Stuffed Sandwich Trip, Monster Brew, Competitions

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.

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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

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

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

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

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

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!

Pacific Gravity First Saturday September 2nd, 2023 – Project Barley Square

Greetings Pacific Gravity!

As summer winds down and the 3 day weekend approaches joins us this Saturday September 2nd at the UK inspired Project Barley Square in Torrance for some real ale and fish and chips. For those that are unaware Project Barley took over Yorkshire Square Brewery facility and are continuing the tradition of British influenced food and Cask Ale. We’ll get started around 12:00pm. Project Barley opens at 11am for brunch.

Location:
Project Barley Square
1109 Van Ness Avenue
Torrance, CA 90501
12pm

South Bay Brewing Supply is just 2 block away, (1311 Post Av).  While you are in the neighborhood, plan your next brew day now and pick up everything you need for your next brew day.

PG News:

  • Our next club meeting will be at Tortugo Brewing on the 21st of September and it’s Festbiers and Amber lagers month.
  • Board Member Elections are upcoming.  Nominations will be held at our September and October club meetings.
  • Elections for Board Members (President, Vice President and Treasurer) will be held at our November club meeting, along with voting for the Club Member of the Year.

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.
  • 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 October 28th – November 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 7th: La Jara Brewing Pacific Brewers Cup Judging.
  • October 12th: California State Competition Deadline

Pacific Gravity Summer Party July 29, 2023

Greetings Pacific Gravity!

 

RED, WHITE and BREW
This year’s summer party is set for July 29, 2023 and will be held at Dean Sussman’s Highland’s home located at 1310 Amalfi Drive, Pacific Palisades.

 

The theme for this year’s summer party is the American BBQ! We’ll be spotlighting burgers, smash burgers and hotdogs.

However, this being a ‘bring a plate’ potluck event we want you to bring your favorite dish along to the event as well; any dish is welcome, feel free to bring all your American BBQ side dish classics.

The summer party is a volunteer’s event, and we need lots of Read more

Monster Brew and Yard Sale with Scholb Brewery

There are still spaces available for the Monster Brew with Scholb Brewery on August 5, 2023. Cost is $35 per batch.  This event works just like the Smog Monster Brews in the past.

Scholb Monsterbrew Full Details

They will also hold a Yard Sale for your unwanted homebrew equipment.  Even if you don’t want to get in on the wort, you can bring items to sell or buy.  Please note if you stuff doesn’t sell, you MUST take it back home afterwards.

Important Note:  If you want wort, you must sign up no later than Saturday, July 29th (Summer party day). You can order one or two 5-gallon batches. Sign up at:  https://forms.gle/QBQxqcSJLJdLN9c37

First Saturday July 1st, 2023 – Smog City Torrance

Greetings Pacific Gravity!

July’s First Friday is actually a First Saturday on the 1st of July. Porter has graciously agreed to host us this month at his Brewery and Taproom in Torrance at the 1901 Del Amo Blvd Location. We invite all PG members to come and joins as we support Jon Porter and Smog City as they have supported us throughout the years. Join us starting at 12:00pm

Location:

Smog City Brewing
1901 Del Amo Blvd.
Torrance, Ca. 90501

 

 

https://smogcitybrewing.com/
12pm

Food Trucks:
vchostruck.com
Baserriko Peppers