Homebrew Notes: Discussion with Experts

I had the opportunity to have my beer sampled and critiqued by some very experienced beer judges/home brewers (Harold Gulbransen, Paul Sangster, Dion Hallenbeck among others) from my homebrew club QUAFF. I also listened and tasted along as they critiqued other's beers which helped me just as much. I'll write the notes for my beers in each of those posts, below are just some great reminders and tips:

• Do not sparge with water above 175 max. Efficiency should not be the most important thing to a homebrewer, buying extra grain is better than having astringcy in your beer
• Carafa specialty malts were designed to add color and really should not be used for flavor, meaning 1 -2 oz max in a 5 gal batch
• Make sure you filter chlorine from your brewing water
• If using a charcoal filter you should flow around 1-3 gal/min
• If using campden tablets then they need long contact time, often overnight

• For thermal stability during mashing in an igloo cooler, use a higher water - grain ratio. Anywhere from 1.4 - 1.7 qts/lb will help. There are calculators online to figure out how much you can fit.
• For competition beers it is helpful to shoot for the higher gravity range or slightly above the gravity range. You want your beer to standout when being compared to others. (more malt -> more flavor)
• Be careful using a large quantity of hops in a beer or you may get a vegetal taste. This can happen if you are trying to bitter with a low AA hop. Don't go much higher than 6 oz of hops for a 5 gal batch.

Of course, there are exceptions to the above tips and all these can be debated. But I think these are all good points that I don't often think about.

Undercover San Diego: Louis Stelzer County Park

This has to be one of the best maintained, and conveniently located San Diego county parks. The park is out in Lakeside or Eastern San Diego County (map). The East County can get a bit warm in the summer and early fall but that is the great part about this park, it has shade.

This park and surrounding area has lots of Elderberry tress (Mexican). I was curious to try some of the berries to see if they would work in beer. Well from the looks of the pictures I was at least a couple weeks late (but not too late for rattlesnakes). They were already dried out. So now I know for next year.

The other cool part about Louis Stelzer County Park is that there are wild grapes growing throughout the creek bed. I wanted to go sample some of these and see what they taste like. I was too early for wild grapes, they were still extremely sour (Warhead sour). With a bit more research I found out that they may take till late October or November before being ripe.

The park has several trails and all are walk-able in just a couple hours. The main trail down the canyon is great and has nice signs that educate you about different plants and their Indian uses. From here you have the choice to retrace your steps or go up the hill and loop around with a stop at a great look-out point.

This is a great park to bring your lunch for after your hike. They have plenty of picnic tables, a play set, and also a short paved trail under the oak trees. There is a cheap parking fee that I have no problem paying, knowing it goes straight to the Park System. Stay tuned for a few more parks out in forgotten Lakeside.

Dreg Series: Lost Belgian Abbey Dubbel

Another experimental batch. To be honest with this one I don't have high hopes. I'm not really even sure why I used this yeast after I pitched it. But I guess if anything it is a good test. Here's why I have a doubt. I pitched the dregs from Lost Abbey's Judgment Day (This is the base beer for Cuvee de Tomme). My original reason for wanting to use this yeast is because Lost Abbey uses their house Belgian yeast. They make great beer so I was hoping it would help me make good beer. The part I didn't think about was the stress I'm putting on this already stressed out yeast. Judgement Day is a Belgian Quad at 10.5%. And I was pitching this small amount of yeast straight into a gallon of 1.060 wort.
Well, this stuff has some power, it had a nice 1" krausen in 24 hours. It was pitched and fermented warmer than I would like at around 74. San Diego has had some hot weather lately and I had no room in my fermentation cabinet.

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 11:

Gravity - 1.035
Taste - still too sweet to judge but does have a touch of Belgian character but I smelled a touch of hot alcohol. It's really too early to tell.

So the next exciting part of this experiment is that I was given some grapes that were left on the vine too long. So they are now raisins. They were not sure the variety so I'll do some research. I think they are going to be perfect for this beer, especially color wise since they are a dark purple. I am planning to candy them a bit on the stove before adding (similar to this). Check back for an update. Below is a preview.

Update 9.22.10
The above grapes were added with 2 oz dextrin

Update 2.5.11
Gravity 1.007
Has some funk on the nose and still some nice Belgian Dubbel taste. It does have a good amount of alcohol warmth. May blend with red wine when I bottle.