Smog City Monster Brew Now Scheduled for June 3 – Sign Up Now

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We are now back on track for a Monster Brew at Smog City Brewing Company. This will be our 13th Monster Brew with Brewmaster, Jon Porter, going all the way back to his days at Tustin Brewing.  Everybody has a blast at these events, so please come out and join us!

Date:  Saturday, June 3, 2023
Time: Mash-In: Approx. 7:00 AM
Fermenter Filling:  Around Noon
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)  Bring a clean fermenter, which we will fill with UNFREMENTED wort.
3)  Take it home and add whatever yeast and other ingredients you like to customize the batch.
4)  Ferment until ready for bottling or kegging.

*For those of you who pre-paid and/or signed up before the prior April 29 date, you are automatically signed up for the rescheduled event. If new date doesn’t work for you, let me know and I’ll remove you from the list / issue a refund.

Read more →

Virtual October 10 Big Brew

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Greetings Club Members,

As we struggle to create content that connects us while we all isolate alone we have hit upon a unique way to support the ‘Teach a friend to homebrew’ day on October 10th by doing a Big Brew on Zoom from all of our back yards!

We have selected American Brown Ale as our style (recipe below courtesy of Dean Sussman) and hope everyone will join along and brew a batch.  If Brown Ale is not your style, you can brew any beer you want!  The point is to brew together alone, it does not matter what you brew!
The virtual zoom portion of the brew day will start at 10:00 AM until 4:00 PM
The Zoom link will be sent by separate e-mail.  If you did not get the email but want to join the meeting send me an email at president@pacificgravity.org and I will forward it to you.

So swing by the shop, buy your ingredients and let’s brew some beer!

American Brown Ale
Targets:  5.5 gallons of wort, 1.052 OG, 1.012 FG, 22 IBU, 25 SRM, 5.2% ABV  [see Note #1 below]

This recipe aims to produce a “middle-of-the-road” American Brown Ale:  not too strong, not too bitter, not too hoppy, with a nice malt-and-chocolate profile.

This beer should pair wonderfully with Thanksgiving dinner.  And if you brew it during the October 10 Pacific Gravity Big Brew, it should be ready just in time for Thanksgiving!

8.0 lb. American 2-row malt  [see Note #2 below]
2.0 lb. Munich malt 10°L  [see Note #2 below]
12.0 oz American chocolate malt 350°L
10.0 oz. CaraMunich malt 60°L

0.4 oz. Chinook hop pellets 11.6% AA for 60 minutes
0.5 oz. Cascade hop pellets 7.3% AA for 10 minutes
0.5 oz. Cascade hop pellets 7.3% AA for 0 minutes

White Labs WLP001 American Ale Yeast  [see Note #3 below]
Mash grains at 152°F for 60 minutes.

Sparge to get about 7.0 gallons of wort.
Boil wort for 60 minutes, adding hops according to schedule above.
Cool wort and pitch yeast.
Note #1:  These targets are based on an assumed efficiency of about 70%, and an apparent yeast attenuation of about 76%.  Your mileage may vary, and you may need to adjust things based on how your homebrew system works.
Note #2:  For an extract version of this recipe, substitute the American 2-row malt and the Munich malt with 7.5 lb. of light malt extract.
Note #3:  Here are just a few possible substitutes for the WLP001 American Ale Yeast (but the possibilities are endless):  White Labs WLP051, Wyeast 1056, Wyeast 1272, Safale US-05.

 

Virtual First Friday at Tortugo Brewery Oct 2nd, Virtual Big Brew October 10th

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Greetings Pacific Gravity,

Please join us on Friday, October 2nd for our First Friday (Virtual) at Tortugo Brewing.  We will get started at 7:00 PM.

Joe will join us with the latest news in the brewery industry, happenings at Tortugo and a conversation about the beers.  First Friday’s are less organized and more free flow than club meetings, but Joe is still offering a 3 pack of 32 oz. crowlers with the club discount for $30!

The 3 pack includes:

  • Seymour kolsch 5.2% Traditional kolsch style
  • West Coast Llvin 8% big bright double west coast IPA
  • Mai Tai PA 5% Kicker rock on pineapple, orange, coconut, cherry!

So swing by and pick up your beers and get geared up for Friday!

Virtual Club Big Brew on October 10, 2020. 

Tired of being quarantined?  Missing those opportunities to drink fresh homebrew?  Well, then, join us for Pacific Gravity’s first ever Virtual Club Big Brew on October 10, 2020.  The festivities will kick off at 10:00AM.  The official style is Dean’s favorite American Brown Ale.  Dean’s recipe is included below, though feel free to brew whatever you want.  For those of you with non-portable setups, this will be an excellent opportunity to demo your home system on your home turf.  Carl will crank up the amazing thermosiphon reboiler.

Craig will have Zoom up and running.  The link will be sent via e-mail as the date approaches.

So, plan out your recipe now, and make the trek out to the Eagle Rock Home Brewing Supply Co. to pick up your supplies shop.  While you’re out, pick up something simple to throw on your grill too.  We’d like to see just how many people we can get brewing at once!  If you have the setup, I’d recommend you put up some bottles so we can distribute them around for a future virtual club meeting.

Virtual Club Big Brew
Saturday, October 10, 2020
10:00AM to about 4:00PM
Location:  Your place and Zoom!

Dean’s American Brown Ale (targets:  5.5 gallons of wort, 1.052 OG, 1.012 FG, 22 IBU, 25 SRM, 5.2% ABV)  [see Note #1 below]

This recipe aims to produce a “middle-of-the-road” American Brown Ale:  not too strong, not too bitter, not too hoppy, with a nice malt-and-chocolate profile.  This beer should pair wonderfully with Thanksgiving dinner.  And if you brew it during the October 10 Pacific Gravity Big Brew, it should be ready just in time for Thanksgiving!

8.0 lb. American 2-row malt  [see Note #2 below]
2.0 lb. Munich malt 10°L  [see Note #2 below]
12.0 oz American chocolate malt 350°L
10.0 oz. CaraMunich malt 60°L

0.4 oz. Chinook hop pellets 11.6% AA for 60 minutes
0.5 oz. Cascade hop pellets 7.3% AA for 10 minutes
0.5 oz. Cascade hop pellets 7.3% AA for 0 minutes

White Labs WLP001 American Ale Yeast  [see Note #3 below]
Mash grains at 152°F for 60 minutes.
Sparge to get about 7.0 gallons of wort.
Boil wort for 60 minutes, adding hops according to schedule above.
Cool wort and pitch yeast.Ferment and enjoy!

Note #1:  These targets are based on an assumed efficiency of about 70%, and an apparent yeast attenuation of about 76%.  Your mileage may vary, and you may need to adjust things based on how your homebrew system works.
Note #2:  For an extract version of this recipe, substitute the American 2-row malt and the Munich malt with 7.5 lb. of light malt extract.
Note #3:  Here are just a few possible substitutes for the WLP001 American Ale Yeast (but the possibilities are endless):  White Labs WLP051, Wyeast 1056, Wyeast 1272, Safale US-05.

Cheers,
Ian

Big Brew Saturday July 13th 2019

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Have you ever wanted to make the jump from extract to all-grain brewing but didn’t really know how to go about it? Come on over to Carl’s place for our annual Big Brew on Saturday, July 13th. This is an excellent opportunity to enhance your brewing skills and see how other members of the club create some awesome-tasting beer. Carl will crank up the amazing thermosiphon reboiler as he sharpens his “Exceedingly Quick Wit” for the Summer Party. In addition to the brewing activity, Master Chef Ian will crank up the BBQ for summertime picnic fare. Side dishes are welcome. The Wave of Beer will be up and running, so if you have a keg to share, bring it along.  The Big Brew takes the place of the regular July meeting, so other club business will be discussed as needed.

We still have room for more brewers, so if you want to bring your brew system, drop me a line at c136 @ 7 d . com .  There is still time to make a batch of a low-gravity quick-maturing beer for the Summer Party. The first four respondents are guaranteed a space to set up your rig. Other space will be allotted on an availability basis. All-grain, extract brewers and other alternative beverage brewers are all welcome.

I will also have a handful of fresh-harvest Nugget hops available directly from my hop garden.

Speaking of the Summer Party (coming up August 3rd), we will have some all-important planning updates about including sign-up sheets for pot-luck food dishes, volunteer set-up/clean-up, and the all-important beer sign-up list.

Date: Saturday, July 13th, 2019
Place: Carl’s Place
3621 Redwood Ave
Los Angels CA 90066
Time: Carl will start mashing in around 10:00am.  Extract brewers can start later.

If you secure a spot, it would be helpful if you could drop off your equipment either Thursday or Friday. Arrange a drop off time with Carl (c136 @ 7 d . com).

Pacific Gravity Reminders: Meeting This Week, Bidding Adieu to CCHBS

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“They” say all good things come to an end, and it certainly holds true this Thursday as we hold our last club meeting at our long-time home, Culver City HomeBrew Supply. So, let’s go out in style. If you have a special beer to share, please bring it along as we toast the good times and thank Greg, Kevin, Craig and Tim for their hospitality.

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

COMMERCIAL STYLE of the MONTH:   American Pale Ales

As always, we will have some interesting commercial examples.

HOMEBREW STYLE of the MONTH:   American Pale Ales

Kegs, bottles and growlers of the style of the month are encouraged, all homebrews are welcome.

 

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HOMEBREWERS FESTIVAL RECAP:

Another Homebrewers Fest is on the books, and it was a great. The 97-degree heat did not deter 36 PG and WASH (West Adams Society of Homebrewers) members, along with another thousand or so home brewers, from congregating at Vail Lake Resort and sampling the brews of 35 other clubs from around Southern and Central California. PG had 23 kegs available for sampling on The Wave and expansion module. WASH had quite a few at the next booth over, augmented by the annual Dan Hakes Invitational Mead Sampling. (Invitational, as in: “if you are in the festival grounds, you are invited to sample”.)

And, as always, besides the offerings at the fest site, there was an interesting variety of bottles shared at our campsite on Friday and Saturday nights.  Kudos to Dean Sussman for the inspirational Saturday morning stacking of the leftover bottles from Friday Night’s Bigfoot Vertical.

Additional campsite entertainment was provided by Joe Hogue, who demonstrated the mind boggling versatility of his homebuilt quadcopter.

2018 BIG BREW (5/26): THE  GRAINFATHER  MEETS  THE  THERMO-SIPHON  REBOILER

You won’t want to miss this year’s Big Brew, where you can watch some of our award winning homebrewers demonstrate the equipment that helps them make great beers. Are you an extract brewer thinking about moving to all-grain? Are you looking to upgrade the equipment that you currently have?

Parker will be there with The Grainfather, and Carl is going to fire up his reboiler that will have you ducking for cover as you look for the Santa Monica Airport-bound jet that missed its approach. Andrew, Michael, and Nathan are scheduled to be on hand with their brew rigs, and there is room for 1 more.  If you would like to show off your system, send an email to Carl (competitions @ pacificgravity . com) and reserve your spot. All-grain and extract brewers are welcome to brew.

Notes for Big-Brewers:

  1. If possible, arrange with Carl (see email above) to drop off your equipment at on Thursday or Friday. Please do not show up at Carl’s at 7am.
  2. Bring your own hose for chilling.
  3. Plan your schedule to be finished (wort in the fermenter, equipment packed up) by 5pm.

Notes for Everyone:

  1. Please bring beer. We will be setting up The Wave and the expansion module for kegs. Of course, growlers & bottles are always welcome.
  2. Lunch: We will be firing up Carl’s iconic Weber and cooking up some burgers and hot dogs.
  3. Sides, salads, snacks, and dessert will be welcomed. Please drop a note to the board (board @ pacificgravity .com) if you can bring something.

Date: Saturday, May 26.
Place: Carl’s Place, 3621 Redwood Avenue, Los Angeles, 90066
Time: All grain brewers should plan to start mash-in around 10am. Extract brewers can start later.

 

MAKE YOUR OWN JOCKEY-BOX DAY:

Using a jockey box is the perfect way to serve your homebrew at family outings, friends’ houses, or in your own backyard. And now, you can make your own. In addition to a cooler, (48-quart coolers are a popular size), you will need these pieces for each beer line (prices are approximate):

  • Stainless Tubing ($35 for 10 feet)
  • Vinyl Beer Line ($5)
  • Ball Lock Disconnect with Flare Fitting ($12)
  • Screw Clamps ($4 for Set of 4)
  • Dispense equipment:
    • Option A: Cobra Head Picnic Tap ($5); or
    • Option B: Shank + Standard Faucet ($35)
Approximate cost per beer line (excludes cooler):

Dispensing with Cobra Head picnic tap:  $61
($35 + $5 + $12 + $4 + $5)

Dispensing with Standard Faucet:  $91
($35 + $5 + $12 + $4 + $35)

Preparation:
  • Bend Stainless Tube to fit into your cooler (tube bender and measurements will be on hand at Jockey Box Day);
  • Cut Vinyl Beer Line into 2 sections, beer-side and dispense-side;
  • if using shank & faucet, drill hole in cooler for shank (drill and hole cutter will be on hand);
Assembly:
  • screw Ball Lock Disconnect onto Flare Fitting;
  • use Clamp#1 to attach the Flare Fitting to the beer-side Vinyl Beer Line;
  • use Clamp#2 to attach the other end of the beer-side Vinyl Beer Line to the Stainless Tube inside the cooler;
  • use Clamp#3 to attach the dispense-side Vinyl Beer Line to the other end of the Stainless Tube;
  • use Clamp#4 to attach the other side of the dispense-side Vinyl Beer Line to the dispense fixture (Cobra-head picnic tap or faucet shank;
  • (if using shank + faucet) attach faucet to shank fitting.

Date: Saturday, June 16.
Place: Casa Molloy Event Center (6738 W. 87th Place, Westchester, 90045)

A couple of Jockey Boxes will be on display at the Big Brew, and a sign-up sheet will be available. If you cannot be at the big brew, but wish to order the hardware (except for the cooler, which you provide), please send me an email (vice-president @ pacificgravity .com) and advise how many of each of these pieces you would like (prices approximate). If you already have some of the pieces (e.g. clamps, shank & faucet), you do not need order with us.

  1. Stainless Tube (@ $35 ea):
  2. Vinyl Beer Line (@ $5 ea):
  3. Set of 4 clamps (@ $4 ea set):
  4. Ball Lock + Flare Fitting (@ $12 ea set):
  5. Cobra Head Picnic Tap (@ $5 ea) or
  6. Shank + Basic Faucet (@ $35 per set):

 

SHARE YOUR HOMEBREW:

Please bring some of your homebrew to the meeting and events.

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

Do you know of a local venue that would allow us to hold our monthly meeting and share our homebrew? Do you have a decent sized backyard that could host 30-50 fellow club members for a meeting? If so, please drop us a line at board @ pacificgravity .com), or talk to one of the board members at an upcoming event.

See you Thursday!

Pacific Gravity News: First Friday, April Roundup

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This Friday (May 4) is First Friday! And It’s a Classic!

Where: Daily Pint, 2310 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA, 90245
Time: 7:30pm

April Meeting Kegs

We had quite the line-up of kegs at the April meeting. Thank you to the following members who donated legged home-brew:

Parker W: Dubbel
Carl T: Pale Ale
Parker W: Standard Bitter
Ken M: New England IPA
Carl T: Belgian Blonde
Parker W: Altbier
Tim J: Monster Lager
Andrew W: Double Chocolate Imperial Stout
Tim J: Dark Red

There were quite a few growlers and bottles floating around, too. Thanks to everyone who shared.

Southern California Homebrew Festival

We are less than a week away. It’s going to be a hot day!  I will be sending out a final email on Monday or Tuesday.

Pacific Gravity Big Brew: Saturday, May 26

Still in town for Memorial Weekend? Come on over to the annual Big Brew and check out the brew rigs of your 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, 3621 Redwood Ave. Los Angeles, Ca. 90066
Time: 10:00 – 6:00

All Grain Brewers should plan to start mashing in around 10:00 am. Extract brewers can start later.

If you secured a spot to brew, arrange an equipment drop off time with Carl (competitions @ pacific gravity . com) on Friday. Please do NOT show up at 7am on Saturday and expect a warm greeting.

Craft Day:  Make Your Own Jockey Box: Saturday, June 16

Where: Casa Molloy, 6738 W. 87th Place, Westchester
Time: 10:30a – 6:00p

You supply the cooler. We’ll order the supplies. You make your jockey box. Easy, eh? Starting from scratch, each beer line line requires:
1. a length of stainless tube ($30 per 10-foot length, you cut to size);

2. vinyl beer line ($5 per 10 feet);

3. 4 screw clamps for securing beer line ($4 per set of 4);

4. ball lock disconnect ($7);

5. swivel nut for ball lock ($3);

6. dispense hardware options, either:
(a) cobra head picnic tap ($5) OR
(b) shank ($30) + standard chrome faucet ($30)

If you haven’t signed up already, please respond to me at: vicepresident @ pacific gravity.com and advise how many of each item that you would like us to order.

For the shank & faucet option, advise how many shanks and how many faucets (e.g. if you want to purchase your own faucets).

Homebrewers Club In Need Of New Home

An era comes to an end: it’s been a great 20+ years, but our May meeting is the last one we will be holding at Culver City Homebrew Supply. Our June and July meeting places are already set (jockey box day and summer party, respectively), so we will need a meeting place for August.  If you know of a meeting place on the Westside that has room for 30-50 people and will allow us to share homebrew on-site, please drop a line to: board @ pacific gravity.com.

 

HAPPY BREWING!

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!

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: treasurer@pacificgravity.com.

For more details, click here.

Smog City Monster Brew March 11th

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Smog City Brewing Company 1901 Del Amo Blvd, Torrance, CA 90501

On March 11th, 2017,  Smog City Brewing Company  and its Brewmaster, PG’s Jon Porter, will be hosting their Fourth Pacific Gravity Monster Brew!

Update:  We have plenty of wort!  If you want to order more batches, they are available!! 

Jon Porter and Carl Townsend have developed the base wort for this event with an English theme.  But, keeping with past monster brews, the recipe can be the base for whatever creative endeavor you might want to do.  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.

You can always contact Carl at Competitions AT pacificgravity.com for any suggestions and look for Carl’s article  can work on “How to Modify my Monsterbrew”.

COST

The cost will be $30 for each 5 gallons of wort.  Read more →

May Big Brew Recap

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Taking a break from a work conference here in Minneapolis and I can’t help but wonder how the little batch of all-grain Belgian Tripel I brewed at our May 15th Big Brew is doing at this moment. I’m sure it’s almost completely done fermenting and I’d bet it has developed some nice flavors to sip and enjoy. In about a week I’ll take a sample and decide if it’s ready to bottle. I’m looking forward to packaging it up into some Belgian style 750’s; cork and cage seems only suitable for the style. 😀

My thoughts wander to the 6 other brews that were born on the same day and how they’re doing. If you didn’t make it out, you missed a very fun event. Since it was hosted by Carl, I offered him first dibs at writing a recap, and the piece of prose he wrote captured the day perfectly…

 It has been quite a while since Pacific Gravity has done a traditional Big Brew event and the natives were getting restless! So much so that Neil Saund and John Hilliard couldn’t wait for the official 10:00 AM start time. Both were nearing strike temperature as the hour rolled around. Especially impressive, given that Neil lugged in not only his brew setup, but also a dozen gallons of distilled water to make surehis Czech Pilsner had the correct mineral balance. Being happy with the native sulfate to accentuate the Citra hops, John went right to work with some carbon-filtered LA aqueduct to brew his Pale Ale. In the meantime, Carl went to work making sure both Shark and Mermaid were ready to slake the thirst of both brewers and spectators alike. 

 Much to the delight of the early-birds, coffee and donuts arrived at 10AM thanks to the efforts of Michael and Tania Musgrave, our Veep and Secretary. They were eagerly wolfed down, maybe with a bit of coffee porter to ease us into the late-morning swing. 

 With a spark and a roar, Carl fired up the amazing thermosiphon reboiler to brew his commemorative 25th Brewing Anniversary Belgian Quad. Shortly thereafter, Brian Holter stepped up to the plate to demonstrate the “brew-in-a-bag” technique. Not really sure how much heat the nylon bag could take, Brian eased into the kettle gently until he was sure his mash temperature had been met. 

 Michael then kicked off his mash making a mini Belgian Tripel. He was followed by Tim Bardet with an extract version of American Hoppy Brown. Last, but definitely not least, Ian Fraser showed up with a big jar of honey that would make Winnie-the-Pooh happy and set about making mead. 

 In the meantime, more and more spectators arrived and were amazed at the size and diversity of brewing set-ups and mashing techniques. Brewers carefully explained the enzyme action needed to convert starch into sugar, hopefully prompting them to jump into the all-grain fray. Additional beer donators were also arriving and hooking up the fruits of their earlier brewing triumphs. The shark and mermaid were quickly at capacity, and reinforcements were “jockeyed’ into action. To fill out the field, many bottles of exotic fermentation, both commercial and homebrew showed up as well. 

 All this brewing had everyone working up an appetite, so President Lloyd stepped into action at the barbeque grill. Aided by the adept slicing skills of Tania, a bevy of burgers and dogs soon hit the lunch plates with all the accoutrements.

 It has been said the last shall be first, and Ian proved that to be true with a quick completion of his mead. Not only that, but he took the record for starting gravity for the day, at about 1.130! The rest of the brew crews finished up roughly in reverse order of their starting times. Carl’s hop garden, artichokes and tomatoes got plenty of water that day as the seven batches of wort approached their pitching temperature. 

 As the sun was setting in the west, all the brewers commented that the brew session went well. The various yeast starters got their reward next, as they got down to the real business of converting maltose into ethanol. All in all, it was a great day as Pacific Gravity got back to one of their treasured traditions. Despite the quantities of homebrew that were consumed, we finished off the day with more beer than we started with! Talk about a tradition worth keeping!

– Carl 

For those on Facebook, below are photos from the event care of President Lloyd and Carl. Hope to see you at the next Big Brew or any of the other fun PG events we have coming up.

_Michael