Underage Brewing?

[kb2492]

I'm currently 19, but I have loved craft beer and have been interesting in brewing it for a good while now. Since I have some free time, I'm finally getting around to it. I know that because I am under age for my area, once my beer starts fermenting, it technically becomes illegal for me to posses. I'm not concerned with that, really, but I was wondering what kind of reaction I could expect going into a local home brew shop? Would they assume I'm just trying to brew because I can't buy beer or would they understand that I'm genuinely interested in learning the craft?

From all I've read, its not illegal for me to buy hops, malts, yeast, or equipment, which is evident from all the online supply stores and if necessary, I will either buy online or have someone go to the brew shop in my stead, but I would much rather go in the store and be able to do my shopping uninhibited. So, I guess I'm on my way to brewing regardless, but I would still like to know the my place in the home brewing community.

 

[meatwad]

What are you gonna do with it after you brew it?

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

I'm not condoning under-aged homebrewing, but my guess is this would likely happen:

1) The LHBS owner will not bat an eye... OR:
2) The LHBS owner will have convictions of his own, protect his business and our hobby, and ask you for ID.

M_C

 

[JetSmooth]

Come back when you are legal

Read the forum rules.

 

[bniesen]

+1 not cool, you could be jeopardizing someone else's businesses and livelihood and be putting our hobby in dire straights of more local laws and ordinances. In some areas homebrew shops are few and far between, I know I'd be pissed if mine had to shut down because of an underage kid.

 

[mrduna01]

I respect your love for craft brew and your desire to Homebrew but if you were 12 and had a love of sports cars would it be a good idea for you to get behind the wheel at a dealership to test drive one? There are plenty other hobbies out there... Wait your turn.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Never mind

 

[Displaced MassHole]

It becomes illegal once you add yeast to the wort, at that point it's legally considered alcoholic.

 

[Insomniac]

This is where living in the UK is great, drinking age of 18 :-D Not that it's relevent for me anymore but being 18 was great!

I would just stick to using the internet for a few years, at least that way any risk taken is at your own discretion rather than any stores doing the serving. Though I imagine your right, and that the buying of ingredients / equipment probably has no actual age restrictions.

 

[SenorD]

I started brewing at 18, and nobody at my LHBS ever looked at me funny or requested ID. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

 

[birvine]

Is it illegal to drink on your own premises if underage? I serve my kids wee sips of wine. Come and get me coppers.

B

EDIT: Not to mention that they are not selling you alcohol. Only things that may become such. Just like grapes, sugar, dandelions, and maple syrup. Big Brother here we go on this one, I think!

 

[redcoat_or_rebel]

+1 not cool, you could be jeopardizing someone else's businesses and livelihood and be putting our hobby in dire straights of more local laws and ordinances. In some areas homebrew shops are few and far between, I know I'd be pissed if mine had to shut down because of an underage kid.

this is just retarded. no homebrew shop is ever going to get shut down from selling a bag of wheat to a teenager.

if they won't sell to you, so be it. have someon else buy your ingredients for you. the only reason you would get in trouble is if you tried to sell it and then it doesn't matter if you are underage or not. in Texas it is legal to drink at any age if you are with your parents, so pffff to underage. brew it up.

as far as the forum, that's a different story. don't worry about the "community", there will be a new batch of us to talk to later but the info is here all day long to search.

 

[TopherM]

There isn't an age limit for buying grains, hops, and yeast. Do they ID minors when they buy grains at the local feed store? Of course not. Do they ID minors when they buy yeast at the local grocery? Of course not. So why would it be illegal for the LHBS to sell grains and yeast to minors? It likewise isn't illegal to sell hops or extracts to minors. They ARE NOT ALCOHOL!

Would it be illegal to sell apple juice to minors? That is the major ingredient in hard cider! Are we going to card for lemonaide?

That's like saying it would be illegal for a minor to GROW a tobacco plant, or for a 14 year old to fix a car.

Also, online alcohol sales are regulated. If you want to sell any type of alcohol online, then you have to pay for your delivery service to ID the recipient of the alcohol. Do online home brew shops have to do this? Of course not, because they ARE NOT SELLING ALCOHOL!!!

Anyway, there are tons of peeps on this board who let their young children and teenagers help them brew.

I see NO problem with UNDERAGE BREWING. Brew away, stick it in the fermenter, and it becomes property of someone OF AGE once it is ready to drink, because, of course, underage CONSUMPTION is against the law.

There are even some colleges in the county that teach classes on brewing - and there's no age limit to take the classes. Even though several "watch dog" groups are up in arms about that, these colleges certainly vetted out that they are not breaking any laws. MillerCoors just donated $100,000 in brewing equipment to the Univ. of Wisconsin for their brewery course, which is taught as an elective in the biology department as a BACTERIOLOGY credit. It is pure genious - the students brew it and the teacher take it home to "GRADE" it....lol!

 

[Pappers_]

this is just retarded. no homebrew shop is ever going to get shut down from selling a bag of wheat to a teenager.

In my little corner of suburban backwardness, it absolutely could happen. If a lhbs here were caught selling supplies to a minor, it would get trumpeted in the weekly rag, quickly brought by any number of keepers of our moral-code to the village council. Then I suppose the business license could be revoked (I know that happened to a locally-owned motel and a nail salon, of all places, recently).

 

[JetSmooth]

Bottom line is, do what thou wilt. Just don't do it in this forum.

Thread Lock and Bannination in Four ... Three ... Two ....

 

[Pappers_]

Bottom line is, do what thou wilt. Just don't do it in this forum.

Thread Lock and Bannination in Four ... Three ... Two ....

I love the smell of napalm in the morning . . . .

 

[kpr121]

My personal opinion:

Find someone who is over 21 to be a brew partner. Nothing wrong with you helping him brew. People on here have their 5 year old daughters add hops and grain all the time.

If you refuse my advise (or don't have any legal friends)...

I applaud the fact that you are into homebrewing. A lot of the people who are shunning underage brewing are the same who were slugging natty light at high school/freshmen college parties. I wish I knew about good beer back in those days. To me, I don't think you would get the cold shoulder, at least not at my LHBS. If you do, you can order online. I don't recall having to go through one of those "Check this to ensure your 21" prompts at the major online retailers.

If you live with your parents (or roomates that are >21), you might want to make sure they know the laws and they are aware of your actions. If, for some insane reason, the Doughnut Patrol come knocking on your door, they will most likely be the ones who see the harshest penalties.


As far as the forum goes, kb2492 should leave the forum forever. There are new nic's on here everyday. Come back when you are legal, get it?

 

[onipar]

I look pretty young. I regularly get carded buying beer, and they never questioned my age at my LHBS. Take that for what it's worth. It's absolutely possible that to them I look my age (31). Or they just don't card people. Only one way to find out.

 

[jsweet]

Bottom line is, do what thou wilt. Just don't do it in this forum.

Thread Lock and Bannination in Four ... Three ... Two ....

+1... TBH I say more power to you, but are you retarded bringing it up in a forum like this? This hobby is illegal or borderline legal in a number of states, so folks are freakin' paranoid. Just shouldn't mention it.

I know you are curious what would happen, but... just speaking generally -- not specifically about going to an LHBS or buying beer -- my experience back when I was that age (holy crap, it's been over a decade now...) that if I try to buy something I'm not old enough to buy, whether it be booze or pictures of naked ladies or whatever, one of two things happen: It works, or else I get ID'd and I say, "Uh, I left my wallet in my other pants" and leave. What I definitely did NOT do was ask what would happen on a forum where people are likely to freak out about it, hahaha...

Anyway, best of luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Wakadaka]

I look pretty young. I regularly get carded buying beer, and they never questioned my age at my LHBS. Take that for what it's worth. It's absolutely possible that to them I look my age (31). Or they just don't card people. Only one way to find out.

similar experience here. Not saying the same goes for everywhere, it all depends on the store and the employee. I've heard some stores have signs on the door that say nobody under 21 allowed in, but YMMV.

 

[kpr121]

In my little corner of suburban backwardness, it absolutely could happen. If a lhbs here were caught selling supplies to a minor, it would get trumpeted in the weekly rag, quickly brought by any number of keepers of our moral-code to the village council. Then I suppose the business license could be revoked (I know that happened to a locally-owned motel and a nail salon, of all places, recently).

Glad I don't live in your 'hood.

 

[MazdaMatt]

What's up with the threats to lock the thread? Nobody said this guy is going to drink more than is legally allowed to be served to minors. In Ontario, at least, it is perfectly legal under the supervision of a parent or guardian to serve a single drink to a minor on a private property.

That's how I was educated about the world of wine when I was 13. My dad and I had a booklet of wine labels that we removed from bottles, stuck in the book, described the taste and rated.

I applaud the OP for having a true interest in LEARNING about alcohol rather than coming on here and saying "I wanna get tanked underage, bro, hook up some hootch recipes".

I think it would be sad if the admins here did not understand this and locked the thread and banned the OP for breaking the rules so he can't get the help in learning about this hobby that he desires..

 

[jsweet]

What's up with the threats to lock the thread? Nobody said this guy is going to drink more than is legally allowed to be served to minors. In Ontario, at least, it is perfectly legal under the supervision of a parent or guardian to serve a single drink to a minor on a private property.

That's how I was educated about the world of wine when I was 13. My dad and I had a booklet of wine labels that we removed from bottles, stuck in the book, described the taste and rated.

I applaud the OP for having a true interest in LEARNING about alcohol rather than coming on here and saying "I wanna get tanked underage, bro, hook up some hootch recipes".

I think it would be sad if the admins here did not understand this and locked the thread and banned the OP for breaking the rules so he can't get the help in learning about this hobby that he desires..

That's Canada, yo. Remember, half the US is like.. well, Alberta. Only more judge-y. Yeah, more judgmental than Alberta, but just as ignorant. (No offense to any Albertans here...) We don't have reasonable laws here, that's not our style! So folks are understandably paranoid...

 

[bniesen]

Of course the Homebrew store wouldn't get shut down for selling grains and such to a minor BUT if a minor got busted making beer/wine/whatever and was giving it out to other minors and they tracked it to the local homebrew shop; you know some nanny stater would jump all over that. Just saying.

 

[phenry]

I got interested in home brewing when I was 20. I bought John Palmer's book and read that until I was 21. Just take a guess at what my parents got me for my birthday.

Still 21, and I've never been carded at my LHBS or questioned about my age.

 

[mrduna01]

There isn't an age limit for buying grains, hops, and yeast. Do they ID minors when they buy grains at the local feed store? Of course not. Do they ID minors when they buy yeast at the local grocery? Of course not. So why would it be illegal for the LHBS to sell grains and yeast to minors? It likewise isn't illegal to sell hops or extracts to minors. They ARE NOT ALCOHOL!

Would it be illegal to sell apple juice to minors? That is the major ingredient in hard cider! Are we going to card for lemonaide?

That's like saying it would be illegal for a minor to GROW a tobacco plant, or for a 14 year old to fix a car.

Also, online alcohol sales are regulated. If you want to sell any type of alcohol online, then you have to pay for your delivery service to ID the recipient of the alcohol. Do online home brew shops have to do this? Of course not, because they ARE NOT SELLING ALCOHOL!!!

Anyway, there are tons of peeps on this board who let their young children and teenagers help them brew.

I see NO problem with UNDERAGE BREWING. Brew away, stick it in the fermenter, and it becomes property of someone OF AGE once it is ready to drink, because, of course, underage CONSUMPTION is against the law.

There are even some colleges in the county that teach classes on brewing - and there's no age limit to take the classes. Even though several "watch dog" groups are up in arms about that, these colleges certainly vetted out that they are not breaking any laws. MillerCoors just donated $100,000 in brewing equipment to the Univ. of Wisconsin for their brewery course, which is taught as an elective in the biology department as a BACTERIOLOGY credit. It is pure genious - the students brew it and the teacher take it home to "GRADE" it....lol!

All CAPS aside, I see your point. However were not talking about a kid that got on here and said he wanted to go buy some grain for any other reason than he wants to brew, and drink beer while he is underage. Sure, he can go buy grain and hops and the like which is perfectly legal but the intent to drink underage in buying these things is certainly noteworthy. For instance if I were to go buy 50 cans of spray paint with the intent on huffing it, sure I could legally buy it but still my intentions on what I will do with it are immoral. I just don't condone the act of Illegal underage drinking which is what we are really talking about, not the sole act of buying ingredients which could be turned in to alcohol.

 

[TotemWolf]

Will this help


Statute

United States Code of Federal Regulations Title 27, Part 25, Subpart L, Section 25.205 and Section 25.206
Beer For Personal or Family Use

§ 25.205 Production.

(a) Any adult may produce beer, without payment of tax, for personal or family use and not for sale. An adult is any individual who is 18 years of age or older. If the locality in which the household is located requires a greater minimum age for the sale of beer to individuals, the adult shall be that age before commencing the production of beer. This exemption does not authorize the production of beer for use contrary to State or local law.

 

[Yooper]

This is not up for debate. The rules of the forum dictate that you aver that you are of legal age to brew in your country when you sign up. If you swear that you are of legal age, but put in a birthdate that shows you are not legal, you are no longer allowed to be a part of the forum.

Debating on the right/wrong of it isn't going to change the rules. Come back at the age of 21, and we'll love to help!