Donation jar

[eatmorefrogs]

Drink all you want, it's on the house. But if you waste it, I'll see you out back. Fisticuffs.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I think you're taking a thread about a dude asking if others put a donation jar by the kegerator or not waaay too seriously. No one asked about selling homebrew illegally, someone asked about a donation jar. You can call it disguising or use whatever terms you want, but in the end it's a dude asking if we all think it's kosher to leave the option for friends to pitch in for the cost. No one is tax evading or commiting some major crime. Can't we just let the guy ask his question and get his responses?, which currently seem to already be an overwhelming "NO that's lame!"


Rev.

Personally, I see nothing wrong with a donation jar. I don't exactly expect any of my friends to turn me into the feds for it lol now, I wouldn't make them feel guilty for not donating if they couldn't either. I trust that most of my friends (all that I share with) will be willing to pitch in for the next brew if they regularly drink a lot of my beer. Ultimately though, if I invite you over for a beer then that means that I want your company while we enjoy the beer. It's the same as if I invite a friend to eat. I don't expect them to come to my house with money to hand for dinner. I don't own a bar or a restaurant, I just want to hang out with friends. That said, I still might put a donation jar up for anyone who wants to pitch in.

 

[passedpawn]

Personally, I see nothing wrong with a donation jar. I don't exactly expect any of my friends to turn me into the feds for it lol now, I wouldn't make them feel guilty for not donating if they couldn't either. I trust that most of my friends (all that I share with) will be willing to pitch in for the next brew if they regularly drink a lot of my beer. Ultimately though, if I invite you over for a beer then that means that I want your company while we enjoy the beer. It's the same as if I invite a friend to eat. I don't expect them to come to my house with money to hand for dinner. I don't own a bar or a restaurant, I just want to hang out with friends. That said, I still might put a donation jar up for anyone who wants to pitch in.

That was confusing. I think what you said was "If I let you in my house, I might "suggest" you pay, buy I might not because that would not be cool".

 

[MaxStout]

People only take advantage of you if you let them. If they drink up your homebrew without contributing something, stop offering. If they help themselves to your fridge or your taps, ask them not to. Or put a padlock on it.

 

[tjmac5071]

If things were reversed I wouldn't mind adding to the donation jar but I would never personally do that. I think the difference comes with people who mainly brew to save money. I never really consider ingredient cost into the hobby since the time involved is far more valuable than the raw ingredients for a typical batch.

Now if someone wanted to clean my equipment in lieu of a $5 or $10 donation I couldn't fill their glass fast enough.

 

[madcowbrewing]

I agree with the "playing host" point of view. I enjoy having friends over and sharing my passion with them. Most are delighted my passion comes in liquid form As a guest, I would never want them to shell out for anything I might choose to share with them.

OTOH, I have thought that some time during the Octoberfest season, when I had more beer on tap than I could possibly think about drinking myself, I would pull the kegerator outdoors one weekend, invite a bunch of people over and put a donation jar there to be donated to a good cause.

Sounds like a great idea, right? Also illegal. At least in the State of CT, even a charity can not "sell" homebrew for fundraising purposes.

I do believe in CA non-profit organizations can sell homebrew for donations to their charity.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=437429

 

[specharka]

I've had people ask me for beer funds at parties, and frankly it was super awkward. You invited me into your home, served crappy BMC, and want compensation for it? I could not get out of there fast enough.

I could never do that to a guest in my home.

 

[brewerJase]

I enjoy sharing what I brewed with my friends and family. I have a couple of buddy's that come over regularly and drink quite a bit. They bring me store bought craft beer from time to time as a thanks.

 

[David_Trucks]

Drink all you want, it's on the house. But if you waste it, I'll see you out back. Fisticuffs.

I remember the time my buddy's (then) wife came over and I let her sample, along with everyone else. She would take a drink, say it was good and walk over to the sink to dump the rest. I had to quickly call her out and my buddy would finish her sample from then on. I couldn't believe it though, wasting what takes so much effort to make.

 

[mattd2]

The one question I have for the OP is do your friends provide the beer at their homes?

 

[slym2none]

I need friends...

 

[wyccad915]

I am only 2 brews down so i dont do this. I originally started out with the assumption a friend was gonna go halfers in equipment and ingredients cost. It never happened. He isn't making a lot lately though so I'm not upset. Right now im happy the beer is all mine to share with whoever i want. In the future depending how much I share with him, I may ask him to help out with the ingredients. My time is not an issue and I wont ask for donations for that.

 

[Pkrd]

Now that I'm making pretty good beer I insist people pay me the same amount that I had to pay them early on to get them to drink my bad beer.

 

[Siberian]

I enjoy the process enough that I get frustrated when all my kegs are full. I have a lack of consumption problem sometimes which is only solved through guests / parties. I wouldn't want to do tips if it stopped anyone from drinking. (That said my friends are responsible drinkers, over indulgence is rare)

 

[BrewingTravisty]

That was confusing. I think what you said was "If I let you in my house, I might "suggest" you pay, buy I might not because that would not be cool".

Basically I was saying I would consider putting one out, say if I had people over drinking all of the time. I wouldn't try to pressure anyone into pitching in though. Kind of like if I invite you over for dinner, I'm not going to ask you to pitch in. But if you come over to dinner 4 days out of the week, I'll probably expect you to pitch in. Whether that means you bringing something, putting money in the jar, or helping with the clean up.


Basically I would expect common courtesy. I would probably cut someone off if they weren't pitching in in some way if they were coming over and drinking that much, but the only people who would come over that much are my best friends and we all have an understanding.

 

[MaxStout]

I remember the time my buddy's (then) wife came over and I let her sample, along with everyone else. She would take a drink, say it was good and walk over to the sink to dump the rest. I had to quickly call her out and my buddy would finish her sample from then on. I couldn't believe it though, wasting what takes so much effort to make.

Maybe she's a spitter, not a swallower.

 

[TheCADJockey]

I couldn't pay people to drink my beer.

 

[hunter_le five]

I have a rule at my house: The first beer is free. And the second beer, it is also free. However, the third beer, and all subsequent beers consumed thereafter, are also free.

It's an unecessarily verbose rule. I should consider revising it to something shorter and more to the point.

 

[browder]

I've got a donation jug it don't bring in much $$ though..month of October I went through 45 gallons of beer in my garage, my two sons donate more than the neighbors it gets out of control at my house people walk in and grab a cup and start pouring...I get around $20.00 a month in my jug..I had to put up a sign that says no coin paper money only....

 

[Hello]

I don't take money for my beer. It's been offered, but I've never taken it. I told someone if they wanted 5 gallons then I would merely ask them to bring me lunch/dinner while I am brewing. It isn't that I am made of money or anything, but the second thing I love about brewing is sharing it.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I don't take money for my beer. It's been offered, but I've never taken it. I told someone if they wanted 5 gallons then I would merely ask them to bring me lunch/dinner while I am brewing. It isn't that I am made of money or anything, but the second thing I love about brewing is sharing it.

I have yet to accept money. I mostly do the same, if my friends come over to drink they generally bring food, or craft/import beers. I'm perfectly fine with that lol I wouldn't turn down money if offered to put towards future brews though. The way I see it is if they want to contribute in any way then I see nothing wrong with it. Though I would prefer that contribution to come in the form of helping with the clean up xD

 

[beernutz]

If you invite people over to your house you are supposed to be hospitable. I always offer visitors homebrew if the setting is appropriate and I'd never dream of asking for donations. That has been the case from the time I started homebrewing 24 years ago as a struggling grad student to today when retirement is starting to look like more than a science fiction concept. Everyone's value system is different but mine screams, 'tacky', at the prospect of begging for spare change even when I could really have used it.

My wife and I have hosted a holiday party for most of the 27 years we've been married and I've served homebrew at almost all of them and we don't charge admission or ask for tips for that either.

 

[ChelisHubby]

If someone is drinking regularly tell them to bring a pizza next time, Life is full of freeloaders how you deal with it speaks to your character.

 

[Roland_deschain]

I've had a few people request specific 'flavors' and for that I suggest they buy the ingredients and I'll brew for them. It has worked out to about a 50/50 split. I get some of the beer and they leave happy.
As a brewer I just love hearing people tell me how great my beers are and yadda, yadda, yadda....

 

[BrewingTravisty]

If you invite people over to your house your are supposed to be hospitable. I always offer visitors homebrew if the setting is appropriate and I'd never dream of asking for donations. That has been the case from the time I started homebrewing 24 years ago as a struggling grad student to today when retirement is starting to look like more than a science fiction concept. Everyone's value system is different but mine screams, 'tacky', at the prospect of begging for spare change even when I could really have used it.

My wife and I have hosted a holiday party for most of the 27 years we've been married and I've served homebrew at almost all of them and we don't charge admission or ask for tips for that either.

I think it's tacky to invite someone over and ask for money for the brew. Just the same way as I would think it's tacky to invite someone out to eat and push the bill on them. On the other hand though, I also think it's tacky to always go to someone's house and drink their beer, or eat their food and not offer something. Whether it be money towards the next brew, ingredients or just helping out on brew day.

There's a difference between inviting people over, and people being freeloaders. I think it really depends on the situation. A donation jar may be a bit on the tacky side, but asking for people to pitch in in some way or another I feel is far from it. I would rather have like a chalk board up with a list of ingredients that I need for the next brew. If someone wants to grab a pound or 2 of the grains I need then awesome. You can be hospitable, without being taken advantage of at the same time.

Any relationship, friendship or otherwise, is about keeping everything in balance.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

If someone is drinking regularly tell them to bring a pizza next time, Life is full of freeloaders how you deal with it speaks to your character.

I agree with that, that's much better than putting out a donation jar. I provide the beer, someone else provides the food. Keep everything balanced, no one person should always provide everything.

 

[slym2none]

I don't take money for my beer. It's been offered, but I've never taken it. I told someone if they wanted 5 gallons then I would merely ask them to bring me lunch/dinner while I am brewing. It isn't that I am made of money or anything, but the second thing I love about brewing is sharing it.

Now I am wondering what kind of dinner it takes to get 5 gallons of beer...

:fro:

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Never thought about a donation thing before, but sometimes hobbies lose their fun when money is associated with them. Regardless of how much one brings in from a donation, it may or may not cover the ingredient costs but it likely won't cover the labor hours as well (unless you are super super cheap by the hour).

Just about all my friends who drink my homebrew will bring other beer and/or bring food. I have a couple friends who don't, but somehow I tend to always have fewer cold bottles in the fridge when they come over....

More than anything, I simply want honest and brutal feedback about the beer.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

Never thought about a donation thing before, but sometimes hobbies lose their fun when money is associated with them. Regardless of how much one brings in from a donation, it may or may not cover the ingredient costs but it likely won't cover the labor hours as well (unless you are super super cheap by the hour).

Just about all my friends who drink my homebrew will bring other beer and/or bring food. I have a couple friends who don't, but somehow I tend to always have fewer cold bottles in the fridge when they come over....

More than anything, I simply want honest and brutal feedback about the beer.

That's basically how I feel about it. I don't care to get money but it's nice if people pitch in with food and stuff. Also, my friends are more than willing to be brutally honest with me about my beer xD

 

[Kharnynb]

Noone's ever paid for my beers, i wouldn't want that anyway.
I hand out samples to some friends occasionally, and if someone is over, they get to drink a few with us.
Family, especially my father-in-law get a few samples of every beer, but then again, he does a lot for us, including lending his cabin and boat to me whenever i want .


I've yet to have an issue with overindulgers/freeloaders, so maybe that's just pure luck.

Have made a batch or 2 for people who supplied bottles and ingredients and helped bottling/brewing.