Your best excuse for not going AG

[Black Devil Dog]

I didn't come up with reasons not to, I came up with reasons to go ag.

 

[TheWiggman]

The brewing book which I got for father's day a few years ago (which my wife has regretted to this day) summed it up pretty well.

1. Kits - quick, easy, repeatable, hard to get wrong. Limited styles, will never taste like the real thing
2. Extract - more styles available, better beer, more margin for error
3. AG - world at your fingertips, more things to go wrong

It takes a lot longer and requires more effort. Much easier to get things wrong. So the best excuse would be "I'm not willing to jump in at the deep end because I'm happy swimming up here with floaties and I like the water".
No excuse.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

I love extract, every now and then. Just put down a 19lt brew (Coopers Pale Ale).
15 minute boil with 400g Honey and 600g Dextrose.
20g Pride Of Ringwood pellets for 10 minutes.
30g Pride of Ringwood pellets Dry Hop sock in keg.

It'll be farken good I know it. Then I'll recycle the beast of the yeast cake for - who knows?

 

[Grott]

To be honest its the cost of the gear. I've just gone over to kegging and as I choose to go with 9.5 and 12 litre kegs, have spent over $600 on that alone! I'm happy with what I brew now, love the Coopers English Bitter (general quaffer) with slight adjustments. I do partials for bottled stouts and porters.
Cheers

 

[HBHB]

Not trying to be a party pooper, but people don't need to find an excuse.

Kits are brewed by professionals with excellent resources and largely from grain. The hard work is done and if thought is put into the recipe, the sanitation and the temperature control then the results can be outstanding.

These days you can make anything from a simple lager through rauchbier to an imperial IPA with either kits or extracts. Lots of Specialty grains can be steeped and further improvements made to foam and flavour.

Add all that to a virtually endless list oh hop varieties available here and there's probably not too many beers you couldn't make.

It suits the folk who would prefer the hard work be done beforehand. Kind of like people who prefer to buy mass produced lasagne from the supermarkets.

Grain Brewers get the opportunity to manipulate their body, foam, flavour and aroma a bit more at a lower price but with more precision and end up with a greater sense of pride at the end of the day.

Interestingly, most of our grain brewers are really busy people, many have young families and a fair number of them work incredibly long hours (some of our local Brewers work in excess of 70 hrs a week - pretty sure it's a common theme) and live with space and financial restrictions. They're all barriers, but they choose to not make them "excuses" because for grain brewers, it's not so much about the barriers, but the escape that grain brewing provides them with. A little, very satisfying "something" they can fit in around business, family and domestic demands.

Each to their own. Everyone has their reasons, but they don't need to be turned into excuses.

 

[jyo]

To be honest its the cost of the gear. I've just gone over to kegging and as I choose to go with 9.5 and 12 litre kegs, have spent over $600 on that alone! I'm happy with what I brew now, love the Coopers English Bitter (general quaffer) with slight adjustments. I do partials for bottled stouts and porters.
Cheers

Grott, if you're worried about cost, and don't mind a bit of ghetto, it can be done really cheap. I started with a free esky, $80 for a copper manifold and fittings for the mash tun, a cheapo $50, 40 litres stanless steel pot from the Asian grocer and a second hand 3 ring burner with a decent regulator, silicone hose and some cubes. Probably spent $200 all up.

 

[SBOB]

Grott, if you're worried about cost, and don't mind a bit of ghetto, it can be done really cheap. I started with a free esky, $80 for a copper manifold and fittings for the mash tun, a cheapo $50, 40 litres stanless steel pot from the Asian grocer and a second hand 3 ring burner with a decent regulator, silicone hose and some cubes. Probably spent $200 all up.

or ~$200-$300 on a 40L urn and a few bucks on a grain bag for less ghetto

 

[JDW81]

Because I live in the city.

I used to brew 3V all grain in a tiny 2 bedroom apartment. Gear lived under the spare bed, and I fermented in the spare toilet (which wasn't used during fermentation I assure you).

Space is no limitation for getting into AG.

 

[Brooa]

I think this is the ONLY HONESTreply in this thread so far : I can't be F@$#@D.

 

[TheWiggman]

Interestingly, most of our grain brewers are really busy people, many have young families and a fair number of them work incredibly long hours (some of our local Brewers work in excess of 70 hrs a week - pretty sure it's a common theme) and live with space and financial restrictions. They're all barriers, but they choose to not make them "excuses" because for grain brewers, it's not so much about the barriers, but the escape that grain brewing provides them with. A little, very satisfying "something" they can fit in around business, family and domestic demands.

I agree very much with this. I have a fairly demanding job, 3 kids between 4 and 5 (twins), hockey every weekend and most spare time is family time. Life's bloody busy. However, AG brewing keeps me sane. It's good to boil up a yeast starter on a weeknight, check up on gravity and temps of whatever's fermenting, or do minor mods to my kit (eg. yesterday I fitted a plug to my HLT instead of hard wired lead). My mind's always ticking about improving my temp controller or some sort of upgrade - not that's it's required in any way mind you - and that's what I love doing. Brew days are Wiggman's escape. They only happen every few weeks and are a good opportunity to invite some mates around to talk about beer or anything. Everyone needs time for themselves, spouse included. Plus the quality of my beer has gone forward in leaps and bounds, which I remind myself most afternoons when I pour a glass to enjoy with dinner or just sit down and enjoy the glass. Or read up on the latest dramatic AHB thread.

 

[Grott]

Grott, if you're worried about cost, and don't mind a bit of ghetto, it can be done really cheap. I started with a free esky, $80 for a copper manifold and fittings for the mash tun, a cheapo $50, 40 litres stanless steel pot from the Asian grocer and a second hand 3 ring burner with a decent regulator, silicone hose and some cubes. Probably spent $200 all up.

or ~$200-$300 on a 40L urn and a few bucks on a grain bag for less ghetto

Your right guys but even that amount will have to be a 2016 budget. Remember I've also spent on a gas bottle, reg, tap, hoses etc etc. even SWMBO doesn't quite know the full extent, so no more this year.
Cheers

 

[MCW]

Try living in Darwin where the brew store is sub standard to say the least. They stock no grain and the cost to ship from the east coast pretty much doubles the price. Ah the price of yr round 30 degrees.

 

[Pogierob]

I have no excuse, none at all since I have gone BIAB.


Even now when I'm busy and claim I don't have time to brew, I find i have suddenly spent a few hours watching a **** movie I've already seen - could have been brewing.

I also found myself saying it's too expensive to buy all the gear, and BANG a birthday arrived and the lovely lady had conspired with friends and family and i found myself with a few hundred dollars to spend at the LHBS - hello crown urn.
lets not mention all the money I was spending on commercial beer while I couldn't afford the gear.
Everything else I buy bit by bit until I have what I need to do the job.

sure it takes longer, it takes longer to clean up and you need a larger storage area, but there is just something bloody awesome about saying - yeah I'm a homebrewer, no not the kits, I actually make it from scratch with grain, yeah yeah oh and I grow hops in the backyard, sure come around and have a couple one day..


so my best excuse for not going AG will most likely be - it's just really tricky to mash in, get to the AA meeting and then get back in time for the boil. :lol:

 

[clickeral]

Haven't managed to get my mill and motor mounted up fully yet and its in my mates garage with all my brewing gear so in the too hard basket till the end of the month haha

Buying a house end of the year start of next so will sort something more permanent then along with a 50L BM

Probably get a 15amp 20amp and 32amp plug installed in the garage as I need all the power for various hobbies

Also if I go back to all grain I need to finish my esky mash tun and get my kegerator setup again (wanting new lines connections and 650ss perlics)

 

[Rocker1986]

I don't have one anymore as I do brew AG exclusively and have done for nearly 3 years.

Before that, the only reason I didn't do it sooner was money. I was flat broke at the time until I got my current job. I wanted an urn so I could do BIAB; pot and gas or 3V never appealed to me and still doesn't. Once I had enough money that was it, jumped straight into it and haven't looked back.

I can appreciate that some people are too busy to commit the time, but on the other hand if you really have a passion for brewing quality beer then that becomes the predominant hobby and you make the time for it over lesser interests.

The actual process of brewing all grain is not as difficult as people make it out to be. If you can heat some water, throw in some crushed grains, maintain a temperature for an hour or so, then boil the resultant liquid and add hops to it, and throw it into a plastic cube afterwards, you can brew all grain. Crude description, but it is that simple. Recipe formulation is the tricky part, so brew a few tried and true recipes first if unsure. Difficulty of process itself is no excuse in my opinion.

 

[lael]

Ibwas intimidated before I started all grain, and this is the simplest and most effective description. It really is - heat water, throw in grain, maintain temp. There's a lot of technique that can make differences, but the first time I saw an all grain brew day it was like... Huh... That's simple.

I don't have one anymore as I do brew AG exclusively and have done for nearly 3 years.

Before that, the only reason I didn't do it sooner was money. I was flat broke at the time until I got my current job. I wanted an urn so I could do BIAB; pot and gas or 3V never appealed to me and still doesn't. Once I had enough money that was it, jumped straight into it and haven't looked back.

I can appreciate that some people are too busy to commit the time, but on the other hand if you really have a passion for brewing quality beer then that becomes the predominant hobby and you make the time for it over lesser interests.

The actual process of brewing all grain is not as difficult as people make it out to be. If you can heat some water, throw in some crushed grains, maintain a temperature for an hour or so, then boil the resultant liquid and add hops to it, and throw it into a plastic cube afterwards, you can brew all grain. Crude description, but it is that simple. Recipe formulation is the tricky part, so brew a few tried and true recipes first if unsure. Difficulty of process itself is no excuse in my opinion.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

My stainless steel mill rollers have gone rusty from lack of use....

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

The actual process of brewing all grain is not as difficult as people make it out to be. If you can heat some water, throw in some crushed grains, maintain a temperature for an hour or so, then boil the resultant liquid and add hops to it, and throw it into a plastic cube afterwards, you can brew all grain. Crude description, but it is that simple. Recipe formulation is the tricky part, so brew a few tried and true recipes first if unsure. Difficulty of process itself is no excuse in my opinion.

B)

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Difficulty of process itself is no excuse in my opinion.

Why do brewers see it as a difficult process.....?

 

[eMPTy]

Get a smaller family.

All that fluffy stuff like the wife and kids....meh...build yourself an AG rig an man up. ...and show your kids how brewing is really done.

Haha. Not quite that problem yet. I'm stuck living with parents while i finish my degrees. Can only convince them slowly, step by step that each extra piece of equipment or storage space is a necessity and they should let/help me make room for it.

I'll get there soon hopefully.