a few things:
1)
http://hackaday.com/2009/03/22/brew-fridge-thermostat/ 2) my understanding (ianal (i am not a lawyer)) is that it's legal for anyone to purchase brewing supplies, it's only the sale or distribution of alcohol to anyone under 21 that's prohibited. so that were we to do a brewing class, under 21 could attend, and participate, but not take anything home that's had yeast added, or sample anything after that point. i've been led to believe that it's legal for anyone over 18 to brew for their own use, or minors with parental permission, however have not researched this myself. i suspect that midwest
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/ or northern brewer could tell you with a phone call.
3) some discussion of a basics of brewing class occurred, the general format being 3 or 4 saturdays spread out ~ every other week with most being ~8hrs and the middle being a half day. we'd do the following:
-a batch of type x beer (chosen by those in class)the simplest beer method, full extract (can of concentrate, dry yeast)
-a batch of type x -a slightly more exiting version where you add hops and use wet yeast
-a batch of type x -full grain
-a batch of another beer
-a cider or simple wine
-a mead
the idea is that everyone would bring empty bottles, an ~20-30$ fee would be supplies and everyone would bring home a case or three of beer wine and mead (mix of all) so they can see differences in process and product, and different equipment. between idris and myself we've got almost every variety of physical supply from diy startup at 5$ to the bigger money glassware. and we'd cover everything from bottle selection and cleaning to capping and corking, force carbonation and natural carbonation, so you'd leave having done the entire process from ultra simple to more craft level. volume of take home would vary on class size, but intent would be a minimum 6 of each version, and overall volume of stuff would depend on number of bodies, and number of varieties (more folks more varieties, so everyone gets a decent volume, but we can't do TOO many, and only have room/tasks for so many bodies.) if you're interested, squeek, and start saving bottles (we'll need wine, beer, and plastic soda bottles (12, 20 and 2l) but not twist off glass.)
