Do your home brews get you drunk quicker?

This is probably a little silly but I'm posting this because my first batch of beer came out last weekend. Thank god contamination didn't happen and it was rather tasty, but QUITE STRONG!!

Some parts of it were my fault...

• Counting on a wine densimeter to measure the OG, except its scale ends before wort even begins. By the time I found out it was too late
• Not having an accurate measuring jug sanitized, so my final volume of wort after dilution was probably lower than the 19 L it should have been.
• Not wanting to waste precious wort and lacking a way to separate the hops, some of them went straight to the carboy when trying to decant.

If it helps, here are some numbers:
2,7 kg (5,95 lb) dry malt extract
1 kg (2,2 lb) crushed Vienna malt
1 oz Chinook hops
1 oz Saaz hops
11,5 g packet of Safale S-04 yeast

A single 325 mL bottle of this thing put me into a state where I would normally be by about 2 or 3 bottles of the typical commercial pale lager (that I've grown to hate). So I suspect it either has about 6 % ABV or it somehow has another substance joining the ethanol in the work of putting me drunk.

Is it normal to get drunk quicker with homebrews? If so, welp I can count on my batches to last longer.

Well if you got decent efficiency on your mini mash with the Vienna your recipe looks to be about 1.065 for 5 gals, so yeah probably around 6.5% ABV. You can just as easily homebrew a 3% mild that will be more sessionable. That's the beauty of making your own.

It's all good. You just need to drink more. In time you will have an increased HBT (home brew tolerance)

well i do know a beer in a glass goes down faster than one out of a can or bottle.

homebrewers if taking readings can be quite accurate,

Commercial brewery's will not exceed their rating. so if they say 6%, well, it may be 5.5%-6% but will not be 6.1%.

Mine certainly gets me drunk quicker, probably because my weakest beer is 5.5%...

I thought it was just me lol. My 5% seems to have a little more effect than a commercial 5%. But it could just be a calibration / rounding up issue for commercial beer.

kristiismean said:

homebrewers if taking readings can be quite accurate,

Commercial brewery's will not exceed their rating. so if they say 6%, well, it may be 5.5%-6% but will not be 6.1%.

Click to expand...

Was the first "quite accurate" intended? The way I read it it would be "measuring homebrewers have an uncertainty of reading bigger than that of commercial breweries, who will err on the side of too little".

Speaking of which, does any brewery which legally sells beer have the obligation of reporting their ABV via Gas Chromatography or all measurements are done via OG-FG calculations?

Well my first brew I had no idea what the % was as I forgot to take an OG. Needless to say the friends I had around for tastings all felt the same as me, sorta stone and drunk at the same time. It was at this point I started wondering what the NZ company that I got the "Irish Red Ale" mix from was adding..
The last mix was I did was a bit of a train wreck as the temp was up and down way too much due to not having a good thermostat. All fixed now howerver. holding temp at +-1Degree C.
One thing I have noticed in this forum regarding Hydrometer readings nobody mentions temperature. I was told to test at 20C, as liquids densities change with heat. Might be nit picking but what the hell ...

javert said:

Was the first "quite accurate" intended? The way I read it it would be "measuring homebrewers have an uncertainty of reading bigger than that of commercial breweries, who will err on the side of too little".

Speaking of which, does any brewery which legally sells beer have the obligation of reporting their ABV via Gas Chromatography or all measurements are done via OG-FG calculations?

Click to expand...

Breweries are allowed a .3% variance allowed in the stated ABV, so if a beer is labeled 6.5% it could legally be anywhere from 6.2%-6.8%. There's no rule that requires them to arrive at their numbers via a specific process, but if the TTB or their State were to check a beer and it was outside of range, there could be trouble. This rarely happens though as far as I know.

kristiismean said:

homebrewers if taking readings can be quite accurate,

Commercial brewery's will not exceed their rating. so if they say 6%, well, it may be 5.5%-6% but will not be 6.1%.

Click to expand...

Pardon me please...

kristiismean....is your Amarillo wheat (in your sig) a version of 3 Floyds Gumball Head?

Sorry for the intrusion.

no. lol. no dry hopping and not close to gumball head levels. It is a great hop for it tho since it mixes really well and adds flavor without shouting "LOOK AT ME, I AM A HOPPY WHEAT"

javert said:

Was the first "quite accurate" intended? The way I read it it would be "measuring homebrewers have an uncertainty of reading bigger than that of commercial breweries, who will err on the side of too little".

Speaking of which, does any brewery which legally sells beer have the obligation of reporting their ABV via Gas Chromatography or all measurements are done via OG-FG calculations?

Click to expand...

hombrewers can be accurate when they want to, unlike breweries that have to be accurate whether they want to or not......

javert said:

Is it normal to get drunk quicker with homebrews? If so, welp I can count on my batches to last longer.

Click to expand...

Um. Duh. It's because you drink them faster and more at one time because they are so freakin delicious. [emoji39]