There are four types of brewing: extract, extract with stepped grains, partial mash, and all grain. Here are the basics of each type.

Extract

Brewing at its most basic is slightly more complicated than making a can of soup. Concentrated malt syrup or powder dissolved in water becomes beer. Despite the limitations of a single ingredient, beginning brewers can practice core skills with a modicum of expense and equipment.

This is how your grandfather brewed. The old recipes (and current recipes in some other countries) called for cans of malt syrup and pounds of sugar and a sprinkling of bread yeast.

Extract with Steeped Grains

Instead of relying on extract alone, spice things up with freshly cracked malt soaked in hot water. The tea is strained and mixed with the extract to form the wort. For the price of more time and a colander, you create fresher and more varied beers. Plenty of veteran brewers have continued to brew this way for years. They find it the perfect balance of brewing time and quality family time. Extract brews medal in competition far more often than elitist brewers like to admit.

Partial Mash

Partial mashing recipes derive most of their sugar from malt, with extract providing the final gravity boost. A partial mash is possible using almost all of your extract equipment. As you edge closer to all-grain brewing, partial mash batches get your feet wet by allowing you to practice new techniques without a mess of gear.

Experienced brewers sometimes revert to a partial mash for larger beers. The extract prevents a long brew-day and ensures achieving the monster target gravities.

All Grain

Professionals don't mess with the expense of malt extract, and neither do legions of obsessed homebrewers. Instead they start with large piles of barley, crush it, mix it with hot water, wait for mash magic, and rinse. All-grain beer requires more gear and more time to get a beer in the fermenter. Complete brewing freedom is your return on investment. No beer is out of reach.

Batch costs drop considerably because the fresh grain costs a fraction of extract. A five-gallon batch of regular extract beer may cost $35 to $45. The same recipe all grain costs about $15 to $20. With all that extra cash, you can buy some new gear. An added bonus is that you're no longer dependent on extract manufacturers.