Alcohol Content

cyfan964 · 03-24-2007, 05:10 PM

Why does it seem that homebrew affects, or is it effects? I always forget, me more than other "store bought" beer. This is even the case if my homebrew has a lower Alc. content.

desiderata · 03-24-2007, 05:29 PM

affect is a verb.
effect is a noun.

It could affect you more for several reasons I can think of.

--You are miscalculating/estimating the alcohol content of your homebrews.
--you are drinking more homebrew than you think you are.
--there are less chemical additives in homebrew.

How are you calculating your alcohol content?
What commercial beer are you comparing to, and what is it's alcohol content?

**Yuri_Rage** · 03-24-2007, 05:35 PM

It could also be just in your head. The brain is a weird thing, and perception is everything. Perhaps some of the first homebrew you had was pretty strong and affected you quite a bit. Now you expect it to affect you more than seems that it should, so that's what it feels like.

I'm not a psychologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night...

**kornkob** · 03-24-2007, 06:00 PM

Now, if you're use to the typical BMC 3.5-4% alcohol content and then pull back a couple 4.5-6% homebrew it is, of course, going to affect you differently.

Also, I've long maintained, without any empirical evidence, that your environment has a significant impact on perceived drunkenness. Lounging in your well lit room, you're going to feel the effects of your drinking sooner than sitting in a darker room. This is why old school bars are so frequently poorly lit (or lit only in small pools of light) with few, if any, windows. A guy who doesn't think he's drunk yet is more likely to stick around and have another beer.

cyfan964 · 03-24-2007, 06:33 PM

I'm calculating the percent by volume as such:

OG minus FG, multiplied by 105 for percent by weight and then multiply that by 1.25 for percent by volume.