State laws?

I am currently living in Kansas right now and am just getting started with this homebrewing hobby. Before I get too carried away, I would like to know, has anyone heard of any state laws that limit the amount that I can produce?

I am certain that if I were to sell my beer, I would ave to get a license, but can I give away the good stuff to my friends and family without issue?

I'm not familliar with the specific laws there but seems like I heard its something like 100 gallons per adult resident most places. OR something like that. Selling on the other hand is a BIG no-no. Giving away I think is totally ok.

One of my book says that certain states do have limits, but they are something like 100 gallons per adult, and 200 for the head of the house... blah blah blah... it's lots. Brew away.

yeah, it's a non-issue. You are allowed by law to produce (for private consumption) 100 gallons a year. That doubles to 200 gallons if there is more that one "of age" adult living in the household. You can legally transport and drink your brew anywhere you want, just don't sell it. That's where you cross the line.

President Jimmy Carter signed the bill brought forth by congress in February 1979 that made homebrewing alcoholic beverages legal.

Brew on dude!

According to Charlie Papazian in The complete Joy of Home Brewing "as far as the federal government is concerned, an adult over the age of twenty-one years or older is permitted to brew not more than one hundred gallons of beer in a year. If there is more than one adult in a household, then 200 gallons of beer can be brewed in one year. That's a lot of beer!"
As far as Kansas law is concerned, you will have to inquire with the state. Maybe someone knows and can post that information for you.

Where in Kansas are you? I live in Shawnee, and recently started back up brewing. Here is a link, ( if I do it right) for the law concerning brewing beer and wine for your own consumption, http://www.beertown.org/statutes/kansas.htm


HTH, Jeff

Additionally, to the extent that the state law was inconsistent with the federal law (thank you Jimmy Carter), the state law would be preempted. I don't think legal issues would ever arise unless you started doing something really crazy. I would be amazed by the injustice if you got a knock on the door someday about brewing beer when there are people in other houses "brewing" meth, etc.

in NJ you need to file with the state to get a permit that costs $20.

http://www.state.nj.us/lps/abc/downloads/hbp.pdf

There might be something like that there also, check your state's websites.

mbeattie said:

in NJ you need to file with the state to get a permit that costs $20.

http://www.state.nj.us/lps/abc/downloads/hbp.pdf

There might be something like that there also, check your state's websites.

Click to expand...

I'd fill out the application and pay them the $20, then sue their ass to get the law declared invalid.

Somebody on this board sent me the law that had brewing beer as illegal in Oklahoma. Cider and wine were legal, though so I think it was just an oversight. Also, we've got about 6 HBS in the state, so I think we're cool.

cowain said:

I'd fill out the application and pay them the $20, then sue their ass to get the law declared invalid.

Click to expand...

States can individually make their own laws concerning production of alcoholic beverages. It might be legal on a federal level, but this does not prevent individual states from making laws to govern it... like requiring permits, or just flat out making it illegal in that state.

edit: the presence of a home brew shop in a state does not mean it's legal there. The homebrew shops are not producing or selling beer. They just sell the ingredients, and there is no law against that.

-walker

I live in Olathe, KS.. Thanks for everyones input. I can't imagine ever brewing that much beer.

Has anyone on this forum come close to the limit? That would be interesting to find out.

If you have a teenager in the house, just say that it's a Science Fair Experiment.

vasie said:

Has anyone on this forum come close to the limit? That would be interesting to find out.

Click to expand...

I'm sure I've gotten close to or exceeded 100 gallons a year at some point. (2 batches a month, every month, for the whole year == 120 gallons).

But, I always had more than one adult in the house, so I never got to the 200 gallon limit, I'm sure.

-walker

Yeah,
Just don't have more than 100 or 200 (given your situation) stored and dated and noterized in your fridge wtihin the same year. If you start drinking it right away, they can never prove how much you brewed.

Hmmm...one a month, five gallons or so per, 60 a year.

This won't do you any good if you get busted, but I think you would have to have invited a LOT of attention to yourself to get in trouble for brewing your own beer regardless of state laws.

Walker said:

States can individually make their own laws concerning production of alcoholic beverages. It might be legal on a federal level, but this does not prevent individual states from making laws to govern it... like requiring permits, or just flat out making it illegal in that state.

edit: the presence of a home brew shop in a state does not mean it's legal there. The homebrew shops are not producing or selling beer. They just sell the ingredients, and there is no law against that.

-walker

Click to expand...

I disagree. I haven't personally read the federal law governing homebrewing, but when state laws are inconsistent with federal laws, the state law is preempted and held invalid. See generally Arbitration and the Federal Arbitration Act, Abortion, etc.

Not knowing the text of the federal law, I'd say there is a possibility that states may somewhat regulate homebrewing, but there is no way they could ban it altogether.

You can also think of it in the opposite. Recently in Gonzales v. Raich the US Supreme Court invalidated state's medical marijuana law because it was inconsistent with the federal drug laws. The court also applied a very broad interpretation of the commerce clause power of Congress in doing so (aggregation principle), which I would try to apply in arguing a state couldn't try to regulate homebrewing within a state even if all of the goods came from within the state and therefore did not affect interstate commerce (which you wouldn't need to do since most likely the goods came from outside the state).

Sorry for the disertation. Stupid state laws piss me off sometimes. I'm thinking of filing suit against my state to invalidate our recently passed stupid keg registration law, so I'm all worked up on this stuff lately.

cowain said:

I disagree. I haven't personally read the federal law governing homebrewing, but when state laws are inconsistent with federal laws, the state law is preempted and held invalid. See generally Arbitration and the Federal Arbitration Act, Abortion, etc.

Not knowing the text of the federal law, I'd say there is a possibility that states may somewhat regulate homebrewing, but there is no way they could ban it altogether.

You can also think of it in the opposite. Recently in Gonzales v. Raich the US Supreme Court invalidated state's medical marijuana law because it was inconsistent with the federal drug laws. The court also applied a very broad interpretation of the commerce clause power of Congress in doing so (aggregation principle), which I would try to apply in arguing a state couldn't try to regulate homebrewing within a state even if all of the goods came from within the state and therefore did not affect interstate commerce (which you wouldn't need to do since most likely the goods came from outside the state).

Sorry for the disertation. Stupid state laws piss me off sometimes. I'm thinking of filing suit against my state to invalidate our recently passed stupid keg registration law, so I'm all worked up on this stuff lately.

Click to expand...

I agree with you cowain for the most part, but we're dealing with a slightly different issue here I think.

Laws typically make something ILLEGAL, and if something is ILLEGAL on a federal level, it is ILLEGAL in each and every state of the federation.

The federal law regarding homwbrewing simply says that the USA's Federal government does not declare homebrewing to be illegal.. it does not state the homebrewing is a basic civil right. It just says that the federal government doesn't have any problem with it. The states have the option of making it ILLEGAL if they want.

The medical pot law is different because it's the reverse situation. the feds have stated it is ILLEGAL, and that means it's illegal everywhere in the USA, the states can't go against the feds in that case.

Abortion is also different, because the supreme court rules that a woman as the RIGHT to have an abortion.

I'm not a lawyer, but this is how I understand things. I should probably read the law's text, but who the hell has time for that?

-walker

http://www.beertown.org/homebrewing/legal.html

Look up your state's homebrew laws there.