nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Child Item

should it be illegal to brew your own drink at home??

Andy From Sligo

just looking at the Smithwicks advert - wondering should it really be legal brewing your own drink at home? - I know loads of people do it but what about dangers of stuff fermenting? what about how it could be damaging pub and off-licence trade? - what about revenue the government misses out on? (

) - is making Putcheen (spelling?) still illegal? - if it is how come you can brew beer and wine and that lot, but not putcheen and other stuff?

Find more posts tagged with

drink

beer

spirits

alcohol

home brewing

Quick Links

Comments

mikeecho

There are a few sites selling home stills, the UK sites have a disclaimer staying that is illegal under such a such UK legislation to distill alcohol without a licence, and that they stills are sold for the distillation of water.

I know a few polish that home distill in Poland, not sure if it's still legal to do so in Poland anymore, but in Iceland where alcohol is very expensive, you are allowed home distillation of alcohol (limited amounts)

Fyi

deco nate

Jayop wrote: »

25 litres of vodka for less than 20 quid lol. Half strength or not you're still getting hammered on that stuff.

That's a cheap one, but most make them stronger, then dilute to 40%. And add whatever flavour you want. Plenty more to buy. And all legal for home use only. Not to sell:)

Andy From Sligo

deco nate wrote: »

That's a cheap one, but most make them stronger, then dilute to 40%. And add whatever flavour you want. Plenty more to buy. And all legal for home use only. Not to sell*

*I wonder what that is like in reality? - again cant really be controlled

deco nate

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

*I wonder what that is like in reality? - again cant really be controlled

Yes you can look at the website.

http://www.homebrewwest.ie/spirit-meter-0-to-100-886-p.asp

deco nate

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

*I wonder what that is like in reality? - again cant really be controlled

Sorry, misread the bold. Thought you were talking about the strength

_Dara_

Jayop wrote: »

making beer at home looks like it's going to be a good investment soon and I've been very close to getting into it for a while now. If you're going to do it you need to do it right though and spend quite a bit of money on the equipment otherwise you're not home brewing, you're just adding water to pre-prepared sachets of beer. I know a guy who has spent about €1500 on gear so far, and if he bought some sort of a lid for the thing he can turn it into a whiskey still. Would be interested to know the laws around making your own spirits vs making beer.

My brother-in-law's first batch worked out at €2 a bottle because of the initial outlay. Now it's 50c per bottle. Supposed to nice beer too. I'm not a beer drinker so I don't know.

deco nate

Jayop wrote: »

Ever tried them??

Basically all you are doing is boiling a kettle it's that simple the Vapour that comes off is the alcohol

Jayop

_Dara_ wrote: »

My brother-in-law's first batch worked out at €2 a bottle because of the initial outlay. Now it's 50c per bottle. Supposed to nice beer too. I'm not a beer drinker so I don't know.

Yeah the more you make the cheaper it gets but it would be easy to go ott with the drinking when you're making batches all the time.

Peregrinus

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

just looking at the Smithwicks advert - wondering should it really be legal brewing your own drink at home? - I know loads of people do it but what about dangers of stuff fermenting? what about how it could be damaging pub and off-licence trade? - what about revenue the government misses out on? ( ) - is making Putcheen (spelling?) . . .

Poitín

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

. . . . still illegal? - if it is how come you can brew beer and wine and that lot, but not putcheen and other stuff?

Beer and wine are produced by fermentation, and that's perfectly legal. Poitín and other spirits are produced by distillation, which is illegal if you don't have a licence. You can own a still, and you can use it for distilling water or essential oils or the like, but you can't use it for distilling alcohol without a licence.

Why? Mostly for revenue reasons, but also for public health. It's difficult to maim or kill somebody with home-fermented products, but relatively easy to do so with home-distilled products.

The home-produced products are dramatically cheaper than what you can buy in an off-licence, but of, um, variable quality, depending on skill and experience. Plus, it's quite a lot of trouble to do it properly. Most people who do home brew do it because they enjoy the challenge, the process, the experimentation with different brews, etc; the money-saving is a bonus for them. Not many people would be motivated to do it, and to keep doing it, purely to save money.

_Dara_

Jayop wrote: »

Yeah the more you make the cheaper it gets but it would be easy to go ott with the drinking when you're making batches all the time.

Well, that depends entirely on the individual.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Del2005

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

what part can you understand on selling it? - the part where people could be selling it and the government not getting revenue? - or the fact it has no control or rigorous requirements and it could be dangerous for others to drink?

Considering that the publicans and off licences sell alcohol in quantities that are dangerous for others to drink then why should they regulate home brew?

I've never seen a drunk person refused service at a bar, I have seen them been served a pint of slops though, and every off sales employee will still serve their alcoholic regulars multiple times a day.

If you are so worried about people being injured you should ban all tobacco products and cars, as they kill and injure thousands every year. I've yet to hear of the home brew epidemic spreading across the island like the opioid epidemic in the USA.

Peregrinus

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

You can get lots of information, and buy most of the stuff you need, online, so there's no great need for shops.

But be aware that brewing is a skill, and it takes time and patience to master it. The first couple of batches that you brew will probably not be something you want to serve to visitors or guests. Or friends. Or anyone whose good opinion you value, even. So dont' leave it till too close to Christmas to start mastering the craft.

Peregrinus

Del2005 wrote: »

Considering that the publicans and off licences sell alcohol in quantities that are dangerous for others to drink then why should they regulate home brew?

They don't regulate home brewing. They regulate the sale of beer, but the same regulations apply regardless of whether you have brewed the stuff in your garage or in St. James's Gate. You need a licence to sell beer.

And beer sold is subject to excise duty; again, the same tax laws apply to you as apply to Arthur Guinness Son & Company (Dublin) Ltd.

(And, yes, the same food safety, hygiene, etc laws as well.)

Cool Mo D

Peregrinus wrote: »

Poitín

...

Why? Mostly for revenue reasons, but also for public health. It's difficult to maim or kill somebody with home-fermented products, but relatively easy to do so with home-distilled products.

...

Not true at all. It's very, very difficult to accidentally make dangerous home-distilled spirits. It would require you to purposely take the only the first liquid to come out of the still, and drink only that, while throwing away the vast bulk of the distilled alcohol.

The danger with poteen and the like isn't that someone made it badly by accident, but that it is sometimes purposely cut with cheap industrial methanol.

Home distilling could also be a fire hazard, but no more so than something like a deep fat fryer. The reason it's illegal is for tax purposes only. It is legal in New Zealand though: http://www2.nzherald.co.nz/aucklander/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503372&objectid=11040946

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

[Deleted User]

Back in the 80s, around the same time as Soda Stream, the sandwich maker and smoked Easi Singles were in vogue, it was very common for people to brew beer at home. The phase lasted for a few years only.

I wish many Irish people would get over the obsession with alcohol. It's such backward thinking. A home shouldn't be a place for ready access to a drug that takes care and attention away from loved ones who need it. There are healthier ways to escape from the pressures of life (I'm awake since 4am with my 9-month-old who just wants to play and I'll be up in 10 minutes anyway for work).

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

redandwhite

Errrrr.

No.

weldoninhio

Patww79 wrote: »

I'll aim for 2018 at this stage. It's only really the ready made ones I want, like the 'kits' as I wouldn't have the patience for getting really into it. They just never seem to sell a complete kit and you always need to buy a load more stuff like buckets and bottles, etc. None of them can/will ever tell you exactly what you need to buy and you'd think they would as I've always not bought because of that.

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/coopers-microbrew-starter-kit-40-pint-starter-kit-p-813.html

I bought this one a few months ago. Has everything you need.

weldoninhio

Patww79 wrote: »

Away and lie down. There's no 'Irish' obsession with alcohol, such lazy thinking. There's hundreds of thousands who can drink with zero issues at all.

FWIW, I'd rather drink myself into an actual coma than play with a 9 month old for even a few minutes. All children are terrible, or at least I could say that if I was into making the same blanket statements as you're making there yourself.

Sure look at Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot. What have they got in common?? All were kids at one stage or another.

CruelCoin

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

is making Putcheen (spelling?) still illegal? - if it is how come you can brew beer and wine and that lot, but not putcheen and other stuff?

Brewing beer results in tasty beer and nothing else.
Fermenting wine does the same.

Making Poithcheen (no bloody idea) results in blind people...

One is a very obvious candidate for regulation.
The tax take helps too...

Pkiernan

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

actually you have a point there for another thread - that the money you spent on fuel (especially if its electric cooker, very heavy on electric power wattage) you most probably find you would have saved money to buy from a takeaway instead .. and no washing up!

Nowhere close.

[Deleted User]

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Is English your first language? Seriously? There is, believe it or not, quite a large difference between saying 'I wish many Irish people would get over the obsession with alcohol.' and saying there is "an irish obsession with alcohol". See that word 'many'? It's not even 'most'. It's an adjective and therefore modifies [qualifies] the noun 'Irish'. Before going into a rant, perhaps you could learn how to understand remedial English? Thank you.

And as for this obtuse nonsense of 'there's hundreds of thousands who can drink with zero issues at all', by that sorry excuse for logic there shouldn't be any drink driving, dangerous driving, safety etc laws because "hundreds of thousands" have no issues being responsible. To spell it out, it's the stupid cúnts who have the problem who need to be legislated for so that we can at least try to reduce their damage to the rest of society. Lastly, your analogy is silly (to put it mildly).

VinLieger

Been brewing our own wine for a couple of years now, after the 2nd batch we had made back all we spent on the gear versus buying the same amount of wine from an off license.

We can now make 25-30 bottles per run and the time depends on the kit you get. There's some out there that take only 7-10 days which are actually pretty good.

If you wanted to do the maths each bottle comes in around 50 cent cost to us now.

CruelCoin

VinLieger wrote: »

Been brewing our own wine for a couple of years now, after the 2nd batch we had made back all we spent on the gear versus buying the same amount of wine from an off license.

We can now make 25-30 bottles per run and the time depends on the kit you get. There's some out there that take only 7-10 days which are actually pretty good.

If you wanted to do the maths each bottle comes in around 50 cent cost to us now.

The cost part of home-brewing never came into it for me.

It's always been about if it's fun or not, and it bloody is!

CruelCoin

Deleted User wrote: »

Is English your first language? Seriously? There is, believe it or not, quite a large difference between saying 'I wish many Irish people would get over the obsession with alcohol.' and saying there is "an irish obsession with alcohol". See that word 'many'? It's not even 'most'. It's an adjective and therefore modifies [qualifies] the noun 'Irish'. Before going into a rant, perhaps you could learn how to understand remedial English? Thank you.

Chiiiiiiiil !

CruelCoin

weldoninhio wrote: »

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/coopers-microbrew-starter-kit-40-pint-starter-kit-p-813.html

I bought this one a few months ago. Has everything you need.

I started with that kit too. Can't go wrong at the price point to be fair.

MadYaker

Id love to try it but I've never had the time. My friend has been doing it for years and he's quite good at it now. He can make really nice ale and it works out at about 60 or 70 cent per 500ml bottle. He says he rarely buy off license drink now but he still drinks in pubs so I don't think it has much of an effect on the bar trade. If everyone started making their own the offies might be in trouble though.

Academic

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

presuming everyone who brews at home knows what they are doing - but what about people who dont know what they are doing and blow their gaff up fermenting the drink .. or making something so potent or its like poison and it kills them or others when they drink it?

None of these things is even remotely possible. Surely you know that?