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.

Belgian Beer Series: Dubbel

The next beer in my Belgian Beer Series. The Singel turned out great and I think I'll have to write a review for that one. Having the WLP550 yeast that the Singel built up, I 'm going to pitch it into a Dubbel. For me, Dubbels seem like very complex beers but the best ones seem to smooth out that complexity. I have never brewed one before so I decided to start with Jamil's Recipe. I like that Jamil designed this beer at the lower end of the BJCP starting gravity scale. The one thing I am changing is that I want to try my hand at making candi syrup. I did a lot of reading on the matter and the consensus is that no one so far has been able to replicate the flavors from Dark Candi Inc.'s syrups. Well, this is homebrewing and I'm going for it. Look for a future post of my experience.

I am also fermenting this on the cooler side to reduce the chance at over the top fruitiness. I do like a big dark fruit (Plum, fig) taste in my Dubbels but I hope to get most of that from the Special B and dark candi syrup.

Recipe: Belgian Dubbel
O.G.-1.066  F.G.-TBD   IBU-22.5
SRM-17(?)   ABV-6.7-7.4%%   Cal-215

Grain Bill (76% Efficiency):

9 lb Pilsner Malt (72.7%)
1 lb  Munich Malt 10L (8.1%)
8 oz Aromatic Malt (4%)
8 oz Caramunich I (4%) 
6 oz Special B (3%) 
1lb Homemade Candi Syrup (8.1%)  
 

Hops:
.75 oz Saaz, 6.8%, pellet, 90 min 22.5 IBU
  
Yeast:
150-200 mL White Labs WLP550 (From Belgian Singel)


Brew Day:
Brewed: 9/5/10
Kegged: TBD

Water:
San Diego (Alvarado) Tap Water
1 campden tablet for 5 gal.

Mash Details:
H2O/Grain Ratio: 1.3 qt/lb
Mash Volume: 3.67 gal
Sacc Rest. Temp/Time: 149F @ 60min
Strike Temp: 162F
Batch Sparge Volume: 5.5 gal
Sparge Temp/Time: 170F @ 30min

Boil Details:
Boil Volume: 7 gal
Boil Time: 90min
Post Boil Volume: 5.5 gal

Ferment Details:
O.G.: 1.060 + candi syrup
Ferment Temp: 65-68F
Length: 21 days in primary (added 1 lb of candi syrup on day 5, still active fermentation)
F.G.: TBD