Extract brewing is FAKE brewing

[IslandLizard]

I'm not slamming AG brewing, but if you have to climb a ladder to brew AG, count me out.

On some brew rigs you indeed have to climb a (short) ladder to open the valve on the HLT and stir the mash tun. It gives you a wonderful sense of possessing a higher power, standing there on top of the brew, above a wonderful beer in the making with total control. Larger batches, longer ladder, more beer. That's a sensation that's hard to beat, I bet you. You'd be missing out on something so valuable in life, you should try it, at least once... so you can talk about that one of a kind experience with other brewers. Otherwise, you don't know what you're talking about.

 

[bracconiere]

That's a sensation that's hard to beat, I bet you.

it's way better carrying down the ladder to dump....

edit: i mean seriously, you don't get the same lifting little cans of LME, or bags of DME....

 

[kartracer2]

climb a (short) ladder to open the valve on the HLT and stir the mash tun.

Always somebody climbing up and stirring the pot!
I think I'll get a induction plate and put my partial boil kettle on a shelf. Then I'll need a climbing device to "elevate " my extract brewing.
Here all this time I thought it was my water or lack of good temp control. Glad I stopped in on this thread.
(posted with a little snarkiness )
Cheers,
Joel B.

 

[bracconiere]

Then I'll need a climbing device to "elevate " my extract brewing

damn, with the price of apple juice at the grocrey stores...i feel like 'my' "extract" brewing has been elevated! ......

 

[IslandLizard]

Then I'll need a climbing device to "elevate " my extract brewing.

You got it, securing a higher level of brewing, that's the ticket. For both extract and AG alike.

 

[IslandLizard]

i feel like 'my' "extract" brewing has been elevated!

Sure, at 6000 feet it's easy to say that.
Those at 6' above sea level certainly need a ladder. And waders.

 

[bracconiere]

And waders.

say what? now that's really getting into your brew day! and i assume this isn't the 1 gallon crowd....but the electric people with 12 elements in a kiddie pool....

hold on,,,i so have a clip for the recirculation.....

 

[Brooothru]

Sure, at 6000 feet it's easy to say that.
Those at 6' above sea level certainly need a ladder. And waders.

I don't know....

Being vertically challenged, I just got a burner stand with shorter legs. Now I look down upon no other brewer ('cause I can't).

 

[bwible]

Nothing like replying to an absurd 5 year old thread

 

[bwible]

Unless you are growing your own wheat and barley, malting it yourself and kilning it yourself then someone else has done all the work for you anyway. Those 55 lb sacks you buy, those packages of steel rolled flaked oats, flaked maize, flaked barley, etc. Same thing

[edit] disclosure: I am an all grain brewer. Mostly. I use an Anvil Foundry electric system that can do temp step mashes. I guess thats fake brewing too. I don’t consider “my way” of brewing superior to anybody else’s. Learned that lesson long ago.

And far as I’m concerned if everybody is making all this hazy and sour crap nowadays its all a waste of good malt anyway no matter how they are making it. But thats a whole nother “discussion”

 

[odie]

I just wasted a several minutes of my life reading this useless "blast from the past".

someone please lock this thread so it may die the death it deserves...

 

[BigDave1303]

If you don't grow your own barley, malt it yourself, grow your own hops, harvest yeast from your beard, collect all your brew water from the rainy season, boil over a fire made from the tree you chopped down with an axe, ferment in a home blown carboy, and package in home blown bottles, you're not really a home brewer.

Surely it needs to be an axe you forged yourself, you can't just go out & buy one.

 

[pc_trott]

Larger batches, longer ladder, more beer. That's a sensation that's hard to beat, I bet you. You'd be missing out on something so valuable in life, you should try it, at least once... so you can talk about that one of a kind experience with other brewers. Otherwise, you don't know what you're talking about.

In my youth I might have needed a tank of beer that required a ladder to look into. But my capacity for imbibing has diminished through the years, along with my sense of balance (which, as you may know, gets worse with the quantity imbibed). So I'll have to take your word for it about climbing a longer ladder. But I'm sure that there's some great beer being produced at each rung, and the method one uses to brew it shouldn't be a cause for dissension, which I think was the OP's point.

 

[MaxStout]

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

On some brew rigs you indeed have to climb a (short) ladder to open the valve on the HLT and stir the mash tun. It gives you a wonderful sense of possessing a higher power, standing there on top of the brew, above a wonderful beer in the making with total control. Larger batches, longer ladder, more beer. That's a sensation that's hard to beat, I bet you. You'd be missing out on something so valuable in life, you should try it, at least once... so you can talk about that one of a kind experience with other brewers. Otherwise, you don't know what you're talking about.

I’m so short that when I brew in my kitchen sometimes I need the step ladder to get the leverage I need for some tasks. I kid you not!

 

[z-bob]

This part of my OP is rather perplexing. When I did extract brewing, I don't recall needing any extra sugar.

Back in the bad old days, we used a can of Blue Ribbon hop-flavored malt syrup, (they changed the name to Premier but it was the same thing) a syrup can of sugar, and yeast to 5 gallons of water. A packet of dried beer yeast if you could find it, but usually a cake of fresh bread yeast.
That's the way it was, and we *liked* it.

(this smiley needs to be added to the collection here)

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Back in the bad old days,

Nothing wrong with looking back.

However ...

... in 2022, we have ongoing forward looking topics (like "I brewed a favorite recipe today", "advanced extract brewing", "Long time all grain brewer going back to extract and I'm glad I did.") that move the discussion around good practices for extract brewing forward.

Just be sure to leave those cans of stale extract (in the far back corner of the shelf) on the shelf.

 

[z-bob]

Nothing wrong with looking back.

However ...

... in 2022, we have ongoing forward looking topics (like "I brewed a favorite recipe today", "advanced extract brewing", "Long time all grain brewer going back to extract and I'm glad I did.") that move the discussion around good practices for extract brewing forward.

Just be sure to leave those cans of stale extract (in the far back corner of the shelf) on the shelf.

I bought one of those stale cans of extract last year. It was marked down to $5. Haven't figured out what to do with it, and so it just gets older. I'll probably use it to make yeast starters.

 

[kartracer2]

Just be sure to leave those cans of stale extract (in the far back corner of the shelf) on the shelf.

And I might add, Please keep the elitist, truly snarky comments here if they must be said and not muddle up those threads that are truly helpful and educational.
Cheers,
Joel B.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I bought one of those stale cans of extract last year. It was marked down to $5. Haven't figured out what to do with it, and so it just gets older. I'll probably use it to make yeast starters.

If there was a use for it, they would have priced it higher.

 

[z-bob]

If there was a use for it, they would have priced it higher.

Maybe I'll mix it with a can of sugar, for the nostalgia. But I'll have to add some hops so it won't quite be the same

 

[bwible]

I bought one of those stale cans of extract last year. It was marked down to $5. Haven't figured out what to do with it, and so it just gets older. I'll probably use it to make yeast starters.

I’ve gotten them as gifts, etc around Christmas time from people who don’t know better. They found it at the Goodwill store or whatever. I’ve been happy they thought of me and I hate to throw anything away.

Use it to bump gravity in a beer like a RIS, barleywine, etc where the amount of grain needed exceeds what your mash tun can hold. In something oak aged, etc.

 

[MaxStout]

I bought one of those stale cans of extract last year. It was marked down to $5. Haven't figured out what to do with it, and so it just gets older. I'll probably use it to make yeast starters.

Yeast starters. Just be sure to decant as much as possible before you pitch.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Maybe I'll mix it with a can of sugar, for the nostalgia. But I'll have to add some hops so it won't quite be the same

Or just throw the can away. Use the keystrokes needed for "reporting back" to advance a different topic.

 

[Beermeister32]

Trash

 

[Joe P]

I believe its time to get back into making Birch Beer. Not root beer just good ol Birch. Extracting trees is rough....smiling out loud

 

[T Murph]

And the media tells the truth.

LMAO

 

[Brooothru]

I believe its time to get back into making Birch Beer. Not root beer just good ol Birch. Extracting trees is rough....smiling out loud

It helps to use a 3 roller mill. You'll get a better crush .

 

[Joe P]

We used an old type ringer washing machine. Coal regions ya know. But hey, it worked. It was the old style pressure cookers that were sort of dangerous. You see them now & then at auctions. Like right out of Dr Frankensteins Lab.

 

[doug293cz]

Time to move this thread to "Drunken Ramblings & Mindless Mumbling," since it is no longer discussing technical aspects of extract brewing.

doug293cz
HBT Moderator

 

[bracconiere]

ok so this is kinda on topic, i think?

i have a sugar cane extract batch going...it's only dropped from 1.107 to like 1.102 in 2-3 days, should i add more nutrients? it seems to be active? :

 

[JAReeves]

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe”-Carl Sagan

 

[bracconiere]

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe”-Carl Sagan

speaking of that, i noticed when i was getting my barley today...barley was $21 a 50lb bag, and whole wheat was only $19...

just a few years ago, wheat was the more expensive one by a couple bucks or so....

 

[JAReeves]

speaking of that, i noticed when i was getting my barley today...barley was $21 a 50lb bag, and whole wheat was only $19...

just a few years ago, wheat was the more expensive one by a couple bucks or so....

That's the thing about horse races, they aren't done until the pictures are shot.

 

[Pkrd]

Time to move this thread to "Drunken Ramblings & Mindless Mumbling," since it is no longer discussing technical aspects of extract brewing.

doug293cz
HBT Moderator

There are technical aspects of extract brewing?

 

[McMullan]

You're not a real brewer unless you're using malted barley extracts

 

[davidabcd]

grow your own barley, collect your water, make your pot. Can't? Suck it.

 

[JAReeves]

grow your own barley, collect your water, make your pot. Can't? Suck it.

At least my 12 year old knows how to grind a bead. Let's get busy making that brew kettle.

 

[Pkrd]

grow your own barley, collect your water, make your pot. Can't? Suck it.

You know you can buy hydrogen and oxygen at your LGS (local gas shop).

 

[davidabcd]

grind a bead.

I totally forgot about that technology.
Can you imagine the spot we would be in now if we couldn't machine parts to the level we do? We would be fracked.