How soon is too soon to make the jump from extract to all-grain brewing?
This is my checklist for this you should be comfortable with before making the big move.

  • Full wort boils
  • Capability to chill that wort using a chiller of some sort
  • Handle some basic math for calculating mash-in volumes, wort dilution, and concentration to hit final gravities and mash efficiency
  • Confidence in your sanitation practices
  • You can afford the addictive nature of adding more toys to your brewhouse as you get more and more involved in the all-grain process (like larger kettle and propane burners)
  • You’ve read some of the popular texts and websites about sparging and mashing and have a good mental picture of how the process is going to go.

Moving up to a few mini/partial mash batches is a helpful way to get a good idea of what the issues are with trying to mash-in, hit strike temps, and sparge.  If you’ve mastered those things and feel pretty confident in your skills, then moving to all-grain should be an easy transition.  Always remember that brewing all-grain is just making really fresh diluted wort extract, but you have much more control over the final product.

BREW ON!