Pacific Gravity Club Meeting Thursday, June 20th at Tortugo Brewery

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Howdy Ho Pacific Gravity!

Our club meeting this week will be at usual time and place:

June Monthly Meeting; Thursday 6/20/2024 at 7:30 PM
Tortugo Brewing Co.
916 W. Hyde Park Blvd.
Inglewood,  CA  90302
(424) 227-9963

Our Style Of The Month for June is Sour, Smoked and Wood Aged beers – please bring your home-brewed works of art to share!

Carl will be collecting competition entries for the Red White and Brews competition Read more →

Another Far-Field Opportunity

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If you missed out on our visit to Far Field Brewery, or just didn’t get enough, here is another opportunity.  Contact Jay Ankeney by Tuesday (6/18) if you want beer delivered by the Pony Keg Express distribution system.  Or join them at 5PM Friday 6/21 at the brewery.
Jay Ankeney, at jayankeney@mac.com
Or call at 310-343-867

–Carl

Next Friday, 6/21/24, the Maltose Falcons will be hosting their Zoom conference Happy Hour with Far Field brewery. Since this is in our neck of the woods, it would be great if members of Pacific Gravity could join in.  As usual,

Read more →

First Saturday at Far Field Beer Company

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As we mentioned at the last club meeting, our “First Friday” this month will instead be held this Saturday 6/8 at Noon at Far Field Beer Company in Lawndale.

Time:       Saturday, June 8, 2024 12 pm.
Location: Far Field Beer Company
4471 W Rosecrans Avenue
Lawndale, CA 90250

Founder James and Head Brewer Bryce have about 20 taps of fairly wide variety of styles.  They have a few vintage video games and should have a food truck.

Hope to see you there!

We hope you can join us!
Parker Waechter, President Pacific Gravity

Competition Corner – June 2024

The 2024 Brewer of the Year competition cycle is now underway.  So, get those brewpots going while the fermentation weather is still on the cool side.

Judging for the first round of the National Homebrew Competition this weekend in San Diego.  Assuming your entries make it to the second round, the final round shipping deadline runs from July 29 to August 9.  Awards will be announced at the Great American Beer Festival on October 10th.

California State Fair.  Congratulations to Craig Corley for a first-place ribbon for his Belgian Pale Ale 292 – Mb24 – Bpa (wow, what a mouthful.)  Congratulations to Carl Townsend for his first-place ribbon for Belgian Monastic Single.  Full results are at  https://castatefairhomebrew.brewcomp.site/

July:  Long Beach Red White and Brews competition.  Registration is now open at  http://www.longbeachhomebrewers.com/comp/rwb/bcoem/  This competition focuses on 30 different American styles.  Entries are due no later than June 28.  If you bring your entries to the June club meeting (June 20th), I’ll ferry them down to Steinfillers.

??:  If we hear that the County Fair competition is revived, (not likely) it is still included in the competition cycle.

September – Pacific Brewers Cup.  We are running the competition this year, so there will be much more info to come.  Key dates:

·         September 5th  Entry deadline,

·         September 7th Entry organizing

·         September 21st Main judging session at Tortugo Brewery.

October California State Competition.  This will be the last competition of the 2024 Brewer of the Year season.

Thanks
Carl Townsend
Competition Coordinator

Upcoming Styles of the Month

  • June 2024 – Sour beers, smoked beers, and wood-aged beers
  • July 2024 – IPAs
  • August 2024 – No style of the month (Summer Party)
  • September 2024 – German and Czech beers
  • October 2024 – Alternative fermentables beers (using sugars and/or grains other than malted barley)
  • November 2024 – Fruit/spice beers, meads, and ciders/berries
  • December 2024 – No style of the month (Holiday Party)

Upcoming Events

  • June 8: Saturday at Far Field Beer Company
  • June 20: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company – Style: sour, smoked and wood-aged beers
  • July 5: First Friday – Richmond Bar and Grill
  • Aug 2: First Friday – Summer Party Setup at Dean’s
  • Aug 3 – Pacific Gravity Summer Party 2024!

>

Pacific Gravity Club Meeting Thursday, May 16th at Tortugo Brewery

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Greetings Pacific Gravity! 

Welcome to a marvelous May!  Our club meeting this week will be at usual time and place:

May Monthly Meeting; Thursday 5/16/2024 at 7:30 PM
Tortugo Brewing Co.
916 W. Hyde Park Blvd.
Inglewood,  CA  90302
(424) 227-9963

Our Style Of The Month for May is Dark/Black  beers – so please bring some of your interesting high SRM creations to share!

 

The Southern California Homebrewers Festival was well attended and definitely met expectations for fun, comradery and of course the opportunity to sample lots of quality home-brews from our peers at dozens of clubs.  Carl and Tom did great work getting the booth setup, torn down and transported.  Ian overcame some adversity of freeway-escaped equipment to still create excellent meals, along with the help of Tim, who turns out is an excellent substitute for the wok stand and lots of general help.  Tim and Dean did lots of work helping streamline the creation and cleanup on the meals.  Brett on guitar is a perennial favorite around the campfire.  And of course a massive thanks to Terry who is the one who organizes this whole thing for us and make sure we get the awesome campsites – not to mention being the one to go to the serving meeting early so others don’t have to!  Strand participated closely with us this year and were a great addition to the taps booth, help around camp and fireside conversation!

Our First Friday for June is planned for 6/7 at Far Field Beer Company.
See you all this Thurs 5/16 at Tortugo!!

Parker Waechter – President, Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

Competition Corner May 2024

The 2024 Brewer of the Year competition cycle is now underway.  So, get those brewpots going while the fermentation weather is still on the cool side.

I hope you got your entries registered for the American Homebrewers Association National Homebrew Competition.  Entry shipping drop-off runs from May 13th, 2024 to May 22nd, 2024, assuming you are sending them to San Diego.  We do not have a driver, so you have to ship your entries.  If you are sending then elsewhere, please check the listings, dates may vary.  Assuming your entries make it to the second round, the final round shipping deadline runs from July 29 to August 9.   October 10: Awards will be announced at the Great American Beer Festival on October 10th.

April – Mayfaire Competition.  Congrats to Craig Corley who scored a 2nd place ribbon for his wheatbier, SA7  GM Wheat Weissbier, and a 3rd place for Single #5,  Belgian Single.  Full result can be found at https://competitions.maltosefalcons.com/2024Mayfaire/

April/May – California State Fair.  The entry deadline has passed, and all the entries brought to my attention were delivered to Angel City Brewery for shipment to Sacramento.  Judging will be conducted the third week of May in Sacramento.  Results will be posted at  https://castatefairhomebrew.brewcomp.site/

July:  Long Beach Red White and Brews competition.  This competition focuses on 30 different American styles.  Look for details in the next month or so.

??:  If we hear that the County Fair competition is revived, (not likely) it is still included in the competition cycle.

September – Pacific Brewers Cup.  We are running the competition this year, so there will be much more info to come.  Key dates:

·         September 5th  Entry deadline,

·         September 7th Entry organizing

·         September 21st Main judging session at Tortugo Brewery.

October California State Competition.  This will be the last competition of the 2024 Brewer of the Year season.

Upcoming Styles of the Month

  • May 2024 – Dark/black beers
  • June 2024 – Sour beers, smoked beers, and wood-aged beers
  • July 2024 – IPAs
  • August 2024 – No style of the month (Summer Party)
  • September 2024 – German and Czech beers
  • October 2024 – Alternative fermentables beers (using sugars and/or grains other than malted barley)
  • November 2024 – Fruit/spice beers, meads, and ciders/berries
  • December 2024 – No style of the month (Holiday Party)

Upcoming Events

  • May 16: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company – Style: Dark/black beers
  • June 7: First Friday at Far Field Beer Company

First Saturday April 6 at Two Coast Brewery

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Greetings Pacific Gravity!

Sorry for the late notice for anyone not at the meeting last Thursday, but the “First Friday” this month will be a First Saturday at Two Coast Brewing in Gardena tomorrow at 1pm.  The Richmond Bar and grill that was originally planned for tonight will happen at a future date.

Two Coast Brewing FIRST SATURDAY Tomorrow April 6 at 1pm!

 

For April’s First Friday, we will instead be doing a FIRST SATURDAY at Two Coast Brewery in Gardena -Please join us!

Time: Saturday, April 6, 2024 1 pm.
Location: Two Coast
14928 S. FIGUEROA ST.
GARDENA, CA 90248

Two Coast is a really interesting brewery founded by 2 guys from Hamburg.  They are extremely dedicated to traditional German beer – this will definitely not be a day of triple IPAs and “Waffles with Maple Syrup and Blueberries with a Side of Bacon and Cinnamon Rye Toast Stout”.

Tomm Carroll has arranged for them to open an hour early for us (1pm) and for the brewer to be there to answer questions and do a brief brewery tour. Thanks, Tomm!

We hope you can join us!
Parker Waechter, President Pacific Gravity

Competition Corner – Judges Needed for Special Beer Judging April 10

At 6PM Wednesday, April 10th, Tomm Carroll is organizing a preliminary judging session for the Mayfaire Homebrew Competition.  The 2024 competition has maxed out its entry count at 400, and they are setting up multiple satellite venues to get all the judging done.  The competition features the entire BJCP category list, including Meads and Ciders.  The Falcons have often helped us with various Pacific Gravity competitions, so it would be good if we can return the favor.

If you can help out, please contact Tomm Carroll directly.  Tomm’s contact info is:
tommixx@earthlink.net
(310) 502-2725
7643 Truxton Ave
LA, CA  90045

Full details of the competition can be found at
https://competitions.maltosefalcons.com/2024Mayfaire/  If you are a registered judge, please sign up here as a judge to make sure you get experience points.  Satellite sessions are also being held April 8, 9, 10 and 11 at various other locations.  The main judging session will be in our neighborhood at Santa Monica Brew Works, Saturday morning April 13th at 8AM.Thanks
Carl Townsend
Competition Coordinator

Upcoming Styles of the Month

  • April 2024 – Pale beers
  • May 2024 – Dark/black beers
  • June 2024 – Sour beers, smoked beers, and wood-aged beers
  • July 2024 – IPAs
  • August 2024 – No style of the month (Summer Party)
  • September 2024 – German and Czech beers
  • October 2024 – Alternative fermentables beers (using sugars and/or grains other than malted barley)
  • November 2024 – Fruit/spice beers, meads, and ciders/berries
  • December 2024 – No style of the month (Holiday Party)

Upcoming Events

It’s Time to Do the Dues!

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It’s March and that means its time for our annual Pacific Gravity membership dues collection.  All club members need to pay their dues to keep their membership active until March 2025.  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 March 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: https://py.pl/1Q1IAw

Couples Membership – Full 1-year Renewal: https://py.pl/1yST5g

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 March club meeting or by email at Treasurer@PacificGravity.com.

Firestone Friday March 1 and Smog City Monster Brew March 9

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Greetings Pacific Gravity! 

There are 2 fun events coming up within the next 2 weeks.  Our First Friday for March is this Friday, 3/1 and will be held at Firestone Walker Propagator which is always a good time, and our Monster Brew at Smog City will be held next Saturday 3/9.  Read below for details!

Firestone Walker Propagator First Friday this Friday!

For March’s First Friday, we will be back to something local and descend upon Firestone Walker Propagator in Venice – Please Join us!

Time:        Friday, March 1, 2024 7:00pm
Location: Firestone Walker Propagator
3205 Washington Blvd.
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
Phone: (310) 439.8264

They always have a wide selection of different styles available for tasting including sours, stouts, some barrel aged things and yes, even some IPAs…
Their food is also quite good, so it should be the full First-Friday experience!

We hope to see you there!

Monster Brew 2024 at Smog City – Sign Up Now!

Porter has once again graciously offered to host a monster brew at Smog City Brewing Company.  This will be our 8th Monster Brew with Brewmaster, Jon Porter (and lucky 13th if you count the ones he hosted previously, going all the way back to his days at Tustin Brewing!).  These events are always a highlight of the year’s activities and an unreasonably huge amount of fun, so please come out and join us!

Date:  Saturday, March 9, 2024
Sign-Up Deadline: Mon March 4
Time:  ~7:00 AM Mash-In
~12pm Fermenter Filling
Location:  Smog City Brewery 1901 Del Amo Blvd, Torrance, CA 90501

If you have never participated in a Monster Brew, here is how it works:

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

COST and RESERVATIONS
We need a headcount WELL BEFORE the brew session, so we can plan the batch size.  The cost will be $35 for each 5 gallons of wort and you can order as many batches as you like  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:

1. Pay now with Paypal with https://py.pl/2M8HyzSGODw.  If you do this your reservation is good to go.
2. Drop a line to treasurer@pacificgravity.com 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 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!!!

We hope to see you all there!

Competition Corner March 2024

The 2024 Brewer of the Year competition cycle is now underway.  So get those brewpots going while the fermentation weather is still on the cool side.

First up is the American Homebrewers Association National Homebrew Competition. The entry  process has been updated this year, with some significant deadline changes:

• Feb 27 – March 15: Entry registration and payment.  You must be an AHA member to enter.
• March 29: – deadline for entry changes
• May-June: Shipping and judging of first Round
• July 29 – August 9: Final Round Shipping/Drop-off Window (San Diego)
• August 17 – 24: Final Round Judging
• October 10: Award Ceremony at Great American Beer Festival

March – Mayfaire Competition.  Entry registration will open on March 1st at https://competitions.maltosefalcons.com/2024Mayfaire/  Entries are due by March 29th. South Bay Brewing Supply is the closest drop-off point.    If you bring your entries to the March club meeting on March 21, I’ll run them up to the valley.

April/May/June – California State Fair. Look for details in the next month or so.

As we enter the summer months, we do not foresee a revival of the Los Angeles County Fair. Instead, we have added the Long Beach Red White and Brews competition.  This competition focuses on 30 different American styles.  But, please note, if we do hear that the County Fair competition is revived, it is still included in the competition cycle.

September – Pacific Brewers Cup.  We are running the competition this year, so there will be much more info to come.  We will need quite a bit of volunteer help as well.

October – California State Competition.  This will be the last competition of the 2024 Brewer of the Year season.

Upcoming Styles of the Month

  • January – Winter beers
  • February – Belgian beers
  • March  – British Isle beers
  • April 2024 – Pale beers
  • May 2024 – Dark/black beers
  • June 2024 – Sour beers, smoked beers, and wood-aged beers
  • July 2024 – IPAs
  • August 2024 – No style of the month (Summer Party)
  • September 2024 – German and Czech beers
  • October 2024 – Alternative fermentables beers (using sugars and/or grains other than malted barley)
  • November 2024 – Fruit/spice beers, meads, and ciders/berries
  • December 2024 – No style of the month (Holiday Party)

Upcoming Events

  • March 1: First Friday at Firestone Walker Brewing
  • March 9: Monster Brew
  • March 21: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company – Style: British Isle Beers

Pacific Gravity Club Meeting Thursday, February 15th at Tortugo Brewery

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Greetings Pacific Gravity,

Welcome to a fabulous February!

Our club meeting this week  will be at usual time and place:

February Monthly Meeting; Thursday 2/15/2024 at 7:30 PM
Tortugo Brewing Co.
916 W. Hyde Park Blvd.
Inglewood,  CA  90302
(424) 227-9963
Our Style Of The Month for February is Belgian beers – so please bring your superior singles, delightful dubbels, terrific triples and quintessential quads to share!

A good time was had by all who attended February’s “First Saturday” at Stuffed Sandwich.  Marlene was a terrific host as always, had a fun vertical tasting surprise in store (Also special thanks to the anonymous club member who helped make that happen – you know who you are!!).

Now we are looking forward to our March First Friday at Firestone Walker Brewing in Venice on Friday March 1!”

And let’s not forget the Monster Brew at Smog City on Saturday March 9! Please be sure and sign up early and often so we can make this event happen! If we fail to hit critical mass, this event may be canceled – PLEASE SIGN UP NOW!! (details below)

But wait, there’s more!  The Southern California Homebrewers Festival is coming up May 3 & 4 at Vail Lake near Temecula.  There are still some slots available for tent campers – If you would  like to attend, please let Terry know ASAP to reserve your spot.  I went for the first time last year, and I gotta say, it really lived up to the hype – a huge amount of fun camping with the club (and meeting other clubs) and attending the massive festival with more homebrew taps than I have ever conceived of!

See you all Thurs 2/15 at Tortugo!!

Parker Waechter
President
Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

Upcoming Styles of the Month

  • January – Winter beers
  • February – Belgian beers
  • March  – British Isle beers
  • April 2024 – Pale beers
  • May 2024 – Dark/black beers
  • June 2024 – Sour beers, smoked beers, and wood-aged beers
  • July 2024 – IPAs
  • August 2024 – No style of the month (Summer Party)
  • September 2024 – German and Czech beers
  • October 2024 – Alternative fermentables beers (using sugars and/or grains other than malted barley)
  • November 2024 – Fruit/spice beers, meads, and ciders/berries
  • December 2024 – No style of the month (Holiday Party)

Upcoming Events

  • February 15: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company – Style: Belgian Beer
  • March 1: First Friday at Firestone Walker Brewing
  • March 9: Monster Brew

Monster Brew 2024 at Smog City – Sign Up Now!

Porter has once again graciously offered to host a monster brew at Smog City Brewing Company.  This will be our 8th Monster Brew with Brewmaster, Jon Porter (and lucky 13th if you count the ones he hosted previously, going all the way back to his days at Tustin Brewing!).  These events are always a highlight of the year’s activities and an unreasonably huge amount of fun, so please come out and join us!

Date:  Saturday, March 9, 2024
Sign-Up Deadline: Mon March 4
Time:  ~7:00 AM Mash-In
~12pm Fermenter Filling
Location:  Smog City Brewery 1901 Del Amo Blvd, Torrance, CA 90501

If you have never participated in a Monster Brew, here is how it works:

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

COST and RESERVATIONS
We need a headcount WELL BEFORE the brew session, so we can plan the batch size.  You must make a reservation by Monday 3/4 if you want wort.  The cost will be $35 for each 5 gallons of wort and you can order as many batches as you like  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:

1. Pay now with Paypal with https://py.pl/2M8HyzSGODw.  If you do this your reservation is good to go.
2. Drop a line to treasurer@pacificgravity.com 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 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!!!

We hope to see you all there!

Competition Corner February 2024

  • February – America’s Finest City  https://beerawardsplatform.com/afc-2024
    • Missed the entry window – capped at 500 entries
  • February – Start of AHA NHC Process
    • Feb 27 – March 15 Entry registration and payment
    • March 29 – deadline for entry changes
    • May-June Shipping and judging of first Round
    •  July 29 – August 9: Final Round Shipping/Drop-off Window (San Diego)
    • August 17 – 24: Final Round Judging
    • October 10: Award Ceremony at Great American Beer Festival
  • April – Mayfaire Competition  No info yet, but almost certain to happen
  • May/June  State Fair.
    • See if Angel City is a drop-off again
  • May –  County Fair? Unlikely
  • Replace Co Fair with Long Beach Red White and Brews?
    • American beers, 30 different styles
  • September – Pacific Brewers Cup
    •  We are running it in 2024 – Need to get plans in place
  • October California State Competition

Copyright © 2024 Pacific Gravity, All rights reserved.

Stuffed Sandwich Trip, Monster Brew, Competitions

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Greetings Pacific Gravity!

There are two great events coming up that you will not want to miss.  We will be having our First Saturday next weekend at Stuffed Sandwich next Saturday 2/3 and a Monster Brew at Smog City on Saturday 3/9.  Read below for details on each!

Stuffed Sandwich FIRST SATURDAY this coming weekend!!

For February’s First Friday, we will instead be partaking of an epic FIRST SATURDAY at Stuffed Sandwich in San Gabriel -Please join us!

Time: Saturday, February 3, 2024 12 noon.
Location: Stuffed Sandwich
1145 East Las Tunas Dr.
San Gabriel,  CA  91776  (626) 285-9161

Marlene’s featured theme for February will be “Barlywines and Strong Ales” – this of course means very high alcohol.  Please make your travel plans accordingly! Carpooling with a designated driver, public transport, or sharing a ride-share can be a  good strategy…

Stuffed Sandwich is part of our local beer history as it specialized in craft beer before it was even called craft beer.  In addition to the great beers they will have on tap, they always have a disturbingly excellent collection of bottles for sale.

———————————————————–

Monster Brew ’24 at Smog City – SIGN UP NOW!

Porter has once again graciously offered to host a monster brew at Smog City Brewing Company.  This will be our 8th Monster Brew with Brewmaster, Jon Porter (and lucky 13th if you count the ones he hosted previously, going all the way back to his days at Tustin Brewing!).  These events are always a highlight of the year’s activities and an unreasonably huge amount of fun, so please come out and join us!

Date:  Saturday, March 9, 2024
Sign-Up Deadline: Mon March 4
Time:  ~7:00 AM Mash-In
~12pm Fermenter Filling
Location:  Smog City Brewery 1901 Del Amo Blvd, Torrance, CA 90501

If you have never participated in a Monster Brew, here is how it works:

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

COST and RESERVATIONS
We need a headcount WELL BEFORE the brew session, so we can plan the batch size.  You must make a reservation by Monday 3/4 if you want wort.  The cost will be $35 for each 5 gallons of wort and you can order as many batches as you like  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:

1. Pay now with Paypal with https://py.pl/2M8HyzSGODw.  If you do this your reservation is good to go.
2. Drop a line to treasurer@pacificgravity.com 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 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!!!

We hope to see you all there!

Parker Waechter, President Pacific Gravity

Competition Corner January 2024

Greetings fellow homebrewers.  I hope your year is starting out well.  Personally, I’m taking advantage of the cool weather and have a “garage lager” in the fermenter.

With the beginnings of a new year, everybody in the club is tied for the 2024 Brewer of the Year award!  Now is you chance to pull into the lead. Here is the rundown on the 2024 cycle:

  • America’s Finest City:  Whoops, already full!  I was stunned to see this 500-entry competition was full before I even had the date.
  • AHA National Homebrew Competition:  AHA has revamped the schedule this year, so advance brewing and planning is needed to pull this off.  Details can be found at https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/national-homebrew-competition/ .  Entry requests open February 27th and close March 15th.  First round entries need to be shipped off in May or June.  If you advance to the finals, second round entries are due in Dan Diego by August 9th, with judging the 3rd week of August.  Final results will be presented at the Great American Beer Festival in October.
  • April – Mayfaire Competition
  • May/June  State Fair
  • May – July:- LA County Fair seems to be history.  If things change, I’ll have an update.
  • July:  Red, White and Brews.  We decided to add this competition to the cycle this year since the LA County Fair left a gap in the schedule.  Run by Long Beach Homebrewers, this competition focuses on various American Styles.
  • September:  Pacific Brewers Cup.  Pacific Gravity is running the competition this year, so we’ll need all hands on deck. More about this in the months to come.
  • October:  California State Competition

If you want to get some competition practice in, there are many other competitions out there.  Check out https://www.bjcp.org/competitions/competition-calendar/ for the full schedule.

Carl Townsend
Competition Coordinator

Upcoming Styles of the Month

  • February – Belgian beers
  • March  – British Isle beers

Upcoming Events

  • February 3: First Saturday Stuffed Sandwich
  • February 15: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company – Style: Belgian Beer
  • March 9: Monster Brew Smog City Brewing

Club Meeting Thursday, January 18th at Tortugo Brewery

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Greetings Pacific Gravity! Happy New Year!

I hope you all enjoyed and have recovered from your holiday festivities!

Next week will be our first club meeting of the new year at usual time and place:

January Monthly Meeting; Thursday 1/18/2024 at 7:30 PM
Tortugo Brewing Co.
916 W. Hyde Park Blvd.
Inglewood,  CA  90302
(424) 227-9963
Our Style Of The Month is Winter Beers, so break out your winter warmers and spiced what-nots for everyone to enjoy and learn from.

We look forward to kicking off the new year right!

To that end, February’s “First Saturday” will be at the Stuffed Sandwich on Feb 3 and Marlene’s theme of the month will be “Barleywines and Strong Ales”.  Details will be coming in a future email.

Also, the Southern California Homebrewers Festival is coming up May 3 & 4 at Vail Lake near Temecula.  If you would like to camp, please make sure you let Terry know by this Monday 1/15 so he can make sure we reserve a space for you when he meets with the committee next week.  I went for the first time last year, and I gotta say, it really lived up to the hype – a huge amount of fun camping with the club (and meeting other clubs) and attending the massive festival with more homebrew taps than I have ever conceived of.

See you all next Thurs 1/18 at Tortugo!!

Parker Waechter
President
Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

Upcoming Styles of the Month

  • January – Winter beers
  • February – Belgian beers
  • March  – British Isle beers

Upcoming Events

  • January 15: Deadline to Reserve your Southern California Homebrewfest campsite with Terry
  • January 18: Club meeting at Torgugo Brewing Company Style Winter Beer
  • February 3: First Saturday Stuffed Sandwich
  • February 15: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company – Style: Belgian Beer
  • Feb 16 – Feb 29th: Entries due for America’s Finest City Competition  in San Diego