Question For All Grainers

[mick8882003]

I am just curious as to how often you do all grains?

I have done one so far (well two but the first was ten years ago) and am curious if you rotate between k&k and all grain or its exclusively all grain.

I quite like the one I have done so far, still waiting for it to get a bit of age on it, just to see how it turns out.

I am trying to decide on how often to all grain (I do have a few tweaks to do to my ag system, well more than a few)

Man would I love a turnkey system, a good one at that!

 

[matt white]

AG, AG, AG. There is no going back. Say no more!

 

[mick8882003]

Yes, i can appreciate that, there are two things that hold me back, well three.

1) Equipment, what I have does the job, but its a little inconvenient
2) the times involved.
3) ingredients, I can walk down the street and have a k&k going within the hour, all grain I have to order over the net

 

[Wardhog]

Given I have enough time, always AG. I don't always have enough time so 2 out of my last 9 or 10 have been extract beers. I won't do a K&K again, I want to at least be in charge of the hopping in my beers.

 

[dpadden]

I think you'll find most AGers wouldn't bother doing a kit....Personally I'd rather buy commercial beer to tide me over till the next AG is ready rather than do a kit.

 

[jonocarroll]

At the moment I'm getting my AG legs, so I'm doing (trying to do) back-to-back brews once a week or two weeks. I'm no-chilling, so if I pitch during the week I can get another into the cube on the weekend.

As for your issues;

1) My equipment is all contained on a brewstand in the shed, which is very convenient. Doesn't take up the kitchen, cleaning is a breeze, and if I'm not using it then it's already out of the way.

2) If I get my act together, a lot of the process is set and forget - heating HLT doesn't need attention, the mash doesn't need attention for 90 minutes. I usually keep an eye on the boil, but chances are I could use a break about then anyway. The cube needs no attention whatsoever. Sure it probably takes up more time total, but a lot of that can be unattended.

3) I can drive 15 minutes to BeerBelly and get my grains, be back and have it going within an hour. I think you'll find that along with the fun of all-grain, you spend longer designing a recipe, so you rarely throw a brew together like you would a kit. You have so much more control that you can decide exactly what you are aiming for. If you throw together a kit you're stuck with whatever the kit was made to taste like. However, if you buy up on grains (order more) you can have enough that you can decide to brew something on the spot if you really want.

There's also the overriding factor that AG is simply more fun and exciting. The process, the smells, the nerdiness (in my case) all come together to make it all worthwhile. See you on the darkside.

 

[Bribie G]

I alternate between AG and partials. At the moment my brew fridge (dead fridge with ice bottles) can take a primary 30L fermenter and a secondary jerry can, so that's a bottleneck. My AGs are UK bitters. However the partials are lager style beers and I can fit a 25L fermenter in my 'live' brew fridge and cold condition them for ten days before bottling and get a nice drop, so the partials don't go into the jerry, they go into the 25L after a fairly good time in primary then cold conditioned. A very nice drop.

So by using my current equipment and fridge space I pump through a brew a week if possible, constantly juggling between a partial in primary with an AG in secondary sitting next to it in the jerry can. When the AG is ready to bottle the lager goes into the live fridge and then the next AG goes into the primary, having been brewed a few days before and cubed........ then hopefully it will be ready after a few days to go into secondary so I can whack the next partial into primary..... Man you should see my flow charts :lol:


Roll on winter :beerbang:

PS Rather than spending a few hours doing a mash and boil for each partial, I now do a full AG brew with a light malt, a very hoppy boil and split the wort between four 5L cubes and store them so that on brewing day I have the wort on hand for the partial (usually a Coopers lager plus dex). Cuts the brew time in four.

 

[thunderchild]

I am only a baby Ag'er but to me a bad AG is betterthan my best Kit!

 

[jonocarroll]

I am only a baby Ag'er but to me a bad AG is better than my best Kit!

I'm working on a test case for this right now - I've made some tasty kits, and I'll soon be able to compare with my 'funk-elweizen' which has decided to mess with my head at every step. If it turns out better than my kits It'll settle the argument once and for all.

 

[wambesi]

Since starting AG I won't go back to kits or even extracts really.
Although if I had no choice I'd go back to extracts so I still have most control.

Yes it does take time, but it's all part of the fun. The family knows my brew days in advance (have to plan ahead with three children under 5!) and we all know it's my day out in the garage, the kids get to play out the front for a change the the other half gets some time to herself (when all goes to plan).

So not much will make me go back to kits, not even the pay cut I just took for my new career, just have to shuffle things around

I probably brew one a month at the moment, I'm not a huge drinker, but love quality beer.
And I dont want a huge automated system as I "love getting my hands dirty" with my system!

 

[Kai]

I still do the occasional extract beer when I don't have a mash tun handy. Don't tell anyone though...

 

[lagers44]

Exclusively AG , I used to do 1 a month & would occasionally run out of beer but now i no chill & do double batches so I always have 1-2 full cubes on hand. This way it's as easy as K&K to get in the fermenter & there's no push to "have to mash this week ". So much more relaxed.

Lagers

 

[warra48]

I do a standard batch every 3 to 4 weeks on avarage.
Time is not an issue for me as I'm no longer in the workforce.
I do exclusively AG, and haven't thought about going back to extracts or K&K. There are too many recipes in my head and in my "To Do List" on BeerSmith to bother going back to that. I enjoy the process, and it's one of my retirement hobbies.

 

[mckenry]

I do the odd fresh wort kit. AG is more fun with a better result, but FWK's are still good. I think better than extract or partial. Especially when time is tight. They're also good for testing yeast strains. Plus you get a mini fermenter each time you buy one. I am an AG convert for sure, but FWK's have their place.

 

[Barry]

To me it is not so much the result but the process. I have had too many excellent kits and partials (not mine) to knock them. However it is like golf. Why do most golfers want to spend more time and effort playing a round on a golf course rather than spending far less time playing putt putt? Because they like the process, the time and the effort.
By the way I like brewing too much to waste any time playing golf.

 

[Swinging Beef]

I try to only work three days a week, so I tend to brew once a week on one of the off days.
If I get the kettle on at 6am, Im all done by 11 and then I can hit the beach.

The occasional extract brew pops in, too.

 

[Dunno]

Since going AG I haven't considered going back to partials. I enjoy the process of brewing and after bringing a beer through the whole process from start to finish, there is that much more satisfaction with the end result.

 

[Weizguy]

I am only a baby Ag'er but to me a bad AG is better than my best Kit!

You've obviously never had a truly nasty all-grain beer (says Les, thinking of sending a bottle...)

As for me, no brewing for a little while, but it will be all-grain when it starts again (maybe tomorrow).
I like to make a batch every week, for variety, but it averages to about 1-2 batches a month.

I have a kit to start for a couple of people too. My brother (bless his little VB-drinking soul) and provider of many bottles, appears not to like my grain beer, but is happy to drink Coopers Draught, so I make one up for him a couple of times a year.
We make both kinds of beer here, Kit and Kilo. :lol:

Les

 

[Zizzle]

After doing my first AG I couldn't even bring myself to drink the stash of K&K I had bottled.

Gave away what I could and tipped the rest. Never looked back.

Like most, my recipe to try list, and hop combo to try list is longer than you can poke a stick at.

Life is too short for crap beer.

 

[peas_and_corn]

I'm working on a test case for this right now - I've made some tasty kits, and I'll soon be able to compare with my 'funk-elweizen' which has decided to mess with my head at every step. If it turns out better than my kits It'll settle the argument once and for all.

:lol: That hoary old chestnut will *never* be resolved.

Doing AG, will never turn back.