Alcohol Content

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.

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?

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...

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.

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.