homebrew history

Really?
Americans have been homebrewing since the Pilgrims. There have been books written about homebrewing since, well, since the Pilgrims. Many of the Founding Fathers were brewers (for their home). Homebrewing during prohibition was rampant. This is a very well researched topic. You're not looking very hard.

If you are only using the internet as a source that is your problem. Try a library. Speak to the reference librarian. Your professor is expecting you to get out of your chair for this assignment.
Cheers.

 

I'd echo billandsuz. Even if information appears on the internet it may be no more than hearsay or folklore.In my opinion much if not most that's written about beer in general is poorly researched if researched at all.
Homebrewing as we know it is of course more recent.We had a head start on you; UK restrictions were lifted in 1963 , it took a little time but soon ingredients became available, then equipment, and then specialist home brew stores.Homebrewing became very popular but then restrictions were lifted on importing drink from France where it's dirt cheap . This led to many people who brewed for cheapness deciding to cross the channel and bring back a car or light truck full of booze instead.
There were one or two well known homebrewing writers in the 60s here; CJJ Berry and Ken Shales come to mind as does Dave Line.You might track down some of their books to acquire a period flavour.I know that some BAs on this forum have Dave Line's book.

 

A few interesting primary sources that I have my hands on:

Homebrewing legalized in CA (page 5)

News about the Cranston Bill moving forward in the Senate (end of Page 4 - learn about the other bill that almost made homebrewing legal - with a license!)

Jimmy Carter signs the Cranston Bill into law (page 1)

 

There was a thread about this just a week or so ago in which many of the longtimers posted experiences.

Also, I think Papazian's book talks about his experiences in the early days.

 

There was homebrewing in Britain before 1963. Homebrewing was legal, you just needed to buy a licence.

They turn up in the statistics as "brewers not for sale". Or, as in the case of the 1963 Brewers' Almanack there's a column for "Brewers for sale" and another for "Brewers, other". In 1945 there were 2,945 of these licences, in 1960 just 381.

Including amongst these licences would have been ones for country houses, colleges, that sort of thing. Though by 1960, none of the Oxford and Cambridge Colleges were brewing and only a couple of country houses stil had active brewhouses.

 

if you needed a license to be legal than it wouldn't qualify as homebrewing by just about anyones definition.

home distilliation is legal. if you have a license.

 

That's right of course, the need for a licence for private brewing in ordinary residential properties was the restriction I meant being lifted. It was somehow connected to the rateable value of the property too.
billandsuz- one day it was illegal to brew at home without a licence, the day after the Budget it wasn't.It would have been homebrewing before, just illegal homebrewing.
Distillation at home is a thorny question. Because potable alcohol is a taxable item the Revenue would want exact figures for production even if you had a licence and even though the wash used isn't taxable.As beer per se isn't generally distilled , just wash, it's probable that nobody thought that a change to the law was necessary. Didn't stop us distilling though, only the quality of the product put an end to it!

 

Your Google-fu is weak. There are many online sources it you look. There is the American Homebrewers Association that has been around for a long time. They have resources on their web page, including the history of homebrewing.
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/lets-brew/history-of-homebrewing

 

In the pre-legalized era, winemaking shops openly sold homebrewing books, equipment and ingredients. I bought from one outside Princeton, NJ and recall visiting one somewhere in the greater Los Angeles area when I lived there in the mid-70's which is when I first discovered the hobby. Also, malt syrup (primarily the old Blue Ribbon brand) was still sold in some grocery stores in rural areas and "health food" type stores often sold malt syrup in bulk containers Mail order firms openly advertised in the back of numerous magazines (such as Mother Earth News and Popular Mechanix). Even some general interest bookstores sometimes carried UK imported homebrewing books.

I put up an old mimeographed recipe I used for my first batch from the above mentioned NJ store from that era - Homebrewing Recipe 1976 - as well as some Blue Ribbon Malt Syrup promotional material from both before and after legalization.

New Jersey had a $15 Homebrewing "permit" system up until last year - Homebrewing Permit Closer to Being Scrapped but, as noted, it was usually ignored by homebrewers but was required by the "Brew on Premise" establishments. Not exactly a "license" but still a fee was imposed by the state.

 

But it was people brewing beer for their own use at home. I guess that doesn't sound like homebrewing, really, does it?

You used to have to have a licence to own a dog in Britain.

 

The history of homebrewing circa 1978 was heavily influenced by the activities of Charlie Papazian:

“In 1979 Papazian founded the Association of Brewers and remained President of that organization until 2005, when the Association of Brewers merged with the 63-year-old Brewers Association of America, and Papazian was named President of the combined organization. Papazian also founded the American Homebrewers Association in 1978, a group that is also now under the umbrella of the Brewers Association. Other organizations and annual events subsequently founded by Papazian include the Institute for Brewing Studies, Brewers Publications, the Great American Beer Festival,[2] the World Beer Cup, and Zymurgy magazine.”

I would recommend that the OP heavily research Charlie Papazian and perhaps see if can obtain a first edition (1984) of the book The Complete Joy of Home Brewing.

Cheers!

 

You can get some interesting history stuff from books I got my reading list :
The Breweries of Brooklyn What kick and what kill the beer industry
Beer school from homebrew to Brooklyn Brewery
Bunch of books by Will-Anderson a Tons of history "indirectly" related to homebrew.

 

Not a lot of homebrewing history in Will Anderson's books (including his The Breweries of Brooklyn) - great books, but several go for big bucks on used books sites (I think all are OoP?) so recommending them to the OP might be a disappointing waste of money.

Also, Brooklyn's Steve (Beer School) Hindy's homebrewing days started well past the pre-legalized era and, despite some news stories over the years, he himself admits that he did no brewing while reporting from Saudi Arabia, although he knew people who did. His homebrewing didn't start until returning to NYC in 1984.

​

Papazian's book had earlier editions than '84's "Complete" - 1976's Joy of Brewing and 1980's The(New Revised and More) Joy of Brewing. The latter was 88 pages and was "saddle stapled" (like a magazine) rather than bound like a book.

 

i get it. of course there are plenty of activities that require the governments approval for it to be legit.

people have been homebrewing forever both legally and illegally. this is like observing that people were smoking pot in California prior to having any medical approval.
the question is specifically regarding the removal of the 1978 US federal law and how homebrewing was conducted covertly.
Cheers.

i just got my $8 fee for my dog license btw. i have no idea what the penalty for failing to pay would be.

 

I don't mean to be a jerk, but did you read the rest of OP's OP. He pretty much states he understands homebrewering was occur, just wanted to FIRST HAND account of how it happened, how to get supplies ect ect. I would read all of someone's post in the future before you reply next time. Just my .02.

 

oh the irony.

 

If you read this stuff, you will realize how commercial brew push on homebre, how mainstream beer create homebrew and craft brew. I have read it and understand why you need to kill so many midsize brewery to create homebrew industry and craft beer.

 

I've read them all, having bought them when they were all first published (in the case of Will Anderson's books, purchased directly from the author). Other than Hindy's post-legalization experience, the only homebrewing mentions I see in any of Anderson's books is a two page interview with Papazian in 1987's From Beer to Eternity. That interview contains one paragraph about the growth of homebrewing and increase in quality and availability of ingredients after 1978.

I still maintain my opinion that, for the OP who requested ".. information on what it was like to brew before and immediately after HR 1337. Was the ban ever seriously enforced, were grains and hops and other brewing materials accessible, how did you learn homebrewing, etc.", those books are not going to be very much help to him.