Membership Dues Collection

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The month of March is dues collection time for Pacific Gravity.  Annual membership dues are $30.  For those of you who have joined the club within the past year, a prorated amount will be due to get you paid up through March 2014.  Dues will be collected at the March 21 club meeting.   Your dues can also be dropped off at Culver City Home Brewing Supply or mailed to club at P.O. Box 2451, Culver City, CA 90230.  Please note, as part of the process of getting the club formally incorporated, we will be asking all members to sign a liability waiver.  Copies of these waivers will be available at the club meeting and at the shop.  All members should have recently received an email with the following:  dues amount owed, a copy of the waiver form and a recap of your contact info (address, etc., should anything need to be updated).  Please contact me with any questions at Treasurer@PacificGravity.com.

7 Weeks to Ojai – Call For Campers and Beer

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We are now less than 7 weeks away from the Southern California Homebrewers Festival, when Pacific Gravity takes over Owl Court at Lake Casitas and celebrates the local homebrewing scene.

This year’s Homebrew Fest weekend is May 3 – 5.

To get in to the festival and related events, you must be a member of the California Homebrewers Association. Go to www.calhomebrewers.org to sign up. Membership cost is $45 through the end of March, then $50 through May 2nd. Memberships will be sold through May 2nd, or until they reach capacity, whichever occurs first. Memberships will NOT be sold at the festival site.

The cost for camping at Owl Court is $20 for the weekend. For an additional $25, you can take part in the P.G. Food Plan, which will include Friday and Saturday dinners, along with Saturday and Sunday breakfasts.

If you are going to attend and stay with us at Owl Court, please send me an email at SCHBF@PacificGravity.com and advise with:

– Your Name (if it is not discernible from your email address);
– number of campers @ $20ea;
– whether you will take part in the Food Plan for an additional $25 per camper (YES Food) or not (No FOOD).

Also, if you plan to contribute a beer for the festival, please advise with:
– beer name, if any;
– beer style;
– ABV.

You can pay at one of the next two club meetings, or drop off your payment (attach a note explaining what it is for) at the Culver City Home Brewing Supply shop.

 

Club Meeting March 21st – Stouts

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Our club meeting is coming up next Thursday. The style is Stouts, for St Patrick’s Day of course!  But don’t let that stop you from bringing your other styles of homebrew to the meeting (I’ll be bringing a Belgian pale ale myself).  Noelle will be hosting the commercial tasting, and we will have our meeting competition for home brew that is to style (BJCP Style 13) with a $25 prize.  This is the meeting where we start collecting our club dues for the year, so be sure to bring cash or your checkbook.  The cost is $30.  And finally we will be announcing our volunteer award program to honor those club members who do the most to make this the best homebrewing club.
Upcoming:
4/5 – First Friday at the Overland
4/20 – San Diego Road Trip
5/4 – Southern California Homebrew Festival

Competition Corner – March 2013

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Well, after talking to some of you after the AHA National Homebrew Competition registration fiasco, I know that at least some of you got registrations confirmed.  Now is the time to get your physical entries ready to go.   You can drop them off assuming they are going to San Diego, by Monday March 18th at the Culver City shop.    If you are entering bottles to any other location (which several people did last year), you must ship them off yourself.   Peter Moran has graciously volunteered to drive to San Diego, but alas, not all the way to Zanesville Ohio.  Remember that this year you need TWO bottles for each entry.   Please check the AHA website for due dates at other regions.

Coming up in April are two more events.  Read more →

Tustin Monster Brew Final Details

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Monster brew is just around the corner!

We’ll be starting on Saturday bright and early at 6 am.
The wort will pour around noontime and most people will leave around 1 or 1:30

Here are a few things to remember:

-No glass fermenters of any kind please.
-Bring equipment already sanitized and remember a funnel if you have a Better Bottle
-If you haven’t yet paid, bring cash or a check to give to Tim at the event
-Please be good guests and allow only our hosts to pour beer from the taps for us
-Plan on buying lunch, they will open the kitchen at 11am
-Carpool if possible, there is also a back parking lot behind the shopping center which we can use. You can always pull your car around and load fermenters when you are leaving.
Info:

Tustin Brewing Co
www.tustinbrewery.com

13011 Newport Ave
Tustin, CA. 92780
From LA:

Take 405 South
Take 22 East
Take 5 South
Exit at Newport ave and go north (left turn off the exit ramp)
Tustin Brew co will be on your left just after irvine blvd

 

See you there,
Noelle

SoCal Homebrewers Festival – $40 Until March 10

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Due to some website problems, the deadline for purchasing a $40 California Homebrewers Association membership (which you need to get into the festival) has been extended to March 10.  The membership fee increases to $45 on March 11, and to $50 on April 1.

To purchase your membership, go to www.calhomebrewers.org, and click on “Shop”.

Reminder – Sign Up for Tustin Monster Brew Now

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Remember to sign up for the Tustin Monster brew by Thursday, February 28th.  After that, we will open up any remaining slots to other local homebrew clubs.

Please drop an email to me at competitions@PacificGravity.com  and our treasurer Tim Bardet at Treasurer@PacificGravity.com  to reserve your slot.

The cost will be $30 for each 5 gallons of wort.  Everybody will be guaranteed 1 batch, and if mash volume permits, a second batch.

Payment for the event must be done in advance.  Please drop off a check ASAP to  Culver City Homebrew Supply.  Be sure to include your name, telephone number, and E-mail address.    You cannot order wort the day of the event.  Yeast and any additional ingredients you wish to add are not included.  You can bring your yeast to the brewery, or pitch it at home.

For more details about this event, please check my prior article at http://pacificgravity.org/2013/02/tustin-monster-brew-march-9th/

First Friday at Irish Times

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Pre-celebrate St. Patty’s day with us at our local Irish dive.  They’ve got a good selection of European and local ales, and serve food.  I heard they once won an award for pouring the perfect pint of Guinness.  If you know the neighborhood, you know parking can be problematic as the night gets on.  We start at 7 PM or whenever you get done with work.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-irish-times-los-angeles

 

AHA NHC Registraion Website is messed up, but check back frequently

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As a result of demand overload that was all too predictable, the registration servers for the AHA NHC are all messed up.  Registration has been halted, but I suspect is will go quick once things are back up and running.   If I can trust a broken serve, the San Diego region is already sold out.  Some of the others still have room.   Here are the links once it is back up:

Site 1: Seattle, WA   658 entries, as of about 3:45 today
Site 2: Pleasanton, CA 755 entries, full
Site 3: San Diego, CA 821 full
Site 4: Denver, CO 768, full
Site 5: Tulsa, OK 396
Site 6: Kansas City, MO 406
Site 7: Saint Paul, MN 561
Site 8: Milwaukee, WI 561
Site 9: Atlanta, GA 768 full
Site 10: Zanesville, OH 945 full
Site 11: New York City, NY 938 full

Carl Townsend

Competition Corner – February, 2013

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The entry window for the AHA Nationals opens at NOON (PST) on Tuesday February 26th this year.  I point out the exact time, because last year, the entire competition was filled with entries after about 36 hours.  Many worthy entrants got shut out last year by the sudden surge in the registration rate.  So make sure you are ready to jump on-line when the window opens.

There are a couple of significant changed to the rules this year.  Most notably is that TWO bottles are needed for each entry.  Another is that they have raised the entry fee to $12 for AHA members and $17 for non-members.  Details of the competition can be found here:
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/competitions/national-homebrew-competition/competition-information
The on-line link for registration will appear magically once registration is open, so please check back on the homebrewersassociation website.  (I’ll try to update this blog entry with the link, but please don’t wait for me!)

You can drop off the physical entries at the Culver City shop assuming they are going to San Diego, by March 18th.  If you are entering bottles to any other location (which several people did last year), you must ship them off yourself.   You can select any regional site you want, so if San Diego is full, go ahead and enter wherever space is available.

Coming up in April are two more events.  First up is the annual Mayfaire competition hosted by the Maltose Falcons. On line registration will be available March 30th and your entries must be received no later than April 18th.  Also sign up for judging on Sat, April 27th.  Details can be found at  http://maltosefalcons.com/comps/2013mayfaire .  This competition uses the Maltose Falcons guidelines, so check the style listings before entering.   We might also do a preliminary judging round on the westside, so check back here for details.

Also coming up in April is the next Club-only competition.  The April selection is all extract beers.   Entries must be brewed with at least 50% extract.  All styles are eligible.   Bring your entries to the April 18th meeting.  Please fill out the entry form here: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/0326/entry_recipe.pdf.   The club picks up the entry fee for this competition, so there is no cost to you.    All entries must have the official rubber band label, which you can down load here:  http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/0325/bottleid.pdf  If you can’t make it to the April  meeting, drop your beers off at the shop and drop me a line at Competitions@PacificGravity.com.

Looking more into the 2013 schedule, we will stick with the same seven main competitions we had in 2012 as well as the six upcoming COCs.  Of these, the three used by Anchor Brewing are the California State Fair, Mayfair and the California State Homebrew Competition.  If you have a limited amount of beer to enter, try hitting these three.  The winter season is a good time to get those beers going with clean-fermenting cool weather.

Like in past years, we have tried to align the monthly club styles with the COC competitions.  An updated schedule can be found at: http://pacificgravity.org/monthly-stylesclub-only-comps/.  All styles are welcome at any club meeting.  However, the best beer in the listed styles is eligible for the best beer of the evening award, which comes with a $25 gift certificate to Culver City Home Brewing Supply Co.  We are also looking for folks to lead the monthly style tasting for the club meetings.  If you are interested, drop Dean Sussman a line at Styles@PacificGravity.com.

2013 Brewer of the Year Competition Schedule
February 26th – AHA Nationals (registration opens at NOON) Physical entries due by March 18th.
April 18th –       Mayfaire
April 18th –      COC  Extract Beers(All BJCP Cats)
May 3rd            California State Fair
July                  Los Angeles County Fair
July COC  – Porter BJCP,  Cat #12
August COC – Style TBD
September       Pacific Brewers Cup
September COC – Amber lagers, BJCP Cat 3
October           California State Homebrew Competition
October  COC– Style TBD