Questions about homebrewing laws

[bearkluttz]

So do we get credit in the references section?

 

[Homercidal]

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.

 

[Donasay]

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.

 

[Malticulous]

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.

 

[ZombieBeer]

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.

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....

 

[dantodd]

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.