Giving Friends Homebrew

Ok. This can be a touchy subject and obviously varies from State to State.

Say someone has friends who love homebrewed beer.

Say said friends would like to request certain beer from their friend the homebrewer.

What do you think the legal implications would be of running a small site accessable by said friends to request certain beers to be brewed, discuss beer types amongst each other, and ask said homebrewer what ingredients would be needed to brew those said beers? Of course all maintaining within legal limits of brewing and no monetary compensation requested.

Just a thought.

Tell them to become a member here, I am sure they will find more then waht they came for.

But I don't think it is a legal issue as long as you don't have 200+ pounds of brew on hand (legal limit without a permit), you can do as you please with your brew other than selling it.

You're asking about the legal implications of something within the legal boundaries, so you answered your own question. However, if you are the homebrewer, why would your friends need to know what ingredients go into the brew? All they would need to do is let you know whay type of beer they want and when, right?
As long as it's for those old enough to drink, and there is no compensation for it, and you are not exceeding your state's gallon limit (per adult), then I think you are okay.

Edit: I'm not sure, but I think any kind of compensation is illegal. So, even if they provided the ingredients, it may still be illegal. Not sure though. At the least, you would have to claim the value of the ingredients you are receiving as compensation as income for tax purposes. So, if the IRS considers the value of services and barter as taxable income, I'm sure it's also considered compensation as far as the applicable authorities go. ??

desiderata said:

You're asking about the legal implications of something within the legal boundaries, so you answered your own question. However, if you are the homebrewer, why would your friends need to know what ingredients go into the brew? All they would need to do is let you know whay type of beer they want and when, right?
As long as it's for those old enough to drink, and there is no compensation for it, and you are not exceeding your state's gallon limit (per adult), then I think you are okay.

Click to expand...

I think the issue is if they are purchasing ingredients in exchange for the finished product, and I think the answer is that yes, that is technically illegal. But if they happen to give you some malt and hops and you happen to give them some beer six weeks later, that's OK.

Perhaps the best workaround is for friends to give you gift certificates for the HBS where you purchase your supplies?

I always have my friends taste-test my homebrews.

With the ones that go over well, friends will ask me what it would cost for me to brew it again. I give them a shopping list and have them order it online to be shipped to my home. I don't make a profit, and they get the beer they want.

I also asked that they also come up with 2 cases of bottles when it comes bottling time. As much as I like my friends, I get squeamish with the idea of all my beer bottles getting thrown away.

this is exactly the discussion I was hoping to bring up. These for the most part were my thoughts.

The main reason for holding a site like this would be for a group of friends to be able to talk about the different beers, check in on the 'brewery' to see what's 'cookin' periodically, and interact periodically with the planning process (i.e. "Hey why don't you brew _____ again?" or polling for brews) and interacting with event information.

Yes it raises the question, "well why don't you just ask them?" But this group of friends is well spread out, and on all kinds of crazy schedules. One thing in common nowadays is the ease of internet contact.

Here is a question, if you brew 210 gallons of beer at home during a single year, realistically, who would ever know? Take a guess at how many gallons I brewed last year alone... guess... see, how would anyone have the slightest clue? SWMBO cannot even tell me how much. Thusly, if your friends bought ingredients for you to brew beer, unless your friends are with the ATF and would like to send you to jail for not returning thier tools but need a good excuse... realistically, who would know and be able to prove it?

The Pol

The Pol said:

realistically, who would ever know?

...unless your friends are with the ATF and would like to send you to jail for not returning thier tools but need a good excuse.

Click to expand...

Well, if it was posted up on a website it would be very easy to prove. Much like some people have been scared on here to shorten their signature haha

And one person connected to that pool of friends does work for the ATF. Who knows what could happen lol.

EDIT: This isn't a post to cry for a nice pat on the back and an, "aw it'll be ok". I just wanted to open a discussion with knowledgable people that are exposed to this kinda thing.

If you have the guts to post on an internet forum information that may be condemning, well, then maybe youd deserve to be caught? LOL I know what you are saying and asking. Do what the FAA does, if you are not a commercial pilot, you can be paid for the traveling parties share of a flight. Say my friend Bob wanted to go flying before I was a commercially licensed pilot, and the plane rental cost $800 a day. Well, it was very legal for him to pay $400. Shared economic responsibility... You cannot help it that your malt and hops cost 2x as much as most homebrewers!

The Pol

This is real simple. On brew day you can have said friends come over and open a bag of grain, thus becoming a brewer. You would then simply be helping said friend to brew his beer. Even if he did nothing else, it would then be apart of his yearly 200 gallons alotted by the government.

Or, even better. Have your friend send you a friendship payment every now and then. You then have all of this extra money and what will you do with it? Brew or course. Oh, and then you will have so much extra beer you will give it away to your friends.

You guys do realize that you can buy drugs online, right? I mean, like not just prescription stuff. There are actual sites where you can buy dope, smack, crack, blow or anything else.

Go ahead and Google it.

Now, tell me how worried you are about the ATF busting someone selling beer.

Amen...

The Pol

Cheesefood said:

You guys do realize that you can buy drugs online, right? I mean, like not just prescription stuff. There are actual sites where you can buy dope, smack, crack, blow or anything else.

Go ahead and Google it.

Now, tell me how worried you are about the ATF busting someone selling beer.

Click to expand...

nice. lol :cross:

Reverend JC said:

This is real simple. On brew day you can have said friends come over and open a bag of grain, thus becoming a brewer. You would then simply be helping said friend to brew his beer. Even if he did nothing else, it would then be apart of his yearly 200 gallons alotted by the government.

Click to expand...

I admire your ingenuity . Unfortunately, as I recall the adult must be resident in the home. PLEASE DO NOT RAID THE OLD FOLKS HOME. :cross:

Any homebrewing is illegal in utah and I know cops who homebrew.

I'm kind of in the same boat. I have a coworker who wants me to produce him a couple batches this summer.

In a practical sense, as long as you aren't selling it and the quantity you produce is low, no one is going to care.

drouillp said:

The main reason for holding a site like this would be for a group of friends to be able to talk about the different beers, check in on the 'brewery' to see what's 'cookin' periodically, and interact periodically with the planning process (i.e. "Hey why don't you brew _____ again?" or polling for brews) and interacting with event information.

Click to expand...

You could start a blog for your homebrewery and keep people updated on what you are doing. They could comment on the different posts and whatnot. Also, you could start up a google group (or any other free forum) for the homebrewery where you guys could go to chat, etc. This is what I am in the midst of doing.

No offense, but I'm not gonna touch the legal stuff with a 10-foot pole.

Let us know what you end up doing.

I would hope our local law enforcement has better things to do than put the Kibosh on a homebrewer.

Not to be too terribly sarcastic, but do you have enough friends who are close enough that you'd brew for them to need a website to keep track of them all?

Many of my friends are BMC addicts, so I don't get requests from them. The rest of my friends' brew requests more than fill a few months worth of brewing, and all of them were passed via simple conversation.

Just my $.02.

I made a deal with a guy who builds computers to make my boy a computer in exchange for 2 cases of homebrew. My wife actually said "Thank god you brew."

She was being a smart@ss, but I think she meant it just a little bit.

Says Sgt. Shultz....."i see nothing...nothing..."