Beer/wine and your health

[PD]

There have been several posts recently re home brewing and peoples health....” will it hurt me ? Am I killing myself ? Etc etc

Lets face it...beer and wine for all practical purposes could be classed as addictive drugs, and although they are not too harmful in themselves, taken to excess they will cause your body problems, livers and kidneys are your bodies filters and they do a darn good job if they are healthy.

Ever person, every body is different,only you know yourself ( and possibly your doctor ) you are the one that will know when things are going wrong.
Even the governments top doctors with all their many qualifications cannot agree on how much is good for you. But you can.

You know if your drinking too much per night or week on average ( not talking about the occasional blow out we all have ). You will know when you start needing alcohol to face life's problems.
You will know when alcohol starts to make you feel bad hangovers are natures way of saying “ Oi ! That was a bit too much “

Thats drinking.. what about brewing ?

I get as much pleasure from concocting and brewing a beer as I get from drinking it, although drinking a good beer is a very pleasurable experience.

I reached the stage of drinking far too much beer many years ago and so stopped...for 15 years, only returning to it when my son fancied making it as a hobby, 12 months ago.
I brew regularly every couple of weeks, usually making 23 litres a time. Its all bottled and I'm getting a great stock of different beers on the shelves. I still only drink ( normally ) 2 bottles or a litre in a day, and not every day. Its called self control.... I know after more than a couple of beers MY body will start to react to it.
Others will be different. My son seems to average 4 or 5, but he's in his youth ( ba****d ) and he manages to get up for his job as a bread baker at 3.30-4.0pm every morning.

Beer is a good wholesome beverage, as is wine. Its how we treat and respect it that is the problem.

 

[alawlor66430]

Well said.

 

[mattrickl06]

+1 - I think I am drinking less now than i was 6 months ago when i was buying beer. I take much more time to savour my hard work and drink for enjoyment - not to get drunk :

Plus the freedom afforded by HB'ing when the government is introducing minimum pricing and breweries are lowering their ABV's make it all the more enjoyable.

Plus the carbon footprint of drinking now, ie not using any bottles, no transport etc has been greatly reduced.

In fact the benefits of HB could stretch about 10 pages long i think

 

[calumscott]

Great post PD!

Beer is a good wholesome beverage, as is wine. Its how we treat and respect it that is the problem.

Indeed. As a nation we have been conditioned such that it is not the craftsmanship, skill or quality of ingredient that goes into our beer that's important, rather the relationship between ABV, quantity and price.

For me, I'd rather go to a really nice pub and pay whatever the going rate is for a craft brewed, local quality ale or two rather than maximising the raw volume of ethanol consumed. Same goes for cider.

I know effectively nothing about wine, but I can just about figure out a good one from a bad one, an expensive one from a cheap one. But I do know which one goes well with what food...

So while I do like a beer every night, I can happily have two home made, natural, tasty beers or ciders free from anything that factories use, which Satisfy. And that's the thing for me. Good beer/cider/wine Satisfies. You have a bottle and think, "blow me, that hit the spot" and that's that. Starkly in contrast to chugging down cans of mass market lager waiting for the haze...

 

[boozy_shoes]

I think my attitude to drinking has changed a lot since I started homebrewing. I started brewing with my housemates to make drinking cheaper as we weren't earning much and had just finished uni. I envisaged making at best OK ales and stouts to swill down our necks and styruggling to keep up with demand. After a while they lost the enthusiasm for it (and so i inherited all the the shared equipment) but I carried on.

A few years later and I live with a SWMBO and find that I enjoy the brewing at least as much as the drinking. The problem I have now is space and drinking it fast enough. I have a stash of nicely conditioned bottles but as we live in a flat the struggle is emptying the bottles to make brew days come round faster. This is hard if you drink "responsibly" but every so often i'll have a load of mates over to sample my beers, give feedback and empty a good few to help bring the brewdays round.

Out of interest, does anybody else work out how many units are in each bottle of their different brews to help keep an eye on their drinking?

 

[calumscott]

Out of interest, does anybody else work out how many units are in each bottle of their different brews to help keep an eye on their drinking?

Nope. I figure that if I'm only having a couple a day and if it's not affecting my operation as a human being then the units can take a running jump.

 

[mattrickl06]

I worked mine out a few days ago and it is around 24-25 units per week - well within "reasonable" I think

 

[alawlor66430]

Out of interest, does anybody else work out how many units are in each bottle of their different brews to help keep an eye on their drinking?

Nope. I figure that if I'm only having a couple a day and if it's not affecting my operation as a human being then the units can take a running jump.

Same with me, your body tells you whats within your limits and you should listen to that before automatically listening to what government doctors tell you, moderation is the key.

 

[Ian...]

I remember reading a post on here a few months ago from a bloke who was asking how to speed up the process as he was getting through 8 - 12 pints a day. I wonder if he's still with us!

I returned to brewing last September after a 30 year gap purely to save money, but with a niggle at the back of my mind about my self-discipline. Would this be the road to ruin, all that lovely stuff a few yards away in the garage. The first thing that struck me was the quality of the kits. They have come a long way since the 1980's and that was a very pleasurable surprise. The second thing, after several brews is I don't think I am drinking more. Slightly less if anything... I really enjoy savouring my pint. I actually went out to a pub a couple of weeks ago with my son who was back home for a couple of days and suffered a pint. Just the one. Gassed up water with a hint of hops. We went back home and had a very enjoyable couple of St Peters Red Ruby Ale. Wonderful. And I had actually made it myself (well, allright you AG lot, kind of made it myself). I stay off it during the week (mostly) and 'enjoy' the weekends, but I don't think to excess. As said above, your body soon tells you if you overstep the mark. I do think there are personality types though who are more addictive than others. And they may have a problem (if they every manage to wait until the beer is conditioned). It's a great hobby. And thanks to all who contribute here for sharing their knowledge! It makes a tremendous difference.

to all of you: a careful, considered and responsible (well most of the time) : cheers!

 

[rpt]

It concerns me how many people on here ask how to up the alcohol content of a kit or recipe because it isn't strong enough for them. Some of the nicest beers I've tried have been relatively weak. I'm also not sure you know the state of your liver until it's too late.

 

[alawlor66430]

It concerns me how many people on here ask how to up the alcohol content of a kit or recipe because it isn't strong enough for them. Some of the nicest beers I've tried have been relatively weak. I'm also not sure you know the state of your liver until it's too late.

For allot of people beginning, I think the goal is ABV but once they've done a few and start to appreciate the complexity of flavours you get in real ales I'm sure most of them will come round to brewing for flavour rather than ABV, well I hope they do anyway.

 

[ScottM]

I feel my homebrew drinking level is fine. My Wife disagrees as she feels that having a beer every night is excess. I know her relatives have had issues in the past with alcohol so possibly it's fear she has that I will be going down the same path.

The most I ever have is 2 pints on a school night. I drink them to enjoy them for what they are rather than to sit and get drunk.

At the weekend this will probably increase to 3 or 4 if sitting in, possibly a glass of wine on top.. that's at the most though.

IMO those levels are OK, well for me they are. I don't crave the alcohol/buzz and I'm certain that if I did develop any medical issues with alcohol I could immediately stop on a whim with no negative effects other than the odd pine for a pint.

When I'm out on a night out, or at a party though..... I fill my boots. That's another story though, at least it's not THAT often

 

[fbsf]

I tend to go in waves - some weeks I'll have a beer every night (although that is only 1 each night) and other weeks I'll go all week without one. It just depends on what mood I'm in and what I'm doing.

I also worried when taking up brewing that it would lead to excessive consumption, but again have found this not to be the case.

I haven't been a big drinker since my student days (*cough* years ago) - a succession of jobs that have involved driving or lengthy commutes put paid to that, and it's stuck. Now, a couple of bottles of 5% and I certainly know I've had it, which is good. It means I tend to stop there even on weekends, which results in no hangovers!

I also don't like the thought of my 11-yr old daughter seeing me drunk - I'm fine with her seeing me drink an ale, and she sometimes has wine&lemondade with a sunday roast, but I'm hoping that she will see that the flavour should be the enjoyable part, not the getting smashed out of your skull.

 

[wezil]

and she sometimes has wine&lemondade with a sunday roast, but I'm hoping that she will see that the flavour should be the enjoyable part, not the getting smashed out of your skull.

I agree it educating our kids about the pleasures of alcohol (and the drawbacks) that should be the aim. One of mine ended up with a bad hangover and now won't drink full stop!! (He was out with his mates). Our continental cousins can manage it (and have far less binge drinking problems than us) Maybe by giving their kids wine or spritzers from a young age (and keeping an eye on them) so they savour the taste, rather than reach 14ish and rush out for the alc*op*ps!