Wow! Home brewing and high power rocketry...both very familiar to me. I once had an idea to cut the ends off some of the cans (steel) in my beer can collection, weld em together, slap an old cone top on for the nose cone ...stick a baby H in its butt and see what happened! Been a couple of years since I've put anything up though I still have some engines in the basement. When the ATF started uber regulating I pretty much got out....but I love it. I guess youve been to a few LDRS's in your time eh? We have the Freedom Launch here and there always a blast...pun intended. Luckily I also live right next to a beer city. Soon we'll have not only have about a dozen brewpubs but Sierra Nevada, Dales and New Belgium in our backyard. Looking forward to brew and food paring ideas. Been looking into distillation as well. Glad youre here!
The ATF actually got sued about that whole thing and they have backed off some. APCP no longer requires a LEUP, for one thing. Here in CA, flying rockets is kind of a pain, but it can be done. I've only been flying for about a year, but I am certified level 2 and my uncle (also L2) and I have started making research motors.
On Saturday, in fact, I will be out in the desert with my rocket AROMA FULL OF RUM (long story). I've been flying it on J motors and eventually I am hoping to get a K in it. The rocket is all fiberglass, 6'7" tall, and launch weight of about 11 pounds. With a mid-J in it, it got 4905 feet last month. Not sure what will happen this month - either I will fly the research load we made, or I will fly another J.
I need to build something larger to take Ls. If I do it right, I might even get a rocket I can also fly Ms in, and do L3 with it. Big rockets are expensive, though.
I've never been to LDRS, but I am hoping to go to BALLS next September. The goal by then is to be flying pretty large research motors reliably. I'm going to have to start building 3" and 4" motor cases, though.