guess who's now brewing professionally?

[cjgenever]

Kombat has good points. However, I am happy for the op. Congrats on the new job!

I would agree that an extract Brewer is a lesser Brewer than an ag Brewer. Extract beer can be just as good as ag, but ag takes more knowledge and experience.

None of that matters though. You do what you need to to get the job done. If that means extract, so be it. There is no shame in it as long as the beer is good.

Fwiw... Professional means getting paid for you're doing. There's no reason why a professional Brewer couldn't use extract. Nor is there any reason why they shouldn't. I would use extract for most of my brews if it wasn't so much more expensive. As long as its fresh it makes good beer

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[zwiller]

Congrats and best of luck!

A good brewer can make good beer, period. A BOP near me is all extract and their beers are far better than all but the best homebrewed stuff. Kinda scary to think a bunch of total novices at a BOP for a bachelor party can hand you a beer "they made" and it's damn good or even better than your AG... Plenty of things to geek out about and tweak in extract brewing. In some ways, he's a lucky SOB since his brewdays are short and he doesn't have service the other gear... The electric part is still kinda crazy to me but is also genius since it is easier to install, get permits, etc. It goes without saying that if he does well, the owners will likely upgrade to a larger AG system.

 

[dantose]

Congrats OP. My only misgiving regarding the use of extract is it must put the cost of ingredients through the roof. When you can see drastic savings at the homebrew level, it must really add up when you're talking about 198lbs of extract in one recipe.

Buying bulk it really isn't that bad. A 3.5% basic batch is under $400. There's about 1000 pints in 4 bbl so it's about $0.40 a glass in ingredients. To be honest, at this scale the savings in ingredients would probably be less than the increased cost in labor.

 

[ScubaSteve]

The strongest effect on flavor is how beer is fermented, aged, etc. If you can manage those variables and are using quality extract, I see no reason why you couldn't make great beer. You might even be able to pull off some sort of steeping grain setup for improved flavor.

 

[dobe12]

I've been BIAB all grain brewing for about 3 years now. Did a few extract kits before making the switch. This thread has inspired me to go back and make an extract batch from an original recipe. I never thought about it, but I didn't start making my own recipes until switching to all grain. So, I'm going to give it a shot. I'm actually kind of excited thinking about how quick/easy the brew day will be!

Thanks to the OP for inspiring me and congrats on the new job! Haters are gonna hate... don't let it bother you. If someone asked them to brew beer and get paid for it, but they must use extract while the brewery gets its feet under itself, you're damn sure they'd jump at the opportunity.

CONGRATS!

 

[dantose]

There is a light beer that we keep standard, but I've also got a beer using about equal parts centennial (60 min) cascade (30 min) and saaz (finish) 17 IBU, 3.5%. Still trying to come up with a name.

Update on this, the recipe was built based on what was sitting out back in storage. Name ended up being Misfire! (2014) and planning to do a similar use up the extras batch yearly. BIG hit too. Has been selling very well. Next batch is going to be a black IPA and then looking at a Porter or a Blueberry ale.

 

[JohnSand]

Great, thanks for the updates. It is always exciting to hear that a homebrewer has stepped up and become professional.