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I was meandering around today with my 4 year old son, looking for something for us to do so he wouldn't drive my wife crazy fighting with his brother. We went to home depot, the park, and then of course the brew store. I had been meaning to brew this weekend, but never got around to getting anything, then of course it was to late. Besides that it was friggin cold outside today. I decided to make a quick extract IPA.
I had forgotten how easy and satisfying making an extract batch was. No hoses, pumps or hell, no even going outside. Got a nice gas stove at the new place, and did a batch in about an hour and a half. Used some S-04, and away we go. Just put the pot in the sink with some cold water, added somemore water, and chilling was completed in 20 min. Did a 5 gallon batch, with no planning, no thinking about it, no stressing about it 3 days before hand, in an hour and a half . Plus I watched the kids at the same time, made them dinner, and talked to my brother at the same time. Pretty damn cool.
Not to say that this will take the place of All grain, but in the up comming months, when it's cold outside, and I just don't have time. It's good to know there is an option when you feel like getting your brew on .
I brewed 2 extract batches this year for the same reason. It was great and easy, with huge time savings. The beer wasn't bad either.
I've been meaning to brew up an extract batch for comparison sake. I should really do it now because I've been pressed for time... but I think about how much it would cost to brew compared to AG and I can't bring myself to do it. I'll cave eventually after I bang out some beers on my "to brew" list.
In one of the beers I brewed with extract I found that the end beer was better when I took 10% of the extract out of the recipe and replaced it with sugar. It was a simple Amber recipe but the extra dryness helped the beer tremendously I thought. So that should cheapen the brewing some, but not much.
It did kill me to pay as much for an extract batch for almost what I could purchase a 50# sack of base malt for. But time wasn't on my side so it was either pay more or not brew.
yea, that's true, the cost is more than all grain. I spent 44 dollars for a 5 gallon batch, and I usually spend 40-70 dollars on a 10 gallon batch, depending on what kind of beer i'm brewing. (this cost is without yeast).
On the other hand, I could just mash a 5 gallon batch, and do it on my stove, cooling in the sink, but as I said before, I didn't plan, had a packet of S-04 that was almost expired, and was no where near my All Grain LHBS. I had to go to my LHBS the next town over that unfortunately does not have all grain capibility. Meaning they have the grain, but no grinder, and I have no intentions of purchasing a grinder, Ha ha.
If I searched on the internet, I could probably get bulk LME pretty cheap, maybe I'll look into that. There is just never enough time in the day, and that extract batch was just what I needed to take the edge off.
Oh man, do I feel you on this one! I brewed Saturday morning...I believe it was 7 F in my garage when I started. First my hoses which had been stored in my cellar froze, my plumbing on the BM was frozen, but after about twenty minutes with the hair dryer I was in business. Then a stuck mash, a half hour of tinkering and blowing out lines with CO2 and I was finally going again. Needless to say it was long brew day and I was exhausted and frozen by the time I got back inside and in dry clothes.
Two weeks from now I'm doing an extract batch on the stove inside!
Ha ha, that's exactly what I was trying to avoid. I was giggling to myself as I was pouring my beer into primary an hour and a half after I started.
FWIW-
I've been doing 5gal partial mashes, indoors of course, pretty inexpensively.
Using 1/2 of a 3.3# jug of LME, & around 6# of grains, & harvested yeast
Buy the LME from Midwest, 6 - 3.3# jugs for $49.95.
Fairly low ABV (4.5% - 5%), but you can pop that up with a little honey or sugar.
Last one I did came in under $15.
Usually takes about 3-4 hours.
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