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

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

Virtual First Friday at Common Space Brewery Sept 4th

Greetings Pacific Gravity,

Can you believe it is almost September already?  That’s crazy!

I hope this finds you all safe and healthy while we continue to shelter in place.  In our ongoing efforts to bring you new and interesting content and experiences we are featuring Common Space Brewery (https://www.commonspace.la/ )  for our September First Friday on Friday, September 4, 2020.

First Friday at Common Space Brewery Virtual Zoom Meeting
September 4, 2020, at 7:00 PM

Josie Becker (CSB brewer and PG member) will be leading the tasting for Pacific Gravity.
Brent Knapp (CEO and alumnus of Tomm Carroll’s first UCLA Extension Craft Beer Class!) may join in for a bit of the tasting.  Common space has put together a Pacific Gravity beer set for this event.

The Pacific Gravity 4-pack (chosen by Josie) consists of: Read more

First Friday With Firestone Walker Aug 7 7PM

Greetings Pacific Gravity,

It is August already!  I hope this finds you all remaining safe and healthy in this, our 25th year of existence and continued isolation. For our First Friday in August, we have decided on a virtual visit to Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Propagator located here in Venice.

First Friday August 7, 2020 at 7:00 PM VIRTUAL on ZOOM

This will be a more informal format then our previous virtual First Fridays with no organized beers pre-selected.  Sam Tierney, the brewing manager at Propagator, will join us for an informal chat about brewing at Propagator and the beers brewed there! Read more

Pacific Gravity July Virtual First Friday at The Daily Pint

Greetings Pacific Gravity,

For our club’s first Friday coming up at 7:00 PM Friday, July 3, 2020 we are doing a virtual First Friday at yet another of one of our club’s longtime supporters.  This First Friday will be a virtual meeting at one of my favorite hang-outs, The Daily Pint!  We want to continue in the same vein as the last First Friday which featured a very successful virtual visit and tasting at Project Barley with our own Rives!  Thank you Rives for getting this set up!

This First Friday will feature Russian River beers purchased from The Daily Pint.  Phil has put together a 4–pack of Russian River 500 ML beers for us to purchase and drink at our First Friday, the lineup includes:

STS Pilsner
Velvet Glow (a new dry pale ale)
Blind Pig IPA
ROBERT (their new Saison)

Because the Pint is a reseller we are paying a little extra on this go around, the 4-pack will cost $40 with all proceeds going to support The Daily Pint. I also hope to have Phil himself join us and give us all the latest news about the goings on at the Pint and his reopening plans.   The beer will be available starting tomorrow Saturday June, 27, 2020 and the pick up address is: 3938 Glencoe Ave, Venice CA.

Please have your $40 cash with you at pick up.

We are not posting the Zoom link publicly but all members should have received an email invitation with all the details.  If you did not get the email but want to join the meeting send me an email at [email protected] and I will forward it to you.

Cheers,
Ian Fraser
President
Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

First Friday June 5th – Here is the Beer List, Order before Sunday 5-31

Greetings Pacific Gravity,

OK, HERE ARE THE DETAILS FOR FIRST FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 2020 @ 7:00 pm

For our club’s first Friday coming up at 7:00 PM Friday, June 5, 2020 we are doing a virtual First Friday at our club member Rives own Project Barley Brewery.

Rives will deliver 3 packs of Project Barley beers to a central location. Any members who want to participate will purchase the 3 beers; and we will have our in-house judges Carl and Tomm evaluate each of the beers while you taste along.  Rives will be on hand and can tell us each of their stories!

When you pick up your 3-packs of pints, we will have judging score sheets available to anyone who wants to score the beers along with Carl and Tomm.

The 3-pack includes the following beers:

  • Fruit Tart: Key Lime (a Key-Lime Pie inspired kettle-sour.)
  • Em Day’s Pale Ale (modern West Coast Pale Ale with Citra, Mosaic  and Galaxy).
  • Imperial Walker Stout (classic Imperial Stout).

The cost of the 3-pack of pint (16 oz) cans is $15.00; this price includes the gas and tip for the delivery driver. All funds go to Project Barley, the club is not trying to make any money on this process.

Rives will drop off the beers at my house about noon on Sunday and they will be available for pick up any time after that.  That means you have until 8:00 AM Sunday morning to let me know if you want in on this, drop me an email at: [email protected] to be included.    Also check with me at this address if you don’t have the Zoom info.

The beer pick up address is: 3938 Glencoe Ave, Venice CA please have your $15 cash with you at pick up.

Cheers,

Ian Fraser
President
Pacific Gravity

Virtual First Friday May 1 – 7PM on Zoom

Greetings PG Isolators!

Tired of being shut in?  Bored of the same old…same old?  Talking to your cat?  Is the cat talking back?  Well Pacific Gravity is doing our part to maintain some resemblance of normality by having First Friday!  Virtual First Friday that is!  And we want you and your cat to join us!  So, Friday May 1 about 7 PM, sit back with a beer or drink of choice and join the club!

I will be present with upcoming news and to answer your questions, so I hope to see many of you Friday night!  I also hope to get some of local brewers that support PG to come in and tell you what they have going on!

We are not posting the links publicly but all members should have received an email invitation with all the details.  If you did not get the email but want to join the meeting send me an email at [email protected] and I will forward it to you.

Ian

 

First Friday at Smog City West Feb 7th

Greetings,

For First Friday this month we are visiting Smog City’s newest tap room location located at 22755 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA 90505. We will get started about 7:00 PM.

This is a very busy month! Please mark your calendars for the following:

2/15/2020 25th anniversary bottle share at the 4th Horseman (Hosted by Martin Svab)
2/20/2020 the 25th anniversary (The actual!) club meeting to be held at Neil Saund’s Alla Road party pad!
3/7/2020 The Stuffed Sandwich party!

Cheers,
Ian

First Saturday – LA Ale Works and Common Space

Greetings,

For our November First Friday, we are shifting it to another First Saturday.  But in exchange we are offering you not one but 2 breweries to visit at one event!

Please join us on November 2, 2019 as we visit:
Los Angeles Ale Works, located at
12918 Cerise Ave.
Hawthorne, CA 90250

AND

Common Space Brewery  located at
3411 W. El Segundo Blvd.
Hawthorne, CA 90250 Read more

First Friday at Santa Monica Brew Works

Please join us for our second First Friday of 2019 when we visit Santa Monica Brew Works, located at
1920 Colorado Ave, Santa Monica, California. Pacific Gravity Alum Drew Pomatti works at the brewery.
Start time will be about 7:30. Hope to see you there!

Upcoming dates to remember.
Feb. 21, February club meeting at Tortugo Brewing
March 8, March First Friday at Irish Times
March 9, Monster brew at Smog City Brewery

Cheers,

Ian

Reminder: Pacific Gravity January Club Meeting

Don’t miss our first club meeting of 2019, headed by our new president, Ian Fraser.

When: Thursday, January 17, 2019
Time:
 7:30
Where: Tortugo Brewing, 916 W Hyde Park Blvd, Inglewood, CA.

Hyde Park Blvd is a few blocks East of Three Weavers, and just North of the iconic Randy’s Doughnuts. From La Cienega and Florence, go east on Florence about 1/4 mile, turning left at the first street. Go under the metro rail tracks, proceed to the big orange building on the East side of the street.

Commercial Style of the Month:   English Bitters. Dean will lead us in the commercial tasting

Homebrew Style of the Month:   English Bitters.

Please bring some home-brewed beer to share.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Club Meetings:
February 21: Tortugo Brewing Company, 7:30 pm
March 21: Tortugo Brewing Company, 7:30 pm

First Fridays:
February 1: Santa Monica Brew Works, 1920 Colorado Ave #c, Santa Monica
March 1: Irish Times, 3267 Motor Ave, West Los Angeles

Annual Smog City Monster Brew:
Saturday, March 9, 6-ish am

See you there!

.