homebrewing In Utah!

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Fire_travels

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I am going to be living in Salt Lake this summer for seasional work, and I was wondering about the homebrewing laws there! I found this artical and the like is at the bottem!

Has anyone had issues brewing in Utah?

And when was the last riot that ensued after your last homebrew?:eek:


Homebrew ban


Utah city ordinance reminds citizens home beer making illegal in state

Aug 30, 2005 - Because the state of Utah has not legalized homebrewing, one city is drafting a ban to make it clear homebrewing

We haven't had any problems with homebrewing in our city, but under state law it is illegal and we just wanted to make that clear," said South Salt Lake City Attorney David Carlson.


The state legislature last considered legalizing homebrewing, as most of the nation have, seven years ago - but the effort died in committee.


"Under state law, nothing precludes the sale of homebrewing and wine-making equipment," said Earl Dorius, regulatory director of Utah's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (DABC). "But once the equipment is put to use, there's a technical violation of the law. We don't have a good answer for you if you want to do home production."


In fact, many stores in Utah sell homebrewing equipment and supplies. "Our business is thriving," said Jamie Burnham, manager of the Beer Nut, which has been open for more than a decade. "More and more people have become interested in the hobby. You can't buy what you can make, and the creative nature of what you can brew at home is what intrigues people."


South Salt Lake officials say they merely want to rework their ordinance is to mirror state law.


"It's not something South Salt Lake intends to police," Carlson, the city attorney, said. "There's no plan to hunt for people who are home-brewing."


However, Mayor Wes Losser, didn't sound as amiable. "I don't care what people do in their own homes as long as it doesn't spill out into the public," he said. "But if there were problems related to homebrewing, such as people going blind or a small riot breaking out, we have to think in extremes to cover all the bases."


As a matter of fact, going blind isn't a threat to homebrewers. Home distiller who fail to separate methanol from ethanol while making spirits have gone blind (and some even died).

http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002675.php
 
Saw an article today saying Utah has more abuse (per capita) of prescription pain relievers than any other other state. Maybe they need to slack off on the homebrewing?
 
I live in utah and have never heard of anyone ever having a problem with homebrewing.
 
Fire_travels said:
such as people going blind or a small riot breaking out, we have to think in extremes to cover all the bases."


Uhhhhh, what the? Blind?? I have heard of it from impurities in things like moonshine and whiskey but in homebrew??
 
zoebisch01 said:
Uhhhhh, what the? Blind?? I have heard of it from impurities in things like moonshine and whiskey but in homebrew??

as a general rule:

state or local politician + new paper/slightly sensational/illicit topic = over reaction + misinformation


:)
 
Beer will cause blindness at the moment you find you are too drunk to remove the pillow from over your eyes, but this isn't so much blindness per se, as an effort to keep the world from spinning around and around and around. Fortunately, however, this form of blindness is only temporary and usually clears itself up with a few hours of sleep.
 
I am going to be in Utah for about 6 months and if I go blind I willl lose my job!

I thought you went blind from.....partaking in other things with oneself!;) :D
 
I live in SLC and brewed my first batch here 8 years ago. In all that time I have never heard of anyone having a problem with or being busted for homebrewing. I have been using the same LHBS the whole time. There are at least two others that I know of, but have never visited. Obviously if there was a problem they would have been shut down a long time ago.

From what I understand, the law here does state that you cannot have a container over 5 quarts of any alcohol without a special lisence, i.e. the lisence that bars/clubs have. This is why we dont have kegs and/or party balls for sale here. This is also whye it becomes illegal to homebrew since you will usually be using 5 gallon or larger vessels. Again, I have never heard of anyone running into problems with this "technicality", you'll be just fine.

Welcome to Salt Lake

btw you cannot go blind from beer, only from distilled alcohols.
 
Mayor Brain Donor Losser said:
However, Mayor Wes Losser, didn't sound as amiable. "I don't care what people do in their own homes as long as it doesn't spill out into the public," he said. "But if there were problems related to homebrewing, such as people going blind or a small riot breaking out, we have to think in extremes to cover all the bases."

Because if there's one thing that people on this forum are known for, it's looting in the streets in a blind rage due to over consumption of a nut brown ale.
 
fimpster said:
I live in SLC and brewed my first batch here 8 years ago. In all that time I have never heard of anyone having a problem with or being busted for homebrewing. I have been using the same LHBS the whole time. There are at least two others that I know of, but have never visited. Obviously if there was a problem they would have been shut down a long time ago.

From what I understand, the law here does state that you cannot have a container over 5 quarts of any alcohol without a special lisence, i.e. the lisence that bars/clubs have. This is why we dont have kegs and/or party balls for sale here. This is also whye it becomes illegal to homebrew since you will usually be using 5 gallon or larger vessels. Again, I have never heard of anyone running into problems with this "technicality", you'll be just fine.

Welcome to Salt Lake

btw you cannot go blind from beer, only from distilled alcohols.


Thank you for the written confession Mr. fimpster. I am a detective with the State of Utah Homebrewing Enforcement Agency/Mormon Ethics Commission). By the time you read this, we will have a squad of officers breaking down your front door and taking you into custody. Have a nice day.
 
erbiumyag said:
Thank you for the written confession Mr. fimpster. I am a detective with the State of Utah Homebrewing Enforcement Agency/Mormon Ethics Commission). By the time you read this, we will have a squad of officers breaking down your front door and taking you into custody. Have a nice day.
How fun would it be to ban a detective from the State of Utah Homebrewing Enforcement Agency??? :D
 
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Hand over the homebrew sonny, and just how well do you know that freak with the basketball?
 
If you get caught, it's a class B misdemeanor. It's not really enforced though. I lived there for 5 years in Prozac, Utah, (I mean Provo, Utah, highest use of Prozac in the nation) where they call it Happy Valley. It's kind of like Mecca to the LSD folks.

DWHAHB. Visit the Beer Nut in SLC. It's a cool Home Brew Store!
 
If you are in slc I would recommend visiting arts homebrew supply, excellent prices and the owner will sit down and bs with you, he has helped me out tons with my brews
 
It seems to be a lot more fun knowing it's against the law. It brings out the rebel in ya.....even though I never heard of anyone ever getting busted. The laws on polygamy are very seldom enforced here and like beer you will pobably not have any trouble till you've had one too many!

In ogden check out G3 at 2340 Washington.
 
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