Pacific Gravity Reminders: Meeting This Thursday, April 19

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Where: Culver City Homebrew Supply, 4234 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City.
Time: 7:30pm

COMMERCIAL STYLE of the MONTH:   Strong Belgian Ales

As always, we will have some interesting commercial examples.

HOMEBREW STYLE of the MONTH:   All Belgian Beers

Kegs, bottles and growlers welcome.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HOMEBREWERS FESTIVAL:

If you are not going to the fest, but can donate a keg, please bring it to the meeting.  We will return the keg after the fest.

If you would like to be part of the meal plan, please respond to the email I sent last week. Cost is $25 for Friday/Saturday dinner, Saterday/Sunday breakfast.

Meal responders so far:
Ian F
Tim B
Carl T
Michael & Tania M
Brian & Kate W
Eli & Haley B
Joe H
Larry P
Dean S
Ken M
Greg B.

2018 BIG BREW:

Pack up your brewing system and head over to Carl’s place for our annual Big Brew. The first 6 responders to his email (competitions @ pacific gravity . com) are guaranteed a space to set up your rig. Other space will be allotted on an availability basis.  All-grain and extract brewers welcome.

This is your opportunity to see the brew rigs of fellow PG members in action, including the system that Carl uses to brew his award winning beers.

Date: Saturday, May 26.
Place: Carl’s Place (Address to follow)
Time: Carl will start mashing in around 9:30am

If you secure a spot, it would be helpful if you could drop off your equipment the day before.  Arrange a drop off time with Carl (competitions @ pacific gravity . com).

MAKE YOUR OWN JOCKEY-BOX DAY:

This is the event many of you have been waiting for!  You, too, can have your own jockey box, perfect for serving your homebrew at family outings, friends’ houses, or in your own backyard.

Date: Saturday, June 16.
Place: Casa Molloy Event Center (Address to follow)

We will start taking orders for parts (excluding cooler) at the meeting. The parts cost per beer line (stainless steel tube, beer line, clamps, ball lock, tap) range from $47 for a picnic tap system, to $80 for a shank and basic faucet system (forward seal faucets are higher).

SHARE YOUR HOMEBREW:

Please bring some of your home-brew to the meeting.

DUES are DUE.

Dues are $36 per individual, $54 for couples.  If you haven’t paid yet, please do it at the meeting.

NEEDED:  MEETING PLACE

As you know, Culver City Homebrew Supply, our longtime club meeting place, will cease business by the end of May, 2018.  We are looking for a place to hold our monthly club meetings. If you know of a local Westside establishment with a large meeting area where we can share our homebrew, or even if you would like to host meetings in your backyard, please email the board (board @ pacific gravity . com) or talk to one of the board members at Thursday’s meeting.

See you Thursday!

Pacific Gravity News and Reminders: First Friday, Other Stuff

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This Friday (April 6) is First Friday!

Where: El Segundo Brewing Company, 140 Main Street, El Segundo, CA, 90245
Time: 7:30pm

Southern California Homebrew Festival

WE NEED BEER!  If you have a keg you can share with a thousand or so of your fellow brewers from around Central and Southern California, please email me at brewfest @ pacifgravity.com.  Advise with style and keg size. You name will be prominently displayed on our tap list at the fest.

Craft Day:  Make Your Own Jockey Box …

… on a yet-to-be-determined Saturday in June.  We’ll be taking orders for supplies (stainless tubing, vinyl tubing, keg fittings, taps) at the next club meeting (April 19).  You supply the cooler.  More details to follow in the pre-meeting post in a couple of weeks.

DUES are DUE.

March is dues month: $36 per individual, $54 for couples.

 

HAPPY BREWING!

Competition Corner – March 2018

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We are moving into the heavy part of the homebrew competition season, so I hope your beers are ready.  There are a number of deadlines to keep track of.

First of all, the entry submission window for the National Homebrew Competition is now open.  You should have gotten an e-mail from NHC with shipping information to your judging center.  Eric Rosen has volunteered to drive down to San Diego, so if that is your entry site, you can drop off entries at the Culver City shop by 2:00 PM Sunday, March 25th.   If your site is NOT San Diego, you are responsible for shipping off your entries.   Shipped entries must be received by March 30th.  Two bottles are needed for the first round.  If your beer advances to the finals, you will need three more bottles.

Rapidly approaching is the Los Angeles Belgian Brew Challenge.  We still need entries, judges and stewards.  Read more →

Pacific Gravity Reminders: Meeting This Thursday, Mar 15

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Where: Culver City Homebrew Supply, 4234 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City.
Time: 7:30pm

COMMERCIAL STYLE of the MONTH:   Irish and Dark British Beers

As always, we will have some interesting commercial examples.

HOMEBREW STYLE of the MONTH:   Irish and Dark British Beers

Kegs, bottles and growlers welcome.

OTHER NEWS:

We will be updating our plans for upcoming activities including:

FEBRUARY KEGS:

Thanks to the following members for bringing kegs to the February meeting:

  • Parker W.:  Oaked Brown
  • Tim B. / Ian F. Collaboration: Smoked Lager
  • Michael & Tania M:  Pils

SHINY KEG AWARD:

  • Ruben S.:  Imperial Red Ale

SHARE YOUR HOMEBREW:

Please bring some of your home-brew to the meeting.

DUES are DUE.

March is dues month: $36 per individual, $54 for couples.  If you haven’t paid yet, please do it at the meeting.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL HOMEBREW SUPPLY SHOP!

Culver City Homebrew Supply offers a discount to Pacific Gravity members, and an additional discount on meeting night? Getting ready for a brew day?  Need some equipment?  Save a couple of dollars and purchase your supplies and ingredients at Thursday’s meeting.

See you Thursday!

Pacific Gravity Reminders: First Friday, Monster Brew

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This Friday (March 2) is First Friday!

First Friday will be held at our traditional March F.F. site:

Where: Irish Times, 3267 Motor Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034
Time: 7:30pm

This Saturday (March 3) is Monster Brew Saturday!

Don’t miss out on a chance to see a 15-barrel batch of beer brewed up close, taste some of Jon Porter’s excellent creations, and take home your own 5-gallon batch to modify as you see fit. See 2018 Monster Brew for more details.

Southern California Homebrew Festival

We still have some camping slots available.  See Southern California Homebrew Festival for details.

DUES are DUE.

March is dues month: $36 per individual, $54 for couples.

 

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL HOMEBREW SUPPLY SHOP!

 

2018 LABBC Registration is LIVE!

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Hey PG!

I’m excited to announce that registration is officially OPEN for our 4th year of this very special comp. You can find all the information you need about the event on the competition website:  http://belgianbrewchallenge.com

Entry Fee: $8 per entry

Entry Requirements: (2) 12 oz bottles with entry label rubber banded to bottle

Registration Window: 2/23/18 thru 3/29/18    Entry Drop-off Window: 3/12/18 thru 3/29/18

Entry Drop-off Locations:
LA Ale Works, Culver City Homebrew Supply, South Bay Brewing Supply, The Home Wine, Beer and Cheesemaking Shop, and Eagle Rock Homebrew Supply.

Entry Shipping Location:

Culver City Homebrew Supply
4234 Sepulveda Blvd
Culver City, CA 90230
[email protected]

Judging: April 8th, 2018 @ LA Ale Works

As always, volunteer judges and stewards are needed. Please indicate if you are interested in and available for either job during registration.

Looking forward to an exciting and fun competition, thank you for participating!  Reply back with any questions you have, I’ll do my best to get you answers.

Michael Musgrave – President

Reminder: Pacific Gravity Meeting This Thursday, Feb 15

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Where: Culver City Homebrew Supply, 4234 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City.
Time: 7:30pm
Homebrew Style of the Month: Browns, Ambers, Reds, and California Common.

We will be updating our plans for upcoming activities including:

AND … introducing, in our raffle, a Junior Beer Judge Testing Kit!

We will have some interesting commercial examples of our style of the month.  Please bring some home-brew to share, too.

DUES are DUE.

March is dues month: $36 per individual, $54 for couples.  Feel free to pay your fees early at the February meeting.

EXTRA HOMEBREW SUPPLY DISCOUNT!

Did you know that Culver City Homebrew Supply offers an additional discount on meeting night? Getting ready for a brew day?  Need some equipment?  Save a couple of dollars and purchase your supplies and ingredients at Thursday’s meeting.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL HOMEBREW SUPPLY SHOP!

See you at the meeting!

MONSTER BREW, MARCH 3: RESERVE YOUR WORT NOW!

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There are just a couple of days left for Pacific Gravity members to reserve Monster Brew wort.  We will be reaching out to the other homebrewers clubs in the area on Saturday, February 10, 2018.

To reserve a 5-gallon batch or two, send an email to Tim Bardet: [email protected]

For more details, click here.

Deadline for AFC Homebrew Competition Thursday Noon 2/8 at the Culver City Shop

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Thanks to a generous offer by the Musgrave family, we will have personal hand-delivery service for America’s Finest City (AFC) Homebrew Competition.  Drop off your entries at the Culver City shop no later than Noon Thursday, Feb 8th.    If you haven’t already registered for AFC, registration is open at http://quaff.org/AFC-2018/#.   The Musgraves get to sample a couple of beers at Alesmith for their efforts.

A big thank-you to Keith Edie for stepping up to the plate to organize the Los Angeles Belgian Brew Challenge.  Look for fresh details on this competition in the next week or so.

For those of you who requested entry slots for AHA, you should be getting word in the next day or so as to how many entry slots you will have.  Your entry authorization and payment must be done by February 14th.  Physical entries will need to be shipped off to the regional entry point of your choice by the last week of March.  For those of you wishing to send beer to San Diego, we will be looking for a driver.

Coming up earlier than usual this year is the California State Fair.  Registration is already up and runs through February 12th at http://home.castatefair.beer/.  Entries can be dropped off of the Eagle Rock or South Bay Brew shops.

A new competition we are adding to the Brewer of the Year cycle is the Jeff Sanders Memorial Competition.  This is a small event run by Strand with a selection of beer styles enjoyed by Jeff.  Registration begins January 26th and runs through April 7th.  Details can be found at http://www.jeffsandersmemorial.com/bcoem/ .  The competition is limited to 100 entries, so don’t delay.

The balance of the official list of competitions for accumulating Brewer of the Year points is listed below.  Check back frequently as exact dues dates become known.

For those of you who are hard-core about entering competitions, here are some more local events. In addition to our official competition list, there are a couple of other local competitions you might want to enter:

  • Congratulations to Kingsley Toby who got Runner-up Best of Show for “Second Sleep” wood-aged beer in the Doug King Memorial competition.
  • The Romancing the Beer Competition, hosted  by the Thousand Oaked Homebrewers need judges Saturday Feb 10th.

If you are hard-core competition junkie, there are a bazillion other contests to enter.  The AHA has their master list at http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/competitions/aha-bjcp-sanctioned-competition/.

2018 Pacific Gravity Brewer of the Year Competition Schedule

Now:                    America’s Finest City registration open

February 8th      NOON Drop- off for AFC at the Culver City shop.

February 12        California State Fair

February 14       AHA Nationals confirmation deadline

Late March:        AHA Nationals entries due

March, TBD:       Los Angeles Belgian Brew Challenge

April 7:                  Deadline for the Jeff Sanders Memorial Competition

April                       Mayfaire
July                        Los Angeles County Fair
September         Pacific Brewers Cup
October              California State Homebrew Competition

 

 

 

First Friday at Smog City

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February’s PG First Friday is almost here.  Please join us on Friday February 2 at Smog City Brewing.  We’ll get started at the usual 7pm, so come on down and see what Jon Porter & Co have on tap.  Smog City has long been a strong supporter of Pacific Gravity.  A visit to their taproom with the PG gang is a great way to return the favor.  Hope to see you there.

 

 

Smog City Brewing

1901 Del Amo Blvd., Suite B
Torrance
http://smogcitybrewing.com/

 

 

Other Upcoming PG Events:

February Club Meeting @ CCHBS – Thu Feb 15
Monster Brew @ Smog City – Sat March 3