows well the differences in the two processes.

You might also want to check out brewing in a bag (BIAB). It's a way of moving to all-grain that's light on the equipment budget.

Moose

 

[dmbRedGetta]

I'm in the same boat you are. I've only done kits so far, and I'm just not getting the punch you in the face kind of flavor I'm looking for. So I went down to a local homebrew shop this week, and the owner there set me up with a Stone Ruination clone. He has magazines with tons of clone recipes, and said that pretty much any recipe I find he can convert to extract for me.

Here's the kit:

 

[aggiejay06]

I highly recommend getting some homebrew books if you don't have any...it will help you to understand everything a lot better, so you'll have a lot easier time making your own recipe. The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian is a great start. Some of the techniques are a little dated, but the knowledge is solid. It's a very interesting read, too.

 

[passedpawn]

Thanks for the info guys. Our short term goal is to get a kettle and do a full boil with a recipe. Eventually we'd like to get the ability to design our own recipes, but we definately need furthur experience. The hardest part so far seems to choose a recipe. There are so many. Does anyone know the best place to find clone recipes?

Without a doubt, the best surefire set of recipes is Jamil's Brewing Classic Styles. They are extract recipes with some instructional chapters at the beginning and end of book. Search Amazon.

 

[Special Hops]

"brewing classic styles" has good extract and all grain recipes for each.

 

[Oldyote]

An earlier poster suggested Ken Schwartz's paper on Converting All Grain to Extract or Partial Mash. Prior to reading this paper I had done a few extract only recipes and was making the switch to all grain. I had read a couple of books on brewing so I'm sure that also helped, but Ken's paper is what really put everything together for me. I printed it and saved it to my hard drive with a backup.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~brewbeer/

 

[dmbRedGetta]

Thanks Oldyote! I'm only on page 5 and I'm already getting a better idea of the process!

 

[BigHead33]

thanks for all the info guys. I think we are going to start by attempting an extract magic hat #9 clone.