Gastro-Intestinal Distress...

As embarassing as it is to discuss, I am really wondering if it is me or the homebrew. I openned a bottle of my 6 week old brew last night, 22 oz, and poured out two glasses to drink. I left about 3/4 and inch in the bottom of the bottle to avoid the yeast. It didn't take long for the discomfort and volcanic eruption to occur. My other batch didn't do this to me and it was the same yeast. Any advice? It really takes a lot of the pleasure out of the prize of brewing when the wife kicks me to the couch and I have to deal with a "Johnny Cash" aka "O-Ring of Fire" all night.

MMMMMMM, sounds like you have discovered the other pleasure of homebrew......gas!

GAS I can deal with...this goes beyond. Molten Lava is the keyword here.

Might want to see if it has the same effect on someone else, if you can find someone to take the bullet for you.

Could it be that the yeast has not completely cleared from the beer?

Sounds like an enematic brew.

But how do you know it's the beer? It could be something else.

-a.

I cannot be 100% but it seemed to happen quite quickly after the beer, 2-3 hours and lasted about 6-7 hours. I have not eaten anything out of the ordinary either. I am just curious if anyone has had the same reaction to their beers.

Hard to say, I've never had a reaction that fast. When I was brewing with guzzleboy, between the grilled sausages and homebrew, he had to stay downwind to the kettle to avoid flare ups & boilovers.

Its always the next morning when I have those troubles....

I think I will feed the neighbor some today and see what happens...I am a whore for punishment so I will join him

Oh what the hell. I'll take one for the house.

Send me a dozen to try out, LOL.

Look at what else you consumed before this started. I can't imagine homebrew having that drastic of an effect on you that quick.

How old is the beer? Green beer often has this effect on me, but after 2 weeks in the secondary, matters improve. Then after 2 weeks of conditioning, things are even better. And my beer finally stops turning me into the fart-o-rama a few weeks after that.

Are you sure your beer doesn't just need to age a bit?

Did ya use lactose? If your like me and lactose intolerant 1 cream stout and You may want to move to a new part of town.

The beer is a BB Kit. It was in the Primary for 7 days, Clarification tank for 14 days, and it is just 2 days shy of 3 weeks in the bottle. I think it is just getting past green. It was Danstar Nottingham yeast.

I use that yeast all the time love the dry finish it imparts, But it will cause gas ups if your drinkin green beer. I 've never had it turn my ass on fire but hey every ones different.

Since you didn't mention what type of beer I can only venture a guess at what this is. If it is a kit which employs a preprepared wort and especially if it is a porter, stout, bitter or other english ale the chances are that the manufacturers have added sulfates to create a Burton like water profile. Sulfates are a powerful laxative and will make your arse explode a few hours after drinking them especially if you're not a high fibre, hard water drinking, ultra-regular person. Some people are especially sensitive to sulfates and have a more extreme reaction.

Let this be a lesson. Kits, even the expensive ones, can be chalk full of additives and things which you have no control over and are best avoided. Feed this beer to your guests and then tell them the crapper is on the fritz. Laugh and watch sweat roll down their brows.

It was a Brewer's Best Continental Pils (Ale). It called for a 3.3 of Coopers LME that was not out to date and a pound or so of DME. It has specialty grains for a steep too. I have not heard too much bad about the kits so far so I hope that was not the issue. I just had a bottle with the neighbor so the countdown is on!

Gas is formed by fermentation in the gut so if there were anything fermentable left in your beer after the yeast was done it could cause the problem you are having.

i never get gas (well not extra gas) when i drink homebrew and i often like to drink the yeast

I just had a bottle with the neighbor so the countdown is on!

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I assume the results are in....?

jmjbj_h said:

It was a Brewer's Best Continental Pils (Ale). It called for a 3.3 of Coopers LME that was not out to date and a pound or so of DME. It has specialty grains for a steep too. I have not heard too much bad about the kits so far so I hope that was not the issue. I just had a bottle with the neighbor so the countdown is on!

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I can not believe I am asking but what happen with you and your neighbor?

I've been in that same boat before. Usually on a night when the beer just tastes too damn good to stop drinking. After about 9 Double IPA's on my last brew day, had one helluva fun night. Worst was when I went to a bar and ordered a Framboise and didnt see that the bartender had gurgled every last drop out of that bottle.

I had your problem once after drinking homebrew. . .but I distinctly remember eating a whole uncooked habanero pepper in addition.

You talk about "ring of fire". . . .

More like razorblades. . .

YES...the results are in and we have a winner!! It was not my beer and just a little exposure to a virus from the kids called ROTAVIRUS. Talk about a bad time.

On a serious note, I made a brew which came out bad, I didn't have the heart to pour it out even though it was bad tasting. I left it in clear plastic jugs for months, and the only space left was next to the back door where it got a bit of sun as I went out to water my plants.

Well it was one of the last brews I had and I was drinking for the effect and not for the the flavor. I believe this is what gave me IBS due to food poisoning. All tests from the doctor said I'm fine except I was constantly burping and the preasure would build up against my heart and it would beat out of order until I burped enough. (2-3 hours of constant burping, even on an empty stomuch). It turns out I had a really bad yeast infection in my digestive track. I had to twist my doctors arm to get the anti-fungle (anti yeast) pills because he didn't believe me. There is more damage, but it solved 80% of it. I'm also on a gluten/sugar/caffiene/casin free diet, and I'm doing better, but I can't eat what I love any more.

I'm just saying, it may be too much yeast in your digestive track. Remove graines (flour, deep-fried anything, chips, cerial, etc), and alcohol for a few days to see if it gets better.

Kids have been know to do that.....one of the hazards I guess. But Im sure the unfilter beer with yeast in suspension gave it that extra little squirt (Pun intended). Yeast is a powerful laxative....and you might have even got a bottle with more yeast in it.

Same thing happens to me. I think it has more to do with an extremely high yeast content when compared with filtered store bought stuff. I find I feel quite ill the next day after drinking homebrew...much moreso than drinking commercial stuff.....and I keep my ferm temps low, so I know it is not a fusel alcohol problem. I've considered investing in a small filtration system, even though it can be a PITA I think it's worth it.

You may be sensitive to the yeast....but not so much so to be allergic. Certain grains have been known to cause the same symptoms.

LostBrewer said:

It turns out I had a really bad yeast infection in my digestive track. I had to twist my doctors arm to get the anti-fungle (anti yeast) pills because he didn't believe me.

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How did you know it was a yeast infection if the doctor ruled it out??

The doctor didn't do anything but listen to me for 15 minutes and tell me to have antacid pills like Tums, and he gave me samples of more powerful stuff. This only doubled the length of time to be burping and in pain. I even asked him to do blood work to see if there was anything out of whack. Blood work was fine by the cholesterol was high.

As for how I came the conclusion, any ingredient with sugar, or grains (or alcohol - wine/beer/liquor) would cause the burping to get worse and put me in more suffering, for example, one "fun size" candy bar on a stomach which was empty for 8 hours would cause me extreme burping in 20 minutes which would last for about 3 hours. I spent months reading up on my symptoms, and trying different things. I basically eliminated everything until it was a digestive yeast infection. One easy sign was how quick fungus would grow inside my toilet bowl. I would have to clean the bowl once or twice a week to make sure guests aren't freaked out by the mess in the bowl, instead of once a month.

I've learned more since the last post. I have a weak liver, which isn't producing the enzymes to digest my food, which means the flora in my digestive track got out of whack allowing yeast (and everything else) to grow well. I had to increase how acidic my stomach was, so I added a shot of straight lemon juice and 2,000 milligrams of Vitamin C to the beginning of my meals and I felt normal. I went back to the doctor and told him I think the real cause for getting the digestive infection was from weak liver enzymes which caused the whole issue, and the doc said, "Yah I knew that." Than why didn't he tell me that?!

Anyways, I would say I'm 98% cured after nearly a year, but it's tolerable, and I know what will cause it to come back, and I just have to behave these days. The up side is I've lost 35 pounds and haven't gained them back.

Digestive problems like this seem to be increasingly common. Do you eat any other fermented foods, especially lacto-fermented, like sauerkraut, kimchi, or brine pickles? Or yogurt? Some people find these foods help establish a healthy gut flora that helps with the enzymes. Also they are acidic.

Only issues I have as far as commercial compared to homebrew, I can run a crowd off with my homebrew gas!

pb

Stomach problems suck, i had some pretty annoying ones for quite a few months where i just had really bad cramping non stop...thank god it wasnt Crones disease or something. Just took prilosec OTC for 8 weeks as suggested by a family member whose a GP doctor and its more or less gone now.

The only thing that seemed to help it was eating a serious meal if it kicked in, which kept me from wanting to go anywhere because i'd feel like crap if i couldnt whip out a meal and eat it right then.

Albionwood said:

Digestive problems like this seem to be increasingly common. Do you eat any other fermented foods, especially lacto-fermented, like sauerkraut, kimchi, or brine pickles? Or yogurt? Some people find these foods help establish a healthy gut flora that helps with the enzymes. Also they are acidic.

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I believe there is actually a lot of flora which died, and possibly parts of differant orgains/glands which aren't working right because of it. I'm not going to bore you with the details but I can't eat anything like I use to. No Dairy, no red meats (including pork), no breads &or breaded food, no pastas/noodles, no rice, no caffiene or chocolate, nothing greasy including french fries and potato chips.

Why I mentioned glands, is because there is a gland in the head which tells you that you are dehydrated. I believe there is damage to it because I will feel fine, but I go out to mow the lawn, and in five minutes I've got dehydration issues (fast heart beat, weakness, can't catch my breath, feeling faint) until I go gulp down 32 ounces of water and lay down for 30 minutes. After that, I can sweat through my cloths while mowing for an hour with no problems.

As for fermented foods, they are good: kraut, kimchi, pickles, but no dairy. In addition, garlic is a natural anti fungus food, but you have to eat that raw or you'll lose it's effects. The effects are minor, but still noticable.

I've heard "Go to a doctor" I have and now I have no confidence in the medical industry any more. Why? After getting 35K worth of bills from doctors telling me "I don't know, I think you are just sucking down air" or "I don't know I think it's an anxioty problem, take these additive drugs" or "I don't know, but take these expensive heart meds, (which will kill your liver and kidneys and cause you a stroke in five years, and you'll have to just put up with lucid dreaming and erregular blood presure changes from the side effects)." and still no cure.

But for me the best cure seems to be: Stop drinking for two years or more years until my liver recover, if it will. *cough* new year resolution *cough* but I'll be damned if I stop brewing and sharing as gifts.

Love me some kraut!

I noticed that I have the same kind of issues, though not as drastic, if I drink a beer that I haven't let sit in the fridge for at least a week. Making sure the yeast is out of suspension is critical, especially as I have Chrons and am no stranger to digestive distress.

I got a really bad infection that wouldn't go away, the doctors put me on some really powerful antibiotics that got rid of the infection, but seems to have killed off my normal bacterial load. I am mostly back to normal now after taking massive doses of probiotics for the last 4 months. Almost everything I ate gave me indigestion, gas, and sometimes just went straight through me. Certain mundane things that I used to be able to handle fine I couldn't handle at all now, like cantaloupe or other melons, onions, eggs, peppers, and cheese. Beer didn't give me any problems though. Anyway, I started taking culturelle, and culture complex from the health food store. At first this gave me incredible gas ans stomach upset when I took the probiotics, then after a few days that went away and I started feeling better. I still can't handle cantaloupe or onions, but I can eat the other problem foods in moderation. This could just be my body normally healing itself, but it seemed like when I slacked off taking the probiotics I stopped getting better.

Mr. Mojo Rising said:

I think I will feed the neighbor some today and see what happens...I am a whore for punishment so I will join him

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I like the way this guy thinks. What are friends and neighbors for if not to be subjects in biochemical experiments!

Setesh said:

I got a really bad infection that wouldn't go away, the doctors put me on some really powerful antibiotics that got rid of the infection, but seems to have killed off my normal bacterial load. I am mostly back to normal now after taking massive doses of probiotics for the last 4 months. Almost everything I ate gave me indigestion, gas, and sometimes just went straight through me. Certain mundane things that I used to be able to handle fine I couldn't handle at all now, like cantaloupe or other melons, onions, eggs, peppers, and cheese. Beer didn't give me any problems though. Anyway, I started taking culturelle, and culture complex from the health food store. At first this gave me incredible gas ans stomach upset when I took the probiotics, then after a few days that went away and I started feeling better. I still can't handle cantaloupe or onions, but I can eat the other problem foods in moderation. This could just be my body normally healing itself, but it seemed like when I slacked off taking the probiotics I stopped getting better.

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Find kefir and drink 1/2c a day, it helps.

That and alcohol kills said bacteria makes life fun for guys like me

The first half of this thread is pretty funny. His ass explodes and he gets kicked out of bed, he thinks it's the beer, decides to give some to his neighbor to find out, ends up being rotavirus. Classic.