Greetings Pacific Gravity!

Our meeting this month will take place this Thursday, May 18th, 2023 at Tortugo Brewing Co, located at 916 W Hyde Park Blvd, Inglewood, CA 90302.

We will get started about 7:30 PM.

May Monthly Meeting; Thursday 5/18/2023 at 7:30 PM
Tortugo Brewing Co.
916 W. Hyde Park Blvd.
Inglewood, CA 90302
(424) 227-9963

Style of the Month is Specialty Beer:
Brian and Parker will be hosting this month and will be providing a handful of beers from their Bruery Collection. Please feel free to dust off those big beers, strange brews and finally crack those open to share. As always, please ensure that you have a safe ride home, especially with this tasting in mind, High ABV beers await you. All styles are welcome of course but May we will be exploring Specialty beers.

Smog City Monster Brew June 3rd, 2023
Do not forget the Smog City Monster Brew is just about 2 weeks away.

IMPORTANT NOTE: WE HAVE UNTIL MAY 29TH TO GET ENOUGH BATCHES RESERVED. IF WE DON’T RESERVE ENOUGH BATCHES WE MAY HAVE TO CANCEL…AGAIN

PLEASE SIGN UP NOW.

Porter has said we should not restrict to 2 batches per person, so feel free to go nuts. Note – due to a paypal quirk, you will need to sign up multiple times if you want multiple batches.
Don’t miss out – reserve you batch (or batches) now!!
(Details below)

Dues are DUE!!
The end of this month is your last chance to pay due without penalty, so if you have not had a chance yet, please take care of it.
(Details below)

It is gratifying that we have resumed gathering in person, but as always, we encourage and expect everyone will be vigilant about their own health to ensure the groups safety! Please observe all safety precautions and stay home if you do not feel well.

We hope to see you all at our meeting!

Smog City Monster Brew June 3rd
We are just over 2 weeks away from our 8th Monster Brew at Smog City Brewing Company with our gracious host, Brewmaster Porter (and lucky 13th if you count the ones he hosted previously at Tustin!). These events are always an unreasonably huge amount of fun, so please come join us!

Date: Saturday June 3rd, 2023
Time: ~7am Mash-In;
~12pm Fermenter filling
Location:
Smog City Brewing
1901 Del Amo Blvd
Torrance CA 90501
310-320-7664
If you have never participated in one of these Monster Brews, here is how it works:

Order wort ahead of time.
Purchase yeast and any ingredients desired for modification to the wort – I suggest supporting local South Bay Brewing Supply (call ahead to verify stock)
Arrive at the Monster Brew with a clean plastic or metal fermenter (NO GLASS!) which we will fill with UNFERMENTED wort.
Take it home and modify as desired and pitch your yeast
Ferment until ready for bottling or kegging

For this year’s batch, Porter will be using a base wort based on the ever popular Little Bo Pils that will allow for maximum creativity. Consider this your blank slate. For the hop heads, boost up the bitterness with your favorite English or American hop tea to make an awesome IPA, or darken it up with roasted malts to make a porter or stout. Use your imagination to make the most awesome beer ever. Each person will need to pitch a yeast of their choice, add adjuncts to the wort, dry hop in secondary, or do nothing special to it at all. To see the full recipe and for modification ideas, see Carl’s extensive “How Do I Modify My Monster Brew?”

COST and RESERVATIONS
We need a headcount BEFORE the brew session, so we can plan the batch size. You must make a reservation if you want wort. The cost will be $30 for each 5 gallons of wort. You can now order as many batches as you like (though due to a quirk paypal, you will need to sign up for each batch separately). If possible, please pay in advance. If you want wort but cannot attend the event, you may designate a buddy who can attend to collect your wort. (We do not have a delivery service.)

SIGN-UP
You can sign up one of two ways:

Pay now with Paypal. If you do this your reservation is good to go. [“Smog City Monster Brew 2023 Paypal”]
Drop a line to [email protected] saying how many batches you want. Payment will be due on brew day. We will accept payment at the Monster Brew: cash or check and will be accepted – NO CREDIT CARDS (though of course you will still be able to pay via the paypal link/QR code with credit card).

FERMENTERS
Bring a pre-sanitized PLASTIC or STAINLESS STEEL fermenters for each 5-gallon batch you purchase. Absolutely NO GLASS fermenters will be allowed in the brewery due to the risk of breakage. You may bring small glass vessels with yeast or other additions, however. Fermenters must have a wide opening for the filling nozzle. Plastic buckets are ideal, but Cornelius kegs are acceptable. Again, please do not bring any skinny-neck containers – we may not be able to fill it.

If there is wort left over at the end, we will hold a lottery to determine who may purchase an additional 5 gallon allotment. Bring an extra fermenter if you are interested.

WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED
Yeast and any additional ingredients you wish to add to your wort are not included. You can bring your yeast to the brewery, or pitch it at home. We recommend getting your supplies in advance. I suggest purchasing at South Bay Brewing Supply, which is also happens to be near the brewery if you need last-minute supplies on brew day, but of course supplies may be limited, so it’s better to plan ahead!

PARKING
Please park on the WEST side of the building to keep the tap room lot open.
The tap room will be opening to the public at noon.

FOOD
We will have coffee and some light breakfast snacks in the morning. Later on, the food trucks will be setting up in the parking lot. In addition, Porter will be supplying tasting samples of some of his fine brews mid-morning. Cut off time for free pours will be shortly before the tap room opens for business.
REMEMBER TO TIP YOUR BEERTENDER!!!

It’s Time to Do the Dues!
It’s May and that means after our meeting Late Fees kick in for dues. All club members need to pay their dues to keep their membership active until March 2024. Annual dues are $42 for individuals or $63 for couples and are prorated for members who joined the club within the last year.

Keep in mind that your dues are the primary way we fund such club activities as club parties, monthly meetings, club brews and much more. Your paid membership also ensures that you’ll continue to receive the many club benefits available, access to various brewing activities, discounts and information.

There are several ways you can renew your annual dues. Club Treasurer, Craig Corley will be collecting dues at the upcoming May club meeting and other upcoming club events. You can go old school and send Pacific Gravity a check to PO Box 2451, Culver City CA 90231. And for the ultimate in convenience, you can renew your dues online via the PayPal links below:
Individual Membership – Full 1-year Renewal
Couples Membership – Full 1-year Renewal
Prorated Membership – Partial year Renewal

Along with your dues renewal, we need all members to complete a Membership Application/Liability Waiver and in the case of couples memberships, we need this for both members. You can fill out and submit your Membership Application/Liability Waiver at the following link: https://forms.gle/f2xCjNBAp5qoJjFK8

All current club members should have gotten a renewal notice via email detailing their dues renewal amount and member information on file. This is a good opportunity to update our membership records, so please let Craig know of any changes to your member information (address, email, phone, etc) or include changes with your check/renewal form.

For any individual members who might be interested, the couples membership provides full membership status/benefits to both partners of a couple including membership cards, emails, etc. Note that the couples membership is optional, couples can continue with one partner being an individual member and the other being their guest. It’s an additional $21 to upgrade your individual membership to a couples membership and you’ll need to include your partner’s name and email along with your payment.

Have questions about your dues or how much you owe? Check with Craig at the upcoming club meeting or by email at [email protected].

Upcoming Styles of the Month

May – Specialty Beers
June – Pale Beers
July – Summer Party
August – Wheat Beers
September – Festbiers and Amber lagers
October – IPAs
November – Amber and Brown Beers
December – Holiday Party

Upcoming Events

May 29: Signup Deadline Smog city Monster Brew
June 3:: Monster Brew at Smog City! 7am to 1pm
June 15: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company Styles includes any Pale Beers
June 22th – 24th: AHA in San Diego
July 29th – Pacific Gravity Summer Party 2023 – Get Brewing!