Being an extract/specialty grains brewer is exciting because I’m not even close to being done upgrading and expanding my system. I am constantly looking forward to what I’m going to get/do next. That brings me to the question:
In everyone’s opinion, what should I do next: Upgrade to kegging or upgrade to all grain? I can only afford to do one or the other right now. I WILL be doing both eventually, but which one would YOU do first?
I’d probably keg first. If you haven’t already gotten there already, bottling gets so tedious, and sometimes, kegging is the only reason you keep doing it at that point. I went all grain, first. But, if you don’t mind bottling, definitely go all grain. Either way, your beer and the enjoyment of said beer, will likely increase.
Get the legging set up now. Kegs have been going up in price as the supply dries up. Then go all grain.
Considering you can go all grain for less than the cost of 1 keg, I don’t see the dilemma. I mean if you can afford to get into kegging, buy 1 less keg and go all grain too.
Going all-grain saved me enough money to get into kegging faster. Extract is expensive.
Doing all-grain is more interesting brewing-wise than packaging so I went all grain first. I started kegging in the winter when a corner of my basement becomes cold enough (~50 F) to serve beer without refrigeration and then went year round when I got a good fridge for free.
Go all-grain, and do smaller batches. This will require you to brew more often, thus gaining more experience with all-grain, but without the need for fancy equipment, and fewer bottles to fill at one time. You can very easily brew 2.5 or 3 gallon batches using BIAB. Doesn’t cost a thing really, and in fact will save you a lot of money over extract, AND it tastes better. Then after you gain some experience with all-grain, get the equipment for bigger batches, do a few batches at that size, and then when you get tired of bottling 50 bottles at one time, get your kegging equipment.
Or, go the other way, buy your kegging equipment now, but just keep it on the shelf for a while since you can simultaneously start brewing small batches all-grain BIAB without spending an extra dime. Then when you’ve got the cash and experience to start brewing 5 gallons all-grain, you can worry about kegging, and you’ll already have the stuff AND the all-grain experience. How’s that sound.
I agree. You can always find a cheap cooler. Cheap kegs are much harder to locate.
All-grain will be a change in your process and may make the brew day longer.
Kegging will be a change in your packaging that arguably saves significant amounts of time. Which you can devote to researching all-grain options.
+1. It’ll simplify your brewing process, and the time savings can go toward reading up on all-grain processes. +1 that there are plenty of cheap coolers, but kegs are getting more expensive.
In the meantime, instead of steeping your grains do a partial mash. You can start learning about infusion mashing, BIAB, conversion, etc. and it won’t be that big of a shift in your process since you’re already steeping grains in a bag.
I started kegging first. It’s well worth it.
After having switched to both. I would say start kegging first. And as others have said try BIAB for all grain. There is minimal equipment purchase for that.
I started with all-grain first. It’s cheap: I got all I needed for it for <$200. It has saved me money on fermentables versus extract.
I bought a kegging setup and have well over $1750 into it. I didn’t even really like it up until 8 months ago - now I have a cleaning regimen (and tools) that doesn’t take too much time, so I have come to enjoy the kegging setup more.
I agree with the kegging first and then all grain. Like others have said kegs just keep going up in price.
Another point in favor of kegging first is if your boil kettle is not large enough to handle a 5 gallon all grain batch (7 or so gallons with space for hot break) you would need to upgrade that, which runs a good number of dollars.
I started all grain brewing first and then built a keg fridge but today’s cost would push me the other way.
Paul
I vote AG first.
I’d agree w/this. The caveat would be to watch eBay & Craigslist. If keg bargains come, snatch them.
Yep. I built my current system via Craigslist. Quite a good savings and met some cool local homebrewers in the process.
I vote for kegging. The tedium of bottle washing decreased my enjoyment in brewing. Now that I keg, I find I am more willing to spend more time and enjoy the longer AG day (Now that I know the bottles aren’t waiting in the basement).
The answer might be “neither.” If you don’t have good temperature control for fermentation, I’d get that set up first. Whether your wort come from extract or all grain, and no matter how you package your beer, you’ll get the most bang for your buck by getting fermentation temperatures under control. A decent used fridge or freezer and a temperature controller, and you’re on your way.
For me, the biggest jumps in the quality of the beers I make came from proper pitching of yeast and good fermentation temperature control. If your primary goal is to make good beer (I think it should be), good fermentation practice is the key. Wort production and packaging are really secondary.
All that said, I’d probably brew a lot less if I hadn’t switched to kegging several years ago. And, as others have said, jumping to all grain is really inexpensive if you’re already able to boil and chill a full-volume batch.
I love this topic.
Are you lazy? - Don’t want to bottle.
or
Are you cheap? - Want to save money on ingredients.
- Lot’s of winky smilies so people understand that this is an ultra simplified sterotype of homebrewers and meant to be a joke.