Homebrewers - Whats in the fermenter?

[kenstogie]

I am only doing Extract brewing and hey it's pretty easy and makes great beer. But how much of a pain in the A$$ is AG, how much more time/effort does it take, and how easy is it to screw up?? Thanks!

[landhoney]

Originally Posted by kenstogie

I am only doing Extract brewing and hey it's pretty easy and makes great beer. But how much of a pain in the A$$ is AG, how much more time/effort does it take, and how easy is it to screw up?? Thanks!

It does not require that much extra equipment, it does take longer but once you get your process down I could do it in my sleep. Smoking a cigar while brewing also makes the time involved seem even less.....time consuming, for lack of a better phrase (as I actually enjoy the brewing process a lot, but maybe not cleaning up). Once you get your system and the process down it's difficult to mess up. I use a turkey fryer, cooler with homemade copper manifold (for mashing and batch sparging), and copper immersion wort chiller (also homemade and works great). I do 5 gal batches (which is plenty at the rate I like to brew and how much I consume).
The benefits are more complete recipe control and options, and control of mash temps which allows more flexibility in how dry or sweet the final beer finishes. There are other advantages, but those are most important to me. You might save some money not having to buy extract, and you're making beer essentially the same way professional breweries make beer, I like that.