Holiday Party December 1st – Call for Kegs

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Hi members, I hope you are looking forward to our Holiday Party this Saturday, December 1st.  I’ll be sending out another announcement later with all of the details about how you can help make this party great. But for now, we need to know what home brewed beers you are bringing to the party.  Please email Carl at CompetitionCoordinator@pacificgravity.com with the name of your beer, beer style, ABV, and keg size so that he can make up a special holiday themed label.  Since we have a very limited time to setup for the party, please bring your kegs to the Culver City Home Brew Supply store on Friday by close of business.  If you absolutely can’t make it to the store on Friday, we can accept kegs during setup at the party, which starts at 11 AM.  As a last resort, bring your keg to the party once it is going at 5 PM.

Further questions?  Email Carl at CompetitionCoordinator@pacificgravity.com

Board Elections at the Meeting this Thursday

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Just a quick reminder that we will be holding elections for three board positions this Thursday.  The current nominees are David Mauceli, President, Noelle Cross, Vice President, and Tim Bardet, Treasurer.  We’ll hold nomination open for a couple more days just in case anyone wants to run.

Also, we are holding a vote for the Club Member of the Year on Thursday.  This award recognizes and  honors significant contributions & involvement by club members.  The current nominations are listed below.  Nominations will be closed on Tuesday night.

Dan Hakes
David Mauceli
Craig Corley
Carl Townsend
Norm Zettlaw

First Friday at Wurstkuche

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Tomorrow, November 2nd, our First Friday event will be at Wurstkuche in Venice Beach.  If you have never been to their downtown or Venice location, this is the time to go.  They serve gourmet and specialty sausages,Belgian fires, rare and specialty sodas, and of course an excellent selection of Belgian and German beers.  There are plenty of public transportation options and bike parking, so leave the car at home and have an extra beverage.  The event officially starts at 7, but it’s casual so show up when you like.

625 Lincoln Blvd
Venice, CA 90291

http://www.wurstkuche.com/

Club Meeting Thursday Oct 18th

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Join us for the monthly third Thursday club meeting at the Culver City Home Brewing Supply Company.  The festivities officially start at 7:30 PM.

Strong ales of any type are the style of the month, and we will be holding a Club-Only taste-off for Old Ale, BJCP style # 19C.  Bring three 12 oz bottle if you want to enter.  Kegs are still needed to keep the evening well lubricated.

Topping the agenda for the evening are nominations for the 2013 elected officers.  As of this writing, nominations include David Mauceli for President and Noelle Cross for Vice President.  We are actively looking for a nominee for Treasurer.   Additional nominees for all three positions are still open.  If you are interested in joining the board as either an elected or appointed officer in 2013, please contact any of the current officers.  We will be holding elections at the November meeting and will be finalizing the appointed offices in January.  Also this month, we will be holding nominations for Club Member of the Year.  This selection recognizes / honors significant contributions and involvement by club members.   The winner will be announced at the Holiday party.   All currently paid members eligible for nomination, except last year’s winner and perennial party host, Neil Saund.

Also available at the meeting will be the sign-up sheet for Big Brew/Jockey Box/Chili-cookoff day at Carl Townsend’s place this Saturday, Oct 20th.  Tubing is still available for jockey box builders, as is space for brewers and room for more chilis. The Wave of Beer will be making an appearance, so bring your kegs.

And don’t forget the usual festivities of the commercial tasting, raffle, and the jovial camaraderie of Pacific Gravity club members.

Hope to see you there
Carl Townsend
Competition Coordinator

 

 

Big Brew/Jockey Box Day/Chili Cook-off Saturday Oct 20th

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Join us the Saturday, October 20th for the combined Jockey Box/Chili Cook-off and Big Brew Day, at Carl Townsend’s house.

We have a busy schedule of events, so come by early and spend the day.  First on the schedule is flame-on for the all-grain brewers.  We’ll get going around 10:00 AM.  Extract brewers can stop by a bit later.  We still have a bit more room for brewing, so if you want to bring your kettles come on by.  This is an excellent time to get your Holiday beer going, if you haven’t already brewed it.

Next up is the jockey box build.  See my Brewmaster article for all the details of this event.  We still have a bunch of tubing available, so if you are on the fence for this one, feel free to jump in.  We might run out of other supplies, but at least you can bend your tubing and make up a parts list, which you can pick up at the Culver City shop later on.  Remember to bring your cooler.

And, don’t forget the chili cook-off.  Read more →

First Friday @ The Daily Pint

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Hi Members-
Just a reminder that tomorrow is First Friday. We’ll be meeting at The Daily Pint in Santa Monica. For those who haven’t been, they are fantastic hosts and when I spoke with Phil (Owner) yesterday he assured me that we wouldn’t be disappointed with the selection (he stressed that there will be lots of Belgian beers). So come by after work, bring friends and we’ll see you there!
Cheers,
Noelle
Oct. 5th First Friday @ 7:00pm
The Daily Pint
2310 Pico Blvd
Santa Monica, CA. 90405


State Homebrew Comp Entries Due Friday Oct 5th

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Entries for the California State Homebrew Competition are due at the shop on Friday October 5th.  Thanks to Peter Moran, your entries will get personal delivery up to the bay area, so they will get plenty of TLC.  This is one of the competitions used to determine the 2012 Anchor Club of the Year award, so keep some bottles ready to go.  Details are all on the website:  http://www.nchfinfo.org/state-comp.html .

Although this competition uses the BJCP styleguide for judging, they have them grouped in a different order.  Please make sure you check out the rules package before assigning category numbers to them.

Sorry for the late notice, but we’ve had a few problems with the website. If you need a bit more time, drop me a line and I’ll hook you up directly with Peter.
Good Luck
Carl Townsend

How do I build a Jockey Box?

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This Month’s Question:  How do I build a Jockey Box?

 Answer:    The simple answer to this is to join us on Jockey Box/Chili Cook-off and Big Brew Day, Saturday, October 20th at Carl Townsend’s house.   You bring a cooler, and we’ll bring a bunch of supplies, so at the end of the day you can head home with a new portable beer serving system.

The critical thing from a planning standpoint is to let us know ahead of time how many taps you want, so we can plan accordingly.    I need to place the order for tubing in advance, so if you haven’t already signed up at the August or September club meeting and want to join the construction project, please send me an email at Competitions@PacificGravity.com by Oct 1st.   Each line will get a ten-foot piece of 3/8” stainless steel tubing, and you can buy as many lines as you want. Read more →

Competition Corner – September 2012

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For all you folks looking for something different and interesting to brew, here are a couple of unique opportunities:  At the September club meeting on Sept 20th, we will be holding a special soda contest for the 2012 Beer, Art & Music Fest.    Sodas are quick to brew, so there is plenty of time this weekend to get one ready.  Winning entries get two free tickets to the fest, and get to have your soda featured at the fest itself on October 6th, at the 18th Street Art Center in Santa Monica.   Rules of the competition are simple:

1)      You need to bring a keg to the September meeting.
2)      Note that the entry can have NO alcohol.
3)      Club members will vote on the white board (just like the keg of the month contest).
4)      Winners must agree to bring soda to the fest.

This year 18th Street is teaming up with Pacific Gravity member and LA craft beer industry veteran Martin Svab (Stone Brewery & Naja’s Place) to help facilitate the beer side of the festival.  Participating craft breweries range from big to small, including the popular and larger Sierra Neveda Brewing and Firestone Walker Brewing Companies, to the smaller but equally great Angel City, Golden Road and Surf Brewing.  Martin had hoped to offer Pacific Gravity Homebrew at the fest, but we were limited to non-alcohol offerings due to ATF/ABC restrictions.  But, we all know the club can make some great sodas, so bring out your best!

Also up for grabs are two soda slots for the LA Beer Week and the awesome LA Beer Week Festival at Union Station, which will be on Sunday, September 30th from Noon until 4PM.  Winners get free tickets, but must agree to serve soda and hand out PG flyers at the event.   Details about the event can be found at http://www.itsmyseat.com/LABeerWeek/ .

Also at the September meeting Read more →

Pacific Brewers Cup Deadline is Thursday, Sept 6th

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Pacific Brewers CupJust a quick reminder that the entry deadline for Pacific Brewers Cup is this Thursday, September 6th.   According to Strand Brewers, who are organizing the event this year there will be some “really spectacular prizes”!  The entry window is now open online at http://www.pacificbrewerscup.com/.  Your physical entries can be dropped off at the Culver City shop, or the Eagle Rock shop, as well as six other homebrew shops.   Pacific Gravity always has a great showing in this competition and we hope to keep it up.  Strand is also asking for help on judging day, Saturday, September 22, 2012, at the Four Points Sheraton by LAX, the Beer Hotel.  They will need every judge and steward we can supply, so please sign up now.   The hotel is located at 9750 Airport Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90045, next to LAX. (Map).