First Saturday April 6 at Two Coast Brewery

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Greetings Pacific Gravity!

Sorry for the late notice for anyone not at the meeting last Thursday, but the “First Friday” this month will be a First Saturday at Two Coast Brewing in Gardena tomorrow at 1pm.  The Richmond Bar and grill that was originally planned for tonight will happen at a future date.

Two Coast Brewing FIRST SATURDAY Tomorrow April 6 at 1pm!

 

For April’s First Friday, we will instead be doing a FIRST SATURDAY at Two Coast Brewery in Gardena -Please join us!

Time: Saturday, April 6, 2024 1 pm.
Location: Two Coast
14928 S. FIGUEROA ST.
GARDENA, CA 90248

Two Coast is a really interesting brewery founded by 2 guys from Hamburg.  They are extremely dedicated to traditional German beer – this will definitely not be a day of triple IPAs and “Waffles with Maple Syrup and Blueberries with a Side of Bacon and Cinnamon Rye Toast Stout”.

Tomm Carroll has arranged for them to open an hour early for us (1pm) and for the brewer to be there to answer questions and do a brief brewery tour. Thanks, Tomm!

We hope you can join us!
Parker Waechter, President Pacific Gravity

Competition Corner – Judges Needed for Special Beer Judging April 10

At 6PM Wednesday, April 10th, Tomm Carroll is organizing a preliminary judging session for the Mayfaire Homebrew Competition.  The 2024 competition has maxed out its entry count at 400, and they are setting up multiple satellite venues to get all the judging done.  The competition features the entire BJCP category list, including Meads and Ciders.  The Falcons have often helped us with various Pacific Gravity competitions, so it would be good if we can return the favor.

If you can help out, please contact Tomm Carroll directly.  Tomm’s contact info is:
tommixx@earthlink.net
(310) 502-2725
7643 Truxton Ave
LA, CA  90045

Full details of the competition can be found at
https://competitions.maltosefalcons.com/2024Mayfaire/  If you are a registered judge, please sign up here as a judge to make sure you get experience points.  Satellite sessions are also being held April 8, 9, 10 and 11 at various other locations.  The main judging session will be in our neighborhood at Santa Monica Brew Works, Saturday morning April 13th at 8AM.Thanks
Carl Townsend
Competition Coordinator

Upcoming Styles of the Month

  • April 2024 – Pale beers
  • May 2024 – Dark/black beers
  • June 2024 – Sour beers, smoked beers, and wood-aged beers
  • July 2024 – IPAs
  • August 2024 – No style of the month (Summer Party)
  • September 2024 – German and Czech beers
  • October 2024 – Alternative fermentables beers (using sugars and/or grains other than malted barley)
  • November 2024 – Fruit/spice beers, meads, and ciders/berries
  • December 2024 – No style of the month (Holiday Party)

Upcoming Events

It’s Time to Do the Dues!

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It’s March and that means its time for our annual Pacific Gravity membership dues collection.  All club members need to pay their dues to keep their membership active until March 2025.  Annual dues are $42 for individuals or $63 for couples and are prorated for members who joined the club within the last year.

Keep in mind that your dues are the primary way we fund such club activities as club parties, monthly meetings, club brews and much more.  Your paid membership also ensures that you’ll continue to receive the many club benefits available, access to various brewing activities, discounts and information.

There are several ways you can renew your annual dues.  Club Treasurer, Craig Corley will be collecting dues at the upcoming March club meeting and other upcoming club events.  You can go old school and send Pacific Gravity a check to PO Box 2451, Culver City CA 90231. And for the ultimate in convenience, you can renew your dues online via the PayPal links below:

Individual Membership – Full 1-year Renewal: https://py.pl/1Q1IAw

Couples Membership – Full 1-year Renewal: https://py.pl/1yST5g

Along with your dues renewal, we need all members to complete a Membership Application/Liability Waiver. And in the case of couples memberships, we need this for both members.  You can fill out and submit your Membership Application/Liability Waiver at the following link: https://forms.gle/f2xCjNBAp5qoJjFK8

All current club members should have gotten a renewal notice via email detailing their dues renewal amount and member information on file. This is a good opportunity to update our membership records, so please let Craig know of any changes to your member information (address, email, phone, etc) or include changes with your check/renewal form.

For any individual members who might be interested, the couples membership provides full membership status/benefits to both partners of a couple including membership cards, emails, etc. Note that the couples membership is optional, couples can continue with one partner being an individual member and the other being their guest.  It’s an additional $21 to upgrade your individual membership to a couples membership and you’ll need to include your partner’s name and email along with your payment.

Have questions about your dues or how much you owe? Check with Craig at the March club meeting or by email at Treasurer@PacificGravity.com.

Firestone Friday March 1 and Smog City Monster Brew March 9

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Greetings Pacific Gravity! 

There are 2 fun events coming up within the next 2 weeks.  Our First Friday for March is this Friday, 3/1 and will be held at Firestone Walker Propagator which is always a good time, and our Monster Brew at Smog City will be held next Saturday 3/9.  Read below for details!

Firestone Walker Propagator First Friday this Friday!

For March’s First Friday, we will be back to something local and descend upon Firestone Walker Propagator in Venice – Please Join us!

Time:        Friday, March 1, 2024 7:00pm
Location: Firestone Walker Propagator
3205 Washington Blvd.
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
Phone: (310) 439.8264

They always have a wide selection of different styles available for tasting including sours, stouts, some barrel aged things and yes, even some IPAs…
Their food is also quite good, so it should be the full First-Friday experience!

We hope to see you there!

Monster Brew 2024 at Smog City – Sign Up Now!

Porter has once again graciously offered to host a monster brew at Smog City Brewing Company.  This will be our 8th Monster Brew with Brewmaster, Jon Porter (and lucky 13th if you count the ones he hosted previously, going all the way back to his days at Tustin Brewing!).  These events are always a highlight of the year’s activities and an unreasonably huge amount of fun, so please come out and join us!

Date:  Saturday, March 9, 2024
Sign-Up Deadline: Mon March 4
Time:  ~7:00 AM Mash-In
~12pm Fermenter Filling
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. Purchase yeast and any ingredients desired for modification to the wort – I suggest supporting local South Bay Brewing Supply (call ahead to verify stock)
  3. Arrive at the Monster Brew with a clean plastic or metal fermenter (NO GLASS!) which we will fill with UNFERMENTED wort.
  4. Take it home and modify as desired and pitch your yeast
  5. Ferment until ready for bottling or kegging

For this year’s batch, Porter will be using a base wort based on the ever popular Little Bo Pils that will allow for maximum creativity.  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.  To see the full recipe and for modification ideas, see Carl’s extensive “How Do I Modify My Monster Brew?” post.

COST and RESERVATIONS
We need a headcount WELL BEFORE the brew session, so we can plan the batch size.  The cost will be $35 for each 5 gallons of wort and you can order as many batches as you like  If possible, please pay in advance.  If you want wort but cannot attend the event, you may designate a buddy who can attend to collect your wort.  (We do not have a delivery service.)

SIGN-UP
You can sign up one of two ways:

1. Pay now with Paypal with https://py.pl/2M8HyzSGODw.  If you do this your reservation is good to go.
2. Drop a line to treasurer@pacificgravity.com saying how many batches you want.  Payment will be due on brew day.  We will accept payment at the Monster Brew: cash or check and will be accepted – NO CREDIT CARDS (though of course you will still be able to pay via the paypal link/QR code with credit card).

FERMENTERS
Bring a pre-sanitized PLASTIC or STAINLESS STEEL fermenters for each 5-gallon batch you purchase.  Absolutely NO GLASS fermenters will be allowed in the brewery due to the risk of breakage. You may bring small glass vessels with yeast or other additions, however. Fermenters must have a wide opening for the filling nozzle. Plastic buckets are ideal, but Cornelius kegs are acceptable. Again, please do not bring any skinny-neck containers – we may not be able to fill it.

If there is wort left over at the end, we will hold a lottery to determine who may purchase an additional 5 gallon allotment. Bring an extra fermenter if you are interested.

WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED
Yeast and any additional ingredients you wish to add to your wort are not included. You can bring your yeast to the brewery, or pitch it at home.  We recommend getting your supplies in advance.  I suggest purchasing at South Bay Brewing Supply, which also happens to be near the brewery if you need last-minute supplies on brew day, but of course supplies may be limited, so it’s better to plan ahead!

PARKING
Please park on the WEST side of the building to keep the tap room lot open.
The tap room will be opening to the public at noon.

FOOD
We will have coffee and some light breakfast snacks in the morning.  Later on, the food trucks will be setting up in the parking lot.  In addition, Porter will be supplying tasting samples of some of his fine brews mid-morning.  Cut off time for free pours will be shortly before the tap room opens for business.
REMEMBER TO TIP YOUR BEERTENDER!!!

We hope to see you all there!

Competition Corner March 2024

The 2024 Brewer of the Year competition cycle is now underway.  So get those brewpots going while the fermentation weather is still on the cool side.

First up is the American Homebrewers Association National Homebrew Competition. The entry  process has been updated this year, with some significant deadline changes:

• Feb 27 – March 15: Entry registration and payment.  You must be an AHA member to enter.
• March 29: – deadline for entry changes
• May-June: Shipping and judging of first Round
• July 29 – August 9: Final Round Shipping/Drop-off Window (San Diego)
• August 17 – 24: Final Round Judging
• October 10: Award Ceremony at Great American Beer Festival

March – Mayfaire Competition.  Entry registration will open on March 1st at https://competitions.maltosefalcons.com/2024Mayfaire/  Entries are due by March 29th. South Bay Brewing Supply is the closest drop-off point.    If you bring your entries to the March club meeting on March 21, I’ll run them up to the valley.

April/May/June – California State Fair. Look for details in the next month or so.

As we enter the summer months, we do not foresee a revival of the Los Angeles County Fair. Instead, we have added the Long Beach Red White and Brews competition.  This competition focuses on 30 different American styles.  But, please note, if we do hear that the County Fair competition is revived, it is still included in the competition cycle.

September – Pacific Brewers Cup.  We are running the competition this year, so there will be much more info to come.  We will need quite a bit of volunteer help as well.

October – California State Competition.  This will be the last competition of the 2024 Brewer of the Year season.

Upcoming Styles of the Month

  • January – Winter beers
  • February – Belgian beers
  • March  – British Isle beers
  • April 2024 – Pale beers
  • May 2024 – Dark/black beers
  • June 2024 – Sour beers, smoked beers, and wood-aged beers
  • July 2024 – IPAs
  • August 2024 – No style of the month (Summer Party)
  • September 2024 – German and Czech beers
  • October 2024 – Alternative fermentables beers (using sugars and/or grains other than malted barley)
  • November 2024 – Fruit/spice beers, meads, and ciders/berries
  • December 2024 – No style of the month (Holiday Party)

Upcoming Events

  • March 1: First Friday at Firestone Walker Brewing
  • March 9: Monster Brew
  • March 21: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company – Style: British Isle Beers

Pacific Gravity Club Meeting Thursday, February 15th at Tortugo Brewery

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Greetings Pacific Gravity,

Welcome to a fabulous February!

Our club meeting this week  will be at usual time and place:

February Monthly Meeting; Thursday 2/15/2024 at 7:30 PM
Tortugo Brewing Co.
916 W. Hyde Park Blvd.
Inglewood,  CA  90302
(424) 227-9963
Our Style Of The Month for February is Belgian beers – so please bring your superior singles, delightful dubbels, terrific triples and quintessential quads to share!

A good time was had by all who attended February’s “First Saturday” at Stuffed Sandwich.  Marlene was a terrific host as always, had a fun vertical tasting surprise in store (Also special thanks to the anonymous club member who helped make that happen – you know who you are!!).

Now we are looking forward to our March First Friday at Firestone Walker Brewing in Venice on Friday March 1!”

And let’s not forget the Monster Brew at Smog City on Saturday March 9! Please be sure and sign up early and often so we can make this event happen! If we fail to hit critical mass, this event may be canceled – PLEASE SIGN UP NOW!! (details below)

But wait, there’s more!  The Southern California Homebrewers Festival is coming up May 3 & 4 at Vail Lake near Temecula.  There are still some slots available for tent campers – If you would  like to attend, please let Terry know ASAP to reserve your spot.  I went for the first time last year, and I gotta say, it really lived up to the hype – a huge amount of fun camping with the club (and meeting other clubs) and attending the massive festival with more homebrew taps than I have ever conceived of!

See you all Thurs 2/15 at Tortugo!!

Parker Waechter
President
Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

Upcoming Styles of the Month

  • January – Winter beers
  • February – Belgian beers
  • March  – British Isle beers
  • April 2024 – Pale beers
  • May 2024 – Dark/black beers
  • June 2024 – Sour beers, smoked beers, and wood-aged beers
  • July 2024 – IPAs
  • August 2024 – No style of the month (Summer Party)
  • September 2024 – German and Czech beers
  • October 2024 – Alternative fermentables beers (using sugars and/or grains other than malted barley)
  • November 2024 – Fruit/spice beers, meads, and ciders/berries
  • December 2024 – No style of the month (Holiday Party)

Upcoming Events

  • February 15: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company – Style: Belgian Beer
  • March 1: First Friday at Firestone Walker Brewing
  • March 9: Monster Brew

Monster Brew 2024 at Smog City – Sign Up Now!

Porter has once again graciously offered to host a monster brew at Smog City Brewing Company.  This will be our 8th Monster Brew with Brewmaster, Jon Porter (and lucky 13th if you count the ones he hosted previously, going all the way back to his days at Tustin Brewing!).  These events are always a highlight of the year’s activities and an unreasonably huge amount of fun, so please come out and join us!

Date:  Saturday, March 9, 2024
Sign-Up Deadline: Mon March 4
Time:  ~7:00 AM Mash-In
~12pm Fermenter Filling
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. Purchase yeast and any ingredients desired for modification to the wort – I suggest supporting local South Bay Brewing Supply (call ahead to verify stock)
  3. Arrive at the Monster Brew with a clean plastic or metal fermenter (NO GLASS!) which we will fill with UNFERMENTED wort.
  4. Take it home and modify as desired and pitch your yeast
  5. Ferment until ready for bottling or kegging

For this year’s batch, Porter will be using a base wort based on the ever popular Little Bo Pils that will allow for maximum creativity.  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.  To see the full recipe and for modification ideas, see Carl’s extensive “How Do I Modify My Monster Brew?” post.

COST and RESERVATIONS
We need a headcount WELL BEFORE the brew session, so we can plan the batch size.  You must make a reservation by Monday 3/4 if you want wort.  The cost will be $35 for each 5 gallons of wort and you can order as many batches as you like  If possible, please pay in advance.  If you want wort but cannot attend the event, you may designate a buddy who can attend to collect your wort.  (We do not have a delivery service.)

SIGN-UP
You can sign up one of two ways:

1. Pay now with Paypal with https://py.pl/2M8HyzSGODw.  If you do this your reservation is good to go.
2. Drop a line to treasurer@pacificgravity.com saying how many batches you want.  Payment will be due on brew day.  We will accept payment at the Monster Brew: cash or check and will be accepted – NO CREDIT CARDS (though of course you will still be able to pay via the paypal link/QR code with credit card).

FERMENTERS
Bring a pre-sanitized PLASTIC or STAINLESS STEEL fermenters for each 5-gallon batch you purchase.  Absolutely NO GLASS fermenters will be allowed in the brewery due to the risk of breakage. You may bring small glass vessels with yeast or other additions, however. Fermenters must have a wide opening for the filling nozzle. Plastic buckets are ideal, but Cornelius kegs are acceptable. Again, please do not bring any skinny-neck containers – we may not be able to fill it.

If there is wort left over at the end, we will hold a lottery to determine who may purchase an additional 5 gallon allotment. Bring an extra fermenter if you are interested.

WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED
Yeast and any additional ingredients you wish to add to your wort are not included. You can bring your yeast to the brewery, or pitch it at home.  We recommend getting your supplies in advance.  I suggest purchasing at South Bay Brewing Supply, which also happens to be near the brewery if you need last-minute supplies on brew day, but of course supplies may be limited, so it’s better to plan ahead!

PARKING
Please park on the WEST side of the building to keep the tap room lot open.
The tap room will be opening to the public at noon.

FOOD
We will have coffee and some light breakfast snacks in the morning.  Later on, the food trucks will be setting up in the parking lot.  In addition, Porter will be supplying tasting samples of some of his fine brews mid-morning.  Cut off time for free pours will be shortly before the tap room opens for business.
REMEMBER TO TIP YOUR BEERTENDER!!!

We hope to see you all there!

Competition Corner February 2024

  • February – America’s Finest City  https://beerawardsplatform.com/afc-2024
    • Missed the entry window – capped at 500 entries
  • February – Start of AHA NHC Process
    • Feb 27 – March 15 Entry registration and payment
    • March 29 – deadline for entry changes
    • May-June Shipping and judging of first Round
    •  July 29 – August 9: Final Round Shipping/Drop-off Window (San Diego)
    • August 17 – 24: Final Round Judging
    • October 10: Award Ceremony at Great American Beer Festival
  • April – Mayfaire Competition  No info yet, but almost certain to happen
  • May/June  State Fair.
    • See if Angel City is a drop-off again
  • May –  County Fair? Unlikely
  • Replace Co Fair with Long Beach Red White and Brews?
    • American beers, 30 different styles
  • September – Pacific Brewers Cup
    •  We are running it in 2024 – Need to get plans in place
  • October California State Competition

Copyright © 2024 Pacific Gravity, All rights reserved.

Stuffed Sandwich Trip, Monster Brew, Competitions

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Greetings Pacific Gravity!

There are two great events coming up that you will not want to miss.  We will be having our First Saturday next weekend at Stuffed Sandwich next Saturday 2/3 and a Monster Brew at Smog City on Saturday 3/9.  Read below for details on each!

Stuffed Sandwich FIRST SATURDAY this coming weekend!!

For February’s First Friday, we will instead be partaking of an epic FIRST SATURDAY at Stuffed Sandwich in San Gabriel -Please join us!

Time: Saturday, February 3, 2024 12 noon.
Location: Stuffed Sandwich
1145 East Las Tunas Dr.
San Gabriel,  CA  91776  (626) 285-9161

Marlene’s featured theme for February will be “Barlywines and Strong Ales” – this of course means very high alcohol.  Please make your travel plans accordingly! Carpooling with a designated driver, public transport, or sharing a ride-share can be a  good strategy…

Stuffed Sandwich is part of our local beer history as it specialized in craft beer before it was even called craft beer.  In addition to the great beers they will have on tap, they always have a disturbingly excellent collection of bottles for sale.

———————————————————–

Monster Brew ’24 at Smog City – SIGN UP NOW!

Porter has once again graciously offered to host a monster brew at Smog City Brewing Company.  This will be our 8th Monster Brew with Brewmaster, Jon Porter (and lucky 13th if you count the ones he hosted previously, going all the way back to his days at Tustin Brewing!).  These events are always a highlight of the year’s activities and an unreasonably huge amount of fun, so please come out and join us!

Date:  Saturday, March 9, 2024
Sign-Up Deadline: Mon March 4
Time:  ~7:00 AM Mash-In
~12pm Fermenter Filling
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. Purchase yeast and any ingredients desired for modification to the wort – I suggest supporting local South Bay Brewing Supply (call ahead to verify stock)
  3. Arrive at the Monster Brew with a clean plastic or metal fermenter (NO GLASS!) which we will fill with UNFERMENTED wort.
  4. Take it home and modify as desired and pitch your yeast
  5. Ferment until ready for bottling or kegging

For this year’s batch, Porter will be using a base wort based on the ever popular Little Bo Pils that will allow for maximum creativity.  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.  To see the full recipe and for modification ideas, see Carl’s extensive “How Do I Modify My Monster Brew?” post.

COST and RESERVATIONS
We need a headcount WELL BEFORE the brew session, so we can plan the batch size.  You must make a reservation by Monday 3/4 if you want wort.  The cost will be $35 for each 5 gallons of wort and you can order as many batches as you like  If possible, please pay in advance.  If you want wort but cannot attend the event, you may designate a buddy who can attend to collect your wort.  (We do not have a delivery service.)

SIGN-UP
You can sign up one of two ways:

1. Pay now with Paypal with https://py.pl/2M8HyzSGODw.  If you do this your reservation is good to go.
2. Drop a line to treasurer@pacificgravity.com saying how many batches you want.  Payment will be due on brew day.  We will accept payment at the Monster Brew: cash or check and will be accepted – NO CREDIT CARDS (though of course you will still be able to pay via the paypal link/QR code with credit card).

FERMENTERS
Bring a pre-sanitized PLASTIC or STAINLESS STEEL fermenters for each 5-gallon batch you purchase.  Absolutely NO GLASS fermenters will be allowed in the brewery due to the risk of breakage. You may bring small glass vessels with yeast or other additions, however. Fermenters must have a wide opening for the filling nozzle. Plastic buckets are ideal, but Cornelius kegs are acceptable. Again, please do not bring any skinny-neck containers – we may not be able to fill it.

If there is wort left over at the end, we will hold a lottery to determine who may purchase an additional 5 gallon allotment. Bring an extra fermenter if you are interested.

WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED
Yeast and any additional ingredients you wish to add to your wort are not included. You can bring your yeast to the brewery, or pitch it at home.  We recommend getting your supplies in advance.  I suggest purchasing at South Bay Brewing Supply, which also happens to be near the brewery if you need last-minute supplies on brew day, but of course supplies may be limited, so it’s better to plan ahead!

PARKING
Please park on the WEST side of the building to keep the tap room lot open.
The tap room will be opening to the public at noon.

FOOD
We will have coffee and some light breakfast snacks in the morning.  Later on, the food trucks will be setting up in the parking lot.  In addition, Porter will be supplying tasting samples of some of his fine brews mid-morning.  Cut off time for free pours will be shortly before the tap room opens for business.
REMEMBER TO TIP YOUR BEERTENDER!!!

We hope to see you all there!

Parker Waechter, President Pacific Gravity

Competition Corner January 2024

Greetings fellow homebrewers.  I hope your year is starting out well.  Personally, I’m taking advantage of the cool weather and have a “garage lager” in the fermenter.

With the beginnings of a new year, everybody in the club is tied for the 2024 Brewer of the Year award!  Now is you chance to pull into the lead. Here is the rundown on the 2024 cycle:

  • America’s Finest City:  Whoops, already full!  I was stunned to see this 500-entry competition was full before I even had the date.
  • AHA National Homebrew Competition:  AHA has revamped the schedule this year, so advance brewing and planning is needed to pull this off.  Details can be found at https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/national-homebrew-competition/ .  Entry requests open February 27th and close March 15th.  First round entries need to be shipped off in May or June.  If you advance to the finals, second round entries are due in Dan Diego by August 9th, with judging the 3rd week of August.  Final results will be presented at the Great American Beer Festival in October.
  • April – Mayfaire Competition
  • May/June  State Fair
  • May – July:- LA County Fair seems to be history.  If things change, I’ll have an update.
  • July:  Red, White and Brews.  We decided to add this competition to the cycle this year since the LA County Fair left a gap in the schedule.  Run by Long Beach Homebrewers, this competition focuses on various American Styles.
  • September:  Pacific Brewers Cup.  Pacific Gravity is running the competition this year, so we’ll need all hands on deck. More about this in the months to come.
  • October:  California State Competition

If you want to get some competition practice in, there are many other competitions out there.  Check out https://www.bjcp.org/competitions/competition-calendar/ for the full schedule.

Carl Townsend
Competition Coordinator

Upcoming Styles of the Month

  • February – Belgian beers
  • March  – British Isle beers

Upcoming Events

  • February 3: First Saturday Stuffed Sandwich
  • February 15: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company – Style: Belgian Beer
  • March 9: Monster Brew Smog City Brewing

Club Meeting Thursday, January 18th at Tortugo Brewery

/in /by

Greetings Pacific Gravity! Happy New Year!

I hope you all enjoyed and have recovered from your holiday festivities!

Next week will be our first club meeting of the new year at usual time and place:

January Monthly Meeting; Thursday 1/18/2024 at 7:30 PM
Tortugo Brewing Co.
916 W. Hyde Park Blvd.
Inglewood,  CA  90302
(424) 227-9963
Our Style Of The Month is Winter Beers, so break out your winter warmers and spiced what-nots for everyone to enjoy and learn from.

We look forward to kicking off the new year right!

To that end, February’s “First Saturday” will be at the Stuffed Sandwich on Feb 3 and Marlene’s theme of the month will be “Barleywines and Strong Ales”.  Details will be coming in a future email.

Also, the Southern California Homebrewers Festival is coming up May 3 & 4 at Vail Lake near Temecula.  If you would like to camp, please make sure you let Terry know by this Monday 1/15 so he can make sure we reserve a space for you when he meets with the committee next week.  I went for the first time last year, and I gotta say, it really lived up to the hype – a huge amount of fun camping with the club (and meeting other clubs) and attending the massive festival with more homebrew taps than I have ever conceived of.

See you all next Thurs 1/18 at Tortugo!!

Parker Waechter
President
Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

Upcoming Styles of the Month

  • January – Winter beers
  • February – Belgian beers
  • March  – British Isle beers

Upcoming Events

  • January 15: Deadline to Reserve your Southern California Homebrewfest campsite with Terry
  • January 18: Club meeting at Torgugo Brewing Company Style Winter Beer
  • February 3: First Saturday Stuffed Sandwich
  • February 15: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company – Style: Belgian Beer
  • Feb 16 – Feb 29th: Entries due for America’s Finest City Competition  in San Diego

Pacific Gravity Holiday Party 2023

/in , /by

Greetings Pacific Gravity!

We are throwing our annual Holiday Party on Saturday 12/09/2023!

But first we need your help!

This Sunday 12/03/23 we will be doing the setup (and drinking beer!) over at Neil’s, so come on down and lend a hand! Not only do we need help with setup we will also need supplies from those that could supply:

  • Beer – Details/Sign up Info below
  • Firewood
  • Tree
  • Outdoor fire pit
  • Propane heater\outdoor heater
  • Chairs
  • Tables,
  • E-Z ups (canopies)
  • Power strips
  • CO2 Tanks

Holiday Party Setup and First Friday Event for the month of December. :
When:  Sunday, December 3rd at 12:00pm.
Where:  12966 Rubens Ave, Los Angeles, CA. (at Alla Road)

Holiday Party Clean up will be Sunday, December 10th at 10am – Please help out if you can.

Holiday Party Details

The Holiday party will be a Neil’s Duplex on December 9th at 5:00PM.  Also, we will announce the Member of the Year Award and the Brewer of the year award.

You can help! 
Although the club will be providing much of the main dishes this is still a pot luck party and your favorite party dish will sure be appreciated!
The menu should mostly reflect past holiday parties featuring Carbonnades ala Flamande, meat on the BBQ, deep fried turkeys, spiced ham and much more!

So if you have a favorite family holiday recipe and want to share it with the rest of us, this is your chance!  If you have any questions about what to bring you can ask me masterchef@pacificgravity.com.  Suggestions would include any kind of main dish but especially all side dishes, veggie dishes, salads, desserts and appetizers!

Beer
Got beer?  We need all types of beer, meads, cider and sodas for this event.  Pull out your favorite holiday beverage, dust off the bottle or keg and bring it down!  We’ll have the Wave of Beer set up to help dispense your holiday homebrews.  If you plan to bring beer, soda or other seasonally festive beverage, please contact Carl at: Competitions@pacificgravity.com & let him know what you will bring.  Everyone who signs up in advance will have a festive tap tag.

This is an outdoor event…it will be cold!  Please plan accordingly!

Bring a chair if you can!

Holiday Party:
When: Saturday, December 9th, at 5:00 PM.
Where: 12966 Rubens Ave, Los Angeles, CA. (at Alla Road)

PG Member Survey:If you haven’t had a chance to fill out the survey,  please join us and take a few minutes to answer these 4 questions:

Click Here for The Pacific Gravity Member Survey

PG News:

  • Holiday Party is December 9th, 2023 – 5pm

 

See you there

Cheers and Happy Holidays!

Chili Cook-off – October Club Meeting. October 14th – Terry Molloy’s

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This Saturday, October 14th is our annual Pacific Gravity Chili Cook-off and The Molloy’s were generous enough to host us (yet again) for the club meeting and the chili cook-off. Remember, it’s a private residence so carry-in & carry-out and be on your best behavior!

**This replaces the 3rd Thursday club meeting and the club meeting will be held at the Chili Cookoff.**

We will be conducting our annual chili cook off and all members are invited to bring a crock pot of homemade chili to enter.  Fabulous prizes (well, bragging rights and a beer) will be given for the chili voted as “best” and “most unique”.

The style of the month is IPAs and Brian will be hosting this month’s commercial tasting.

We will also be accepting nominations for Board Member positions of President, Vice President, and Treasurer and nominations for Member of the Year. The Elections will be held at our November meeting so this month is the last month to put in your nominations.

Location:
The Molloys
6738 W. 87th Place,
Westchester, CA 90045
(Please note, it is PLACE, not Street!)

PG News:

  • Board Member and Member of the Year nominations will be held this Saturday.
  • Board Member Election will be held at our November club meeting.
  • Pacific Gravity Members Survey coming this Month.
October California State Competition

  • This is the last competition of the 2023 Brewer of the Year Cycle. The winner will be announced at the Holiday Party.
  • https://castate.brewcompetition.com/ .
  • You must ship your entries to the bay area between September 30th and October 12th. Entries due by October 12.
  • Judging October 28th – Nov 5th in the Bay area.

Upcoming Styles of the Month

  • October – IPAs
  • November – Amber and Brown Beers
  • December – Holiday Party

Upcoming Events

  • October 12th: California State Competition Deadline
  • October 14th: Chili Cook-off Club Meeting
  • November 3rd: First Friday at Maple Block, Culver City
  • November 16th – November Club Meeting – Tortugo
Copyright © 2023 Pacific Gravity, All rights reserved.
You subscribed to this list by entering your email address on the Pacific Gravity Homebrew Club website.Our mailing address is:Pacific Gravity
P.O. Box 2451
Los Angeles, Ca 90066

Pacific Gravity Club Meeting Thursday, September 21st at Tortugo Brewery

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Servus Pacific Gravity!
This month we are bringing Wies’n to Inglewood at Tortugo Brewing Co, located at 916 W Hyde Park Blvd, Inglewood, CA 90302. Chef Ian will be providing the classic Oktoberfest food to fill our bellies while we consume some delicious traditional fest beers. Craig will be hosting this months commercial tasting of Fest and amber beers. As always all beer styles are welcome, feel free to bring your latest homebrew to share, because how can we Oans, zwoa, drei, g’suffa! without the most important part.. das Bier!  So breakout those Dirndl & Lederhosen, come hungry and thirsty!

Prost!

We will get started about 7:30 PM.

September Monthly Meeting; Thursday 9/21/2023 at 7:30 PM
Tortugo Brewing Co.
916 W. Hyde Park Blvd.
Inglewood,  CA  90302
(424) 227-9963

As always please be responsible and ensure a safe ride to and from all our events.

Board Member Elections Information:

Board Member Election nominations will take place at our September and October meetings. Nominations will be held for

  • President
  • Vice President
  • Treasurer

Please attention the club meetings to cast your nomination. Voting will take place in November.

 October PG Events:

For October we will be moving back to a Friday evening event to be held at Upshift Brewing in El Segundo
Upshift Brewing Company
339 Indiana St,
El Segundo, CA 90245

Chili Cookoff – October 14th, 2023 – Club Meeting

Our October Club meetings will also be our annual Chili Cookoff event and it will be held October 14th at Terry Molloys. Final details to follow.

Upcoming Competitions

September – Pacific Brewers Cup (Long Beach Homebrewers)

  •  https://www.longbeachhomebrewers.com/comp/pbc/bcoem/
  • Registration open, deadline September 23
  • Dropoff at Stein Fillers in Long Beach starting September 7th.
  • You can bring them to the club meeting September 21st and Carl will drop them off at Stein Fillers.
  • Judging at La Jara Brewing October 7th in Norwalk.  Please sign up to judge or steward.

October California State Competition

  • This is the last competition of the 2023 Brewer of the Year Cycle. The winner will be announced at the Holiday Party.
  • https://castate.brewcompetition.com/ .
  • You must ship your entries to the bay area between September 30th and October 12th. Entries due by October 12.
  • Judging October 28th – Nov 5th in the Bay area.

Upcoming Styles of the Month

  • September – Festbiers and Amber lagers
  • October – IPAs
  • November – Amber and Brown Beers
  • December – Holiday Party

Upcoming Events

  • September 21st: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company Styles includes any Festbiers and Amber lagers
  • September 23rd: Pacific Brewers Cup Deadline
  • October 6th: First Friday at Upshift Brewing
  • October 7th: La Jara Brewing Pacific Brewers Cup Judging.
  • October 12th: California State Competition Deadline
  • October 14th: Chilli Cookoff – Club Meeting

Competition Corner – September 2023

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We are fast approaching the end of the 2023 Brewer of the Year with just two more competitions to go.

First up:  Pacific Brewers Cup, which is being run by Long Beach Homebrewers this year.

Registration is currently open at https://www.longbeachhomebrewers.com/comp/pbc/bcoem/ , with the deadline of September 23.  This is a full-on competition with all BJCP styles.

The dropoff location is at at Stein Fillers in Long Beach.  But, if you bring your entries to the September club meeting at Tortugo on Thursday, September 21st, I’ll hand carry them to Long Beach Friday morning.  Judging at La Jara Brewing on October 7th in Norwalk. Please sign up to judge or steward using the above link.

 

 

The the last competition of the 2023 Brewer of the Year Cycle is California Homebrew Competition.  Registration is now open at https://castate.brewcompetition.com/ .
You must ship your entries to the bay area between September 30th and October 12th. Entries due by October 12.  Judging will be held October 28th – Nov 5th in the Bay area.

The winner of the 2023 Brewer of the Year will be announced at the Holiday Party!