Ahh, I love the cool winter months where I actually have to keep by beer WARM to ferment well.  My mash tun does double duty this time of year, keeping the fermenter warm with the help of a small submersible aquarium heater.

We have a bunch of competition dates coming up sooner than I had thought, so take note.

TODAY is the last day to apply for entry slots to the AHA Nationals.  You must be an AHA member, in which case you should have gotten a personal notice (well, actually an automated message) with the application details.   Your entry authorization and payment must be done by February 15^th.  Physical entries will need to be shipped off by the last week of February.  Like last year, we will be asking for a volunteer to drive them down to San Diego.  Drop me a line at Competitions AT pacificGravity.com if you can make the trip.  We’ll reimburse you gas money.

Next up, surprisingly enough is the California State Fair.  On-line registration is open now and runs only until February 11^th.   Physical entries can be dropped off from February 13^th through the 19^th  at the Eagle Rock Homebrewing Supply Co or South Bay Brew Supply.  Do NOT leave entries at the Culver City shop.

Judging for America’s Finest City (AFC) Homebrew Competition has been completed.  Check back soon for results at  https://quaff.org/AFC-2017/ .

Next up on the radar is the 3^rd annual Belgian Brew Challenge.  Entries will be due on March 17th, with judging on March 26^th.   Look for more details from Brian on this competition for volunteering, stewarding and judging opportunities  at http://belgianbrewchallenge.com/.   Best of show this year will be brewed at Los Angeles Ale Works.    Speaking of volunteering, we will be running Pacific Brewers Cup this September and will need everyone’s support.  The balance of the official list of competitions for accumulating Brewer of the Year is listed below.  Check back frequently as exact dues dates become known.

For those of you who can help out with other competitions, the Romancing the Beer Competition needs judges Monday Feb 6^th and Saturday Feb 11^th.

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/.

2017 Pacific Gravity Brewer of the Year Competition Schedule

February 5th:     AHA Nationals Pre-registration

February 11^th     California State Fair on-line registration deadline

February 15th:     AHA Nationals registration and payment

February 19^th     California State Fair Entry Drop off

Late February:   AHA Nationals entries due

March 17th:       Drop-off deadline for Los Angeles Belgian Brew Challenge

March 26^th:         Judging for Los Angeles Belgian Brew Challenge

April                     Mayfaire

July                       Los Angeles County Fair

September          Pacific Brewers Cup

October               California State Homebrew Competition

Well, a new year is upon us as well as a fresh brewing competition season.  I hope you took advantage of the cool weather over the holiday season to get some batches fermenting.  I did!   We have a couple of competitions coming up right away, but you still have plenty of cool weather to brew for some of the later upcoming competitions.  Each year, Pacific Gravity honors the brewer (or team) with the most homebrew competition wins from the list shown below.

Coming up quickly are the America’s Finest City (AFC) Homebrew Competition, hosted by QUAFF, and the AHA Nationals Competition.  Registration for AFC is already open at https://quaff.org/AFC-2017/ .  Entries are due at Alesmith Brewery by Wednesday, January 25^th.  Like last year, we will be asking for a volunteer to drive them down to San Diego.  Drop me a line at Competitions AT PacificGravity.com if you can make the trip.  We’ll reimburse you gas money. For AHA, you must be an AHA member and need to sign up for your entry slots, between the dates of January 30 – February 5, 2017.  Your entry authorization and payment must be done by February 15^th.  Physical entries will need to be shipped off by the last week of February.  Again, we’ll need a driver. Read more →