Taste Test: All Grain Vs. Extract Kits

[BucksBrew]

I currently brew with extract kits and have read about brewing with all grain.

My question is has anyone tasted an All Grain Batch vs. an Extract Kit?

How much of a taste difference is there? The reason is the equipment upgrades as well as the additional time needed can add up, time and money wise, not to mention the space needed.

Just curious if it made that much of a difference.

If it's like going from an 8-Track player to a DVD, then I'll understand it.

But if it's only like going from a 8-Track to Cassette, might not be doable right now.

[sullydavid]

I am an extract brewer myself and had considered moving to all grain. While I feel that it would nice to have more control over things, I feel that the additional time is more than I can give to it. It would severly cut down on how often I could brew.

I am also very interested in your question and I like the way you phrase it. A difference of an 8-track to a CD player would be worth a change. My thoughts are that it is not that great of a change.

[Payson]

In my opinion, all grain would be more comparable to a DVD. The grain flavor is more pronounced as is the "nose". In addition, you have so much more control of what goes in. So much easier to tweak a recipe to your liking. It's also quite a bit cheaper. I realize though that there are amazing extract beers being made as well though so be flexible, do both!

[ray m]

I agree with Payson. I have gotten so many different, "new" flavors in my brews from the grains with the all-grain process that I just could not get brewing with extract & steeping specialty grains. I am so glad I made the switch. Granted, my brew day length has doubled, but I think it's well worth it. You can also get much better control of not only flavors, but also desired color (especially if you could only do partial boils w/ extract).

OK---I'll go out on a limb---I think it's like going from an 8 track to a CD. I'll never go back to extract.

[BucksBrew]

Originally posted by Payson
In my opinion, all grain would be more comparable to a DVD. The grain flavor is more pronounced as is the "nose". In addition, you have so much more control of what goes in. So much easier to tweak a recipe to your liking. It's also quite a bit cheaper. I realize though that there are amazing extract beers being made as well though so be flexible, do both!

I'm far from a beer coniseuer (sp) so the grain difference may not be that be of a deal for me. Maybe it is, I don't know. I'll have to do a taste test.

As far as being cheaper. The kits I buy can be reduced in price by $10.00 per kit which if you do the math only works out to saving $3.00 an hour. Assuming it takes 3 hours to do an All Grain recipe before the 60 min. boil with the hops. I could be wrong with the time needed. But for $10.00, it doesn't seem worth the time.

Thanks for the input.

[BucksBrew]

I think until I have a good area to cook and cleanup with having the whole day available I'll wait.

Appreciate the input!

[Jughead]

You might want to buy a cooler and some copper pipe, have a look at Palmer's www.howtobrew.com and give grain a try at least once. Then decide for yourself.

[Beerconnoisseur]

I have tried brewing several different all-grain recipes, all of which I have also brewed with extract. It's a bit early for a final verdict (after 3 different styles of 5 gallons each), but so far, my impression has been that the results with extract are slightly more consistent, unless you have either the patience, or the specialized equipment for precise temperature control.

As I have read, the worst reason to do all grain is because you feel you have to. If you want the ultimate fine grain control over your beer, or want to brew really specialized styles (like Doppelbocks), then it's for you.

I'd say it's sort of like going from CD(extract) to DVD(all-grain). CDs sound really good most of the time.... unless one is scratched all to hell. And DVDs have more potential... but you can buy a crappy DVD just as easily as a crappy CD. It's all about the features you're looking for.

[b3s]

well, i've done both...i'm back to extract because my gravities were off by huge margins and i never figured that one out.

my all-grain beers (except for the 2 that i dry hopped and just tasted BAD) were superior in flavor and WAY less expensive...even with the store grinding for me.

my extract beers (with specialty grain) have been consistent in all aspects.

yes, imo, all-grain gives you better malt flavors and a lot more control...the cost is that you just tripled your brew time and you need to boil the entire batch.

i think you'll be impressed with all-grain brewing...the malt flavors are out of this world, especially since some grains just require mashing. the downside is that it is easier to screw up a mach AND it takes a lot more time.

i'll get back to all-grain eventually...that stout i did just knocked my socks off!

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by b3s
...
easier to screw up a mach AND it takes a lot more time.

...

I have 5 gallon all grain batches down to 4-4.5 hours - just takes a little practice. I don't have any problems with consistency(they're consistently great though) and I have the amount of control that I want over the final composition of my worts. I consider extract brewing if I'm doing some experimenting with a new yeast or something, although, I've only used extract once in the last 1.5 years.

[b3s]

i can do an extract from start to finish in 90 minutes...my all-grains took 6 hours (i'm not that good with them).

i prefer the flavor from the all-grain brews i did, but i think my capability in that respect is limited and i just can't seem to get expected gravity and actual gravity to match :(

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by b3s
..

i prefer the flavor from the all-grain brews i did, but i think my capability in that respect is limited and i just can't seem to get expected gravity and actual gravity to match :(

b3s you had something weird going on. We never did figure out what the dealie-o was, did we? Did you ever try grain from some other supply?

[b3s]

no, i didn't...i figured i'd wait until the next crop and see if things settled down...that disparity was just too much!

i still don't know what went wrong...perhaps grain, perhaps technique, perhaps a combo. i decided to just stop all-grain until i can do it with someone who has success with it to see if i'm just doing something totally wrong.

[paul84043]

I did one partial grain batch, probably the better compromise if you're having trouble justifying the jump to all grain. It added about an hour onto the process, was a bit messy, but I was really grasping, basically I had no idea what I was doing.

The beer turned out fantastic despite my best efforts to screw it up. I had nothing to compare it to, but my gut feeling was that it had a "fuller" flavor. I really don't know how else to describe it.
Kind of like going from a good 4 speaker stereo system to 5.1 surround with a subwoofer....
They both sound good, you just don't realize the difference until you try it.

I'll do more partial grain when I feel like my life isn't complicated enough as it is...for the most part, I stick to extracts though.