Moving to OC

[Bullmac]

Hey all,

I'm going to be moving to the Irvine area in a month. Been homebrewing for awhile and wanted to get involved with a good brew club in the area. Any suggestions?

Also, were going to be moving into a much smaller space than what we currently have. Is it a challenge to still brew multiple batches with less room? Or do some clubs have like a communal place to brew/ferment? Would love to hear from fellow brewers in the area and how they make it work.

Thanks,
Mike

[dhempy]

Welcome Mike:

Of course we are partial to BrewCommune as a club but we don't have a communal brewing spot per se. Others that are more space challenged than I can comment on brewing in tight quarters. However, during some club brewdays others are encouraged to bring their system and "Brew along with Mitch" so you may find opportunities that way.

I suggest that you attend a club meeting and meet some club members, see if you like the group, and finagle an invite to a brewday. Backhousebrew and or LexusChris are probably your best contacts for club events that are available to the public.

I am not particularly "club aware" for the OC as I am up in Camarillo but the fact that I belong to this club versus something more local to me ought to tell you something

Dan

[nevery]

Hi Mike. Welcome! Irvine's a nice area to live in, one of the top cities in Orange County, so you'll probably like it. BrewCommune is a great club with lots of very experienced members. I'm kinda new to brewing but the rest of the guys here have been brewing for years and have a ton of knowledge to share. Plus we have a few members already in the Irvine area. In fact, bwarbiany is meeting a few of the guys today at noon for lunch at Chicago's Best and I'm sure they wouldn't mind meeting you if you have the time and happen to be in town.

Here's the address:
Chicago's Best
2540 Main Street # L
Irvine, CA 92614-6241
MAP

As far as brewing, are you Extract or All Grain? I'm in a condo and I just started Partial Mashing. To be honest, it's a bit challenging for me, but there are guys here that do All Grain with limited space and they make incredible beers. It probably just takes adjusting and optimizing whatever space you have. I thinks it's mostly the deficit of living in Orange County; because there are so many people here, there's also little space. But that's also the benefit because there's a lot more people and resources.

But I just wanted to welcome you and tell you about the lunch today. I'll step aside and let some of the more experienced brewers chime in. Welcome to Brewcommune!

[bwarbiany]

Welcome!

When you say "much smaller space", how much space do you have? And one of the keys is fermentation temp control, which is DEFINITELY important here in the summer (not sure where you're moving from, i.e. if you're coming from a much colder area you may not have needed to worry about that).

Just to pimp out the brewcommune name, each year at the Southern California Homebrew Festival, we regularly get compliments on the consistent high quality of our beers compared to other the other clubs at the fest. I think there's a lot of bad homebrew in the world, but very very little of it is produced by our club!

[3rdto1st]

Hey man, welcome to the OC. My best advice is fair warning will let you get away with murder lol.

I live and brew all grain in pretty much a 900sqft 2 bedroom apartment. And I'm on the second floor... So when I want to brew, I go downstairs and let my neighbors know that I am brewing, this keeps them from loitering on their patio and potentially having unintentional hot wort dripped on them. I also let my roommate know that there will be a bit of mess and I will need some space in the kitchen.

Once everybody is informed, my system is as simple as 1 8gal kettle and a Igloo mash-tun. I ferment in my kitchen for the first night so if it blows off it goes on the tile and not the carpet. Then I move it to my closet for the rest of the time. I transfer and clean everything in my bathtub. Of course, sanitation is key, but you have to make it work whatever way you can

[Bullmac]

Thanks everyone for welcoming me and the great information! Much appreciated!

I'm coming from Cleveland and my basement set up is going to be hard to give up. But temp was a consistent 66-67 year round. I switched to all grain a year ago and never looked back. Been doing 5 gallon batches of beers I kind of perfected and 3 gallon for experimenting. Mostly been brewing IPA, Pales, and Blondes.

Wife and I have wanted to re-locate to California for quite some time and she got a job offer last week. So I started freaking out wondering if I'd still be able to brew consistently.

Man, Cheers to you brother! 900sqft and all grain? AWESOME.

Sounds like Beercommune is the place for me. I'm really pumped to meet some of you. I hear you about bad home brew. The clubs out here are just ok.

Looks like I won't be out there until the second week of November but will get in contact to join and meet up.

Thanks Everyone!
Mike

[3rdto1st]

Mike, I have no fermantation control, so I brew a lot in the winter. When you first get out here, we can meet up on one of my brew days, and I'll show you how I maximize my space

[bwarbiany]

Wife and I have wanted to re-locate to California for quite some time and she got a job offer last week. So I started freaking out wondering if I'd still be able to brew consistently.

So it sounds like if she just got the job offer, I'd assume that you haven't picked where you're living yet? And likewise assuming that at the beginning you'll be renting? (Obviously some huge assumptions there).

If you have any questions about areas/neighborhoods, I'd assume we can offer help there as well. Especially if you guys want to be somewhere closer to nightlife. Irvine, for example, is more expensive and more "sterile" than much of the rest of OC. While there are some restaurants, the city has basically no character. Where I live (South OC) is a nice place to raise kids, and is a lot cheaper than Irvine, but there is *NO* nightlife. If you end up in a place like Orange, there's better nightlife, and more character, but the neighborhoods are MUCH older, so it's harder to find contemporary/modern houses (if that matters to you).

I like where I live, since we have kids. But if it was just my wife and I, we probably wouldn't live down here, or we'd try to live closer to the beach. It's all a matter of what you're looking for.

[lexuschris]

Welcome to Southern California!

I live in Irvine and wanted to add more detail to Brad's well meaning assertion that Irvine 'has no character'.

If you look up master-planned suburban living in the lifestyle dictionary, you would see a picture of Irvine. Some parts do have crazy community standards to keep it looking so clean & pristine. However, you can always count on highly ranked schools, several beautiful parks within walking distance, lowest crime rate in the country, wide streets and lots of green beltways.

That being said, some folks like vanilla ice cream, and others just can't have it every single day. Irvine is very uniform, but it is quiet beautiful suburb... without much to do after 10pm.

That takes nothing away from Lake Forest, Orange, Tustin, Huntington Beach, etc. etc. They all have their charm!
--LexusChris