Tomorow – 20th Anniversary Club Meeting

/in , /by

Everyone-

Tomorrow is the big day!  Many of us will be at Tomm & Danise’s place tonight to setup – if you can make it we would love to see  you.  The more people we get to help us setup and cleanup the day after the better.

I just want to remind everyone that just like our other meetings we should all be extremely appreciative that Tomm and Danise have opened up their home for us to celebrate 20 years of an awesome homebrew club.  With that, I want to remind you all  to be respectful of their house while you are there.  We have rented a porta potty outside which is reserved for men/boys.  Women/Girls may use the indoor restroom.  Other than that we ask that you please keep the party outside where there will be plenty of beer and food!

I strongly suggest you secure some type of ride to and from the event so that you do not get behind the wheel after you have had too many beers.  A taxi far, uber fare or favor is far less costly than what can happen if you drive when you shouldnt.

That said – I look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow and hope you all have a blast (and bring your beer!!)

Brian

20th Anniversary – Door Giveaways and 20th Gear!

/in , /by

We are only a few days away from our 20th Anniversary Soiree!  20 years of educating each other about beer, learning more and more about homebrew, bus trips, homebrew competitions, etc is no small task.  The board wanted to do something special for our club members for this anniversary so we purchased a couple of pieces of Pacific Gravity gear for this party.

20th Anniversary T-Shirts – $25.

IMG_0422 (1)

Front

IMG_0421 (1)

Back

 

We went all out with our T-Shirts for this year’s anniversary.  These shirts – designed by Tad (cheers buddy) – look freaking awesome!  They are black T’s with front, back and sleeve logos printed on them.  These shirts will be available at the door for purchase for $25.

20th Anniversary Glassware – Free!

We wanted to do something special for our members for this event as well.  Instead of selling two different types of schwag for the anniversay we decided we would print up some killer glassware to give away to club members at the door.  To receive your free glass you must be a club member who has paid his/her dues.  We only made 72 of these bad boys so make sure you get to the party early enough to grab one.  If we run out of glasses we will have a sign up sheet so that you can let us know you are interested in a glass – or if you wanted a second one you can sign up for it at the party as well.

Just remember that this party is a kick off of our 20th anniversary year.  We have some other events that we are trying to lock down dates for the rest of the year.  Ill make sure to keep everyone up to date with events at our monthly club meetings – but you can also browse through our events calendar on this website to keep up to date.

See you on Saturday!

Beer for 20th Anniversary Party

/in , /by

Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 6.57.53 PM copyWe’ll have the Wave of Beer cranked up for the 20th Anniversary Party. If you have a keg or two, bring them along. Let me know what you are bringing and I’ll have a special 20th Anniversary toe tags to decorate the tap. Drop me a line at [email protected]

See you there!
Carl

20th Anniversary Party Announcements!

/in , , , /by

Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 6.57.53 PM copyOur February meeting (aka 20th Anniversary Party) is right around the corner! We have a few announcements to share leading up to the event:

*Set up will be on Friday 2/20 at 6pm and clean up on Sunday 2/22 at 10am at the Trux Stop, we need volunteers to help so we don’t stick our generous hosts with the task. Please contact [email protected] to sign up to volunteer!

*PG’s Chef Ian will be grilling up some carne asada! Please bring your dishes to soak up all the beer as well. You can fit the style and bring chips & guac, rice, beans, etc. or just anything you feel like!

*Bring your own folding chairs if you plan on sitting. We will also need some tables, please contact us if you have any, they can be dropped off during setup.

*MOST IMPORTANTLY…. Bring your home brews! What better way to celebrate 20 years as a home brew club than by sharing your beer with the rest of the club!

We look forward to seeing you all! Stay tuned next week for some exciting news about a special surprise we have for all you members!

Happy Pacific Gravity 20th Anniversary Kickoff Month!!

/in , , , , /by

To kickoff our 20th anniversary, we will be posting old and possibly forgotten photos of past events / members each month starting with some from around 1999.  There are certainly more, but we’re trying to pick some of the better ones.  We wish they were a little better resolution, but after all, it was 1999!!! Hope you all enjoy and party like it’s 1999 this year to celebrate! …just don’t dress like it’s 1999, wow!

Cheers to our 20th and may we have an even better next 20 years! Read more →

November Club Meeting Recap

/1 Comment/in /by

What an awesome meeting.  Let me start off this post in the way that I should have started off my announcements on Saturday by thanking Ian for being such an awesome host time and time again.  Its bad enough when you forget to thank your host so let me just reiterate how appreciative we are to the club members who host our events at their homes.

CLUB ANNIVERSARY BREW

IMG_5988

 

 

 

IMG_5951

For those of you unable to attend this past weekend’s monthly meeting, we were busy – very busy!  The day started off around 10am with Dan White mashing in to kick off the day with our 20th anniversary beer.  Dan showed his great support for the club by bringing his entire brew system to Ian’s backyard (with the help of Terry Malloy) so that we could brew up 15 gallons of Belgian Dubbel to be served at this coming February’s Club Meeting / 20th anniversary shindig.  Thank you Dan, Emily and Terry for keeping this brew organized with during the party!

This beer was a very simple recipe but did feature a LOT of dark candy sugar in the boil that a number of club members helped add to the boil:

IMG_5985

IMG_5996

IMG_6001

And lastly, here is what a beer looks like that is 100% Belgian Pils/Pale before and after you add 5lbs of Dark Candy Syrup to a 15 gallon batch:

IMG_6011

CHILI COOK-OFF

IMG_5953

Saturday was also our annual Chili cook-off.  We had 8 chilis show up – all of which were fantastic.  Everyone submitted their votes and at the end of the day the club member celebrating the most was Neil who took home the prize for the best chili.  Congrats on taking the title this year Neil – you beat out some other awesome chili’s.  The second prize of the day for chili was the most unique chili which was awarded to Kingsley Toby.  Thank you to everyone who brought their chili to the party to make it another successful chili cook-off.

IMG_5965

BOARD ELECTION

November also marks the month where we vote for next year’s board.  I am happy to say that I will be returning for another year on the board to serve as your President along with Ramesh who will again serve as our Treasurer.  Kingsley is stepping down from the board and Tad Johnston has stepped up to fill his shoes as our club VP for 2015.  We have a lot of exciting plans for next year and we will be working hard at the beginning of the year to get a schedule together for all of you regarding the upcoming events so you can all mark your calendars in advance.

CLUB MEMBER OF THE YEAR

I screwed up in October and forgot to ask for nominations for club member of the year so we asked for nominations at the November meeting.  Many of you who were in attendance voted for your choice for club member of the year, but if you forgot to vote or were unable to attend you can submit your vote to [email protected] by Friday @ 9am to cast your vote.  The nominees for Club Member of the Year (as appointed at the meeting) are:

  • Kip Barnes
  • Brian Holter
  • Ramesh Khalili
  • Kingsley Toby
  • Ian Fraser
  • Dean Sussman
  • Terry Molloy

Please cast your vote ASAP!!  We need to get all the votes in by Friday  11/28 @ 9am so we can make the award for the following weekend’s winter party which brings me to…

UPCOMING EVENTS

  • Winter Party – As mentioned at the meeting and on this website, our Winter Party is on Saturday December 6th at Neil’s house.  Ramesh and Carl both brought along sign up sheets for helping to setup Friday Night/Saturday Morning, Cleanup on Sunday, beers for the party, food, etc.  If you can volunteer (please do – the more volunteers the better the party) please email us at board [at] pacificgravity dot com to sign up.
  • Monster Brew @ Smog City – Our first event for 2015 is already planned which will be a Monster Brew at Smog City on January 24th.  Mark it down on your calendars and check back here for more details and updates as we get closer to the event.
  • 20th Anniversary – Our 20th Anniversary is coming up in February.  This will be a club meeting that you cannot miss.  We are still working on the details of when and where this meeting will be, so check back later for more info.
  • LABBC – Our Belgian Beer Challenge is scheduled for March 14th.  We are looking for volunteers for this competition planning – email me or send me a message if you are interested in participating in the planning.  Also, its time to start brewing for this competition!  You have 4 months until the competition, which means if you are going to brew a high gravity belgian beer or maybe finish off a belgian with some brettanomyces its time to get your beer in the tanks.  I suggest you start planning out your brew days!
  • SCHBF – The So Cal homebrew fest is on May 2nd and is returning to Vail Lake
  • NHC 2015 – The National Homebrewers Conference is coming to San Diego in 2015.  Pacific Gravity will definitely have a presence in San Diego for this festival.

If I forgot anything please let me know and I will update this post!  And thanks again Ian!

November Club Meeting – 11/22/2014 @ Ian’s House

/in /by

Everyone-

Our November Club meeting is this Saturday!  Its shaping up to be a good one – here are the details:

WHEN

  • Brew Day starts @ 10:00am.
  • Chili Cookoff Competition @ 12:00pm
  • Club News after Chili Cookoff
  • Wrap up around 6pm.

WHERE

Ian Fraser’s House
3938 Glencoe Ave, Venice, CA 90291

CHILI COOKOFF

  • Bring your best chili for our annual Chili Cookoff!  We will have power outlets for those of you bringing a crock pot and sides/toppings (sour cream, shredded cheese, onions, and rice).  We will also supply bowls, plastic silverware and napkins.  We will be handing our awards for the best chili and most unique chili.

CLUB ANNIVERSARY BREW

  • Dan White has offered to let us use his system in Ian’s backyard to brew our Belgian Dubbel 20th Anniversary recipe.  The brew will start @ 10am on Saturday, club members are encouraged to show up to participate in the brew around then.  This is a Club Brew where the resulting beer belongs to the homebrew club and will be served at the February Club meeting where we will be celebrating our 20th Anniversary.  *Note, we will only be brewing on one system – this is not a big brew.
  • For those of you that are new to brewing, this will be a great opportunity to learn to brew an all grain batch of beer.  Even if you have been brewing for a long time, its always educational to learn how someone else brews a batch of beer on their system.
  • BEER
  • As always we are looking for everyone to bring their latest homebrew creation or commercial beer to share.
  • The beer style of the month is Brown Ales and Porters and as usual we will be hosting a commercial tasting.

VOTING

Its time to Vote!  We will be voting for board positions this month.  Additionally, we will be voting for Club Member of the Year!  We will be taking nominations throughout the day and will pass out ballots for everyone to vote!

EXTRAS

  • As this is a backyard party that will be going for many hours we highly suggest you bring a folding chair of some type for you to sit on.
  • If you have a jockey box that you can bring to help serve beer that would be apprciated as well.
  • Lastly, if you have firewood you can bring we would like to setup a fire pit.  The club will bring some as well.

Cheers everyone!  See you on Saturday!

Club Meeting – Anniversary Brew Recipe Poll!

/in , , /by

Everyone-

Its been a busy month for me so I apologize for the late poll, but we have selected 3 great Belgian Dubbel Recipe’s for our Club Anniversary brew taking place this Saturday.  Details about the timing of the brew start and meeting will come later this week, but we need to get this poll up for all of you to vote!  Click on the link below to go to the online poll to vote for your choice for our club brew this Saturday!  Voting ends on Tuesday night @ 6pm so that we can purchase the appropriate ingredients ahead of time.  You can vote as many times as you like, cheers!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR THE WINNER!

Here are the three final recipes!

Recipe #1: “I Like Rochefort”

  • OG – 1.070
  • FG – 1.010
  • IBUs – 20
  • SRM – 18.86
  • ABV – 7.9%
  • Recipe Size (6 Gallons)
  • Boil Time – 90 min

Grain/Fermentable Bill

  • 14.0 lbs Belgian Pils
  • 0.5 lbs Melanoidin
  • 0.5 lbs Special B
  • 1.0 lbs 90L Belgian Syrup

*(Mash Schedule – 20 Min rest @ 144F, 40 Min rest @ 156F)

Hops & Kettle Additions

  • 1.7oz (3.50% AA) – Hallertau Hersbrucker – 60 min.

Yeast

  • 2qt Starter of WLP540 Abbey Ale IV

Fermentation Schedule

  • Primary – 7 days @ 66F
  • Secondary – 10 days @ Room Temp

*One full day after Krausen drops start to raise temp 1F per 12 hours till room temp.  Do not transfer unless within .002 of target terminal gravity.  Isinglass in secondary.

Recipe #2: Belgian Dubbel

  • OG – 1.068
  • FG – 1.012
  • IBUs – 31
  • SRM – 21.3
  • ABV – 7.5%
  • Recipe Size (10 gallons)
  • Boil Time – 70 min

Grain/Fermentable Bill

  • 18.0 lbs Belgian Pils
  • 2.0 lbs Belgian Candy Sugar (added to boil @ 30 min mark)
  • 1.0 lbs Light Munich
  • 1.0 lbs CaraMunich Malt
  • 1.0 lbs Cara Vien Malt
  • 1.0 lbs Belgian Biscuit
  • 1.0 lbs Belgian Aromatic
  • 1.0 lbs Special B
  • .25 lbs Chocolate Malt

*(Mash Schedule – 20 Min rest @ 128F, 20 Min rest @ 149F, 40 Min rest @ 153F)

Hops & Kettle Additions

  • 2.60oz (5.3%AA) – Tettnang 60 min.
  • 1.50oz (4.1% AA) – Hallertauer 20 min.

Yeast

  • 2qt Starter of Wyeast 1214 Abbey Ale Yeast

Fermentation Schedule

  • Primary – 7 – 14 days @ 70F
  • Secondary – 14 days @ 70F

Recipe #3: Light Westy

  • OG – 1.069
  • FG – 1.010
  • IBUs – 18
  • SRM – 15.73
  • ABV – 7.7%
  • Recipe Size (6 gallons)
  • Boil Time – 90 min

Grain/Fermentable Bill

  • 7.0 lbs Belgian Pale
  • 7.0 lbs Belgian Pils
  • 1.5 lbs Belgian Dark Candy Sugar (added to boil @ flame out)
  • (Mash Schedule – 60 Min rest @ 145F, 20 Min rest @ 155F)

Hops & Kettle Additions

  • 0.50oz (8.5% AA) – Northern Brewer 90 min.
  • 0.50oz (4.1% AA) – Styrian Goldings 20 min.
  • 0.25oz (2.8% AA) – Hallertauer Mittelfrüh 20 min.

Yeast

  • 2qt Starter of WLP 530 Abbey Ale Yeast

Fermentation Schedule

  • Primary – 7 – 14 days @ 65F (pitching temp, free rise afterwards)
  • Secondary – 14 days @ Room temp

*Cool to 65F and pitch yeast.  Let free rise to 80F and hold there.

Club 20th Anniversary Brew – Recipe Submission forms

/in , , , /by

Great meeting last night everyone!

As promised attached to this post is the excel form for you to submit your recipe for the club anniversary brew!  Once you complete the form please email it to:

board [at] pacificgravity.com

Please submit your recipes no later than October 23rd – and remember that the style for our 20th Anniversary Brew is going to be a Belgian Dubbel.  To recap the idea – our club is turning 20 next February and we thought it would be awesome to get together at next month’s Club Meeting & Chili Cookoff to brew up a beer that would be worthy of our 20th anniversary.  The board decided on the style, but we need our club members to help us get creative and come up with an awesome recipe for a Belgian Dubbel.  Lets get creative and brew up an awesome beer together!

The board will go through the recipe’s submitted and post a poll for all of you to vote for the recipe we brew on Nov. 22nd.

Thanks & Cheers everyone!

Brian

20TH_ANNIVERSARY_RECIPE_ENTRY_FORM

SEPTEMBER CLUB MEETING | THURSDAY, September 18th (7:30pm) | TERRY MALLOY’S HOUSE

/in /by

Hello Pacific Gravity Home Brewers!

Our next PG Club meeting is Thursday, September 18th @ Terry Malloy’s House (7:30pm) and you won’t want to miss this one!

PACIFC BREWER’S CUP WRAP UP | RESULTS ANNOUNCED!
We are presenting ribbons for winning Pacific Gravity members at the club meeting! Wear something that looks good with a ribbon! Immediately after we will officially announce full results online on the Pacific Brewers cup website and Facebook page, including the Best of Show beer!

PACIFIC BREWER’S CUP GEAR!
Ribbon winners will receive a Pacific Brewers Cup T-Shirt as part of their prize! For the rest of us, these very stylish shirts will be available for sale. They are a perfect memento of the largest Pacific Brewers Cup to date. Wear it with pride! Wear it with a pint! $15 in men’s and women’s styles.

 PACIFC BREWER’S CUP | COOLERS!
If you were generous enough to let us borrow your cooler for the Pacific Brewers Cup, we’ll have it for you at the meeting. If you need your cooler before Thursday – please contact Kingsley via email at vicepresident( at )pacificgravity.com to reunite you with your cool friend.

OCTOBER BUS TRIP – LAST CHANCE TO SIGN UP!
Saturday, October 18th. TAPS FISHOUSE & BREWING’s patio will be out first stop for brews and grub. BOTTLE LOGIC is on the docket; with a third stop @ VALIANT BREWING COMPNY. Cost is $25.00 for the bus ride. Seats are going quick – so get on the list if you want to join us! It’s going to be a lot of fun @ some of the best breweries in OC. Come to the September 18th PG Club meeting @ Terry Malloy’s house and sign up! Details about pick up location(s) and time(s) to follow.

SEPTEMBER COMMERCIAL TASTING HOST NEEDED | SOURS & CIDERS!!!
Bring your sours and ciders! We’ll be hosting a commercial tasting to compare.

As always, bring a brew that you’re proud of, or a bottle of your favorite to share with you fellow PG Home Brewers! See you @ Terry’s next Thursday, September 18th (7:30pm).

 

CASA MOLLOY

6738 W. 87th Place (NOT STREET)
Westchester, CA 90045

(NOTE: THERE IS ALSO 6738 W. 87TH STREET NEARBY – PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB TERRY’S NEIGHBORS AND DOUBLE CHECK YOUR DIRECTIONS! – REMEMBER “PLACE” is the PLACE !)Cheers!

Kingsley

VP | Pacific Gravity Home Brewer’s Club
        Celebrating 20 Years in 2015!