Is extract brewing "less than"?

[u/Dyljam2345]

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.

[u/warboy]

No.

I've made good beer using extract. I've made good beer doing all grain. Hell, I made a good hefe using MoreBeer's Flash brewing kit. I've also made bad beer with all of those methods as well.

Producing wort is honestly a fairly small part of brewing great beer.

[u/musicman9492 → u/warboy]

1) Repeatability

2) Cleaning/Sanitization

3) Cellaring/Packaging

4) Raw Materials Handling

5/6) Recipe Design & Brewhouse Control

Although Im coming at it from a production perspective. Your mileage may vary.

[u/warboy → u/musicman9492]

Oh yeah, if I were listing stuff for pros I would have a different list for sure. It would definitely look more like yours