When did you stop extract brewing?

[Froyd]

I'm never letting go of extract. I love my 1.5h brew days: 1/2h to get to boil, 1/2h boil, 15min cleaning and 15 min cleaning = 2 weeks later , tasty simple pale ale in my belly.

I do like my AG weekend brewing too, especially on a nice sunny day with the house empty, and I like messing with mash temps (I tend to like more malt sweetness in my beer), but not having to learn about milling and mashing and sparging allowed me to obsess about other areas of my brewing, mostly fermentation. I moved to a using a fermentation chamber and doing controlled ramps well before adding AG to my toolbelt. My advice is take it a bit at the time and focus on what interests you more.

By the way, I know you are stocked with LME, but I find DME easier and less likely to taste stale.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I stopped using extract about 6 batches into it. It was just a matter of principal for me.

OK, I'm curious (and perhaps hoping for some interesting discussion): What styles were you looking at (or brewing) where you were not finding "extract equivalent" recipes?

You didnt ask me but I do have a few examples.

Belgian wit (specifically an authentic Celis or Hoegarten clone)
Rauchbier
Gradzidski/Gratzer
American Light Lager
Cream Ale.

You can kind of do some of them with extract but you wouldnt fool anyone that really knew the style.

I was thinking more along the lines of brewing an enjoyable beer (using malt extract) within the style.

 

[RM-MN]

i thought I had stopped brewing extract some ten years ago but I now have 2 cans of extract to brew with due to the local supply of 2 row to be completely out when I stopped in.

 

[Bobby_M]

I was thinking more along the lines of brewing an enjoyable beer (using malt extract) within the style.

Enjoyable is definitely subjective. I can be more clear by saying there is no way to brew the styles I listed using extracts that would result in a beer I would consider accurate representations of those styles. Maybe/Probably they would make drinkable beer but my involvement in the hobby is about making the best possible beer I can and when it's in a specific style then I also want stylistic accuracy. I'm not belittling others for not having those goals just in case that is assumed.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

So I did a few minutes of web searching this morning. Found a number of kit providers that offer
Rauchbier or Gradzidski (partial mash) kits. Found at least one smoked malt with a DP of 90 (so perhaps self-converting). Found a couple of articles on how I could smoke my own malt.

At the moment, Rauchbier and Gradzidski are styles that I haven't tried. But it looks to me like home brewers are brewing them with extract. As for kits, offering a kit for sale doesn't mean it actually sells - but something thought there was demand for one and was willing to "take a chance" that it would sell.

my involvement in the hobby is about making the best possible beer I can and when it's in a specific style then I also want stylistic accuracy.

Good to know.