Home brew?

Does anyone know the legalities of home brewing beer or wine as a hobby?

13 comments
  1. Anything above ~1% ABV is technically illegal, unfortunately. However making a non-commercial amount isn’t uncommon and the laws against it are rarely enforced.

  2. From what I’ve heard it’s illegal. Below 1% alchohol content I think it was ok. Creating umeshu and the like is ok because you’re not distilling alchohol just mixing in a flavor to pre-existing alchohol, but you still can’t sell it.

    Not a lawyer, not legal advice etc.

  3. As long as you don’t sell it or make megaton amount, then its ok. If its above like 1% then its technically illegal but its not enforced, actually you can buy beer brewing kits at like Tokyu Hands. I’ve done a few batches myself with around like 25-30 bottles of 500ml beer per batch.

  4. Legalities: Can not brew anything 1% abv or over.

    Reality: Homebrew kits are sold in Tokyu Hands, so unless you go around selling your brews or yelling from the rooftops that you are making beer or wine with >1%abv, no one is going to care. If (in the extremely unlikely event) they come and ask, just say you must have accidently put too much sugar in and will strive to properly measure it next time.

  5. Others have mentioned the 1% ABV thing, but as long as you’re not selling it you won’t get bothered. You can buy full homebrewing kits for beer/wine/cider/mead online if you google advanced brewing.

    For fruit-based drinks, the biggest problem I have is getting juice without preservatives.

  6. Like everyone else has said, it’s technically illegal, but if you’re just making it in small amounts for yourself it isn’t really an issue. One of my boyfriend’s coworkers has been brewing his own cider and sake for decades.
    As long as your not mass producing it and selling it, how would the police ever even know?

  7. I do it. Usually get an alcohol content of around 5%. I never sell it though, so never worry about any laws.

  8. I don’t know about homebrewing beer, but I have homebrew menu installed in my Nintendo Wii

  9. Technically yes. But functionally you could be brewing moonshine and as long as you keep it on the dl and don’t sell it outside your friends group no one’s going to know or give a shit.

  10. I used to brew beer and know people who do. Yeah, there’s technically a law against it, but it’s fine for personal use.

  11. The main thing is not to sell it. As long as it’s hobby level and you’re just brewing for yourself, nobody will bat an eye. It’s one of those things that is technically illegal but you will never get caught for it unless you tattle on yourself. And even if you accidentally tattle on yourself and announce to the public that you are brewing your own beer, you can still just say that you keep it under 1% alcohol and you’ll be fine.

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