Total NooB and it's already becoming too much

[BrewingTravisty]

I started brewing in the late 80s, and living in an apartment and being intimidated by the complexity stuck with extract. Finally, after way over-thinking it, I tried all-grain not that long ago. It is way simpler than I thought it would be. To make an award-winning stylistically perfect beer, hard. To make a really good beer you will like, dead simple. It sounds and reads much harder than it actually is. My only suggestion - make a checklist, it is easier to forget something during a longer brew day.

I completely agree, AG is not as difficult as people make it out to be. I'm drinking a wonderful Irish Red right now, that is a really good and really simple AG recipe (even made it from Grain to glass in 2 weeks). The checklist pretty much defeats any arguments I could come up with about not starting with AG.

 

[brewcat]

You can make great beer both ways. Extract just allows you to leave out the mashing variables and focus on the others. Neither way is too complicated.

Why didn't the OP enjoy doing extract kits? Was it final flavor or the process? Are other variables basically controlled, mainly fermentation temp and sanitation?

 

[ddrumdiablo]

Alright so, in looking through the thread and also with a bit of extra research AG is definitely the way I want to go. To address the "learning to drive" analogy, I live in Ireland where 97% of our cars are stick shift, so learning the hardest technique first is second nature to me.

I suppose my biggest concern at the moment is replicating recipes. Being from Ireland, we dont have a massive home brew culture, yes we drink.... a lot, but we dont make our own. There are only 2 homebrew clubs in the country, the largest of which has just 400 members.

Is there any rule of thumb to determine which grains are good substitutes for those which I cant find locally? AFAIK the most popular hops are easily sourced, its just the grain availability is my biggest concern right now.

 

[BigMack]

Alright so, in looking through the thread and also with a bit of extra research AG is definitely the way I want to go. To address the "learning to drive" analogy, I live in Ireland where 97% of our cars are stick shift, so learning the hardest technique first is second nature to me.

I suppose my biggest concern at the moment is replicating recipes. Being from Ireland, we dont have a massive home brew culture, yes we drink.... a lot, but we dont make our own. There are only 2 homebrew clubs in the country, the largest of which has just 400 members.

Is there any rule of thumb to determine which grains are good substitutes for those which I cant find locally? AFAIK the most popular hops are easily sourced, its just the grain availability is my biggest concern right now.

Is there a specific malt that you're curious about?

 

[user 163849]

I did enough reading before I got started to set my sights on swapping to BIAB after a couple of extract batches. All my equipment was purchased with that change in mind. The only thing lacking for me to start BIAB is the bag itself (and maybe a mill). I have an elevated SQ14 burner, a 16 gallon kettle, a march pump (currently used for whirlpool cooling), and a full sized refrigerator controlled by a STC-1000.

As it turns out I have brewed about fifteen 5 gallon batches in the year or so that I have been at it, all of them extract. Not because I fear AG, but mostly because I really like the 3 hour brew day. I am a 66 years old and don't have the stamina that I did in the past but I am drinking excellent beer that I brewed myself from some damn fine extract kits. I do full boils, whirlpool/immersion cooling, yeast starters, oxygen stone, and temp controlled fermentation. I bottle my beer and have no plans to start kegging it. My beer is good enough and cheap enough that I have no desire to add hours to my brew day for the sake of all grain.

Besides this allows more time for my other hobbies which preceded brewing as well as making many of the brewing related diy's a snap.

As for comparing brewing to driving; I started driving a John Deere 40 which of course had a manual transmission, at a very early age. In fact I could not reach the clutch and brake pedal from the seat so had to drive standing up until I grew taller. Next came the one ton '56 Ford truck which had a 5 speed bus transmission and several other standards. The first automatic I ever drove was the drivers ed car at the high school, but I had been driving standards for several years by then.

Some day I may brew an all grain batch just to say that I did it. But there is no way I would expect to get a better beer than the stout that I am drinking right now that I brewed from extract several months ago.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I did enough reading before I got started to set my sights on swapping to BIAB after a couple of extract batches. All my equipment was purchased with that change in mind. The only thing lacking for me to start BIAB is the bag itself (and maybe a mill). I have an elevated SQ14 burner, a 16 gallon kettle, a march pump (currently used for whirlpool cooling), and a full sized refrigerator controlled by a STC-1000.

As it turns out I have brewed about fifteen 5 gallon batches in the year or so that I have been at it, all of them extract. Not because I fear AG, but mostly because I really like the 3 hour brew day. I am a 66 years old and don't have the stamina that I did in the past but I am drinking excellent beer that I brewed myself from some damn fine extract kits. I do full boils, whirlpool/immersion cooling, yeast starters, oxygen stone, and temp controlled fermentation. I bottle my beer and have no plans to start kegging it. My beer is good enough and cheap enough that I have no desire to add hours to my brew day for the sake of all grain.

Besides this allows more time for my other hobbies which preceded brewing as well as making many of the brewing related diy's a snap.

As for comparing brewing to driving; I started driving a John Deere 40 which of course had a manual transmission, at a very early age. In fact I could not reach the clutch and brake pedal from the seat so had to drive standing up until I grew taller. Next came the one ton '56 Ford truck which had a 5 speed bus transmission and several other standards. The first automatic I ever drove was the drivers ed car at the high school, but I had been driving standards for several years by then.

Some day I may brew an all grain batch just to say that I did it. But there is no way I would expect to get a better beer than the stout that I am drinking right now that I brewed from extract several months ago.

I have no doubt that you can get good beers with stout. I think for me, its just better for me because I can control a little more how the beer will turn out. I can also sense a slight twang in beers made with extract but I'm not sure if that's from the extract or the person brewing.

As far as the car analogies go lol I made my analogy just cause I thought it was funny. I have a strange sense of humor sometimes xP so I've gotten used to being the only one to find myself funny and I'm on with that.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

Alright so, in looking through the thread and also with a bit of extra research AG is definitely the way I want to go. To address the "learning to drive" analogy, I live in Ireland where 97% of our cars are stick shift, so learning the hardest technique first is second nature to me.

I suppose my biggest concern at the moment is replicating recipes. Being from Ireland, we dont have a massive home brew culture, yes we drink.... a lot, but we dont make our own. There are only 2 homebrew clubs in the country, the largest of which has just 400 members.

Is there any rule of thumb to determine which grains are good substitutes for those which I cant find locally? AFAIK the most popular hops are easily sourced, its just the grain availability is my biggest concern right now.

Don't worry about replicating recipes 100%. Look up the flavor profiles of your malts and if you can't get certain malts for a recipe you want just swap with something that sounds good to you that's available.

I actually have yet to brew someone else's recipe. I'll look at a bunch of recipes if I'm brewing a new recipe and then I'll base my recipe off of what I've seen them use, taking into account the flavors I enjoy in beer and kind of creating a beer for myself and the if it's not quite what I was aiming for I'll tweak one thing at a time until I get what I want.

 

[chickypad]

Is there any rule of thumb to determine which grains are good substitutes for those which I cant find locally? AFAIK the most popular hops are easily sourced, its just the grain availability is my biggest concern right now.

Do you have a list of what's available to you? Obviously it will depend on recipe but it would be helpful to know what you've got.

 

[SanPancho]

Is there any rule of thumb to determine which grains are good substitutes for those which I cant find locally? AFAIK the most popular hops are easily sourced, its just the grain availability is my biggest concern right now.

U can look up a few charts online that show all sorts of grains. Typically the most informative info is the lovibond number which tells you how dark it is, which is a function of how roasted it is. Also, some malts will have a few names. For instance, carafoam ans carapils are basically the same but have different names as they're made by different Maltsters. There is a good charts here on this forum that do give you malt substitutions, probly perfect for you.

Also, you may want to try starting up with some SmaSh beers first. (Single-malt-and-single-hop) it really clarifies for you exactly what each malt contributes to the beer, and there's so many new hops these days it's nice to get a good handle on each individual hop.

And I strongly advise you to go brew in a bag, especially full volume mash. faster brew day (no sparge time), less cleaning, less gear to buy and maintain, and there's no difference in the glass.

Good luck.

 

[user 163849]

I have no doubt that you can get good beers with stout. I think for me, its just better for me because I can control a little more how the beer will turn out. I can also sense a slight twang in beers made with extract but I'm not sure if that's from the extract or the person brewing.

As far as the car analogies go lol I made my analogy just cause I thought it was funny. I have a strange sense of humor sometimes xP so I've gotten used to being the only one to find myself funny and I'm on with that.

LOL. Actually by the car analogy I started driving "AG" straight away but I "downgraded" to the point that now my truck is an automatic, and even my tractor has a hydrostatic drive which requires no shifting, but my wife's car is a turbocharged 6 speed manual, and I do enjoy driving her car.......LOL

I think I have more than enough oppertunity to spoil the outcome of my extract batches, no need to double down with all grain. LOL

Actually I am no real judge of how good my beer actually tastes to others as the radiation oncologists at Lackland Air Force Base destroyed much of my ability to identify tastes. It seems that in addition to killing off the throat cancer those 33 radiation treatments took a toll on my salivary glands and taste buds, not a bad trade off I reckon. Chocolate cake now tastes like a block of salt to me but my beer tastes good and others seem to enjoy it also, even though I am quite sure that it tastes different to me than it does to them.

I do brew mostly English style ales but that is because that is the style that I prefer. The English bitter that I am drinking now is just as good as the stout that I was drinking earlier. My best batch ever was probably the Irish Red but I have none of that one left, though there are 50+ bottles of Red going on their second week in the conditioning closet right now.

At any rate, I have no argument that anyone else should follow my lead. I was just voicing my own experience in response to all the posts which seemed to downgrade the value of extract brewing. I agree that all grain gives you more control over your beer but in my case those who brewed the extract have much more business controlling that aspect of the game than I do (ever hear of chemo brain?).LOL

 

[BrewingTravisty]

LOL. Actually by the car analogy I started driving "AG" straight away but I "downgraded" to the point that now my truck is an automatic, and even my tractor has a hydrostatic drive which requires no shifting, but my wife's car is a turbocharged 6 speed manual, and I do enjoy driving her car.......LOL

I think I have more than enough oppertunity to spoil the outcome of my extract batches, no need to double down with all grain. LOL

Actually I am no real judge of how good my beer actually tastes to others as the radiation oncologists at Lackland Air Force Base destroyed much of my ability to identify tastes. It seems that in addition to killing off the throat cancer those 33 radiation treatments took a toll on my salivary glands and taste buds, not a bad trade off I reckon. Chocolate cake now tastes like a block of salt to me but my beer tastes good and others seem to enjoy it also, even though I am quite sure that it tastes different to me than it does to them.

I do brew mostly English style ales but that is because that is the style that I prefer. The English bitter that I am drinking now is just as good as the stout that I was drinking earlier. My best batch ever was probably the Irish Red but I have none of that one left, though there are 50+ bottles of Red going on their second week in the conditioning closet right now.

At any rate, I have no argument that anyone else should follow my lead. I was just voicing my own experience in response to all the posts which seemed to downgrade the value of extract brewing. I agree that all grain gives you more control over your beer but in my case those who brewed the extract have much more business controlling that aspect of the game than I do (ever hear of chemo brain?).LOL

Lol in the end getting beer that you enjoy is whats important, whichever method you use. You can certainly make great beer with extract.

I do gotta say, your wife's car sounds awesome xP nothing wrong with automatic, but can't beat a joyride in a turbocharged 6 speed lol

 

[ddrumdiablo]

Is there a specific malt that you're curious about?

No, none specifically. I'll just concentrate on pilsner and APA for the initial brews.

 

[ddrumdiablo]

Is there a specific malt that you're curious about?

No, none specifically. I'll just concentrate on pilsner and APA for the initial brews.