[Jimmy K]

Another, admittedly less noble, reason is that it is cheaper to brew all grain.

How so?

grain is cheaper per unit of extractable sugar than extract.

All grain ingredients are cheaper. But the path you follow may lead to Blichmann brew kettles, march pumps, kegerators, a brew shed...
 
But it doesn't have to be expensive.

[denny]

All grain ingredients are cheaper. But the path you follow may lead to Blichmann brew kettles, march pumps, kegerators, a brew shed...
 
But it doesn't have to be expensive.

THIS^^^^ is what I was gonna say!  I've stuck with the Cheap'n'Easy method for 15+ years and 437 batches so far and I have no intention of changing.

[AmandaK]

All grain ingredients are cheaper. But the path you follow may lead to Blichmann brew kettles, march pumps, kegerators, a brew shed...
 
But it doesn't have to be expensive.

THIS^^^^ is what I was gonna say!  I've stuck with the Cheap'n'Easy method for 15+ years and 437 batches so far and I have no intention of changing.

But some of us are a bit ADD and get excited about new gadgets... so it's not very cheap for us. 

[sparkleberry]

i started with 3g biab batches. i was hooked and had a blast brewing small batches several times a month. biab was a very simple way to try all grain.

i finally decided to do the denny cheap n easy. i haven't turned back. i still do 3g batches as well as 5 gallon batches with cheap n easy. i've even converted a brewing buddy who started out fly sparging, mainly because it saves him a little bit of time.

[flbrewer]

Check out the video Gary Glass made about the Cheap'n'Easy system...

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/lets-brew/get-schooled/master-the-mash/all-grain-brewing-videos

Awesome videos! Thanks for the links...of course this opens up 100 more questions! BTW, nice that your recipe made it into the vid 

[the_pig]

As others have clarified, what I meant was that all grain brewing (assuming you do more than a very few batches which would make up for the cost of the cooler, etc.) can be cheaper.  Of course, there are suppliers who will be happy to sell you a bunch of expensive stuff.  On the other hand, there is no reason you couldn't boost the cost of extract brewing by using a Blichmann.  They are very nice looking kettles - don't get me wrong.  But they are not required to brew all grain.

I'm with Denny on this one though.  It all about the brew, not the bling.

[denny]

Check out the video Gary Glass made about the Cheap'n'Easy system...

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/lets-brew/get-schooled/master-the-mash/all-grain-brewing-videos

Awesome videos! Thanks for the links...of course this opens up 100 more questions! BTW, nice that your recipe made it into the vid 

My recipe, my equipment design, my methods.

[klickitat jim]

As far as time is concerned, I start thinking about my next brew day the morning after my last brew day. So if the process takes all day its fine by me.