homebrew abv stronger

[mat69]

hi everybody was just wondering as im new to this ,do you find that a homebrew abv is stronger than a commercial bevvy? just started brewing{coopers lager}and worked out @4% but was proper strong usually drink st ettienne from aldi @5% {luvley}but my hb gets me there quicker..why with a lower abv...

[Benson_JV]

Might perhaps be because HB doesn't have all the crapola that commercial stuff does. Chemicals and the likes.

[mat69]

Might perhaps be because HB doesn't have all the crapola that commercial stuff does. Chemicals and the likes.

nice one benson thanks for answering my friend..

[D_C]

Personally I think there's something we're not being told... I can drink Stella(5.2%ABV) til it comes out of my nose, but 5 pints of Staropramen(5%) and I wake up 12 hours later on the bathroom floor. Also 8 cans of 5% Holsten and I'll still be up for work in the morning, but 3 bottles of my 4.7% Coopers Canadian Blonde has me falling down stairs and weeing on the cat.

ABV doesn't seem to have that much relevance on how drunk I get. Has anyone else noticed this?

[randomdave]

Yeah ive noticed that a pub session i can drink enough pints of guinness till its almost leaking out of my ears but the session i did on the homebrew put me on my arse a lot quicker. Would be interesting if there was an answer to that. I cant see it been the added crap you get in commercial beer. the ABV is what it is regardless. I have noticed tho the hangover on homebrew is a lot easier to handle than the commercial hangover you can buy

[brysie]

funny you fellers are saying that.
my mate big andy {appropriate name by the way} could drink for england.
however, the other night we were having a game of tiger woods on the wii and we sampled a couple of my coopers lagers.
suffice to say that i kicked his proverbial as he reckoned the beer went straight to his legs, and he a seasoned krony drinker.
i myself have noticed that i get the same glow from a couple of pints of the wherry i made that would normally take four cans of the aforementioned krony.

any of you educated chaps on here have an explanation?

[Luther]

I'm glad it's not just me! My supposedly 4.5% Coopers IPA has me face down on the carpet after a relatively light session, whereas in the pub I can stick away a good few supposedly stronger brews without much problem.

Maybe the big brewers having been lying to us all along. It reminds me of my younger days, when after plenty of experience smoking 'social' cigarettes I finally got the chance to put a small bag of grass on a proper set of scales, only to realise how much I'd been ripped off over the years...

[drmick]

I suspect the beer in most pubs is watered down, so while it is listed as 5% its probably only 4%, whereas with homebrew you know exactly how strong it is as you've measured it.

Bloke in the homebrew shop suggested getting a group of people together and mix 1 part water with 9 parts homebrew - and see if the taste is reminiscent of what you get in the pub.

One final thing, its not just the alcohol that produces the hangover - more alcohol will get you drunk quicker (in most cases - absinthe supposedly gets you drunk from the feet up so you only notice when you go to stand up), but the severity of the hangover is partly due to other chemicals (natural or otherwise) that are in the brew.

DrMick

[Parva]

I suspect the beer in most pubs is watered down, so while it is listed as 5% its probably only 4%, whereas with homebrew you know exactly how strong it is as you've measured it.

I suspect you are wrong. HM Customs like to send the weights and measures men into pubs at random and a publican caught selling beer that has had it's ABV fiddled with (watered down) would be very heavily punished, most likely losing their license.

[drmick]

I guess your right - forgot that HM customs check these things (not sure they would want to venture in to some of my local pubs to check though)

Another things that I forgot to say in the previous post is effects of alcohol aren't constant - one day you can drink 8 pints and have no effect, next time 3 pints and you're falling over, even if your drinking exactly the same thing.

Its is a wonderous and mysterious thing drinking

[boingy]

Its is a wonderous and mysterious thing drinking

Amen to that, brother.
I suggest more research is needed.

[Luther]

I suggest more research is needed.

Absolutely. You can get grants for research that is in the public interest, can't you?

Let's do a massive independent research project on how come different brews get you pissed in different ways. It would need a big sample size over a sustained period (ooh, years and years) to produce meaningful results. So I suggest Jim puts a bid in to the government's research council offering this forum's members as a group willing to selflessly avail themselves for beer related experimentation, funded by the taxpayer.

All for the public good, obviously.

[boingy]

The govt is very keen on progressive solutions to social problems like binge drinking. I reckon our proposed National Institute of Pissheads could be a winner.

[scottish69]

Id echo was was said above about the effects not being constant from day to day/hour to hour on your body. It depends upont he food youve eaten as well as your hydration levels.

Also different additives in the beer could result in more uptake of the alcohol into your blood stream, or less for that matter.

Also I think the body adapts to types of alcohol you regularly drink and clears them quicker from your system. Ive found this anyway - it could just be im a "beer-o-sapien".

I drink hoegaarden and stella like tap water, but gimme a vodka and im under the table.