Extract to all-grain or not

[Steveruch]

Who out there started with extract and moved to all-grain and who stayed with extract?

 

[mac_1103]

I guess I'm in both groups.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I started with extract, brewed two or three beers using kits. But after those I switched to all grain, biab, and never looked back.

 

[Dgallo]

started lme and steeping grains, then all grain. Now I’m pretty much full all grain but still do some dme beers when I need a quicker brew day or have to get something done fast.

Nothing wrong with extract brewing. The “twang” or extract flavor folks talk about is really only due to their inexperience and poor process. Once you really dial in process you’ll make great beers with either. I’ve medaled many times with dme based beers and have a few 40+ with them, so it’s really process in this instance

 

[user 246304]

Hi Steve, I think I might have replied to your post on JBK? At any rate, started on extract, quickly went to several carboys at any one time, and fairly quickly after that went to AG and it's been the same ever since. Going on 35 years now.

edit: Lol, misunderstood who you were. I thought this was a query from a guy just starting out. Sorry man!

 

[Beernik]

I started & stuck with extract for several years because I watched a video on all grain and all the little things to keep track of seemed overwhelming.

A couple years later, I made bagels from scratch & decided if I could do that, PM & all grain couldn’t be any worse and made the switch.

 

[Lampy]

I did a few extract batches (kit and my own recipes) then switched to BIAB. I still do extract if someone who knows me well gifts me a beer kit.

 

[Imhoppy]

First brews ever I started with Blue Ribbon Malt Extract, sugar, and bakers yeast when you could buy all the ingredients at the local grocery store. Many years later passed before brewing again moving up to Mr. Beer kits, then on to extract kits, then finally to all-grain. And sticking with BIAB all-grain as quality and customization of recipies is far superior imo. Love all-grain HB!! Do it!!

 

[MaxStout]

I started with extract, brewed two or three beers using kits. But after those I switched to all grain, biab, and never looked back.

I did the same thing.

 

[Rish]

Started 5 years ago with extract/steeping with kits developed by the owner of my LHBS. Easy, makes very drinkable beer, can be tweaked if I want to, so I'm sticking with it for now. I have been thinking about BIAB to do 2.5 gallon or less batches but haven't done it yet.

 

[Jmspears]

Started with extract and wasn’t a fan of the result so I jumped into all grain. Admittedly, the issue was probably more me than the extract but I wanted to make “real” beer

 

[lumpher]

I started with extract, moved to all grain, and for the last many years do whichever 1 I feel like and what I have time for. Either way I like the results, and since it's me drinking it, I don't care.

 

[sibelman]

never looked back.

Started with extract. After switching to all grain for a few batches, I made an extract batch to see if the extra time and effort seemed worth it. I didn't like the extract batch as much as the all grain, and then never looked back.

That may not have been very fair to extract brewing. Only one "second look," not much of a test.

No disrespect to extract brewers. I think that AG just offers more options, more control. It feels better to me.

 

[Drinking Sensibly]

Made my first two beers in 1979 with kits. One was John Bull, one was Boots (Americans- Boots is a large drug store chain) own brand I think. They were horrible, disgusting. Made my next couple with malt extract and hops from the local homebrew shop. Better, but I didn't like the malt extract taste at all so I started doing what is known nowadays as partial mashes. Diastatic malt extract was available then so you could mash adjuncts such as flaked maize, flaked barley with the extract. Those beers still had the malt extract taste so I bought an Electrim bucket (still available, slightly updated), started making what is now called BIAB beers. I guess that would have been 1981-ish. Stopped brewing in mid-nineties because I just wasn't drinking it. Too much social drinking.
My partner and I gave up work and moved to the Scottish Western Isles in 2013 and I restarted brewing because beer here was very bad and very expensive. The big surprise was the availability of really good quality ingredients from online suppliers, so much better and more variety than anything I could buy before. Bought a Pico plastic bucket, similar to the earlier Electrim but with digital controller. Made some good beers, made a brew-fridge to control fermentation temperatures, which made a huge difference to my beer. Then started to find ways to tinker. Now have a HERMS system.
Other than to make starters, I haven't used malt extract since about 1980. Too many bad memories of the taste of it.

 

[rallenhall]

First brews ever I started with Blue Ribbon Malt Extract, sugar, and bakers yeast when you could buy all the ingredients at the local grocery store. Many years later passed before brewing again moving up to Mr. Beer kits, then on to extract kits, then finally to all-grain. And sticking with BIAB all-grain as quality and customization of recipies is far superior imo. Love all-grain HB!! Do it!!

I started out exactly the same way and stayed there until local homebrew shops began popping up where I could find proper extract and other beer specific ingredients. Don't remember exactly when I switched to all grain ... sometime in the '90s. Have the all-grain gadgets now anyway, so I seldom consider extract when working up recipes.

 

[Broken Crow]

Started with the canned Coopers kits and I would have been content as the beer was 'better than most of the available stuff'. But between the kits with steeping grains made by my LHBS and reading this site, the extra detail and awesomeness encountered on every step towards all-grain made me head in that direction...I was doing stove-top and went through 3 progressively larger pots and finally bought a cheap BIAB bag and did an AG batch. It was truly agonizing as I have spinal and CNS issues, but the taste was so worth it that I built my electric keggle. The bag/keggle combo was a non-starter so I acquired a used Igloo cooler mash tun. Easier to work with and awesome beer, but still a bit too painful so I continued with extract, sometimes with steeping grains while planning and slowly building my'Accessible" AG rig which still isn't finished, but even when it is, I have a couple staple brews that I perfected as extract and will continue to make in large batches while slowly experimenting with smaller test batches of AG 'uprgades' of those recipes. If I never perfect in AG, the extract versions, I'll just continue to use extract. I honestly don't care how the beer in my mug gets there, as long as it tastes the way I want it too.
So, yeah; Like your first response from @mac_1103 : Both.