What’s Brewin’

I’m 25 and been brewing beer since I was 16 believe it or not. I have friends that own bars and legally I can’t sell my product to them. I have dreamed of owning my own brewery but right now I’d rather just sell my home brew to a few bars and keep it a hobby, see were that takes me. I’m not sure were to look for information on how to acquire a license to do this. Thanks for your help.

You need:

Capital and lots of it. It is best to have enough cash to sustain the business for 3-5 years at a minimum.
A location to brew at that has been zoned for commercial/industrial business.
A license to do so from a state board of alcohol control or board of equalization.


Contracts for all supplies and retail sales so you will need to be bonded, thus more capital.
Get insurance for you stationary site as well as your business vehicles.
Get your IRS business number for tax and accounting purposes.
Do all the work yourself unless you do have a lot of capital to actually pay someone no less than minimum wage.

These will be the major things but be prepared for the little things such as accounting for every drop of beer you produce as the IRS and ATF (Dept. of the Treasury) will require it. No freebies, well alomost none.

It is used to make a home brew 190% proof alcohol

Calgon is a water softner for your washing machine to stop limescale build up.

I want to experiment a little with regular homebrew beer kits by adding different ingredients, like coffee, fruits, chili and so on. At what point in the brewing process should I do this? During primary fermentation? At the priming stage? Help please.

Non-aromatic additions can be made at flame-out or thereabouts.

Aromatic additions or fruits are probably best added in secondary so the delicate volatiles are not carried away by the CO2 outgassing in primary.

Also, not boiling fruit avoids pectin haze.

My home brew is sitting in my room (constant temperature) in a white, plastic fermenter. Would having my ceiling light on "skunk" the beer like it would with a glass or clear fermenter?

You have two things going for you. First, the milky plastic doesn’t pass much light. Second, your ceiling light isn’t all that bright. You should be fine. I always cover my glass carboys, though. It insulates as well as shades.

If you want skunky beer, bottle in clear glass and store the bottles in the sun. Or contact Corona to find out how they do it.

I am a beginner with no experience. The reasearch i have done shows that online starter kits are not ideal. Any tips for sanitizing as well? does bleaching effect the outcome? are there other methods for sanitizing the equipment?

Northern Brewer has some great starter kits, link is below. I would also recommend Star San sanitizer. It’s a no-rinse sanitizer, it’s extremely easy to use and as the name states, it requires no rinsing. I’d recommend going with the basic kit, then upgrading your equipment if you keep up with brewing.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/starter-kits