To the New Brewer - Should I Start with Extract Kits, or Turn it up to 11 with All-Grain Brewing?
"Nick, I know you're pretty new to brewing. It looks like fun, it's something I'm looking to get into - and I'm wondering: should I start with extract kits, or jump right into purchasing the equipment and tools needed for an all-grain setup?"
As the writer of the new "To the New Brewer" series (this is my second article with the same title, so it's officially a series), I can't tell you how many times I've been asked this question. (Actually, I can: I've been asked this about three times, ever since I've started brewing. I just thought I'd try to establish some credibility with my readers. Nailed it.) Before I add my two cents on the matter, I think it's important to discuss the difference between extract brewing and all-grain brewing. If you're thinking about getting into brewing and you know nearly nothing about it, it's important to start at the very, very beginning.
The beginner brewer usually purchases prepackaged kits that will include every ingredient needed from beginning to end. New brewers will likely need a brewing pot known as a "kettle," a fermentor, and a few other important tools. These kits can include liquid malt extracts (or LME, which usually comes in a small tub that looks similar to a plastic peanut butter jar or a large metal can), dry malt extracts (or DME, which usually looks a lot like an off-color flour that comes in clear, plastic packaging), grains, a steeping bag (which looks a lot like off-white pantyhose), hops (usually pellets), dry yeast packets, and other fermentables/boil additions like spices, additional sugars, vanilla beans, oak chips, etc... the sky is the limit. In my experience, extract kits are usually tasty recipes that have been created by a local brewing supply store, or by a reputable company like Brewer's Best. Either way, the extract kit will provide you with all of the necessary ingredients for your brew, clear directions that will guide you step-by-step, and have you feeling more accomplished than Sam Adams once you pitch that yeast and begin converting that wort into beer (also, Sam Adams is probably a poor example to use here, as he was likely more focused on what is now known as the American Revolution, opposed to whether or not he should have added an extra few ounces of dried orange peel to his summer ale... but hopefully you get the idea).
Extract Or All Grain Needs A Way To Chill Your Wort
Using DME or LME is nice for beginners for a variety of reasons. If you decide to use an extract kit, the extract has been thoughtfully prepared and nicely packaged by people that actually know what they are doing, and have done most of the hard work for you. You don't need to worry about extracting the sugar from your base malts and specialty grains because it's already been done for you. Sure, you might purchase a kit that has some actual grains that you will need to "steep" (put the grains into the panty-hose like cloth-bag, and let them soak in your kettle for a pre-determined amount of time and at a certain temperature before adding your extract), but even this is quite elementary compared to what you would need to do for an all-grain batch. Once you have steeped the specialty malts and got the water boiling, add your extract. Then, follow the boil schedule; add your additional fermentables and hops as stated in the brewing directions, cool it down, transfer to your fermentor, pitch the yeast, and play the waiting game. Depending on the beer you've chosen to make, you can probably give it a try after only a few weeks!
Based on my one year of brewing experience, I would argue that brewing with an extract kit eliminates about 30-50% of the time it takes to brew when compared to a similar all-grain recipe. The best part is, if you're able to find a great extract kit and brew it with plenty of TLC (awww...), your beer can often come out as tasty, unique, and impressive as its all-grain counterpart. Some of my favorite beers that I've made since getting into the hobby (and beers that some beer-snob friends of mine told me are some of the best they've had in recent months) were hand-crafted extract kits developed by a friend at my favorite local homebrew store in Michigan: Hopman's (shameless plug time, only because this particular beer helped me convince random people that I've been brewing for decades. Hahah, suckers!!!). For about $35 per kit, I was crafting beers good enough to trick all of those that sampled a pint (or four) into thinking I was ready to quit my day-job in higher education to pursue a life of brewing 12 hours a day, and sleeping/gaming the other 12 (carry the one.... Yup, I did that math correctly). My point: never discount a well-made, expertly-crafted extract kit recipe.
But all-grain brewing... sweet, sweet all-grain brewing. Sure, you need to purchase a bunch of additional equipment to get yourself up and running, but for me, the expense was worth it. Consider this analogy: extract brewing is like buying a Boboli pizza crust, your favorite pizza sauce, some mozzarella cheese, adding your favorite toppings, and baking that sucker at 425F for 20-23 minutes. Yeah, you definitely "made" most of it yourself, and although you had to buy many of the ingredients separately, you put together a masterpiece that had you considering the purchase of an $11,000 pizza oven to start your new competitive pizza franchise. That definitely escalated quickly.
On the flip side, all-grain brewing starts with YOU, and not so much the ready made, ready to go components of extract brewing. Back to the pizza analogy: Boboli crust? Nope, I'm going online and finding a recipe for the best "made from scratch" crust ever. If the crust recipe doesn't have more than 4-stars from at least 33 reviewers, consider it dead to me. Buying canned pizza sauce? Bump that, bro. I'm growing my own tomatoes, I'm crushing those bad boys with the potato masher my grandmother gave me for my 24th birthday, and I'm adding my favorite spices and seasonings so it tastes exactly how I want it to taste. I'm going to go out and buy some rennet, citric acid, and a gallon of milk to make my own mozzarella cheese, baby, because the cheese I make is 2-legit-2-quit. Essentially, I'm going to (for the most part) start from the very beginning of every part of that pizza, and I'm going to make it MINE.
The same can be said for the all-grain brewing process. When I brew all grain, I control every aspect of the creation of my beer, from water to wort. I choose the grain bill (the types of grains and amounts of each) for my recipe, a process that takes time, effort, research, and experimentation. I'm the one that ensures every one of those individual grain husks are crushed to my liking so my mash water can coax out those lovely, lovely sugars. I control the temperature of the mash water, which is WAY more important than you would think. Temperature directly affects wort viscosity, fermentability, etc., all of which can alter the end characteristics of your beer. Which mashing technique(s) should I use? Should I fly-sparge or batch sparge? All of these things need to be considered prior to the boil, which is essentially where most extract-kit brewing begins. Many brewers say that the true creation of a beer begins before the boil, and after a year of brewing, I'd have to say that I agree.
So back to the original reason this article exists in the first place: does it make more sense to start with extract brewing kits and ease your way into the hobby, or hop right in with the more intricate, but more self fulfilling all-grain approach?
Well, I'm very excited to share my ambiguous answer with you. Ready?
My answer to this question is....
IT DEPENDS!
Let's approach the potential answers using the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid!
Good Beer Can Be Brewed With All Grain Or Extract
Extract Pros:
- Pre-made extracts (LME, DME) have already been made for you, which shaves the total time needed for the brewing process, and eliminates additional things that could go wrong leading up to the boil.
- You can focus on understanding the boil prep, boil, and post-boil as an initial introduction to brewing, which is a lot less information to process than starting with all-grain. Basically, you only need to understand half the steps in extract brewing when compared to all-grain brewing.
- Ready made recipes will usually lead to a great end product, as long as you follow the directions closely. Usually.
- No need for a mash tun, a hot liquor tank, or a larger boil kettle (anything larger than 6 gallons).
- No need to crush your own grain. Joseph and Maria at Brewer's Best already did this for you.
- No need to vorlauf (clarifying the wort when you drain it from the grain post-mash).
Extract Cons:
- You don't get to experience the brewing process from cradle to grave, as you're starting off with ready made extracts that have been prepared for you. In essence, you're starting more at the adolescent phase, and generally after all of the bickering, yelling, and coming-of age "growing pains" that happen between a mother and daughter prior to the daughter going away to college. Now that I think of it, this actually sounds more like a pro than a con....
- Despite adhering to different recipes, beers using DME and LME can end up tasting... well... "extract-y." Some people call this "extract twang," and is generally considered to be an off flavor.
-You get a much broader flavor profile when using grain either instead of or with extract, as the base malts for many extract kits/recipes are going to be the same.
- This is more of a subjective statement, but I believe extract brewing to be less fun than all-grain brewing, simply because there are fewer steps and a lot of the hard work has already been done for you.
But what about the pros and cons of all-grain brewing?
All Grain Brewing Requires More Gear Than Extract Brewing
All-Grain Pros:
- You're turning water into beer. That's pretty badass.
- You control EVERYTHING: mash temperatures, grain crush, grains types, grain amounts, mash length, sparging techniques, etc. These are just a few of the many ways you get to customize your beer. You nurture your beer how you see fit.
- You have a better understanding of the ENTIRE beer-making process when you experience all-grain brewing. This will lead to you becoming a better brewer the more that you do it. (Note: You will become a better brewer if you consistently stick to extract kits too, but you are still missing out on some of the most crucial aspects of beer-creation, and therefore, will be less experienced and less informed).
- You have more opportunities to mess up , and to therefore learn from your mistakes. What's that? Your mash tun seems to be clogged and you aren't getting any flow while vorlaufing? Time to get creative, and improvise you dingleberry! Oh no! Your sparge water was way too cool and your efficiency suffered as a result? Better get that water on the burner sooner next time, genius.
All-Grain Cons:
- You need extra equipment (and therefore extra $$), which can include: a larger boil kettle, a mash tun, a hot liquor tank, a grain mill, a stainless steel false bottom, additional hoses, etc. Some of this can be cheaply made at home, but usually it can be a bit costly.
- Some items, like a mash tun and hot liquor tank, can take up a larger amount of space. Consider this before you turn your one-bedroom apartment into a brewing space: your mash tun won't fit next to your stolen Red Robin Coca-Cola glasses in the cupboard above your stove.
- You must set aside more time for all-grain brewing. It takes longer to do from start to finish and there's more to clean up. Spotify can make this more enjoyable.
- All grain can be really hard to do if you can't follow detailed instructions when working with volume and temperature measurements. If you suck at following recipe instructions in general your beer might suck, but that's all part of the learning process!
- With additional equipment comes additional cleaning and maintenance. This may be really rough for you if you've ever brought your dad a hammer when he originally asked you to grab him his Phillips screwdriver.
- Recipes can be harder to replicate due to additional steps/variables over the course of the entire brewing process.
In summary, you may have just wasted your time reading this (but hopefully not), because there is no correct answer when it comes to starting off with extract kits or all-grain brewing. I started with extract kits, but wish that I had started with all-grain because I had a mentor to teach me everything from day one. Other people who are new to brewing might feel confident that they can conquer the brewing process with an all-grain set-up because they 1) have more brain cells than me, and 2) have researched the process by reading books, scanning online articles, or found a mentor to help them along the way. Having a mentor is priceless, and if you know an all-grain brewer that can help you along your journey, DO IT (See my first article: Mentorship In Brewing ). Others might want to take their time, perfect the boil and fermentation processes, and make some great brews from ready made kits that still taste pretty damn good. If you are one of these types of new brewers, then high-five. You can still enjoy the hobby and make yourself and your mother proud with a 9% beer that'll have your uncle tripping over himself at the family Christmas party. Blackmail photos!
Now that I've shared my two cents, I have to ask anyone reading this garbage-heap of an article to weigh in: Did you start with extract kits or all-grain brewing, and if you could do it all over again, would you switch to the other?
Sound off below.
"Nick, I know you're pretty new to brewing. It looks like fun, it's something I'm looking to get into - and I'm wondering: should I start with extract kits, or jump right into purchasing the equipment and tools needed for an all-grain setup?"
As the writer of the new "To the New Brewer" series (this is my second article with the same title, so it's officially a series), I can't tell you how many times I've been asked this question. (Actually, I can: I've been asked this about three times, ever since I've started brewing. I just thought I'd try to establish some credibility with my readers. Nailed it.) Before I add my two cents on the matter, I think it's important to discuss the difference between extract brewing and all-grain brewing. If you're thinking about getting into brewing and you know nearly nothing about it, it's important to start at the very, very beginning.
The beginner brewer usually purchases prepackaged kits that will include every ingredient needed from beginning to end. New brewers will likely need a brewing pot known as a "kettle," a fermentor, and a few other important tools. These kits can include liquid malt extracts (or LME, which usually comes in a small tub that looks similar to a plastic peanut butter jar or a large metal can), dry malt extracts (or DME, which usually looks a lot like an off-color flour that comes in clear, plastic packaging), grains, a steeping bag (which looks a lot like off-white pantyhose), hops (usually pellets), dry yeast packets, and other fermentables/boil additions like spices, additional sugars, vanilla beans, oak chips, etc... the sky is the limit. In my experience, extract kits are usually tasty recipes that have been created by a local brewing supply store, or by a reputable company like Brewer's Best. Either way, the extract kit will provide you with all of the necessary ingredients for your brew, clear directions that will guide you step-by-step, and have you feeling more accomplished than Sam Adams once you pitch that yeast and begin converting that wort into beer (also, Sam Adams is probably a poor example to use here, as he was likely more focused on what is now known as the American Revolution, opposed to whether or not he should have added an extra few ounces of dried orange peel to his summer ale... but hopefully you get the idea).
Extract Or All Grain Needs A Way To Chill Your Wort
Using DME or LME is nice for beginners for a variety of reasons. If you decide to use an extract kit, the extract has been thoughtfully prepared and nicely packaged by people that actually know what they are doing, and have done most of the hard work for you. You don't need to worry about extracting the sugar from your base malts and specialty grains because it's already been done for you. Sure, you might purchase a kit that has some actual grains that you will need to "steep" (put the grains into the panty-hose like cloth-bag, and let them soak in your kettle for a pre-determined amount of time and at a certain temperature before adding your extract), but even this is quite elementary compared to what you would need to do for an all-grain batch. Once you have steeped the specialty malts and got the water boiling, add your extract. Then, follow the boil schedule; add your additional fermentables and hops as stated in the brewing directions, cool it down, transfer to your fermentor, pitch the yeast, and play the waiting game. Depending on the beer you've chosen to make, you can probably give it a try after only a few weeks!
Based on my one year of brewing experience, I would argue that brewing with an extract kit eliminates about 30-50% of the time it takes to brew when compared to a similar all-grain recipe. The best part is, if you're able to find a great extract kit and brew it with plenty of TLC (awww...), your beer can often come out as tasty, unique, and impressive as its all-grain counterpart. Some of my favorite beers that I've made since getting into the hobby (and beers that some beer-snob friends of mine told me are some of the best they've had in recent months) were hand-crafted extract kits developed by a friend at my favorite local homebrew store in Michigan: Hopman's (shameless plug time, only because this particular beer helped me convince random people that I've been brewing for decades. Hahah, suckers!!!). For about $35 per kit, I was crafting beers good enough to trick all of those that sampled a pint (or four) into thinking I was ready to quit my day-job in higher education to pursue a life of brewing 12 hours a day, and sleeping/gaming the other 12 (carry the one.... Yup, I did that math correctly). My point: never discount a well-made, expertly-crafted extract kit recipe.
But all-grain brewing... sweet, sweet all-grain brewing. Sure, you need to purchase a bunch of additional equipment to get yourself up and running, but for me, the expense was worth it. Consider this analogy: extract brewing is like buying a Boboli pizza crust, your favorite pizza sauce, some mozzarella cheese, adding your favorite toppings, and baking that sucker at 425F for 20-23 minutes. Yeah, you definitely "made" most of it yourself, and although you had to buy many of the ingredients separately, you put together a masterpiece that had you considering the purchase of an $11,000 pizza oven to start your new competitive pizza franchise. That definitely escalated quickly.
On the flip side, all-grain brewing starts with YOU, and not so much the ready made, ready to go components of extract brewing. Back to the pizza analogy: Boboli crust? Nope, I'm going online and finding a recipe for the best "made from scratch" crust ever. If the crust recipe doesn't have more than 4-stars from at least 33 reviewers, consider it dead to me. Buying canned pizza sauce? Bump that, bro. I'm growing my own tomatoes, I'm crushing those bad boys with the potato masher my grandmother gave me for my 24th birthday, and I'm adding my favorite spices and seasonings so it tastes exactly how I want it to taste. I'm going to go out and buy some rennet, citric acid, and a gallon of milk to make my own mozzarella cheese, baby, because the cheese I make is 2-legit-2-quit. Essentially, I'm going to (for the most part) start from the very beginning of every part of that pizza, and I'm going to make it MINE.
The same can be said for the all-grain brewing process. When I brew all grain, I control every aspect of the creation of my beer, from water to wort. I choose the grain bill (the types of grains and amounts of each) for my recipe, a process that takes time, effort, research, and experimentation. I'm the one that ensures every one of those individual grain husks are crushed to my liking so my mash water can coax out those lovely, lovely sugars. I control the temperature of the mash water, which is WAY more important than you would think. Temperature directly affects wort viscosity, fermentability, etc., all of which can alter the end characteristics of your beer. Which mashing technique(s) should I use? Should I fly-sparge or batch sparge? All of these things need to be considered prior to the boil, which is essentially where most extract-kit brewing begins. Many brewers say that the true creation of a beer begins before the boil, and after a year of brewing, I'd have to say that I agree.
So back to the original reason this article exists in the first place: does it make more sense to start with extract brewing kits and ease your way into the hobby, or hop right in with the more intricate, but more self fulfilling all-grain approach?
Well, I'm very excited to share my ambiguous answer with you. Ready?
My answer to this question is....
IT DEPENDS!
Let's approach the potential answers using the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid!
Good Beer Can Be Brewed With All Grain Or Extract
Extract Pros:
- Pre-made extracts (LME, DME) have already been made for you, which shaves the total time needed for the brewing process, and eliminates additional things that could go wrong leading up to the boil.
- You can focus on understanding the boil prep, boil, and post-boil as an initial introduction to brewing, which is a lot less information to process than starting with all-grain. Basically, you only need to understand half the steps in extract brewing when compared to all-grain brewing.
- Ready made recipes will usually lead to a great end product, as long as you follow the directions closely. Usually.
- No need for a mash tun, a hot liquor tank, or a larger boil kettle (anything larger than 6 gallons).
- No need to crush your own grain. Joseph and Maria at Brewer's Best already did this for you.
- No need to vorlauf (clarifying the wort when you drain it from the grain post-mash).
Extract Cons:
- You don't get to experience the brewing process from cradle to grave, as you're starting off with ready made extracts that have been prepared for you. In essence, you're starting more at the adolescent phase, and generally after all of the bickering, yelling, and coming-of age "growing pains" that happen between a mother and daughter prior to the daughter going away to college. Now that I think of it, this actually sounds more like a pro than a con....
- Despite adhering to different recipes, beers using DME and LME can end up tasting... well... "extract-y." Some people call this "extract twang," and is generally considered to be an off flavor.
-You get a much broader flavor profile when using grain either instead of or with extract, as the base malts for many extract kits/recipes are going to be the same.
- This is more of a subjective statement, but I believe extract brewing to be less fun than all-grain brewing, simply because there are fewer steps and a lot of the hard work has already been done for you.
But what about the pros and cons of all-grain brewing?
All Grain Brewing Requires More Gear Than Extract Brewing
All-Grain Pros:
- You're turning water into beer. That's pretty badass.
- You control EVERYTHING: mash temperatures, grain crush, grains types, grain amounts, mash length, sparging techniques, etc. These are just a few of the many ways you get to customize your beer. You nurture your beer how you see fit.
- You have a better understanding of the ENTIRE beer-making process when you experience all-grain brewing. This will lead to you becoming a better brewer the more that you do it. (Note: You will become a better brewer if you consistently stick to extract kits too, but you are still missing out on some of the most crucial aspects of beer-creation, and therefore, will be less experienced and less informed).
- You have more opportunities to mess up , and to therefore learn from your mistakes. What's that? Your mash tun seems to be clogged and you aren't getting any flow while vorlaufing? Time to get creative, and improvise you dingleberry! Oh no! Your sparge water was way too cool and your efficiency suffered as a result? Better get that water on the burner sooner next time, genius.
All-Grain Cons:
- You need extra equipment (and therefore extra $$), which can include: a larger boil kettle, a mash tun, a hot liquor tank, a grain mill, a stainless steel false bottom, additional hoses, etc. Some of this can be cheaply made at home, but usually it can be a bit costly.
- Some items, like a mash tun and hot liquor tank, can take up a larger amount of space. Consider this before you turn your one-bedroom apartment into a brewing space: your mash tun won't fit next to your stolen Red Robin Coca-Cola glasses in the cupboard above your stove.
- You must set aside more time for all-grain brewing. It takes longer to do from start to finish and there's more to clean up. Spotify can make this more enjoyable.
- All grain can be really hard to do if you can't follow detailed instructions when working with volume and temperature measurements. If you suck at following recipe instructions in general your beer might suck, but that's all part of the learning process!
- With additional equipment comes additional cleaning and maintenance. This may be really rough for you if you've ever brought your dad a hammer when he originally asked you to grab him his Phillips screwdriver.
- Recipes can be harder to replicate due to additional steps/variables over the course of the entire brewing process.
In summary, you may have just wasted your time reading this (but hopefully not), because there is no correct answer when it comes to starting off with extract kits or all-grain brewing. I started with extract kits, but wish that I had started with all-grain because I had a mentor to teach me everything from day one. Other people who are new to brewing might feel confident that they can conquer the brewing process with an all-grain set-up because they 1) have more brain cells than me, and 2) have researched the process by reading books, scanning online articles, or found a mentor to help them along the way. Having a mentor is priceless, and if you know an all-grain brewer that can help you along your journey, DO IT (See my first article: Mentorship In Brewing ). Others might want to take their time, perfect the boil and fermentation processes, and make some great brews from ready made kits that still taste pretty damn good. If you are one of these types of new brewers, then high-five. You can still enjoy the hobby and make yourself and your mother proud with a 9% beer that'll have your uncle tripping over himself at the family Christmas party. Blackmail photos!
Now that I've shared my two cents, I have to ask anyone reading this garbage-heap of an article to weigh in: Did you start with extract kits or all-grain brewing, and if you could do it all over again, would you switch to the other?
Sound off below.
