# Brewing Legislation



## globe (9/1/11)

Gday guys as far as i know there is no limit to home brewing beer.
But does anyone know the legislation behind home brewing i know there
are restrictions in the states.


The main reason for posting this question is i have a nosey neighbour that thinks 
because of the amount of tallies i have which is approx 160 he thinks that i have 
a business selling homebrew.

I have tried to explain to him a couple of times that im not selling and the law doesnt allow the sales
of homebrew but he still doesnt get the picture.

Just thought id post something to see if anyone had any info relating to brewing in OZ.

its a bit of a boring post i know


Cheers 
Chris


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## Tanga (9/1/11)

Tell him if he wants a beer all he has to do is ask =p.

Sorry I don't have anything productive to say, but 160 tallies is definitely not excessive. If I were you I'd get in first and ring the police myself to ask. That way you can tell him you called the police the next time he hassles you, and if he ever does call them you can show you've done the right thing.


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## brettprevans (9/1/11)

There is legislation. It's commonwealth. So ur local cop is going to know jacks about it. FYI it's about 20l a week from memory. Or 20l a fortnight. Can't remember. 

Search AHB and it will come up. 

Tell ur Neighbour to f*ck off and mind their own business. Unless of course your selling your homebrew and then your in trouble


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## haysie (9/1/11)

citymorgue2 said:


> Tell ur Neighbour to f*ck off and mine their own business.



Exactly what I would say!

a quick wiki bought this up

_In Australia individuals may manufacture their own alcohol without paying excise provided that they do not employ the use of a still. Permission is required to own a still larger than 5 litres regardless of whether it is being used to produce alcohol. To operate any size still for the production of alcohol (even for personal use) requires an excise manufacturing license and excise must be paid at the rate of approximately $65 per litre of alcohol produced.[17]

New Zealand lifted the ban on home distilling in 1996, and it is now legal to distill spirits for your own consumption. Homebrewing and winemaking are both legal as well. It is still illegal to supply or sell any alcoholic beverage without the appropriate license._


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## Ducatiboy stu (9/1/11)

You are right with respect to not being able to sell your brew..

I think there is something in Commonwealth legislation that limit home brewing to 22ltrs per week, per person. Of course this has never been enforced, but you can near bet that someone in the future will try to use it against us

And Distilling is very much illegal, so dont even go there


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## Doogiechap (9/1/11)

This post from the What's the Law thread gives a SA perspective but I didn't see any specific QLD legislation in my quick scan.


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## globe (9/1/11)

the police are over there now doing a welfare check to see if 
he's ok mentally. he wont be too happy about that hehe.
im just putting it down to old fashionisms not being able to mind
his own business.
if its 22l a week per person then im sweet.
as for distilling not even.

cheers for the replies to guys 

this is my signature from now on.....

F i just want to brew beer its not against the law!!! :super:


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## roo_dr (9/1/11)

Is it 22L per calender week, or averaged over a year? I'd hate to think I'm breaking the law every long weekend! h34r:


edit: damn it, I'd have got away with it if only I'd kept my mouth shut!!


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## DU99 (9/1/11)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homebrewing#Beer

The production of beer or wine without a licence is not an offence provided the production is not for commercial purposes, as specified by the Excise Tariff Act 1921 (Cwlth).


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## Ducatiboy stu (9/1/11)

Environmental impacts

Homebrewing can reduce the environmental impact of fermented beverages by using less packaging and transportation than commercially brewed beverages, and by the use of refillable jugs, reusable bottles or other reusable containers.[27][28]





Now I feel all warm and fuzzy


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## _HOME_BREW_WALLACE_ (9/1/11)

citymorgue2 said:


> it's about 20l a week from memory. Or 20l a fortnight. Can't remember.




Well, thats me fu*ked! :icon_cheers: 

I Honestly cant see how its illegal aslong as your not selling it. 

Cheers!


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## Gavo (9/1/11)

Sounds like a neighbor I had when I lived in Brisvagas, only he used to try and tell me that I wasn't allowed to use my welder at home and that by restoring my own car and then building my own boat that I was running a business from home. Some people just need to get a life and mind their own business.

Gavo.


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## Brewer_010 (9/1/11)

> Now I feel all warm and fuzzy smile.gif



...with a green tinge! Sounds like a brew infection.


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## DU99 (9/1/11)

suggestion..offer him a few bottles of you best beer ..but use some preservative..arsenic


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## Hatchy (9/1/11)

I've seen a post here somewhere that it's 23L/week. I believe it was illegal until the whitlam government legalised it in 1973.

The wiki link to the ATO site doesn't give a great deal of info, it only mentions distillation which wouldn't interest me even if is was legal.

Edit: I had a bit of a look but the best I could do given that it's late was this link.


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## Nevalicious (10/1/11)

Tanga said:


> Sorry I don't have anything productive to say, but 160 tallies is definitely not excessive.



:icon_offtopic: Sorry, I dont have anything useful to post either, but I reckon this may be excessive... Near on 1000 longies





Yes, its a recycled photo, sorry!! :icon_cheers: 

Tanga, thought you might get a kick outta this


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## Bribie G (10/1/11)

So what if you do three brews in one week and no brewing for the next two weeks, does it get averaged out? And does that mean 22L of wort production or 22L of finished beer? I currently have 2 in cubes, 3 in primary, one in secondary and nary a drop of those to drink (but 3 kegs in the keggie of course) :icon_cheers:


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## _HOME_BREW_WALLACE_ (10/1/11)

BribieG said:


> So what if you do three brews in one week and no brewing for the next two weeks, does it get averaged out? And does that mean 22L of wort production or 22L of finished beer? I currently have 2 in cubes, 3 in primary, one in secondary and nary a drop of those to drink (but 3 kegs in the keggie of course) :icon_cheers:




:chug: DESTROY the evidence...... h34r:


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## zebba (10/1/11)

I'm inclined to think that the "no more than 2n litres a week" rule is either an old rule that is no longer applicable, or an urban myth. From what I've found, the law says "not for commercial purposes".


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## Pennywise (10/1/11)

Isn't that why the standard kit batch's are 23L, I thought that's what the limit was, remember reading it somewhere.


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## DJR (10/1/11)

From Excise Tariff Act 1921

"Items 1 to 3 of this Schedule do not include any liquor that has been produced for non‑commercial purposes, using non‑commercial facilities and equipment, other than a liquor that is, or that contains, any spirit obtained by distillation."

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/con...134/schthe.html

The only reference to a number of litres that I can find is the following from the Excise Act 1901

"The CEO must not permit excisable goods that are spirit or other excisable beverage to be entered for home consumption packaged in bulk containers unless:

(a) the containers have a capacity of not more than 20 litres or such other volume as the CEO approves in writing; and"

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/con...190180/s58.html

I'd say the number of litres per week is a furphy and isn't actually ever going to be enforced, the only time i could see it being a problem is if you are selling it which is illegal anyway


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## Hatchy (10/1/11)

I reckon the litres/week legislation is from the 70's. As others have said though, there's little to no chance of it being enforced.


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## Phoney (10/1/11)

Gavo said:


> Sounds like a neighbor I had when I lived in Brisvagas, only he used to try and tell me that I wasn't allowed to use my welder at home and that by restoring my own car and then building my own boat that I was running a business from home. Some people just need to get a life and mind their own business.
> 
> Gavo.



Since when was it illegal to run a legitimate business from home anyway?


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## Gavo (10/1/11)

Good point, however this guy was a true PITA neighbor from hell who thought he owned the neighborhood because he had been there for twenty years. Anyhow I'm not there anymore and and glad of it, it was more trouble than what it was worth.

BTW 160 tallies - Excessive? This guy is a dopey idiot 160 tallies > 6 Kegs :huh: I think I have an excessive amount of beer on hand.

Bribie you are obviously a law breaking mass producer of beer and should be ashamed of yourself  

Gavo.


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## Pennywise (10/1/11)

Gavo said:


> Bribie you are obviously a law breaking mass producer of beer and should be ashamed of yourself
> 
> Gavo.



And we've all seen the photo's h34r:


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## scott_penno (10/1/11)

Pennywise said:


> Isn't that why the standard kit batch's are 23L, I thought that's what the limit was, remember reading it somewhere.



I'm reasonably sure that the kit is 23L because this is equivalent to 5 gallons. Why or where the 5 gallons came from, I have no idea, but as an imperial measurement - it has to be from some time ago...

sap.


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## Yob (10/1/11)

this is 160 bottle collection also (and assorted stubbies/Grolsch's)... seriously not alot... it's just right for propper rotation, it allows the crates that are on the bottom time to finish nicely by the time they get to the top.. it is a bit of a PITA though as on botteling day you have to remove all of them to put the oldest at the bottom <_< but hay, I got an inside cupboard and it works just right for me...

160 bottles? Pffff, get him over on brewday if it's not already too late to have a few with him... ya catch more bees with honey, keep your friends close... etc

or tell the smelly old twonker to piss off and host a few front lawn parties and get all ya mates over :beerbang: 

empty cartons being delabelled as I type..

:icon_cheers:


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## Tanga (10/1/11)

Nevalicious said:


> :icon_offtopic: Sorry, I dont have anything useful to post either, but I reckon this may be excessive... Near on 1000 longies
> 
> View attachment 43193
> 
> ...



Haha! Even if it is excessive, it'd be great. I obviously need to get my stocks up.


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## brettprevans (10/1/11)

i think a few people are missing the point. there is no law on quantity in storage only production. so if you brewed 23L every week for a year as allowed and didnt drink any (yeah like thats going to happen), thenyoud have (assueming 750ml tallies) 1594.6 tallies and it would be legal. and thats per person. say there are 2 adults in your house then technically if you say if for 2 peopple then you can have over 3000 tallies per year.

if you really want to you could print off the legilsation with the pertinant bits highlighted. then agian he sounds like a knob so it probably not oging moot make a differance,.


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## jonocarroll (10/1/11)

Nevalicious said:


> :icon_offtopic: Sorry, I dont have anything useful to post either, but I reckon this may be excessive... Near on 1000 longies


I see your trailer of bottles, and raise you a second trailer.




This is the half way through the second, but IIRC they were 5 or 6 layers high. Bulk wine bottling for the local club, 900L or so (now that I think of it, pretty close to 1000 bottles also).

Yes, these are wine bottles - I should point out that while we make 23L batches @ 5%, amateur winemakers make >100L batches of 12%. Sure, it's only wine time roughly once per year, but I know several who make 3 or 4 different wines. Volume of ethanol produced by these winemakers easily exceeds that of once-a-fortnight brewing over the year.


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## Yob (10/1/11)

In the OP he says he has a 160 bottle collection as do I, I thought a photo of 160 bottles would show how damn small it actually is.. 

with only 1 fridge I certainly cant brew that much in a year (average 1 every 2-3 weeks) or probably consume, if you _*were*_ brewing 23l a week you probably_ *could*_ and would probably _*need* to_ be selling some..

as you say CM thats alot of tallies  that would equal 113 crates!! Thats alot of stacking space..


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## DanRayner (10/1/11)

I'm have my doubts there is any law restricting how much you may brew at home - no one has been able to find any evidence of this sort of legislation yet so I would say there is no such legislation.

The ATO outlines what it considers home-brewed beer in their ATO Beer Excise pamphlet. All they say is this:

_"Home brewed beer, produced for non-commercial
purposes using non-commercial equipment, is not under
our control. You dont need a licence and are not required
to pay excise."_

And reading on from this it is pretty clear that the "non-commercial equipment" bit is more to do with regulating Brewing On Premises (ie: U-Brew-It places) than restricting what home-brewers can use at home.

The only legislation I can find regarding homebrew in AUSTLII are Queensland bills brought in to regulate alcohol in specific Indigenous communities. example

I to find this stuff I used terms like "home brew", "homebrew", "non-commercial beer" etc.


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## DanRayner (10/1/11)

As an aside I think I too would be up shite creek; I have a 70L set-up, brew every two weeks and currently have 20L RIS, 20L strong dark belgian, 20L strong golden belgian, 45L pils, 45L cali common (fermenting) and about 25L chocolate porter and I son't intend to slow up any time soon


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## Pennywise (10/1/11)

http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/publication...eets/fs216.aspx

CBF reading through it all but I guess the info would be there


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## beerbog (10/1/11)

Hatchy said:


> I reckon the litres/week legislation is from the 70's. As others have said though, there's little to no chance of it being enforced.




Was everyone going to slow down even if it was legislation anyway? 

I think not. :beerbang:


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## Hatchy (10/1/11)

Pennywise said:


> http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/publication...eets/fs216.aspx
> 
> CBF reading through it all but I guess the info would be there



I couldn't see anything on there. I've got a nerdy mate looking into it. I don't expect it to be at all interesting but I'm curious.


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## Pennywise (10/1/11)

Yeah same, curious. I did have a bit of a wander round but bugger me it's like these pollies work in a different bloody language :huh:


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## brettprevans (10/1/11)

if you browse though the Excise Act it has been cleaned up and amended quite a bit. There are many many referances to the 'at home consumption' in referance to being exempt from part of the Act. 

One assumes that as part of legislative reform and onimbus bills to clean up legilsation they have removed any old referances to it ebing made legal and intergrated it into the legislation to better work with other issues. ie oil etc made for home consumption is excise free. so certain things have been extended to apply to other areas. legislation is complex and changes, and there could be subsections where a certain definition contains a referances to a literage or containers size (and thus literage) of allowance. or more likely is that ATO got smart and realised that someone could get around excise if they brewed at a non commerical premises so they changes the legislation to reflect the specific non use of commercial equipment.


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