Body rejecting beer!!! Leaning towards low ABV (session) beers

I have been home brewing for 2 years now and I have made just about everything under the sun. I used to really enjoy drinking the hell out of anything I made or anything thats sold in stores for that matter.

Over the past 2 years however I have really started to experience my body rejecting my beverage of choice! As I reach the ripe old age of 30 (sarcasm) I am finding it increasingly harder to drink beer, as it has become ridiculously easy for me to feel the ill effects of alcohol the next day. In other words my hangovers have become so severe, off as little as 4 or 5 beers, (migraines, nausea, not able to eat or drink anything for half the next day nor can I sleep it off) almost to the point that I've often wondered if I've become allergic to the ingredients within.

The unfortunate thing is that I really have a passion for making and drinking good beer!!!

With all of this being said I am now thinking about making beers with much lower ABV to see what happens. I'm considering making everything from Pale Ales to IPA's to Stouts and Porters with ABV's around 3 - 4.5%. Beers that aren't even close to being within style guidelines.

My obvious goal is to be able to enjoy great tasting beers without overwhelming myself/head/body with the far too often, reoccurring ill effects.

Is there anyone on this forum who feels the same as me or who experiences the same symptoms I have been experiencing?

That's happened to me as I've gotten older. If I have more than five drinks in a night I feel terrible the next day. If I have more than six I'll be puking most of the next day. I still probably drink too much, medically speaking, but I've cut back to one beer with dinner, and two or three once a week.

yep. been there done that. often after just 8 or 9 i feel like a dozen monkeys with hammers are trying to get out of my head. i used to never get hangovers, but at the age of 38 they are just something i get used to. i don't puke or anything just insane headaches. i have been drinking a 16 oz glass of water and taking a vitamin before i go to bed lately after drinking. it seems to have helped me out alot. i also keep goodies headache powder around. if i have the old monkeys with hammers syndrome a dose of goodies and water cure it right up for me.

I have this issue with nearly every beer brewed with Belgian yeast strains. This also is amplified if the beer is fermented a little to warm and fusel alcohol is present.

When I stick to standard ale yeasts I wake up with nothing more than a thirst for water...

Dude, I'm right there with you. Through the college years when binge drinking was the norm I never got sick. I'd puke the night of drinking occasionally but never the next day. I could hop out of bed and go wait tables or go to class like it was nothing back then.

I'll be 30 next month and if I drink more that 3 in a night, the next day I'll be down to about 70% mental/physical capacity if not worse. Last weekend I went to a friend's birthday party and enjoyed myself a bit too much. I'm a rural mail carrier and I had to pull over at about 3 o'clock the next day to puke while out delivering.

I've got nothing but ~5% and lower beers planned for the summer. I just tapped a 4.3% wheat that I'm enjoying the hell out of. I've got a few pale ales and a kolsch coming up.

I'll be turning 35 in a few months, and I've noticed that I can't put 'em down like I used to, and that if I don't take care of my body, drinking too much will really beat me up. I've found that ensuring that I'm well hydrated throughout the day, and that if I take vitamins daily, I don't get any hangover symptoms if I over do it the night before. I also always drink a pint of water before bed, even if I've only had one beer.
Hangovers and the like are caused by dehydration and vitamin depletion due to the diarrhetic effect of alcohol (it depletes you of h2o and vitamins). So ensuring you're well hydrated and have all the vitamins your body needs should help with the hangovers.

Hope that helps, getting old sucks, but it's easy to deal with if you take good care of yourself.

Two to four beers is about all I can handle these days. Your not alone hehe. Think of it this way, now your homebrew will last alot longer

Ive read that for every 12oz beer you drink it will cause you to lose 48oz of water. So every beer you need to drink 4 glass's of water. That seems to be a lot. But I beleive it. I couldn't imagine trying to drink 4 glass's of water before bed and that would just cover 1 beer I know people that can drink a 12 pack in 1 night. That would mean they need to drink 2 case's of water before nappy time. I also know people that drink half of a glass of water between each beer. I dont know how much help it does drinking while drinking beer, I would think the alcohol would keep the water going right thru you just like the beer. Not absorbing much h2o.

EllisTX said:

Dude, I'm right there with you. Through the college years when binge drinking was the norm I never got sick. I'd puke the night of drinking occasionally but never the next day. I could hop out of bed and go wait tables or go to class like it was nothing back then.

I'll be 30 next month and if I drink more that 3 in a night, the next day I'll be down to about 70% mental/physical capacity if not worse. Last weekend I went to a friend's birthday party and enjoyed myself a bit too much. I'm a rural mail carrier and I had to pull over at about 3 o'clock the next day to puke while out delivering.

I've got nothing but ~5% and lower beers planned for the summer. I just tapped a 4.3% wheat that I'm enjoying the hell out of. I've got a few pale ales and a kolsch coming up.

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+1.

Turned 30 a few months back, and i find myself not wanting the really high ABV drinks anymore (or any mixed drinks other than a Gin and Tonic). Slowly, over the last few months, the ABV of my homebrew has been creeping ever lower.

As a matter of fact, last night, the wife and I had an "IIPA tasting." We blind taste tested my own IIPA with Simcoe and Citra, Bear Republic's Hop Rod Rye, and Ninkasi's Tricerahops. We enjoyed a sample of all three, each took one to finish off, and when it was all said and done, we were both trying to goad each other into drinking the last one since neither of us really wanted to deal with it this morning.

Coming from a medical standpoint, former army medic here, it could be caused by a number of things. 1) how much water do you drink a day? Even being slightly dehydrated can cause the alcohol levels in your body to remain higher than normal thus causing a longer "buzz" and a longer more prominent hangover. Alcohol causes dehydration as well.
As the level of water loss increases, more symptoms can become apparent. The following are further signs and symptoms of dehydration.

Dry mouth
The eyes stop making tears
Sweating may stop
Muscle cramps
Nausea and vomiting
Heart palpitations
Lightheadedness (especially when standing)
Weakness
Decreased urine output
Headaches/Migranes

Since the metabolism of alcohol is slow, consumption needs to be controlled to prevent accumulation in the body and intoxication.

Your diet also has an affect on the metabolism as well. Foods high in saturated fats ie. chicken wings, fries, burgers with baccon and extra cheese, etc. don't allow for your body to process the alcohol as well and slows the absorption into the blood system as saturated fats are heavy and don't absorb very quickly either. Foods high in proteins are your best bet. You body uses those proteins for energy which your body uses much of (on a microbiological scale) to do even the smallest of involuntary body functions. Ie keep the old ticker ticking, breathing, etc.

On the other hand yes, an allergic reaction to the materials you use may also play a role in your misfortune.
Celiac Disease is becoming more prevalent nowadays.
Celiac disease is a condition that damages the lining of the small intestine and prevents it from absorbing parts of food that are important for staying healthy. The damage is due to a reaction to eating gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats.
The exact cause of celiac disease is unknown. The lining of the intestines contains areas called villi, which help absorb nutrients. When people with celiac disease eat foods or use products that contain gluten, their immune system reacts by damaging these villi.

The disease can develop at any point in life, from infancy to late adulthood.

The symptoms of celiac disease can be different from person to person. This is part of the reason why the diagnosis is not always made right away. For example, one person may have constipation, a second may have diarrhea, and a third may have no problem with stools.

Blood tests can detect several special antibodies, called antitissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTGA) or anti-endomysium antibodies (EMA). The health care provider will order these antibody tests if celiac disease is suspected.

Beer is a gluten PACKED!! As grains such as wheat, barley, rye, and oats. I suggest maybe you might consult your doctor as by no means am I a doctor nor am I providing a diagnosis or any professional medical advice other than suggesting you consult your physician and providing you with general knowledge and information. (sorry, gotta cover my @$$ on that one. $#!+ happens.)

Sorry to hear about this dude. Hope you get things figured out.

I live in the Northeast and brew twice a year, during the cooler (not winter) months. I love beer and always have but at 66 I find I can take a max of up to 3 twelve ouncers total in a day with no aftereffects. My beer usually is around the 5% ABV mark and I caertainly can feel it after a 22 ounce bottle. With that in mind I usually finish brewing at or around the start of baseball season (350 or so bottles) and then when the fall approaches I get set to refill all my empties.

As someone that apparently is older than those that have posted so far my first suggestion would be that you all just reduce your amount of consumption and your body will thank you for it greatly.

When one brews their own beer they are generally brewing bigger beers than average and personally I'm not quite sure I see the point o trying to drink half a batch of beer in a night.

I won't deny I used to over consume back in the day but you are supposed to eventually out grow those days and as someone that has I can tell you that you will begin to appreciate the good beer more, the less you consume, aside from avoiding all the other issues that over drinking brings on.

Not trying to be an a$$hat but if you find that you lack the ability and mental wherewithal to cut back a visit to the doctor or even a AA meeting might point you in the right direction.

It is also possible that your body is developing an issue with gluten.

Or you are just drinking higher ABV beers as your taste matures? I am 40 and can put away 8-10 session beers a day without too much trouble the next day, but 6 tank 7's (or other like that) and I'm hugging the bowl...

From another medical perspective, without getting too much into the science of it, alcohol inhibits your body's ability to produce glucose (which is necessary if you haven't eaten in a while). The lack of energy for your brain is what causes many of the mental effects of being hungover. One of the best ways to prevent hangovers is to eat while you're drinking (I know, this doesn't help with the getting fat aspect of drinking). This way, when you wake up the next morning, your body will still have some energy stores, and the hangover shouldn't be as bad.

Also, as everyone already said, drink lots of water!

Sorry to hear about all you guys' troubles! I'm 45, and my problem is no hangovers. But as a woman I guess I have more water retention to offset slightly any dehydration.
OP, have you had your blood sugar tested lately? I wonder if it could be hypo or hyper glycemia. Just throwing out that idea.

This thread should be renamed to "what happens to you when you get old" or "the back in my day thread" lol jk

It sure seems like I can outdrink all of you younguns!

That said, I usually prefer session beers anyway. I love to have 4-5 beers a night, and at 135 pounds I don't want to drink only one or two 9% beers.

My favorite style is IPA, which means 5.5-7.5% beers usually. I try to stay under 6% so that they are not only quaffable, I can drink 4 or 5 without any effects.

My days of drinking to get buzzed are long behind me, and instead it's about enjoying some great beer and surfing this forum and listening to music in the evening while I chat with my spouse. We both enjoy those evenings.

Tonight, we're be staying out at our cottage. There is no TV (we don't watch anyway), but we have Spotify internet radio, a nice fire in the fireplace and lots of great books. We chat for a while, read for a while, and drink beer. I have a keg of my "Fat Sam" (5.6% ABV) on tap there, and a few bottles of other commercial stuff.

RootDownBrewing said:

as little as 4 or 5 beers

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If you were drinking 4 or 5 beers every day, I can see what the problem is! Did you just try cutting back? I'm over 60 and have discovered I just can't do what I did 30 years ago. I'm probably the only person at NHC who drinks under 3 pints a day!

5 beers a day is quite a bit... For some. Everyone's body is different and can tolerate different things. It's all about fine tuning your bodies needs and tolerances. If you're getting sick, try drinking less. If you must put away a 6 pack every night try brewing Milds or something. Either way your body is sending you a pretty clear message.

bottlebomber said:

5 beers a day is quite a bit... For some. Everyone's body is different and can tolerate different things. It's all about fine tuning your bodies needs and tolerances. If you're getting sick, try drinking less. If you must put away a 6 pack every night try brewing Milds or something. Either way your body is sending you a pretty clear message.

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FWIW, five at a time is a common definition for "binge drinking." I drink five occasionally, and I drank way more than five at a time in college.

My criteria for "drinking too much" is functional impairment. If I drank enough I had to use a sick day at work the next day, that's too much. If it's hurting your relationships, that's probably too much too.

You are not alone! 30 and hangovers are very real. I used to be able to drink all night, do shot after shot, sleep for a few hours, wake up feeling completely fine, and remember everything that happened. Now i drink 6 beers and don't remember going to bed or where i left my shoes.

it's funny. me and a friend can sit down and drink a 1/5 of the new jim beam devils cut and not be hung over the next day. we drink alot of coke with it. when i drink a big glass of water before bed i don't get hung over on home brew, but let me foreget that big glass of water and the monkeys with hammers come out in the morning. i really hate those damned monkeys!!!

paleale said:

it's funny. me and a friend can sit down and drink a 1/5 of the new jim beam devils cut and not be hung over the next day.

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I'm sitting here reading this thread hungover and this statement made me gag...

Yeah, I'm pretty banged up at the moment as well. Had some big craft beers to celebrate Long Island Craft Beer Week last night. Started nice and early, planned on leaving the bar early, but then random friends started showing up. The owner of the place bought me a couple beers, then the cook who I'm friends with bought me one...and I'm feeling it BAD today.

I'm 28, and the bad hangovers started at around 24-25 with me. I'm having a hard time even perusing this forum today, the mere thought of drinking is nauseating at the moment!

Don't shoot me I never had a hangover. The only thing that gets me are my legs, no kidding, around 3/4 pm the next day I have to stand up then sit then stand, my legs just dont want to stay in one place, vvvv odd. But thank god that's all, never get headaches or nausea or any ill feeling just this weird leg thing....I'm 39

I was celebrating my sister-in-law's graduation from college and I absolutely can't hang anymore. She ordered this awful concoction for me called an Irish Trashcan...6 liquors + a can of Redbull inverted in the glass. Woof.

rifraf said:

I'm sitting here reading this thread hungover and this statement made me gag...

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sorry man. heck i'm 38 and started brewing beer when i was 18. my grandmother(she is still aliveand in her late 80's) had me helping her make wine before i could drive legally !!! i was driving years before i could legally!!!

my average homebrew is around 8% abv:rockin:. my lawnmower ales are 7% abv. yes wheat beers at 7% abv. i have won local homebrew comps with beers that would knock your testicals loose after 3 beers because of the abv,and they tastied great!!!!

many people believe if the abv is much higher than a certon % it goes into another group. i believe if it goes below a certon % it goes into the lite wieght group myself.

Denny said:

If you were drinking 4 or 5 beers every day, I can see what the problem is! Did you just try cutting back? I'm over 60 and have discovered I just can't do what I did 30 years ago. I'm probably the only person at NHC who drinks under 3 pints a day!

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My drinking consists of 1 pint of beer 2 or 3 nights during the week, either with dinner or just after, but it's on the weekends where I used to try to cut loose and unwind. This is where I would consume anywhere from 4 - 8 beers in a night only to become absolutely immobile the following day.

I have a 15 month old now and have really had to rethink everything involving drinking. It's gotten to the "its just not worth" point for me. If I can't help the one who depends on me the most the next day then I've got to make the necessary changes.

I still enjoy brewing and drinking but my beers and/or habits are going to have to change.

RootDownBrewing said:

I have a 15 month old now and have really had to rethink everything involving drinking. It's gotten to the "its just not worth" point for me. If I can't help the one who depends on me the most the next day then I've got to make the necessary changes.

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Growing up, I never saw my mom drink more than a glass of wine at Xmas. Now she drinks pretty regularly. I asked her about it, and she said that she never wanted to be in a position where she couldn't help me if I needed it.

All that time I thought she just didn't like to drink, but it turned out she was making one of many sacrifices for her kid. Needless to say, I don't plan on having kids anytime soon.

rifraf said:

6 liquors + a can of Redbull inverted in the glass. Woof.

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so the actual can goes into your glass?

RootDownBrewing said:

My drinking consists of 1 pint of beer 2 or 3 nights during the week, either with dinner or just after, but it's on the weekends where I used to try to cut loose and unwind. This is where I would consume anywhere from 4 - 8 beers in a night only to become absolutely immobile the following day.

I have a 15 month old now and have really had to rethink everything involving drinking. It's gotten to the "its just not worth" point for me. If I can't help the one who depends on me the most the next day then I've got to make the necessary changes.

I still enjoy brewing and drinking but my beers and/or habits are going to have to change.

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You, sir, are a sensible man!

I can have issues with even 1 beer if I have it right before bed, wake up with a headache. If I have it with supper I'm good, and usually if I drink some water before bed that helps too. I still find it weird that 1 beer (even if it is a 7% one) can make me feel it so bad the next day, I'm only 31 grr

I went to a stag in Whistler on Friday. The body is still rejecting beer (luckily only fresh beer in the bottle)

i quit drinking for almost 10 yrs because i could not handle the ill effects but now i can drink 1 beer a night, no more.

Are you overweight? Do you snore at night?You may have obstructive sleep apnea. I found as I got older my hangovers got worse. Alcohol makes sleep apnea much worse. Turns out I was choking in my sleep. Got a cpap mask now I don't choke and I feel much better after drinking.

conpewter said:

I can have issues with even 1 beer if I have it right before bed, wake up with a headache. If I have it with supper I'm good, and usually if I drink some water before bed that helps too. I still find it weird that 1 beer (even if it is a 7% one) can make me feel it so bad the next day, I'm only 31 grr

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I went through that phase for about 3-4 years in my late 20s & early 30s. It passed though, thank goodness, and left me less interested in getting wild but still able to enjoy a good beer.

boscobeans said:

I live in the Northeast and brew twice a year, during the cooler (not winter) months. I love beer and always have but at 66 I find I can take a max of up to 3 twelve ouncers total in a day with no aftereffects. My beer usually is around the 5% ABV mark and I caertainly can feel it after a 22 ounce bottle. With that in mind I usually finish brewing at or around the start of baseball season (350 or so bottles) and then when the fall approaches I get set to refill all my empties.

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This is pretty much exactly my situation, brew schedules and all. Two bottles a day is about my métier, perhaps three a day or two a week. Nothing more complicated than being in my seventh decade on this planet. Like the arthritis, I may not like it, but I've learned to live with it. Adapt or pay the penalty.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

...Hangovers and the like are caused by dehydration and vitamin depletion due to the diarrhetic effect of alcohol...

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Please tell me you mean 'diuretic'...

pedialyte the night before with some extra water thrown in

rico567 said:

This is pretty much exactly my situation, brew schedules and all. Two bottles a day is about my métier, perhaps three a day or two a week. Nothing more complicated than being in my seventh decade on this planet. Like the arthritis, I may not like it, but I've learned to live with it. Adapt or pay the penalty.

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Damn Rico. You've given me something to shoot for. I hope I'm still brewing 40 years from now.