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homebrew packs a wallop

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any1 else get accused of putting something in their brew. friends cant beleive the punch it packs?
 
Why are the intoxication effects of champagne and wine different from beer? Could this be what we're all talking about?
 
Maybe it is because of the half gallon of trub in a 5 gallon batch at the bottom of your buckets! Filter everything out and then measure the volume and gravity, and I'm guessing you'll get a higher abv in your calculations.
 
Maybe it is because of the half gallon of trub in a 5 gallon batch at the bottom of your buckets! Filter everything out and then measure the volume and gravity, and I'm guessing you'll get a higher abv in your calculations.

im confused. i use a theif and take a sample and use my hydrometer to check the grav. not sure how my trub effects that??
 
Endorphins. Smelling hops will make you happy from the simple fact that you like the smell and the associated activities. Maybe its like catnip for people, they are related too.

For the rest I think maybe higher levels of higher alcohols and other yeast by products than comparable commercial products. Acetelaldehyde ( horrid speller ) goes right to your head, and stays there. I know I'm guilty of drinking brew early on the occasion.

I was sampling my new Heffe last night and for 4% it definetly represented well.
 
I started up a similar thread awhile ago and have let this one run it's course before I interject what I believe the answer to be...IMO home brew not only gives a stronger "buzz" it gives gives you a cleaner one with very little side effects, like hangovers, other than being dehydrated.

So what is the biggest difference from commercial brews vs. home brews?

1) Hops! Most BMC or mega breweries do not use fresh hops they use hop oil extract. IMO the extract does not contain the same levels of Lupilin and other "hop euphoria" causing particles. Terms like "hop head" and "hopped up" were coined by law enforcement because the people that were intoxicated from beer (at that time it was not filtered or extract) were harder to handle and visibly further intoxicated beyond what a standard booze or wine would do.

2) Yeast! We have unfiltered beer, well 99% of us anyway. The yeast is loaded full of B vitamins. If you did not know this when drinking a few home brews you actually get a super dose of these B vitamins. B vitamins have 2 known benefits. 1st they are a natural hangover preventive and 2nd they are in the "happy" vitamin family. That is correct, B vitamins combat depression and help make you happy!

3) Filtration! People have come to want crystal clear beer. So the large breweries filter out extra hop particles and yeast. This not only makes their beer crystal clear it turns it from a living culture into a chemical. They strip out all the stuff you really want in your beer but it would make the beer cloudy.

You add all these things up and get the end result of homebrew>commercial as far as "buzz" is concerned. I really do not believe that it is one more than the other but a culmination of all the above that makes home brew this way.

This still does not take into account that some people believe this extra euphoria to be totally placebo and a physiological condition that is self induced because you made the brew your self so you want it to be better. I do not believe this to be true but I included it for the sake of those that would want it in the answer.
 
#1 i disagree with. i drink plenty of microbrews that use pellets, same as me. and my 6% packs a harder punch than them. not just me, friends all agree.

#2 and #3 maybe. i dont know.
 
and americas oldest brewery (yuengling from pottsville, pa. is 20 minutes from my house) uses pellets in their lager. which is this areas most popular beer.
 
B3 (Niacin) is the anti-depressant. AA was actually "prescribing" it to people way back in the day to help them fight their alcohol addiction.

People who suffer from depression should get off the bigpharma drugs and take a ****load of B3. Works wonders.
 
and americas oldest brewery (yuengling from pottsville, pa. is 20 minutes from my house) uses pellets in their lager. which is this areas most popular beer.

Sam Adams uses pellets too. So does Harpoon. I've seen them using it on both brewery tours. I'd say most of them do...

It really is the exact same thing as whole hops, it's just compacted to save space (and money shipping).
 
They also say that the AA% is more even in pellet hops than whole leaf. But the whole leaf Cascade I'm using in my IPA smells & tastes great to me.
 
I get whole leaf hops if I am using the entire package in a 1 batch (or two if they are in the same day), and if I am using them immediately.

Other wise I always use pellets since they are not only compressed so save room, they also store insanely better (less surface area to get oxidize).

Wow this thread got off topic :)
 
To the "My X brewery uses pellet/whole hops." posters, Is the beer filtered? Filtering out the hop particles will reduce the 1st reason I posted...I am not talking about visible particulates I am talking down into microns here...My guess is most commercial breweries filter the beer...
 
im confused. i use a theif and take a sample and use my hydrometer to check the grav. not sure how my trub effects that??

Because if we measure the gravity of 5 gallons and then after fermentation there is 4.5 gallons of liquid and half a gallon of trub, we are measuring only 4.5 gallons of liquid, which means that there is less sugar remaining than if there was 5 gallons of liquid remaining with the same gravity.
 
Maybe the alcohols are "hotter" - making it harder for your body to get rid of them. Making the effects last longer?

Maybe you actually drink more of them? Like bombers or something? I use bombers, or I keg. So for me, I know I'm drinking much more quantity in a less amount of time than if I just bought some 12 oz bottles.
 
Because if we measure the gravity of 5 gallons and then after fermentation there is 4.5 gallons of liquid and half a gallon of trub, we are measuring only 4.5 gallons of liquid, which means that there is less sugar remaining than if there was 5 gallons of liquid remaining with the same gravity.

Trub does not effect gravity readings. Neither does volume. Specific gravity is independent of amount. It is a measure of the density of the liquid, which has nothing to do with the amount of the liquid or solids suspended in the liquid. Only dissolved solids will effect specific gravity.
 
Trub does not effect gravity readings. Neither does volume. Specific gravity is independent of amount. It is a measure of the density of the liquid, which has nothing to do with the amount of the liquid or solids suspended in the liquid. Only dissolved solids will effect specific gravity.

Density is dependant on volume :eek:

Other than that I agree...its not like the trub concentrates the wort or anything
 
No it's not. :)

Experiment: take a 1 mL sample of a homogenous liquid and measure the specific gravity. Now take a 1 L sample of the same liquid at the same temperature and measure the specific gravity.

(Given that your instruments are calibrated and accurate.)
Are your measurements the same?
 
Density by definition is mass over volume...so as long as mass increases proportionately to volume, yes you will get the same reading with the same liquid at different volumes.
 
Density by definition is mass over volume...so as long as mass increases proportionately to volume, yes you will get the same reading with the same liquid at different volumes.

Which will be the case if you have completely mixed wort...

So, trub could affect that if you took a reading with some trub vs. a lot of trub, correct? You're mass would be higher if you had the same amount of volume...
 
Which will be the case if you have completely mixed wort...

So, trub could affect that if you took a reading with some trub vs. a lot of trub, correct? You're mass would be higher if you had the same amount of volume...

My guess would be no, because it is not dissolved into solution.
 
Which will be the case if you have completely mixed wort...

So, trub could affect that if you took a reading with some trub vs. a lot of trub, correct? You're mass would be higher if you had the same amount of volume...

Correct, but that would prove an opposite point as the theme of this thread. That would mean that trub (Right now I am referring to hops particles, break matter/proteins, etc but NOT yeast) would mean our readings were erroneously HIGH at OG time. Then as that settled out our FG readings would appear low. Which would give us and ABV that overshoots the actual. Except if the yeast or c02 in suspension affected the gravity readings...

my head hurts now
 
It's adding volume and possibly weight. It's not contributing to the density of the liquid. Like if you put some rocks in a glass of water. The density of the water is the same whether the rocks are there or not.
 
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