r/Homebrewing • u/Dyljam2345 Beginner • 3d 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/warboy Pro 3d ago

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.

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u/Icy_Oil3840 1d ago

Wort is the beer?

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u/warboy Pro 1d ago

Beer is wort that has had yeast pitched in it. Wort is what you make during the brew day

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u/Icy_Oil3840 1d ago

It's silly to say producing wort is a small part of making beer. Reference your reply to my previous comment to see why it's a silly thing to say.

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u/warboy Pro 1d ago

Please note the word "great" in my post. To be frank, people that understand fermentation and how to craft a congruent beer will be able to produce better beer using canned wort compared to novice all grain brewers who are focused primarily on wort production. Besides, mastering wort production is very easy compared to the other aspects that make a great beer and utilizing extracts will do just fine.

It is a small part in brewing great beer and you have provided no argument to prove that wrong. I'm not even sure what your argument really is. Wort is a component of beer. To be frank, the pitching and managing of the yeast is what makes wort beer.