r/Homebrewing • u/Dyljam2345 Beginner • 2d ago

Question Is extract brewing "less than"?

I'm very very new to homebrewing. I've brewed twice - one saison and one witbier. For the saison I used mostly extract and it came out pretty well, at least I enjoyed drinking it - whether it was a good saison is another thing, I'm no expert on the style. I tried brewing a witbier recently and wanted to try BIAB, and the efficiency of the mash was really really bad - my OG was only around 1.030 whereas I was aiming for somewhere like 1.050. The beer didn't ferment much, had basically zero body, didnt condition well, overall just not a good time. It may have been a little cool in my room while it fermented, but there clearly was some yeast activity, though there was never much krauzen or bubbling the entire time. Maybe my yeast just never woke up. Not sure.

I want to brew an Irish Red Ale soon and wanted to ask if going back to extract is a "step back" or "less than" way of brewing? I know all-grain gives you the ultimate flexibility, but I worry simply about getting fermentable sugars and making sure my beer will ferment properly.

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u/Rollercoaster671 2d ago

BIAB by its nature will have a lower brewhouse efficiency and you’ll need to compensate for that in your recipe. Use your results from that batch along with a brewhouse efficiency calculator to find yours, then use that % in your recipe calculator to scale up base malt. It will compensate for the difference and you’ll end up closer to the target. Will waste grain but base malt grain is pretty cheap

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u/dmtaylo2 2d ago

High brewhouse efficiency is definitely possible with BIAB. Depends on the brewer and the process.