There's nothing wrong with extract brewing

Greetings!

Yes, Once again I wait forever to send out an update. So, first with the good news. For those of you who aren't on facebook or never look at it... I'm no longer the unemployed brewer. I accepted a position with Land O'Lakes. So that's the wonderful news. Now on for the not so wonderful news. I'm in a serious beer shortage situation. I checked my kegs and all three are very low. Not good. My idea of "when one keg goes dry, I'll brew and I'll still have the other two to fall back on while the beer is fermenting" didn't really work that well.

So knowing my situation, last Saturday Erin and I went to Midwest Supplies for the emergency beer situation. I had no beer in mind. I asked Erin to just pick something out. Due to the time crunch I was in I wasn't going to have the time to brew all grain, which brings me to my point. There's nothing wrong with extract brewing. Really. When I meet fellow homebrewers they always think I think less of them because they extract brew. Hell no. I think it's wonderful that people create something that they can enjoy. I've made some damn good brews with extract too. Don't be discouraged if you're only brewing extract. There's nothing wrong with it.

Now, some of you may be asking what the heck is extract brewing? Extract is skipping the step of steeping the grains also known as mashing because it's already been done. It is provided in a half gallon like container and is very thick molasses like liquid. It saves a good hour or two off my brew session. The downfalls of extract is that the brewer doesn't have full control over the flavor profile.

In the end we opted for a sierra pale ale clone which I spiked up with some additional hops. I basically made it into an IPA. I plan on brewing again here in the next few weeks. I'm thinking a Honey Wheat. Until next time!

Prost!

-Ryan