A question I really should know the answer to!

[phildo79]

So I cracked open a 5.5% IPA last night. Had been in the bottle 2 weeks. Tasted good. Tasted right on the brink of being ready. So I drank it, along with another 3. All Grolsch bottles so just a tad over 3 pints worth.


I awoke this morning with a bit of a headache. A headache that has only just decided to fook off.


So, coincidence? Or does drinking HB that isn’t quite ready sometimes have this effect? Is there any science behind this?


I should point out that I rarely get hangovers / headaches from drinking booze. And that since I’ve been homebrewing for 5 years, I really should know the answer to this.

 

[MyQul]

I drank gallons of homebrew that is just a few days old and never had a headache. Were a little dehydrated before to started tucking into the HB?

 

[Drunkula]

Reckon it's a coincidence. The only beer that remotely got me near a hangover was the 60 bottles of Punk IPA I bought from Sainsburys for 30p a bottle. It was before people thought Brewdog were all fancy and nobody was buying it.

 

[simon12]

Reckon it's a coincidence. The only beer that remotely got me near a hangover was the 60 bottles of Punk IPA I bought from Sainsburys for 30p a bottle. It was before people thought Brewdog were all fancy and nobody was buying it.

Are you sure it wasn't the 60 bottle quantity rather than the content?

 

[phildo79]

I drank gallons of homebrew that is just a few days old and never had a headache. Were a little dehydrated before to started tucking into the HB?

**** knows, mate. Could have been. I would normally attribute this sort of thing with not getting enough sleep to flush it out of my system, but 3 pints worth? Seems like a rather small amount to cause a headache. Was probably a coincidence.

 

[MyQul]

**** knows, mate. Could have been. I would normally attribute this sort of thing with not getting enough sleep to flush it out of my system, but 3 pints worth? Seems like a rather small amount to cause a headache. Was probably a coincidence.

Like you say, may well have been a coincidence

 

[xozzx]

It could be something in the beer. I have one beer on tap at the moment which tastes lovely but gives me a terrible headache if I have more than one or two. It is fairly strong and very hoppy, I suspect it could be the excessive amount of hops giving a headache, the rest of my beers only cause "normal" hangovers...

 

[Mr Fro]

I think there's something in it - I made a batch a while back that gave me a stonking brain ache after a few. They did the same to everyone who had more than a couple. It was only ~5.5%.

 

[Sadfield]

Fusel alcohols are the usual culprit.

 

[Duxuk]

It's the gaseous emissions I notice the most from nearly ready brews. They also dehydrate so I drink plenty of water.

 

[phildo79]

3 days on the trot, I awoke with a headache after drinking this beer. Only had a couple of glasses yesterday and I feel fine this morning. Very strange. I know of only one other beer that gives me a headache - Tennents. I always assumed it was because of all the "chemicals" that people said were in it.

 

[Covrich]

I generally find HB actually is cleaner on the head, could it be fusel like sadfield says?

 

[phildo79]

Must admit, never heard of fusel alcohols before. Only did a quick search and there are conflicting views on them causing hangovers.

 

[uDicko]

Must admit, never heard of fusel alcohols before. Only did a quick search and there are conflicting views on them causing hangovers.

Also, maybe slightly off topic but would fusels still cause the proposed hangover symptoms if they have had maturation time to mellow out?

 

[JonBrew]

Also, maybe slightly off topic but would fusels still cause the proposed hangover symptoms if they have had maturation time to mellow out?

I remember Palmer on the Brew Strong podcast saying that fusels age out; though oxidation they become esters if I recall. I would guess that if the fusels age out then the headache effect would also diminish. He did say, however, that the aging effect on esters will only help improve a beer to an extent, i.e. a decent strong beer with a moderate fusel character might come good with some extended aging but a fusel bomb will not age out.

I also read in the James Morton book that Westvleteren 12 is fermented at 30 degrees and begins life with a high fusel content but they age it in the brewery for 12 months and by that point the unpleasant alcohols have esterified and, allegedly, this gives the beer it's unique ester profile.