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:
- Order wort ahead of time.
- Purchase yeast and any ingredients desired for modification to the wort – I suggest supporting local South Bay Brewing Supply (call ahead to verify stock)
- Arrive at the Monster Brew with a clean plastic or metal fermenter (NO GLASS!) which we will fill with UNFERMENTED wort.
- Take it home and modify as desired and pitch your yeast
- 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
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