has anyone tried donating a how to brew day to a school auction?

[whovous]

@whovous, I quoted your response to @mongoose33's post so that your intended point is not lost. Though, you actually proved a different point. Somehow, it appears you believe the school is selling alcohol when they auction off kits/ingredients. That is simply not the case. The school is auctioning items like a home brew kit, an extract recipe kit and/or an all grain recipe kit or ingredients. These items are using your words "not a licensed product".

None of the above items are a licensed product subject to a liquor license. No store (online or LHBS) needs a liquor license to sell those items or any ingredients. No store or LHBS requires a purchaser of those items or any ingredients to present identification to prove they are of a certain age.

I may have contributed to the confusion when I responded to post #12 above where they WERE selling bottles of wine. Hopefully, this will put to rest some questions. If you are aware of a statute or regulation that requires a liquor license to sell ingredients or kits, please provide it.

CodeSection, I think you are completely right and I was completely wrong. I was a bit buzzed when I first brought this up last night, and I think I was just being stubborn when I stuck by my guns this morning. The auction would be for a brew day, complete with ingredients. It is doubtless illegal to sell home-brewed beer, but I can think of no argument to extend that reasoning to ingredients. Whether the ingredients might become beer someday just doesn't matter.

 

[cmac62]

It is all about how you word something. If you auction an experience to brew your own beer, the winner is part of the process and brewing his own beer. This doesn't really seem like any kind of issue other than if the school is interested in this auction item/experience due to it being beer. my 2 cents

 

[mongoose33]

OK, so some people think there are potential legal issues here. I don't think so, not in my state, but OK.

What I was hoping for in this thread is some feedback about the best way to do something like this. Any suggestions?

 

[Jag75]

I dont think auctioning off a hands on brew session would be illegal. I think it's a good idea. Someone may really enjoy it and start a new hobby.

 

[Tom R]

What I was hoping for in this thread is some feedback about the best way to do something like this. Any suggestions?[/QUOTE]

How about having a six-pac at the auction, two bottles each of three recipes, and offer to brew with the winner 5 gals of the one the winner likes best?

Use whatever brewing process you use to make the sixer. I wouldn't worry about having the session be too complicated and turning off the winner, they might be very interested to see the fancy gear in operation. Just let them know that there are other methods to make great beer using simpler processes and less expensive equipment that they could use.

I think you're onto a great idea, and the not-for-profit that I work for has an annual auction, too...

 

[SEndorf]

OK, so some people think there are potential legal issues here. I don't think so, not in my state, but OK.
What I was hoping for in this thread is some feedback about the best way to do something like this. Any suggestions?

I'm following with interest.
I just can't picture this with my electric system. 60 minute mash / 60 minute sparge / 90 minute boil / and a good long time to trickle from the counterflow chiller to the fermenter. Most of my brew day is waiting...waiting...waiting....
A comparatively miniscule amount of time is actually working the brew process. Hard to imagine captivating someone's interest with the immense amount of time really doing nothing.

 

[Tom R]

Brewing is a long day for me. About 6 hrs. I could certainly speed it up, but I enjoy the process, and its nice to feel no need to hurry through it.

I think that a first-timer who was genuinely interested, and knew in advance that it would take several hours wouldn't mind the waiting. That's a good time to talk about other brewing equipment, processes, and beer styles.

 

[rkhanso]

However--and this is hopefully not too bad of a thread drift--my son did a thing down in Birmingham where he did a brewing demonstration, all grain, and at the end he did exactly what you suggest.

That is, they raffled off something like 19 chances to make your own beer. They had 2-liter soda bottles as fermenters (cleaned and sanitized), put a liter of wort in each one. Gave the participants a little dry yeast to add to it. A rubber balloon with a pinhole poked in it to stretch over the top of the 2-liter bottle and act as a sort of airlock. Two plastic coke bottles, cleaned and sanitized, each with a carb drop in it.

People were given instructions how to deal with the "fermenter," and after a week, carefully decanted off the finished beer into the two diet coke bottles. Put into a room-temp dark place for a couple weeks, then refrigerate. Voila! They'd fermented their own beer.

It all works. I know because before he did it, I tried it.

I like this idea. It's like the 80% lower receivers for building your own guns. Anyone can make an 80% lower and sell it. Anyone can buy one. No FFL license or background check needed. The buyer just has to finish the lower receiver themselves (which is brain-dead easy) and finish building the gun. No government agencies involved. Fully legal.

There have been many similar fund-raiser auctions like this, as well as groupons - for activities/lessons on glass blowing, baking, painting, other types of lessons. A great way for those of us with more hobbies than money that can donate to favorite causes.

Probably not much help, but I'd approach as just having a friend over who's never brewed before. I'd explain the process, go over the equipment, get them involved. Talk about the football season coming up, etc. Have some food/beer during the process. It will likely be a longer brew-day than normal, but this time the goal is not only the process and end result. It's making sure the auction winner has a good time, learns something and feels like they got their money's worth.

I think if it were me, I'd probably send them home with a 6-pack of something I brewed prior and had on-hand - while waiting for fermentation, and have them return when it's bottling time. Get them involved in bottling as well and send them home with what they made.

 

[Jag75]

Unless you live in Californiastan ^^^^

 

[Pappers_]

I love the idea of using our brewing hobby to help support local organizations doing good in our communities. I've donated beer for silent auctions, donated a brew day (as the OP suggests) for silent auctions, served my beer three times at a homebrew festival that supports a local arts education initiative (this is legal in Illinois, btw). I've also organized beer pairing events and am doing another in less than three weeks.

I wrote an article for Zymurgy, the magazine of the American Homebrewers Association, that was published in the November/December 2018 issue. Last May, I organized a beer, cheese and food pairing event that raised some funding for my congregation's Peace Camp and the article is focused on the event, beer and food pairings, and using the homebrewing hobby to do events to support projects or organizations you believe in.

If you're a member of the AHA, you can view the article (and the entire magazine) online. If you're not a member, I've created a PDF of the six page spread in the magazine and you can download it here.

 

[CodeSection]

I love the idea of using our brewing hobby to help support local organizations doing good in our communities. I've donated beer for silent auctions, donated a brew day (as the OP suggests) for silent auctions, served my beer three times at a homebrew festival that supports a local arts education initiative (this is legal in Illinois, btw). I've also organized beer pairing events and am doing another in less than three weeks.

I wrote an article for Zymurgy, the magazine of the American Homebrewers Association, that was published in the November/December 2018 issue. Last May, I organized a beer, cheese and food pairing event that raised some funding for my congregation's Peace Camp and the article is focused on the event, beer and food pairings, and using the homebrewing hobby to do events to support projects or organizations you believe in.

If you're a member of the AHA, you can view the article (and the entire magazine) online. If you're not a member, I've created a PDF of the six page spread in the magazine and you can download it here.

I could not get your link to load so when I went home for lunch, I grabbed my November/December 2018 issue. Very nice article and well written! I liked how you basically laid out a template to follow. Your article will definitely help those that are considering a different type of fundraising than through an auction type event. With the average donation exceeding $50, you raised more than $2,750...not too shabby! Your template will make a difference beyond just the event you held....

On another note, I just checked out your blog. I was shocked with so many articles! Luckily, I enjoy reading and learning!

 

[bobeer]

OK, so some people think there are potential legal issues here. I don't think so, not in my state, but OK.

What I was hoping for in this thread is some feedback about the best way to do something like this. Any suggestions?

I would make it as easy as possible that produces the best outcome. I'd do an all grain recipe but use a system/process that a beginner could relate to and see themselves doing. I think it's a great idea. I love when homebrewing can be used for fundraising. It's awesome.