All Grain and the anatomy of a hangover?

[sternsheet]

What is it in beer that changes the anatomy of a hangover? On some of my AG brews, I can drink a few pints in an evening without noticing any ill effects. But on a few of them, it only takes one pint and I have a headache the following morning. My assumption is that it's something in the chemistry of the beer, but not knowing about these things, I guess someone else might?

[Northern Brewer]

Never experienced headaches but I have made a couple of batches that have made me dreamy and led to restless nights. I posted on this subject many moons ago but have never got to the root cause. My latest thinking has been to blame the heatpads that I stand the fermenters upon. Although these only raise the brew's temperature to 20C I suspect that at the bottom of the fermenter things could be hotter, and of course this is where any trub and the yeast will ultimately hang out.

I read somewhere that such a combination of can result in the production of Fusel Alcohols and Palmer suggests these can taste either mild and pleasant or hot and bothersome. Google tells me that Fusel Alcohols can be hallucinogenic, and cites Absinthe in particular. Maybe they can cause headaches too?

I don't believe that I can taste anything untoward in my brews, but I have decided to try a few batches without the heatpads to see if this makes any discernible difference.

Edited: "My latest thinking has been to blame the heatpads that I stand the fermenters upon" (originally said kegs instead of fermenters)

[keelbolt]

A 'morning-after' breakfast of toast with honey or golden syrup is the little-known but ideal way to combat a hangover, says Royal Society of Chemistry.

The chemistry of the remedy is the best way to undo the chemistry of the hangover, says the Piccadilly-based society.

Dr John Emsley of the RSC said today: "The happiness comes from alcohol; the hangover comes from acetaldehyde. This is the toxic chemical into which alcohol is converted by the body and it causes a throbbing headache, nausea, and maybe even vomiting. The hangover disappears as the acetaldehyde is slowly converted to less toxic chemicals. That's the science."

Avoid dark coloured drinks which contain natural chemicals that can adversely affect you. Alcohol increases water loss, hence the frequent trips to the loo. This dehydration makes a hangover worse, so moderate your drinking with a soft drink now and again, and drink a large glass of water before you go to sleep.

How to alleviate a hangover

Only time cures a hangover, and generally the acetaldehyde will be gone by midmorning or midday. You can speed recovery by taking in more fluid, but a 'hair of the dog' only works if it relieves alcohol withdrawal symptoms, which suggests you are becoming addicted. The best breakfast is toast and honey (or golden syrup) which provides the body with the sodium, potassium, and fructose which it now needs.

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Mmm, interesting post this

[hoppingMad]

I'm no expert but fusel alcohols ( whatever they are) can be responsible for a hangover where you might not normally have expected one. My understanding is that fusels can be produced by too warm a fermentation temp for the choice of yeast and/or a too slow a fermentation ( underpitching ) which can cause the yeast to ferment less than optimally (what ever that means). So possibly you may have a few too many of these little blighters in one or two of your beers.

I recently brewed my first proper Traditional Bock and before doing so I did a little reading up. It seems that a decent Bock requires ( apart fom a decent recipe) a cold fermentation at around 9 degrees C and a decent lager yeast pitching rate of around a 4-5 Litres of starter into 26 litres of 1.070 wort .

Fermenting my Bock at 20 C would have definately produced a high content of fusel alcohols which would be noticeable as "hot" alcohol taste or very noticeable alcohol taste. Therefore colder the better for this type of beer which is a lager. In fact, this has borne out in my Bock, which is still in lagering but tastes very clean and with no noticeable hot alcohol taste. Yay.
Once again my limited understanding tells me that using an ale yeast, and fermenting a high gravity ale at 20 C would also produce some of these fusels but not to the same level, and this would also be more in keeping with style anyway.

Hope this is not taken as gospel, but rather that it may serve to generate more informed discussion.

I'm told that a hangover is mostly dehydration caused by alcohol, which causes the brain to shrivel up and die, turning into something resembling a rock which rolls around in the skull causing a headache.
Apparently, you can completely eliminate a hangover if you were to get out of bed every 1/2 hour during the night and drink a glass of water.