I've been using kits from cans to full-bag wort for many years; usually with 3 friends so we each get ~20 litres of a variety each time. We're up to batch #439, so you can see that I'm pretty familiar with kit brewing.
After finally renovating my beer kitchen, I picked up some boiling gear to let me do a test of all-grain brewing. My first try was a journey through unfamiliar methods, but the results were very gratifying ? and inspired me to get BeerSmith to get better organized. Batch #2 was significantly better even though I didn't make full use of the tools (and neglected to take several measurements). It also made me realize I needed to upgrade the size of my kettle to give me sufficient head room for the boil stage: 7.5 gal is definitely not enough to end up with 5 gal of wort.
Anyway, after tasting both results, the other guys are eager for us all to move from kits so I figured I better join this forum so I can tap into some expertise rather than just rely on software tools!
After finally renovating my beer kitchen, I picked up some boiling gear to let me do a test of all-grain brewing. My first try was a journey through unfamiliar methods, but the results were very gratifying ? and inspired me to get BeerSmith to get better organized. Batch #2 was significantly better even though I didn't make full use of the tools (and neglected to take several measurements). It also made me realize I needed to upgrade the size of my kettle to give me sufficient head room for the boil stage: 7.5 gal is definitely not enough to end up with 5 gal of wort.
Anyway, after tasting both results, the other guys are eager for us all to move from kits so I figured I better join this forum so I can tap into some expertise rather than just rely on software tools!