Neighbor's homebrew makes me feel irrationally angry? Perhaps a fusels problem?

[PortlandLagerDude]

So, fairly serious homebrewer here. My neighbor is too. We swap brews fairly often. On the occasions when I've drank more than like two of his beers, I wind up getting irrationally angry at things, people, etc.

Now, yes, obviously, go home PortlandLagerDude, you're drunk; but this isn't really that problem. (Aside: the other night when I was getting angry I was still sober enough to program on my computer.) As I said, I'm a fairly serious homebrewer and don't have problems with commercial beers or with my own homebrew. The two most recent culprits have both been IPAs in the vicinity of 5% ABV. We were thinking that it might be fusel alcohols in the brew (they've led to pretty sterling hangovers as well) but said neighbor controls his fermentation temperatures pretty tightly.

Can anyone point me in a direction to help figure out what might be happening?

 

[Calder]

Posting mostly to see what others have to say.

Heavy hangovers would indicate fusel alcohols. High temps are the usual culprit, but poor pitch rate can also produce them.

I assume he is using beer yeast, and not something like turbo yeast.

 

[PortlandLagerDude]

Interesting! I didn't think about underpitching. He uses Wyeast smackpacks but is on a 10 gallon system... If he's only using half a smackpack per carboy that could well do it. Cheers!

 

[Braufessor]

Wouldn't you taste the fusel alcohol if it is present in a significant enough amount to give you bad hangovers and make you angry? Perhaps not..... But, fusel alcohol basically makes a beer undrinkable in my opinion. I would never drink a full beer that had fusel taste, and no way I would get through 2.
Is the beer good?

 

[+HopSpunge+]

Mercury

 

[FarmerTed]

Does he add piss and vinegar to his beers? That would do it.

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

Maybe the neighbor's beers are better and it makes him testy.

 

[Beernik]

Hard lemonades do this to me, especially Mike's Hard Lemonade. They turn me into a raging ******* if I drink more than two, and that's even at the Utah - 4.0% ABV version of them.

Wife banned me from drinking them.

Everything else makes me a sleepy-mellow drinker.

 

[wingedcoyote]

Do you ever see the neighbor and not drink his beer? If not, it may be that you just subconsciously hate your neighbor.

 

[PortlandLagerDude]

WingedCoyote: I actually really like my neighbor. He's a fun dude. We both moved into the neighborhood at about the same time, are both involved with internet-related things, both homebrew, invite each other to parties... I'm legitimately trying to figure out what's up with his beer.

Beernik: I hears ya well. My best comparison on the weird-angry front was "cheap whiskey in plastic bottles."

Braufessor: I'm not sure exactly what fusels taste like. I haven't noticed any super-hot flavors to the beer, but, hey, it's possible... I generally don't drink IPAs so it might be that my tastebuds are distracted by all the grapefruit?

Dryboroughbrewing: We're at I think pretty comparable levels. It's worth noting I've never gotten angry at my neighbor, just at, like, things. Like, I went on a rant about Amazon.com that involved the phrase "hegemony." It was bad. And made minimal sense. Like, what?

 

[BoomerHarley]

Maybe you just got angry that he is calling a 5% beer an IPA. I know I am.

 

[ShadyBrewer]

I think Boomer hit the nail on the head

 

[garvinator70]

I get like that on my home brew sometimes . My wife said if I show my As_ again she's going to blow my homebrew equipment up! So I have to take it easy.

 

[unionrdr]

About the only thing that can make me beligerant is whiskey or bourbon kind if liquors. But vodka doesn't. I guess it has something to do with the keg charred aging process...something in the wood. Maybe it's something like that?

 

[Cathedral]

Interesting! I didn't think about underpitching. He uses Wyeast smackpacks but is on a 10 gallon system... If he's only using half a smackpack per carboy that could well do it. Cheers!

If he does that, he's definitely underpitching. I think the general consensus is that one smack pack or vial is good for 5 gallons up to 1.05-1.06

If that's a 5% beer, the OG is right, the volume is wrong. He's only pitching half as much yeast as he probably should.

 

[Pheonix]

So, fairly serious homebrewer here. My neighbor is too. We swap brews fairly often. On the occasions when I've drank more than like two of his beers, I wind up getting irrationally angry at things, people, etc.

Now, yes, obviously, go home PortlandLagerDude, you're drunk; but this isn't really that problem. (Aside: the other night when I was getting angry I was still sober enough to program on my computer.) As I said, I'm a fairly serious homebrewer and don't have problems with commercial beers or with my own homebrew. The two most recent culprits have both been IPAs in the vicinity of 5% ABV. We were thinking that it might be fusel alcohols in the brew (they've led to pretty sterling hangovers as well) but said neighbor controls his fermentation temperatures pretty tightly.

Can anyone point me in a direction to help figure out what might be happening?

I have also had very similar experiences after drinking Bells Hop Slam. and also Bells two hearted ale. at first I become what seems to be unusually intoxicated for the amount I have drank, compared to drinking the same amount of different types of beer. I have then noticed that I become much more quick to anger and even had some black out issues after only consuming the equivalent of 7 beers over a 4 hour period. I have drank 12 beers in less time and not had even close to the same effects. I am thinking that hops relation to cannibis may cause it to have some sort of psychoactive property that does not agree with me perhaps?