Going back to extract (for a bit)

While this could certainly save time, it would also change the fermentability of the wort. Full conversion (as indicated by an iodine test) just means that the starches have been converted to various sugars and unfermentable dextrins. But the mix of the sugars and unfermentable dextrins continues to evolve in the mash, yielding a more fermentable wort the longer it goes.

 

Hasn't Jamil Zainasheff made award winning beer in just about every BJCP style ... with extract? Great extract beer is definitely achievable. In several styles.

 

I think he did do extract brewing for a time, back when just about everyone was extract brewing.

 

Weyerman actually makes Rauch extract, I don't know if any places in the states carry it though. With all the new LMEs coming out Marris Otter (MoreBeer), the rye LME (northern brewer). You really don't need to mash to get these specialty beers anymore.

 

Careful with the Rauch extract. I haven't used it, but I do know something about how it's made. 98% Smoked Malt. 2% Carafa Special I. And it's decocted. IMO not an exact replacement for Rauch Malt. (Unless you were planning to use 2% Carafa. And Decoct. And mash with the same temperature/time and water profile (whatever those might be).) (This is the sort of thing I was trying to get at about lack of control and flexibility. Dead horse beaten.)

 

Don't worry I have no desire to make a Rauch beer. I live in the barley belt of Deutschland and can get malts for $25 a sack so all grain is incredibly cheap for me, so no extract here.

 

• I have brewed close to 200 all grain batches and have flip flopped since having two kids. Just did a full boil 10 gal. batch of Citra summer pale ale last week after a half day of work and finished before the kids got home from pre school. Currently have a batch of extract baltic porter that I brewed last fall on tap. All extract batches that I have made of late you wouldnt be able to tell the difference between all grain. Extract is quite a bit more expensive - cost me almost $80 for the ingredients for 5 gal. of BP. Probably will just stick to lower OG styles in the future.