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1ratdog

1ratdog

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why (or is it just me) do i get more of a buzz off homebrew than i do off commercial beer of same style and equal abv%.

i just cracked open a scottish ale i did (5.99% abv) drank 2 and im nicely buzzed. feelin good. love the beer.
ive drank plently of commercial beers of 6% and higher and not had a buzz like this off 2 of them.

am i just imagining this because its my brew?

oh well, who cares, my this brew is awesome.....gunna pop open another one and chill on the deck.

cheers
brew on
 
Maybe it's the "I'm not drinking beer, I'm checking on the progress of my creation and focusing on what to do next" thing that makes me drink lots more, much faster?
 
It could just be because they're calculation of ABV is a lot more precise, whereas your (OF-FG)*131=ABV% isn't totally precise.

So, you're "5.99%" beer may in deed be > their "6%" beer...

Ah, hell with it. I'm ruining your fun. :eek:
 
I have noticed the same thing. Theres actually quite a few threads about it. read something about "hop euphoria" from the fresher beer, but I don't think I buy it.
 
D0ug said:
We drink them faster because they taste better?
Click to expand...

Not sure about that, I like to savor my good beers and chug the bad ones.

I have always thought (but I'm probably very wrong) that it was because of the "thickness" of the homebrew and the possible metabolizing of a homebrew vs. a watery macrobrew.
 
I chug the low grav, easy-to-make, quick-turnaround ones and savor the high grav, high cost ingredients, bulk-aged-for-months ones.
 
I have noticed what the OP is talking about and those who have shared my beer feel the same way... alcohol is alcohol though right? So all things being equal how would this be anything more than perception...???
 
Yeah, same here. Drank a 22oz of my 4.2% the other day and had a nice buzz that I didn't quite achieve with the 7% bomber i had today. Dunno what it is. At one point I wondered if it might be a reaction to the fresh yeast in my beer. But, I've for nothing to support that notion.
 
search hop euphoria if you want to speculate more so. Hops are in the same family as Cannabis sativa (marijuana) and while they have no THC some speculate that some of the other chemicals in pot that get you high are also present in hops.

I don't buy it, I think that for me its more just a placebo thing, but who knows.
 
step said:
I have noticed what the OP is talking about and those who have shared my beer feel the same way... alcohol is alcohol though right? So all things being equal how would this be anything more than perception...???
Click to expand...

I have always experienced this for the last 2 years with friends drinking homebrew, I think it is due to the fact of not exactly figuring out the ABV even though we religiously measure and check everything. I think it may end up higher than we can know in some cases. But I am trying to make lower gravity beers as well so hopefully that works out.
 
I thought the same thing until I realized that I'm drinking 500ml instead of 341ml.
 
AZ_IPA said:
It could just be because they're calculation of ABV is a lot more precise, whereas your (OF-FG)*131=ABV% isn't totally precise.

So, you're "5.99%" beer may in deed be > their "6%" beer...

Ah, hell with it. I'm ruining your fun. :eek:
Click to expand...
Exactly. Real extract vs apparent extract

Hydrometers measure sugar and water, not sugar and alcohol.

Our homebrew always has a little more abv than we measure
 
i've definately noticed this, as have my buddys. i think its at least partly the hops. because i also get a little more relaxed/buzzed with a little bit of a hoppier beer. its definately appreciated.:drunk:
 
I am the master if my creation! It shall not intoxicate me!! Hey, I wonder what my old girlfriend is up to ...
 
AZ_IPA said:
It could just be because they're calculation of ABV is a lot more precise, whereas your (OF-FG)*131=ABV% isn't totally precise.

So, you're "5.99%" beer may in deed be > their "6%" beer...

Ah, hell with it. I'm ruining your fun. :eek:
Click to expand...

I thought it was multiplied by 130.
 
it could also be the carbonation level. the higher carbed the beer, the faster the co2 binds onto the 02 cells in the bloodstream, and the faster it hits you. homebrews are usually better-carbonated than commercial beers
 
My friend had 4 of my beers, and then got taken to a karaoke bar where he drank 2 pitchers of Bud Light. He claims to have been sobering up while drinking the BL.
 
I have a 16oz bottle of wheat lager (OG 1.044) to a co-worker who usually drinks heineken, and he comes back saying "My god what did you put in that beer?!!" I get the same feedback on other brews too, I'm probably terrible at measuring gravity acurately.
 
KevStL said:
My friend had 4 of my beers, and then got taken to a karaoke bar where he drank 2 pitchers of Bud Light. He claims to have been sobering up while drinking the BL.
Click to expand...

bud light. omg. he should had his stomach pumped. uck,ewww, no way.
 
I seem to get drunk faster when it's someone else's homebrew. I don't keg but my buddy does. then again maybe it has something to do with drinking from a keg
 
1ratdog said:
i drink alot of microbrews that are unfiltered and i dont get buzzed like i do off my brew.
Click to expand...

Idk. I get pretty wasted off of unfiltered Ithaca Flower Power, way moreso than off other commercial IPAs. Or maybe I'm just happy to be drinking my fav beer.
 
MoPhunk said:
I seem to get drunk faster when it's someone else's homebrew. I don't keg but my buddy does. then again maybe it has something to do with drinking from a keg
Click to expand...

me2. i dont mind drinking theirs quickly, i like to savor mine.
 
I would assume it has something to do with homebrew being unpasteurized. the pasteurization process probably burns off a bit of alcohol.
 
I've noticed the same thing, as have a couple friends. I've assumed it's a combo of a bit of extra alcohol from bottle conditioning, fresher beer, yeast and inaccurate calculation. I use the equation: OG-FG*131.25=abv. That's per my brewing software. I'm sure that temp fluctuations and the presence of alcohol effect readings a bit and this is probably the main reason some of our brews seem stronger. That or we're buzzed when we do the math and drink a batch of '5.8%' beer that's really 6.8% thinking the whole time, 'man, this is one punchy 5.8. Redhook esb's 5.8 and it doesn't get me this wasted. I love homebrew!!!'
:rockin:
 
unfilterer and unpastreurized. the yeast are still active when we consume them. 98.6 degree body temp would spring them back to life. lol. just throwing it out there
 
My friends swear that the beers I make hit them like a hammer. This coming from guys who can (and will) drink BMC all day long without drastic response. Doesn't surprise me as most recipes I make are 5-6%.

Friend of a friend gave me a chest freezer in trade for some homebrew. I gave him a milkcrate full (25) of bottles of a 5.5% pale ale (EdWort's recipe). He said "Thanks, man. I'll chill these down and drink them Saturday night." OK, I thought.

A couple weeks later, the dude said "Yeah, man. I tried your beer and thought 'This is really good.' So when it was gone, I opened another one. After that, I opened another... Then I went to bed."
 
Boodlemania said:
My friends swear that the beers I make hit them like a hammer. This coming from guys who can (and will) drink BMC all day long without drastic response. Doesn't surprise me as most recipes I make are 5-6%.

Friend of a friend gave me a chest freezer in trade for some homebrew. I gave him a milkcrate full (25) of bottles of a 5.5% pale ale (EdWort's recipe). He said "Thanks, man. I'll chill these down and drink them this weekend." OK, I thought.

A couple weeks later, the dude said "Yeah, man. I tried your beer and thought 'This is really good.' So when it was gone, I opened another one. After that, I opened another... Then I went to bed."
Click to expand...

Lol. Had the same thing happen recently. Wonder if we aren't calculating abv correctly. Oops.
 
My Old St Nick is 9.8% ABV. I love watching BMC drinkers after a pint of that.

They always come back for more.
 

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