Can something in chemistry cause headaches???

The last 2 or three home brew batches that I have brewed are giving me headaches. Not from drinking too much. After one beer I get a slight headache. Is there anything that can happen in the brewing process that produces a chemical that could cause this? Or, pardon the pun, is it just in my head?

Not being an expert on the subject, I think fusel alcohols might be to blame. If you ferment to warm you produce higher volumes of fusels. Try reducing you feremnt temp to 66-68* I'm sure others will chime in with more expert opinions.

Most homebrewers find that the opposite is true. Homebrewed ales are full of vitamin B12 from the high / fresh yeast content. I can't drink homebrewed beer of varying styles and strengths all night long until I fall down..and wake up fine the next morning.

BT is right though. Fusel alcohol is often the driver of nails into the temples.

Fusel alcohols have given me a headache in the past. sniff for a faint nail polisher remover smell.

I woke up today with a screaming headache that has been with me all day. Otherwise, I don't feel hungover at all. I've been drinking the same batch from last week, so it might just be the weather. It has been storming here quite a bit the last 24 hours.

If a beer has a high level of fusels, I get splitting headaches within a hour or two of drinking just one serving.

Can fusels be created by too high of a mash temperature?

dregus said:

Can fusels be created by too high of a mash temperature?

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Nope. A high mash temp will lead to less fermentable sugar, which overall gives less of any alcohols.

Have you ever had this happen before?

Can you post your recipe and brewing method? What equipment are you using? Are you using anything with lead in it (I.E. pewter plates, etc)

What type of water are you using? Tap?

Where did you get your ingredients? Where were they sourced from?

I have *never* had any headaches like the ones that your are describing.

Does Budweiser give you headaches? All BMC pisswater jokes aside.

Acetaldehyde is a compound put off by yeast that can cause headaches. In high levels, it resembles the smell and taste of tart green apples. Budweiser is one commercial beer known for high levels of Acetaldehyde, and gives a lot of people headaches. It is possible to have this compound in homebrew. If you transfer to a secondary (or dump yeast from a conical) too early, have an extremely flocculent yeast. Oxidation can also be a culprit.

For some reason it won't let me edit my post....???

If you are consistently getting headaches, try drinking a few Buds and see if the same thing happens. FYI, acetaldehyde perception can vary. We got the off flavor kit from Seibel for our BJCP study group last night. I could barely detect anything in the beer dosed with acetaldehyde, while others were literally choking on it. I also found out that I'm rather insensitive to Diacetyl.

Edcculus said:

For some reason it won't let me edit my post....???

If you are consistently getting headaches, try drinking a few Buds and see if the same thing happens. FYI, acetaldehyde perception can vary. We got the off flavor kit from Seibel for our BJCP study group last night. I could barely detect anything in the beer dosed with acetaldehyde, while others were literally choking on it. I also found out that I'm rather insensitive to Diacetyl.

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Curious. Do you smoke (not just when burning)?

We had a sensory perception seminar of doctored beers and the majority of those who had the lowest perception were smokers. Not exclusive either way but, notable.

Nope, not a smoker. I did have a bad cold in Januaury. I couldn't even smell the intense peat in my Laphriog whisky. There is a good chance my smell still hasn't completely recovered. I guess I need to get on some serious allergy/sinus medicine before the exam on Saturday!

Edcculus said:

I couldn't even smell the intense peat in my Laphriog whisky.

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If you couldn't smell that, your nose is jacked up!

wildwest450 said:

If you couldn't smell that, your nose is jacked up!

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THIS

That stuff is heavenly by the way

dregus said:

Can fusels be created by too high of a mash temperature?

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What was your fermentation temperature? What yeast did you use?

If you ferment, and this includes heat of fermentation, higher than your yeasts spec you can produce fusals... I'm really sensitive to fusals and like some others here I will get a headache really quick from fusally HB. I attempt to beat the fusals in two ways.

#1 Ferment at the middle to lower range of your yeast and plan on at least 3-8 degrees of heat rise from fermentation depending upon the OG, the yeast, the ferm. Temp.

#2 Let the yeast do their jobs, one of which is to clean up fusals by turning them into cleaner alcohols. The way I do this is with nice long fermentations, 3-4 weeks.