Questions about homebrewing laws

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jal2196

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Hi, my name is Jon, and I'm a Columbia University journalism student working on a story about home brewing laws in different states.

If you know anything about this or have any experience with this, please send me an email at ****@*****.***. Thanks.

[Mod Edit] - No solicitations via email. You want to engage in a conversation, this is what the forum is for.
 
Check out the American Homebrew Association Website. It has up to date information on all laws.
 
People mostly ignore laws related to homebrewing, except perhaps the injunction against selling their brews. Not many brewers will forego brewing simply because they live in a state that forbids homebrewing. I've never heard of a home brewer who stopped brewing for the year because he reached the statutory volume limitation (usually 200 gallons).
 
People mostly ignore laws related to homebrewing, except perhaps the injunction against selling their brews. Not many brewers will forego brewing simply because they live in a state that forbids homebrewing. I've never heard of a home brewer who stopped brewing for the year because he reached the statutory volume limitation (usually 200 gallons).

Actually, there are several states where HBing is illegal, but they have HB stores there...what's that all about??? :mad:
 
I started my first batch two weeks ago on the stove top, took over 45 minutes to come to the boil, got close so I added the malt. I grabbed a sieve to drain the grains and realized it had some crud on it. In the 30 seconds I turned away to clean it the wort decided to come to boil. The extract sticks nicely to the stovetop. :D

I suppose if a watched pot never boils an unwatched pot boils instantaneously!
 
Actually, there are several states where HBing is illegal, but they have HB stores there...what's that all about??? :mad:

It's like around here where we have roadside fireworks stands in the summer when setting off fireworks are not only illegal, they will net you a multi-hundred dollar fine on the first offense because it's been so dry the last few summers.
 
Originally Posted by jal2196
Hi, my name is Jon, and I'm a Columbia University journalism student working on grabbing your email for some spam lists.

Ya, anyone else notice that he hasn'e responded at all to the thread, and wanted us to e-mail him any info. I call bull-**** on this post.
 
Actually, there are several states where HBing is illegal, but they have HB stores there...what's that all about??? :mad:

I've lived in Utah & Alabama where it's illegal to brew beer, but it's not illegal to buy supplies. HB supplies are basically food items and are totally legal.

The process of homebrewing is legal too, right up to pitching the yeast.:D
 
Really, I don't think you would! That doesn't sound like any fun at all. I prefer they go about not enforcing it just like always.


TL

That's my pint. The notion is ridiculous.


edit: hahaha, Freudian slip. I meant point, not pint, but I'll take it.
 
I've lived in Utah & Alabama where it's illegal to brew beer, but it's not illegal to buy supplies. HB supplies are basically food items and are totally legal.

The process of homebrewing is legal too, right up to pitching the yeast.:D

I thought they made it legal in Utah recently. Maybe I'm wrong, but I know there's a big push.
 
The process of homebrewing is legal too, right up to pitching the yeast.:D

Which brings up even more questions? Would a spontaneous fermentation (wild yeast AKA "The Landhoney Experiment") be a crime? What if a person uses brewer's yeast as a health supplement, and inadvertantly knocks said yeast into a wort brewed as a sweet refreshing drink? Not wanting to waste a food product, you decide to drink the resulting beverage.
 
Just read the article schweaty posted in post #17. Having lived in SC all of my brewing life, I haven't had to deal with homebrewing laws. I just had an interview with a company located in Louisville, KY where homebrewing happens to be illegal. I was always under the assumption these laws merely never stated that homebrewing was legal.

For those of you who live in KY: Are there HBS's? Have you ever had trouble?
 
Hi, it's Jon again. Thanks for pointing me to the article, schweaty, and to all of you for the other replies.

I have found several other articles online, I just wanted to know if anyone had experiences with laws prohibiting home brewing. As several of you mentioned, it seems that even where it's illegal it's not regulated.
 
Happened to me saturday night. Turned for 2 seconds to talk to a friend, and then heard that horrible sound....spent two days scrubbing the stovetop

You KNOW that **** is hard to clean up! What is up with that? I even had the spray bottle ready last time, and I don['t even know why I turned away, but it was that exactly moment the wort decided to boil over. I think it was watching me...

AS far as legality, that beertown thing is really nice for gettign information about it, but from reading this site, it seems that people will brew where they want, as much as they want, and as long as they don't call ATF, they are fine.

There has been some poking around in Utah, or Alabama recently in regards to brewing beer bigger than the maximium allowed for sale, but even those "tasting clubs" are not usually interfered with unless the reporter squeals on them.
 
John, you should ask some of the guys about their a cop pulled up while I was brewing, or my neighbor thought I was running a meth lab, or making moonshine stories, those would add some nice color to your article. Not many people know what home brewing looks like and can get confused when they see it in action.
 
Here in Utah there is a bill to legalize home brewing that is hung up in the house of representatives. It could pass any day or not.

The law that outlaws making beer is for manufacture, storage and sales of alcohol. So even if I was stupid enough to sell my brews I'd be guilty of the same class B misdemeanor. People say it's about religion. It's not. It's about taxes.
 
I've lived in Utah & Alabama where it's illegal to brew beer, but it's not illegal to buy supplies. HB supplies are basically food items and are totally legal.

The process of homebrewing is legal too, right up to pitching the yeast.:D

Yea, HB beer is illegal in Alabama but making wine is legal if and only if you limit yourself to a certain number of gallons and you have to use Alabama grown fruit....
 
People mostly ignore laws related to homebrewing, except perhaps the injunction against selling their brews. Not many brewers will forego brewing simply because they live in a state that forbids homebrewing. I've never heard of a home brewer who stopped brewing for the year because he reached the statutory volume limitation (usually 200 gallons).

I believe that 200 gallon law is actually just a tool to help law enforcement bust people selling their brew without paying taxes.

If you have that law on the books and they bust a guy with a 200 gallon fermenter or kettle or whatever they can show strong evidence that the person was breaking the law even if they don't have any direct evidence of sales. It would also help in prosecuting moonshining cases where they find a setup with 2 or 3 hundred gallons of wash or beer but no still.

This is one of the things that really makes me cringe when I see threads here talking about equipment for brewing 2 bbls at a time.
 
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