We have a new LHBS. I am showing a friend how to brew tomorrow so I thought I would get some extract and show my friend how to brew an extract batch.
I was surprised that the store only has 1 color (light) of Munton’s DME and no other DME or LME. The homebrew sales person told me they were “really trying to push all grain.” That suits me fine. I’ll show my friend all grain. But, I was surprised given the AHA recently encouraging us to brew an extract batch.
I think this LHBS has limited shelf space because they are also a beer store with full bar. With limited space I guess all grain is the right choice.
If they’ve recently started carrying more grains, it could be that they’re pushing AG to ensure rapid turnover and keep their ingredients fresh. I’ve heard from a few posters who went straight to AG, and were glad they did. I think Bru’nWater is easy enough to play with that even a new brewer could understand most of it with some guidance.
One thing that might be cool is to brew two batches of the same beer - an extract w/specialty grains version and an AG version. Then you could compare the two. Just a thought. Good for you, for sharing the knowledge. Have fun!
Just opening up, I imagine they’ll have to understand who their customer base is and what they want. For instance I went it to see what they have on hand and was a bit disappointed. Hopefully they’ll respond well. The one guy I spoke to said they plan to increase inventory.
Glad to hear they want to expand selection. I thought the grain selection was a bit limited. Hops and yeast was decent for a local store. They will order specific yeast for you. They were asking for inputs on the Rocket City forum a couple of weeks ago.
They did exist as a home brew store for several years in Madison. They closed the home brew section at that store 6 months to a year ago. Now they have reopened at Campus 805. So they should have a decent handle on the market.
Right. I still brew a handful of extract batches every year, either because I’m trialing new hops or because I have a stretch of time where I can’t squeeze in a full brewday. If you convert an AG recipe to extract + steeping grains, Extra Light or Pilsner DME would be the best choice for the base in the vast majority of them.
I’d probably also want to stock Wheat DME and Munich LME. Pretty much every other extract variety could be replaced with one (or a combo) of these three, plus steeping grains (and would likely give better results, anyways).
I keep Breiss Pils DME on hand at home. You can make just about any beer with that as a base and either steeping grains or a partial mash.
It doesn’t sound like they were doing it, but it would be good advice if the store told people to start with a light base extract and add steeping grains.
Of course, I used plenty of dark DME and LME back in the early 90s…
As an extract goes, it may also be intended to be used to supplement the AG beers that might fail to reach the intended gravity (i.e., as a quick fix to prevent discouraged first time AG brewers from tossing a batch for that reason) and for making starters and for dialing up to an Imperial level, if a mash tun is maxed out.
I always tell guys that are jumping to AG to keep some DME on hand for these very reasons. Once they get their system dialed in, they can use it for starters or toss it in a batch to use it up or to add to a wort boil to get a recipe up to imperial status if their mash tun is limited.
The data that AHA has been collecting the past few years shows that brewers are interested in less demanding brewing, which includes smaller batches, more extract brewing, and using automated brewing apparatus’. While its great that the shop has plenty of materials for all-grain, they should be aware of this trend and the suggestion that they may want to cater more to that client.
Not from what I can tell. I have about six brewers in the neighborhood; most of them are extract brewing about 75-90% of the time and only a couple of us are AG predominately (I do maybe 2 batches of extract per year, just to boil something communally with the group at another guy’s house and to make it easier to do that).
At the LHBS, it is heavily extract and kit extract at that; but the newbies sample some fine all grain styles and generally migrate to all grain with time, if they stay with the hobby.
What I am seeing is more and more guys who were away from brewing for many years (kids and family obligations typically cited as the reasons for being away) and stepping back into it; a lot of them with small batch brewing.
And I see the opposite. I see folks going from one extract kit to all grain or starting with all grain. I don’t have the results that the AHA/BA found, just speaking from my experience.
I taught my friend all grain with a BIAB batch. I milled the grains and treated the water before he got there. We were done in 3.5 hours. It was super easy. Since he probably won’t treat water or mill his own grain, I am thinking BIAB is a very easy and fast way for him to brew.
Frankly going BIAB cost me about 6-8 points efficiency over my normal batch sparge method. It was so easy I planning to do it again. Couple less steps, a bit less to clean.
I wonder how much of the switch to automated setups is just the market maturing. That’s the only real upgrade most folks can make to the “typical” homebrewing system. I could see a lot of folks brewing on propane for a few years, then splurge on an automated system later.
I upgraded to a Grainfather. Started brewing with can kits, moved to extract, then BIAB. Not having a lot of space, the compact nature of the Grainfather is perfect for me.