Brewclub -minors

[ekul]

I think its a good idea to teach them the art behind brewing. Bring over as many Kn3k's to the darkside as possible!

thats the plan. With a little extra swiss voille i can push out 180L in 5 hours doing BIG BIAB (four bags in 2 big pots). So i'm hoping anyone who doesn't have the cash to buy equipment will just chip in ingredients and we all do a brew together, splitting the cubes at the end of the day.

I really want this club to give people the opportunity to brew a great beer, rather than a club about making kn3k headbangers on the cheap.

 

[Bongchitis]

I think it is a great idea if kept 18+ Ekul.

You will teach them that beer is a lot more than a medium to get ****** up and as a result will drink more responsibly for the rest of their lives. I bet that dude never goes back to K&3K!

Good on ya mate.

 

[QldKev]

I can see it now, a 25L batch of beer for a yeast starter for CPA yeast

I think I would go the 18+ rule, it will keep is a lot easier
Maybe the <18 can comae along, but cannot take anything home. At least that way they can obtain knowledge on how to make good beer

 

[argon]

As someone that was a long term student (6 years) and college resident at said University, I agree your best bet is to limit brew club membership to +18 students. That way you shouldn't have too much opposition from the student union or the Uni itself. Whatever your members decide to do with the wort is their business.

I doubt youll have much problem holding brew days on campus, however your problem is going to be when someone wants to drink.

From memory (a very hazy one at that) when I was a resident at one of the colleges, the official stance was there was to be no alcohol outside the licensed areas and functions (This was late nineties, so not sure what the latest stance may be) In saying that, the college wardens, security and staff never really gave a rats arse if you were having piss up in your rooms as long as you were reasonably quiet and didnt annoy anyone.

So, even though an eye may be turned when youre doing tasting sessions on campus, your best bet is to organise a calender of events and hold them in the official licensed venues... no idea what this means as for bringing your own. You may want to talk to the UQ Wine Appreciation Society and see how they overcome such things. Or of course do them off campus.

Also, if you can talk to any of the other clubs/societies that hold functions involving alcohol for how they handle things. SECS is the one that jumps to mind. Their sport day is an experience that haunts me to this day (some things just cant be unseen)

I can already see how someone were to setup their own fermentation and serving fridges, by way of 2 bar fridges in the corner at the end of the bed in the colleges. In saying that, approach the colleges, perhaps the student social convenors. Let them know that they can produce their own. I know some guys in my day were doing KnK in the rooms and fermenting in a shared space. No reason you couldnt get them to setup with a BIAB setup and a group kegerator to supply the student executive as an example

Anyway good luck with it, hope it gets up. Id be keen to come along to one of the brew days in the future.

 

[QldKev]

and make sure you get lots of hot girls join :icon_chickcheers:

 

[ekul]

WEll if we can find a place on campus to ferment we'll be filling up 44's of the goodness. mmmmmm

I can see it now, a 25L batch of beer for a yeast starter for CPA yeast

I think I would go the 18+ rule, it will keep is a lot easier
Maybe the <18 can comae along, but cannot take anything home. At least that way they can obtain knowledge on how to make good beer

 

[ekul]

and make sure you get lots of hot girls join :icon_chickcheers:

Hot girls is my primary reason to do anything.

 

[Truman42]

Hot girls is my primary reason to do anything.

Then you need a club wesbite with lots of photos of members after a few hours of tastings etc..And post the link..

 

[winkle]

and make sure you get lots of hot girls join :icon_chickcheers:

and a hot tub.

 

[HoppingMad]

Wouldn't most 17 year olds at Uni have a fake id or several anyhow?

Half your membership will be 17 year olds masquerading as 18 year olds just as they are at the local campus bar, so to be frank - even if you check id, it's pretty redundant.

Last I checked a an underage person can buy a tin of Coopers goo at a Safeway no worries, and make it without so much as an eyelid batt from a copper, so as long as you're not serving alcohol yourself to a minor (which is the illegal bit and a punishable offence) you're fine and will be in the clear to the best of my knowledge.

To be safe though, get a solicitor's advice. Also ask about club legal obligations, and maybe suggest whether it's a good idea to draft a form, get each person to sign it declaring they are over 18 and can legally consume alcohol, have no medical conditions, allergies etc that would preclude them from drinking - this is a good idea if you're worried about being sued/collared by authorities etc. Make sure a qualified person does it and checks it out so it's a legally binding waiver though and then it's on their head, not yours.

Places like student legal services or the community legal centre in your area should be able to give you some proper facts and some free advice to put you on the right track.

Good luck,

Hopper.

 

[QldKev]

Then you need a club wesbite with lots of photos of members after a few hours of tastings etc..And post the link..

and a hot tub.

Setup a live video feed, UQTube

 

[seravitae]

As long as they dont pitch the wort within the group should be fine for the group.

As we've seen with the legal system, 'they' will ignore you until something goes wrong, and then even if you were legally right, they'll just change the laws to make you wrong (or anyone else in future)

I am sympathetic though as I bought my first homebrew kit when i was 14, and actually bought it to prove to my parents that I would be responsible with alcohol, by actually making it with my dad and enjoying a few. Worked for me, and I think I turned out okay

However for the GROUP safety, you should, receive at minimum, a signed letter from parents or guardian of the brewer to be saying that they understand that alcohol will be produced and that liability and responsibility for the minor rests in their care. I'd even go as far to say as to bring a guardian with them for the brew day, although some brewers with a loose tongue may feel this is an intrusion upon their god-given right to swear and curse




Why dont you get the kid started on ginger with a low sugar content so it just carbonates out?

 

[manticle]

Hot girls is my primary reason to do anything.

There's nothing hot uni chicks love more than discussing mash pH adjustment and influence of various ions on enzyme driven starch conversion or whether porter and stout being considered separate styles is historically inaccurate.

You'll be bathing in the ladies.

Make it 18+, make people sign a membership form with their birth date and if a 17 yr old lies on the form, the onus falls back on them. Save yoursef the headache. Also take Hopping's advice and get legal advice on where you stand. Booze used to fuel my undergraduate days so I'm sure they have some stuff worked out whereas opinions here are like tufts of dandelions floating through the breeze (including mine - ask a professional).

 

[ekul]

We can't have membership yet but have to collect signatures to pledge support to the club to get approval. Strangely enough just a smidgeon over 40% of the people who pledged their support were female (probably because i'm so charismatic ). Whether this will translate into lots of female membership i don't know

And for the people who were already brewing (all knk), there was far more females than males. This really surprised me as i've always thought of it more of a male hobby.

BUt the point is, the brew club will be hosting some wicked parties, and the ladies will surely enjoy coming to those

There's nothing hot uni chicks love more than discussing mash pH adjustment and influence of various ions on enzyme driven starch conversion or whether porter and stout being considered separate styles is historically inaccurate.

 

[manticle]

In like flynn.

 

[jimi]

I think you'd be kidding yourself if you thought that supplying an under-ager with a cube would not be considered equivilent to helping them procure alcohol. I wouldn't want the job of defending you if you knowingly supplied a junior with a cube and the kid had to many and did damage to themself, something or someone and who's willing to wager against that?

Beyond legalities the ethical question needs considering also.

From what I've heard Uni's have been under a lot of pressure to curb the binge drinking culture that was certainly alive and well during my study. I heard that Ballarat Uni even did a alcohol free pub crawl a few years back :blink:

May be if you can pitch your scheme to the Student Union / uni that you're developing a better drinking culture not supplying cheap booze then you might be able to get a foothold. However if your presenting this case I'm sure having under-agers in your fold would appear to be a contradiction.

 

[seravitae]

regardless of legal stance you'd probably just end up causing a ruckus on today-tonight.

 

[bum]

University social clubs regularly provide free beer to students without ID on my campus. I reckon a lot of the above is a bit of a storm in a tea-cup. Besides, if they were still underage when they got the cube they'd most likely be of age once the bottles condition. h34r:

 

[manticle]

I know I'd rather cover my arse with a tea cup than risk the wrath of uptight mumsy looking for someone to sue because they're bored of Dr Phil.

 

[jlm]

I know I'd rather cover my arse with a tea cup than risk the wrath of uptight mumsy looking for someone to sue because they're bored of Dr Phil.

Dr Phil is so yesterday, its all about Dr Oz now. Either way I'd cover my ass and tell the young'uns to come back in 1-12 months, then haze them, uni is just like all those 'merican college movies right?