Reminder: Pacific Gravity January Club Meeting

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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!

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First Saturday at The 4th Horseman

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Pacific Gravity’s first “First Friday” of 2019 is moving to SATURDAY for January. Please join us on Saturday January 5 as we travel to Long Beach to check out Martin Svab’s new venture; The 4th Horseman, located at 121 W 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90802.

We will be hosted by Martin and Ryan, who have 12 beers on tap and over 50 more in bottles to choose from plus some righteous good pizza! I have been told they will put some epic beers on for us and club member Martin will be in attendance!

All Pacific Gravity members who show up will also receive a club discount on your purchases!

So start the New Year off right with some good pizza and beer.  We’ll be starting at 12 noon.

Cheers,

Ian

 

Up Coming Events:
Club Meeting, Jan. 17 at Tortugo Brewing
Monster Brew at Smog City, March 2nd

LABBC, March 24 (Get brewing!)

 

Pacific Gravity: Next Meeting, Looking Back, Looking Forward

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SEPTEMBER CLUB MEETING

One of Pacific Gravity’s signature events is the annual Monster Brew held in conjunction with Jonathan Porter, Owner, Brewer and Proprietor Extraordinaire of Smog City Brewing. Our next meeting is truly special: we are going to share our Monster Brew creations with Porter and the staff at Smog City

When: This Thursday, September 20, 2018
Time: 7:30pm
Where: Smog City Brewing Company, 1901 Del Amo Blvd, Torrance, CA.

EDUCATION HIGHLIGHT: In the first of a series, Carl will be demonstrating how water chemistry affects the taste of your homebrew, and how you can fine tune your H2O to the style you are brewing.

COMMERCIAL STYLE of the MONTH:   IPAs, hosted by Reuben.

And whatever Porter Has On Tap.

HOMEBREW STYLE of the MONTH:   Your Monster Brew, and any home-brewed IPA.

Kegs, bottles and growlers of the style of the month are encouraged. All homebrews are welcome.

LOOKING BACK AT THE SUMMER OF 2018:

We sure had an interesting summer:

  • 36 PG and WASH (West Adams Society of Homebrewers) members attended the annual Southern California Homebrewers Festival at Vail Lake in Temecula. We shared 23 kegs with home brewers from around Southern and Central California.
  • We held our last meeting at PG’s long time home, Culver City Homebrew Supply.
  • Our annual Big Brew highlighted the different methods used to make award winning (and tasty) beers, from Michael’s Brew-in-a-Bag, to Carl’s Thermo-Siphon Reboiler, to Parker’s Set-it-and-Forget-It Grainfather.
  • PG members congregated at the Casa Molloy Event Center to make jockey boxes and add to our auxiliary stock of party taps.
  • Another cozy Summer Party involving much sampling of fellow PG members home-brews, interesting commercial beers from around the country, and the culinary inspirations of Ian Fraser and his Merry Band of Sous Chefs.
  • Our combined August club meeting / Tania’s Birthday Party was held at Neil Saund’s duplex.
  • And finally, a Labor Day Weekend Downtown-LA Brewery Crawl. To kickoff the crawl, Art District’s Head Brewer Devon Randall bought everyone’s first pint, and her staff treated us to a tour of the brewhouse. We also sampled their freshest beer.

Now, let’s kick our Fall into high gear.

OCTOBER EVENTS:

First Friday:
Date: Friday, October 5.
Place: Phantom Carriage Brewing, 18525 S. Main Street, Carson, CA
Time: 7’ish pm

Phantom Carriage was started by a couple of Pacific Gravity alumni.

October Club Meeting:
Date: Thursday, October 18.
Place: Tortugo Brewing Company, 916 W. Hyde Park Blvd, Inglewood
Time: 7:30 pm

Tortugo is only a couple of months old, and was started by PG member Joe Kovach. He has some pretty tasty beers on tap, including a Belgian Wit that is right on the mark.

Hyde Park Blvd is about 2 blocks East of the intersection of Florence and La Cienega, and about 4 blocks East of Three Weavers.

WANTED: VOLUNTEER BOARD MEMBERS

After many years of outstanding service, Tim Bardet is retiring as Treasurer. At the September and October meetings, we will be taking nominations for Treasurer, and – if you are so inclined – the other elected positions (President, Vice President).

If you would like to be part of Keeping Pacific Gravity Great, please volunteer your nomination.

NOVEMBER EVENTS:

First Friday:  TBA
Date: Friday, November 2.
Place: TBA
Time: 7’ish pm

Phantom Carriage was started by a couple of Pacific Gravity alumni.

November Chili Cookoff / Club Meeting:
Date: TBD
Place: TBD
Time: TBD

We haven’t worked out all the details yet, but just wanted you to be ready for it.

Remember: Please bring some of your homebrew to the meeting and events.

 

See you Thursday!

Arts District Brewery Crawl Saturday, Sept 1

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What do you do when First Friday has too  many options?  Push it to Saturday, of course!  Join us for a visit to several of the downtown area breweries.  It also give many of a us an opportunity to take public transit.

There are a lot of places to hit on this trip, so we may end up splitting up and going to different locations.  Here is an update with Ian’s proposed timeline:

Greetings All, I am posting on behalf of Carl Townsend our ‘cat herder’ and organizer of our Saturday Arts District Pub Crawl.
 
We wanted to post a schedule for the day so that any late arrivals would have an idea of where to find the group when they show up. Now these times are not written in concrete and as the day unfolds are flexible but the current plan looks like this:
Arts District Brewing from 12:00 Noon to about 1:30 PM or so.
Dry River Brewing from 1:45 to about 3:00 PM
Then cross the street to Indie Brewing from 3:00 PM to 4:15 PM
Then march to Iron Triangle Brewing from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
Then back North to Mumford Brewing 6:15 PM to whenever
Then if you are super serious about hitting all the stops you can finish at Weiland Brewing or Boomtown Brewing both located right in the neighborhood!
 
Post any comments or questions in the comments section and we will get back to you!
See you on Saturday!
Ian

 

If you want an early start, I’d suggesting grabbing a bite to eat at Wurstkuche, 800 E. 3rd st @ Traction Los Angeles, CA 90013 .   This place has has a variety of German sausages and a good assortment of German and Belgians beers.  Wurstekuche opens at 11AM.

I’ll be starting the day at Arts District Brewing Company at 828 Traction Ave, 90013.  Doors open at noon.  The beers brewed by our own Devon Randall are always top-notch.  I’ll be grabbing a bit to eat here.  Right near by is Angel City Brewery, 216 S Alameda St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

From there, we have several directions we can go.  Due south of Arts District is Iron Triangle Brewing, 1581 Industrial St, Los Angeles, CA 90021.   To the east, across the 6th Street/Wittier bridge are a pair of breweries, Dry River Brewing, 671 S Anderson St, Los Angeles, CA 90023 and Indie Brewing Company, 2350 Sunrise St, Los Angeles, CA 90023.

At the north end of Arts District is Boomtown Brewery, 700 Jackson St, Los Angeles, CA 90012.  This is the closest brewery to Union Station Red and Purple lines, and the Gold line. 

At the west end of the area is Mumford Brewery, 416 Boyd St, Los Angeles, CA 90013. 

There are a number of different options to get to the Arts District by transit.  You can take the Expo line up to the 7th Street Metro center.  You can grab the Red line there for a one or two stops to save a bit of walking.  Fare is $1.75 each way.

I find the 733 bus that runs the entire length of Venice Blvd to be a simple option for many west-side starting points.  It turns north on Main street, and returns southbound on Spring Street.  Fare is $1.75 each way.  More info can be found at https://www.metro.net/riding/trip-planner/

 

Pacific Gravity News: First Friday, April Roundup

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This Friday (May 4) is First Friday! And It’s a Classic!

Where: Daily Pint, 2310 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA, 90245
Time: 7:30pm

April Meeting Kegs

We had quite the line-up of kegs at the April meeting. Thank you to the following members who donated legged home-brew:

Parker W: Dubbel
Carl T: Pale Ale
Parker W: Standard Bitter
Ken M: New England IPA
Carl T: Belgian Blonde
Parker W: Altbier
Tim J: Monster Lager
Andrew W: Double Chocolate Imperial Stout
Tim J: Dark Red

There were quite a few growlers and bottles floating around, too. Thanks to everyone who shared.

Southern California Homebrew Festival

We are less than a week away. It’s going to be a hot day!  I will be sending out a final email on Monday or Tuesday.

Pacific Gravity Big Brew: Saturday, May 26

Still in town for Memorial Weekend? Come on over to the annual Big Brew and check out the brew rigs of your fellow PG members in action, including the system that Carl uses to brew his award winning beers.

Date: Saturday, May 26.
Place: Carl’s Place, 3621 Redwood Ave. Los Angeles, Ca. 90066
Time: 10:00 – 6:00

All Grain Brewers should plan to start mashing in around 10:00 am. Extract brewers can start later.

If you secured a spot to brew, arrange an equipment drop off time with Carl (competitions @ pacific gravity . com) on Friday. Please do NOT show up at 7am on Saturday and expect a warm greeting.

Craft Day:  Make Your Own Jockey Box: Saturday, June 16

Where: Casa Molloy, 6738 W. 87th Place, Westchester
Time: 10:30a – 6:00p

You supply the cooler. We’ll order the supplies. You make your jockey box. Easy, eh? Starting from scratch, each beer line line requires:
1. a length of stainless tube ($30 per 10-foot length, you cut to size);

2. vinyl beer line ($5 per 10 feet);

3. 4 screw clamps for securing beer line ($4 per set of 4);

4. ball lock disconnect ($7);

5. swivel nut for ball lock ($3);

6. dispense hardware options, either:
(a) cobra head picnic tap ($5) OR
(b) shank ($30) + standard chrome faucet ($30)

If you haven’t signed up already, please respond to me at: vicepresident @ pacific gravity.com and advise how many of each item that you would like us to order.

For the shank & faucet option, advise how many shanks and how many faucets (e.g. if you want to purchase your own faucets).

Homebrewers Club In Need Of New Home

An era comes to an end: it’s been a great 20+ years, but our May meeting is the last one we will be holding at Culver City Homebrew Supply. Our June and July meeting places are already set (jockey box day and summer party, respectively), so we will need a meeting place for August.  If you know of a meeting place on the Westside that has room for 30-50 people and will allow us to share homebrew on-site, please drop a line to: board @ pacific gravity.com.

 

HAPPY BREWING!

Pacific Gravity News and Reminders: First Friday, Other Stuff

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This Friday (April 6) is First Friday!

Where: El Segundo Brewing Company, 140 Main Street, El Segundo, CA, 90245
Time: 7:30pm

Southern California Homebrew Festival

WE NEED BEER!  If you have a keg you can share with a thousand or so of your fellow brewers from around Central and Southern California, please email me at brewfest @ pacifgravity.com.  Advise with style and keg size. You name will be prominently displayed on our tap list at the fest.

Craft Day:  Make Your Own Jockey Box …

… on a yet-to-be-determined Saturday in June.  We’ll be taking orders for supplies (stainless tubing, vinyl tubing, keg fittings, taps) at the next club meeting (April 19).  You supply the cooler.  More details to follow in the pre-meeting post in a couple of weeks.

DUES are DUE.

March is dues month: $36 per individual, $54 for couples.

 

HAPPY BREWING!

Pacific Gravity Reminders: First Friday, Monster Brew

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This Friday (March 2) is First Friday!

First Friday will be held at our traditional March F.F. site:

Where: Irish Times, 3267 Motor Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034
Time: 7:30pm

This Saturday (March 3) is Monster Brew Saturday!

Don’t miss out on a chance to see a 15-barrel batch of beer brewed up close, taste some of Jon Porter’s excellent creations, and take home your own 5-gallon batch to modify as you see fit. See 2018 Monster Brew for more details.

Southern California Homebrew Festival

We still have some camping slots available.  See Southern California Homebrew Festival for details.

DUES are DUE.

March is dues month: $36 per individual, $54 for couples.

 

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL HOMEBREW SUPPLY SHOP!

 

First Friday at Smog City

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February’s PG First Friday is almost here.  Please join us on Friday February 2 at Smog City Brewing.  We’ll get started at the usual 7pm, so come on down and see what Jon Porter & Co have on tap.  Smog City has long been a strong supporter of Pacific Gravity.  A visit to their taproom with the PG gang is a great way to return the favor.  Hope to see you there.

 

 

Smog City Brewing

1901 Del Amo Blvd., Suite B
Torrance
http://smogcitybrewing.com/

 

 

Other Upcoming PG Events:

February Club Meeting @ CCHBS – Thu Feb 15
Monster Brew @ Smog City – Sat March 3

Reminder: First Saturday at Rob Rubens Distilling & Brewing, El Segundo

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January’s First Friday is actually a First Saturday homebrew share at Rob Ruben’s, 909 E. El Segundo Blvd, El Segundo starting at 3pm (changed from original 1pm). We’ll be cooking up some burgers and brats while sampling Rob’s beers / spirits and sharing our brews with Rob and his staff.

Please bring some homebrew to share. Bottles, growlers and kegs are welcome.

If you plan to attend, please email me at [email protected]. Rob would like a headcount for planning purposes, and it will help us with food planning, too.

See you there.

First Friday Tonight and Cal State Update

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PG!  Super quick reminder: We’re meeting at Phantom Carriage Brewery ( 18525 S Main St, Carson, CA 90248 ) tonight starting at around 7:30p for October’s First Friday.  Their food menu is one of the best in it’s class and the beer on hand ranges from traditional European and American ales to a wide range of sour and wild ale options.

Also a quick note to our competition brewers. Unfortunately we were not able to find a volunteer to drive club member entries up to this year’s California State Homebrew Competition. If you are entering beers, get them shipped out as soon as possible. As much as we’d like to help, you are on your own!

See you tonight!

Michael

6oct7:00 pmFirst Friday - Phantom Carriage7:00 pm Phantom Carriage