Dorm Brew

So Im about to start brewing my first beer and was just wondering if there were any dangers (ie harsh smells or beer spray when an airlock pops) involved in fermenting in a closet.

No dangers you might want to keep an eye on it when your cooking so you dont boil over, If there were any dangers I'd be dead along time ago, not sure what you mean when the airlock pops? If your airlock stops up it might blow the lid off or the stopper out....It will just make a mess, your closet might smell like hops, and co2 but nothing dangerous. Good luck

tmabbotutep said:

So Im about to start brewing my first beer and was just wondering if there were any dangers (ie harsh smells or beer spray when an airlock pops) involved in fermenting in a closet.

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Yes, Mr. 19 Year old college student. Your RA will smell the beer and you will be tossed out of the dorms.

olllllo said:

Yes, Mr. 19 Year old college student. Your RA will smell the beer and you will be tossed out of the dorms.

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Sad, but probably true. Move off-campus!

Word. I speak from some degree of experience here. (Though I was making a pseudo absinthe, sans wormwood, and not beer).

You have two options:

1) Keep it locked up tight in your closet- use some towels, as the good Lord made them to be used. (You know, stopping up the door).
To minimize risk of Ka-Boom-Ery, DON'T use a bucket/airlock. Use a carboy with a blowoff tube- then when the heavy fermentation is over, throw an airlock on there and breathe easy.

2) Accept that you'll be found out, and pre-empt it. Make it an "open secret" - if your RA is cool, be like "Hey, I've got 5 gal beer coming up in a few weeks. What rhymes with... gribe... and would convince you not to can my ass?"

Try option 1 first unless RA is confirmed to be cool, and not an EAC.

your RA will probably think you're running a meth lab, if he sees what you've got going, a million years before he thinks you're brewing.

as long as you're 21, most schools won't do much of, especially since it IS legal.

FrewBrew said:

as long as you're 21, most schools won't do much of, especially since it IS legal.

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The OP isn't, which is one issue. Some campuses are technically dry, as well.

I betcha that UTEP is a dry campus. Any takers?

I'd bet that all DORMS are dry.

olllllo said:

I'd bet that all DORMS are dry.

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Not so- many (at least in hipper, lib-arts schools) permit booze for of-age people. But they may be watching more closely.

I don't know if advising a minor on how to make/hide hooch is a great idea and I think it may be against board rules. (although it's not clear that he's a minor)

todd_k said:

I don't know if advising a minor on how to make/hide hooch is a great idea and I think it may be against board rules. (although it's not clear that he's a minor)

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Check his profile.

I did earlier but I did not scroll down that far. Ok, so he is 19. Can we lock this thread now? It isn't really serving any real purpose.

buy a fake ID

mine served me well, just don't get caught

Just make sure that it is 65 plus so you can get the 25 cent senior coffee at McDonalds.

What's a hell of a note is that 18 year olds are being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. But they still have to be 21 to brew or drink legally. Definitely not fair.

you guys are acting like you never drank in the dorms. If he can pull it off, well nice and more power to him. Personally I would make friends with someone who has a house off campus and stick to BMC in the dorms

i rememebr coming into the dorms with my laundry basket. And in between all my laundry was always at least a case of beer

Just brew off campus. You have to have some friends living in an apartment or a house or something. Make a deal that they get 25% of each batch or somehting like that. Everyone wins...
-Ben

We used one of those move-in/out carts from the front desk, go to the loading dock, but a 1/2 barrel from someone's car into it and put an empty TV box over it. Looked like we were bringing a new TV into the place. Kept the keg in the closet. Then again our RA was on the other wing of the hall by the girls and was so completely airheaded, she never had a clue. We even told her at the end of the year, and she was like, oh I would have known if you guys did that.

But yeah, having some friends out of the dorms was nice, never had to worry about being harassed by any other RAs walking around.

Chimone said:

you guys are acting like you never drank in the dorms. If he can pull it off, well nice and more power to him.

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1. We didn't have the internet. We figured it out on our own.
2. I don't feel obliged to help him.
3. Obviously he lacks the skills to pull it off since he posted his age and he identified it as a dorm.

I don't think brewing is illegal, just drinking, or at least that is what you could claim.

It is illegal to brew and drink under the age of 21... However you can buy all the equipment and ingredients...

I'm surprised people are allowed to register for the forum without indicating they are over 21.
It's obviously not illegal to read, or talk about brewing. But I guess it is illegal to help some one under 21 to brew.

I'm just wondering where the OP is planning on brewing (clearly, not his dorm room).

If somebody wants to take information and use it in an illegal manner that is not my fault as the author.

In some countries a person might be allowed to brew and drink alcohol at a lower age. I believe it is the University of California that has a brewing cirriculum.

We have this conversation every time a young 'un comes here looking for info. If somebody wants to search the threads and find information that I may have provided (worthless as it is), I have no problem with that. But at the same time, I'm just not comfortable giving out information directly.

Is that a bit hypocritical? Maybe.

But you know, every single question that will be asked has already BEEN asked and answered probably eight thousand times on this and other web forums. If someone who is 19 wants to brew and has some questions, the answers are out there; if they have to look a little harder to find them, BFD.

Is it really against the law to brew under 21. I find that hard to believe. I know somebody under 21 can be employed as a brewer and take course work in brewing.

At some point, it will be possessable and therein is the problem.

Edit: I'm in the bird's camp on this.

Wow, I can't believe a moderator would encourage minors to make beer. I think that is reckless and irresponsible. I know we all drank as minors but that didn't make it any more legal. If he wants to search this forum or any other internet site then that's fine, that is his right. But when you start providing information on how to make beer then you get into a gray area that I don't think you should be getting into.

How am I encouraging? I am just questioning the idea that it is illegal. I do wish somebody had encouraged me to go to brewing school when I was college age, it would have been a better use of all the money I spent on my undergraduate degree. I also can't worry too much about somebody's age because I have no way of knowing it. The average age of students at the University of New Mexico is over 21. I could say I am 14 or 84 and no one would know which was correct.

Reckless and irresponsible, I don't think so.

Brewpastor said:

I also can't worry too much about somebody's age because I have no way of knowing it. The average age of students at the University of New Mexico is over 21. I could say I am 14 or 84 and no one would know which was correct.

Reckless and irresponsible, I don't think so.

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Check out his profile.

Brewpastor said:

If somebody wants to take information and use it in an illegal manner that is not my fault as the author.

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Not exactly discouraging a minor from making/drinking beer, are you?

What I want to know is do you mean "in the closet" as in someday you will come out of the closet or as in the place you keep your smelly old shoes and unwashed clothes.

My take - This forum is here to exchange info and ideas. How that info is used is out of our control once it's in the public domain. Having said that, I too have an issue with supplying someone with the means and knowledge to make beer if they are not of legal age to do so. Yes, you can go out and kill/be killed for your country at 18 and I certainly believe that the disparity in that age and drinking age is an issue, though I hardly think that 18 year olds are responsible enough to drink in a manner that would not cause them or someone else harm. Hell, 18 year olds can't be responsible behind the wheel and I was certainly included in that class. Did I drink in college? Absolutely, though at the time, the drinking age in NJ was 18. Should kids in college these days drink? That's up to them. Saying they should or shouldn't isn't going to change their actions. As far as being able to legally brew, I doubt it. I was in a store in Florida one time and brought beer up to the register. The girl there had to call someone over to ring it up because she was not old enough and could not even touch the beer.

Not exactly discouraging a minor from making/drinking beer, are you?

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He's not a minor, he's 19, he is just "under age". I think Brewpastor is taking a very libertarian (note not LIBERAL) approach to this and I dont see it as encouraging this kid to brew or not. Even though he is "under age" he is still an adult who needs to make adult decisions. If he takes the risk and gets caught he will pay the consequences and thats a decision he will have to make

The whole reason I started brewing was to learn how to make a mash and do some illegal distilling. I'm an adult and if I choose to distill and am willing to deal with the possible consequnces then so be it, but i wont be asking for anyones advice in the US on the subject unless they are willing to volenteer it

I'm with Bird on this one too. If he want to search feel free but i'm not saying anything directly to him

I think everyone needs to relax and have a home brew. One way or another, this guy is going to pull it off, just like that kid everyone heard about who walked all the way from the liquor store across campus, past the police station, to his dorm with a 30 of beast. Might as well save is soul and tell him how to do it right. My first post on this forum was in April of last year. I turned 21 in August. We need to be realistic here. Home brewing is a fun, sound hobby. That's the impression I got last April, and I wish I learned about home brewing sooner. It would be a lot of fun to brew in a dorm. Sure there is a risk: a write-up. Four and a half gallons of a stout from extract is not going to get someone's stomach pumped... unless it sucks. Sure, the guy lacked bad forum manners and common sense with regard hiding dorm contraband, but, whatever.

Listen, just tell your RA (or CA as they call them here at UConn) that the smell is your bed sheets that you haven't changed all semester. At most schools, RA's can't look in your closet or drawer unless it's open already. And read the rules and policy for your residence hall.

Prisoners in some of the finest high security prisons are making home brews. Doing so in a college dorm shouldn't present much challenge.

I refuse to get into this debate, and I also refuse to provide any info on hiding your brew project.

However, quit UTEP, move to California, and go to UC Davis. They have a brewing program that is supposedly quite good!

Genghis77 said:

Prisoners in some of the finest high security prisons are making home brews. Doing so in a college dorm shouldn't present much challenge.

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Some of them make wine in their toilets with moldy bread.

Brewpastor said:

Is it really against the law to brew under 21. I find that hard to believe. I know somebody under 21 can be employed as a brewer and take course work in brewing.

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no, it is not illegal to brew under 21, but it is illegal to DRINK or POSSESS under 21, so as long I don't "possess" "beer".... just some nasty water I never threw out (what do ya know!) then Im good. And I'm not here to look for info on how to brew, I already have ordered all the equipment, I only got on here to ask if there were any terrible odors that came with brewing.