Anyone get arrested for brewing or mistaken identity?

Well this guy did! I had a run in with my old land lord when he stopped by unannounced but I was able to talk my way out of it.

Any one else experience this?

- Jay

http://www.kegworks.com/blog/2012/03/08/homebrewers-setup-mistaken-for-meth-lab-030812/

Where did this happen?

Also what kind of structure if the guy's place (apt. Etc.)?

I'm not surprised at all. Like the article said, a little investigation would have prevented the whole thing. Which I'm sure cost tax payers a bundle of money!

I'm surprised in this day and age it hasn't happened more often. Coolers nowadays are being used in making meth...and Lord knows most of us have a few of those lying around.

My neighbor dropped today by while I was brewing and asked how the meth was coming... Guess brewing does look a bit suspicious

Revvy said:

Coolers nowadays are being used in making meth....

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And you know this because????????? Just teasing....
I have a work associate that makes bio-diesel and he gets accused of having a meth lab too. His set-up actually looks a lot like some brew rigs I have seen.

This time of year, I brew at the edge of my garage, with the garage door open. You should see the looks on the faces of the neighbors I don't know as they walk past and see me playing with the carboys.

To make sure their point was made, the fire marshal noted he may make a repeat visit in a couple of weeks to ensure there are no tanks present, and make absolute certain that dead battery has been replaced.

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Although the authorities were not in possession of a search warrant, the law states that a property manager can grant the fire department entry without notifying the tenant

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*****ebags! The whole lot of them......

Gotta be honest though, I wouldn't be particularly comfortable with a few propane tanks in my home.

I really wouldn't be comfortable with them in an apartment building or the like. If and when a fire breaks out, it isn't as if you're going to rush them out. I keep my tanks in the shed away from the house.

Now, i think this search is a load of crap.....

but as a neighbor and landlord, I'd prefer my tenants didn't keep propane tanks in their units. Turns a bad enough fire into a bomb. And they do blow up.

My apartment building specifically prohibits propane use on any floor but the ground floor, and even then it can only be stored outside, so I can understand that part. But it reminds me of the story posted on here a while back where the cops were claiming a guy's immersion chiller was a still. Luckily for me, I was very up front with my landlord about what I do and the fact that it's perfectly legal. Shared a few homebrews with the maintenance guys.

Either way, looks like you got railroaded. Sorry, man.

A propane tank a house or apartment is probably a fire code violation for obvious reasons. But a police raid seems like a bit of overkill.

This guy is a friend of mine, they raided his apt. He was also the NYS homebrewer of the year last year not a meth manufacturer.

They might have, I don't know, talked to the guy first.

Maybe it's time to introduce myself and my hobby to the neighbors! So much for being a brewing recluse!

Stauffbier said:

Maybe it's time to introduce myself and my hobby to the neighbors! So much for being a brewing recluse!

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My neighborhood knows I brew beer, and as long the brewery door is open they can come.



Cheers,
ClaudiusB

ClaudiusB said:

My neighborhood knows I brew beer, and as long the brewery door is open they can come.



Cheers,
ClaudiusB

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Hello fellow El Pasoan! I just might have to walk in your door myself some day!

I brew in my garage. I had a cop drive by slowly once. He drove down the road, came back, turned around again, and then drove slow as he drove by for the last time.

i brew right outside of my garage with the door open. the way my garage is situated you can really only see the turkey fryer, so I think a lot of people think I must love fried turkey lol

They left their mark and moved plenty of things around, including full carboys

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The real travesty. 10+ gallons of oxidized beer.

The real travesty.... people who think that moving a carboy 3 feet oxidizes beer.....

The real travesty is the fact the police can aggressively act on unconfirmed hearsay and ignorant speculation. DA investigators, if they have half a brain will never try to present this case to their boss. A herd of homebrewers would easily negate their dumb accusations with facts.

jd3 said:

The real travesty.... people who think that moving a carboy 3 feet oxidizes beer.....

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It will if you splash it around enough. I don't buy the "protective CO2 blanket" BS, and I wouldn't trust "the authorities" with my carboys in the slightest.

I am a professional firefighter and I will tell you what my crew would do!..Take down his name and number that way we can trade beers when I get off shift!!:rockin:

Stauffbier said:

And you know this because????????? Just teasing....
I have a work associate that makes bio-diesel and he gets accused of having a meth lab too. His set-up actually looks a lot like some brew rigs I have seen.

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Because 2 years ago they found a cooler meth setup in the parking lot of the salvation army around the corner from where I was living. I guess it was oozing and cooking away. I think I posted about it here. I hadn't known coolers were used til the newspaper reported it.

bernerbrau said:

It will if you splash it around enough. I don't buy the "protective CO2 blanket" BS.

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What about the protective blanket is BS? If you've properly handled your carboy, the entire headspace will solely contain co2. Now, if you're someone that can't stop messing with your carboy and are always removing the airlock, you're right, you'll eventually lose that co2 blanket.

That guy should tell his landlord to F-off and move out ASAP.

The feeling of having pigs tear through your apartment must be gut wrenching.

Revvy said:

Because 2 years ago they found a cooler meth setup in the parking lot of the salvation army around the corner from where I was living. I guess it was oozing and cooking away. I think I posted about it here. I hadn't known coolers were used til the newspaper reported it.

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Yup. I'm a park ranger in a very rural and impoverished area. Meth is big here. People do cook it in coolers, sometimes bury it a bit, and then leave to go fishing around here.

My Neighbors all looked at me pretty suspiciously until I invited a few in to explain what I was doing and offered them a Beer. (I think the Beer convinced them?)


No they all "joke" about my "meth" lab...

I have a new Neighbor that just moved in over the Winter... I can't wait for the "look " again once I open the garage Door.

Misleading thread title. No one was arrested and I can't figure out at all how mistaken identity plays into this.

usfmikeb said:

This time of year, I brew at the edge of my garage, with the garage door open. You should see the looks on the faces of the neighbors I don't know as they walk past and see me playing with the carboys.

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Same with me. A neighbor finally asked me what I'm doing out there as I was chilling yesterday saying she has seen me out there almost every nice day. I try to repurpose as much water as possible for cleaning coming out of my chiller but when there is still a bit extra I'll just start dumping buckets of water into the bushes that line the side of my backyard fence. May as well water the trees. So I'm rushing around dumping buckets of water in the bushes with a big pot, a cooler, 2 kegs in the driveway, a few buckets, tubes, a giant spoon, etc.

If you didn't know what we were up to it would probably seem pretty strange. I live in a fairly small suburb of Chicago. The house we bought was owned by the same family for 50 years and a lot of the old folks in town knew that family. So we were the "new people" for a while. First time I took my dog to the local groomers to get his nails cut, the owner says, "You must be the one that makes beer in your garage." I guess word gets around.

phunhog said:

i am a professional firefighter and i will tell you what my crew would do!..take down his name and number that way we can trade beers when i get off shift!!:rockin:

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+1

chainsmoke said:

That guy should tell his landlord to F-off and move out ASAP.

The feeling of having pigs tear through your apartment must be gut wrenching.

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Bought a house last year after the maintenance crew stole my bowl ring, laptop, and reported my orchid grow as marijuana which got me a 4am visit from the narc squad. Awful, ignorant people live and/or work at those places.

There are two kinds of cops. The first kind are angels that want to help people, and they deserve a lot more than they get in pay. The other kind are sociopaths that just want power over people and bust some heads, they should all be put on an island to kill each other.

I always find it hilarious that inevitably, no one gets any flack over these situations other than the cops. I don't work in a meth area, but there seems to be little information that the cops did anything wrong here. The building manager decided for whatever reason to report enough to warrant a search which seems to have followed the laws of the area (which seems like a strange law). If its even true (a blog as a source does not warrant badmouthing anyone in my world...), the only person who seems to be straying out of line is the fire marshall who is pushing to enforce a very obscure code violation. No one seems upset enough to bad mouth firemen though...

Mikethepoolguy said:

There are two kinds of cops. The first kind are angels that want to help people, and they deserve a lot more than they get in pay. The other kind are sociopaths that just want power over people and bust some heads, they should all be put on an island to kill each other.

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While I have no beef with your statement about there being bad cops, it comes across as if you were thinking, "Hey, this seems like a good place to drop this." After all, there's nothing in the BLOG source that implies power hungry cops are involved here. As far as the last sentence, you've completely lost me. If you meant what you said about good cops, why would you want them isolated and battling it out with bad cops? Pretty much a dumb ****ing statement if you ask me.

The only beef I have with civilians is that they love running their mouths about cops being ******** at with almost no proof at all. Do it when they deserve it so that your words carry some weight. When you just run your mouth with no good reason, not many people are going to take it seriously. A BLOG? I wish I could live in that world, it would make my life much easier. And I'm not even talking about work. Imagine being able to make concrete decisions with little to no evidence or observation! How easy is that?

(Still waiting to find out who actually got arrested and what the hell "mistaken identity" has to do with this...)

Get a lawyer and take their ass to court for entering without a warrant.

The whole situation sucks. I gave a glass of my first batch to my landlord yesterday morning, (yes, morning, lol), and he said it tastes lime Rogue 2PA! (it was a blind pig clone by morebeer)

Then I asked about the unused chest freezer in the garage, and it's mine to use!

As far as landlord allowing search of the premises, hexane let the FD in for safety issues, but can not consent to a search for criminal activity, although they can give enough info for probable cause, which gets tricky.

http://www.realpolice.net/forums/archive/t-34992.html

There are some links to court decisions on the website above.

Lol, hexane = he can't. My iPhone was being ironic.

Odds are FD went in and called the PD when they saw the setup and didn't know what it was. Being that FD was legally in the apartment, if the equipment was being used for meth, them notifying PD would make the evidence admissible. It is fairly common to be called by FD to check out something they see in a home/apartment.

Best bet though is to read a blog then blame the cops. That's the more popular route.

Special Hops said:

Get a lawyer and take their ass to court for entering without a warrant.

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The landlord can let them in without a warrant since it's his property, not the tenants. One of the reasons why I will never rent.