Like most brewers, I started out making extract beers. I quickly progressed from using simple extract kits to adding complexity with specialty grains. Steeping some crystal malt or a bit of roast was a trivial extra step that yielded great results. I became adept at transforming the lightest, unhopped extract into whatever style caught my fancy: stouts, amber ales, and Scottish ales. Some of my experienced brew pals tried to push me to all-grain brewing, but I didn’t see the point. My beer was good, and it didn’t make sense to invest in a bunch of extra equipment and make my brew day so much longer. As much as I resisted, they finally wore me down. Part of the catalyst for my change of heart was that building a mash tun didn’t seem that hard, but the tipping point was when they appealed to my ego as a chef. Starting with raw ingredients would give me more control over the final product.
It made sense to me. It’s like Rice-a-Roni—anyone who can turn on a stove can use the mix to cook a decent side dish. You can get a bit fancier, though, and customize it: sauté up some chiles and onion to stir in, or augment the flavor packet with some garam masala and cumin seed. That’s effectively where I had gotten with my extract brewing. My friends argued that a rice pilaf made from scratch would be better. It turns out that they’re right, but there’s a catch: ask a kitchen amateur to make a fancy risotto, and odds are that their first attempts may turn out worse than the simple packaged mix.
All-grain brewing is similar. The potential is there, but it takes some experience to get the process under control. Go ahead and dive in. You’ll quickly figure out the basics that you can build upon, and here are some tips to give you a head start.