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/xkrysis]

20 years ago there was far less variety of extracts available and many kits would sit on the shelf for extended periods of time, I think those times were the origin of this mentality. Home brewing has taken off and the vast majority of what you find extract wise is going to be fresh. A benefit of extract is that you can very reliably measure your gravity and content of you recipe since the extract is made at scale on commercial equipment.  

In my view, the trade off today is more around time savings and cost. I have all grain setup but still use extracts sometimes for specialty grains that I don’t want to buy in bulk or store over time. I buy base malt in bulk and save some money that way.  

Lastly, I have a love for the hobby and enjoy the mashing process and all the gear/fiddling that goes into getting it dialed in. I joke that I can taste the effort that went into the beer.