hangover?

[spudbasher]

So after trawling through the posts,seems there are a few possible different causes for a hangover , wrong or too much sugar , high final alchohol content , impatience-(?)
Am I right in thinking there is no definite answer that has been proved yet?

Thanks for all the opinions so far,

Cheers ,Spud

 

[Moley]

There probably is no definitive answer, but impatience probably came from me, and you've followed that with a bracketed question mark which I read as "WTF's that about?" so I will elaborate.

Those clever little yeasties turn sugar into alcohol plus carbon dioxide, and when you look at the chemical equation the carbons, hydrogens and oxygens all balance, except that they don't do it cleanly. On the way they make aldehydes and other nasties, which is why a fermenting brew can frequently have an acetone or a slightly vinegary whiff. That's why I say it's a mistake to rack, sulphite and stabilise a wine prematurely because the hydrometer may say that the sugar has all gone, but there could still be high levels of by-products which the yeasties haven't quite finished converting, so give them time to finish the job.

With winemaking, another problem could be tannins. We add some to juice wines which can be deficient, but they can be very high on wine grapes and some other fruits such as elderberries. They mature and dissipate slowly, which is why those wines may keep for a long time but may need a few months to a year or more to be properly drinkable.

So that's my theory - acetone, acetaldehyde, tannins and other congeners.

 

[spudbasher]

That makes sense ,I have had some acetone ,vinigary smell /taste with wine in the past, although I stored a gallon in a demijohn for about a year ,dug it out and four of us polished it off and had the most horrendous headaches the next day.This was after the pub though so the old "grapes and grain " adadge may apply here.

I know as well, over indulgence is going to do you no good whatsoever, but a lot of wine always rights me off more than a lot of beer (HB ),a purer drink do you think?

Dehydration plays a part i,m told as well.

I,m always worried that I may ferment the wine out to quickly and that this my affect the quality,I have only done two demijohns since I started up again last month, the first one seemed a bit slow in our cold kitchen so I put it next to the c.h. boiler ,it went mad and finished in 2 days (its only grape and orange wow),the second (turbo apple and pineapple) I am keeping at about 20c ,its still very vigorous but a bit slower . I racked the wow without any sulphite and am going to put it in 2lt pop bottle on Sat. Instead of priming with sugar can I back sweeten with a fruit juice to prim,sweeten and weaken ?
This is obvously not going to be a classy number but we just wanted to see how easy it would be to make these carton wines/ciders and we are very impatiant to try the first out!
Thanks for the advice ,sorry if I sounded a bit flippant,just my style,
Cheers Spud.
Oh ,also I have an 8.8pint beer keg from my local micro brewery Greenfield Brewery ,Saddleworth. can these be reused by the home brewer?

Thanks , Spud.

 

[Ken L]

Call me old fashioned but i alwas asociate hangovers with dinking to much !

 

[Yorkslad]

I agree, i usually have a few beers on a wednesday, saturday and another day if i feel like it, most i drink is 5 pints at any one time, and i feel fine the next morning. When i go all out and have say 8-10 pints, i get hangover for a short time the next day, so i say its all on the amount you drink, not really the quality of the drink.
Although in some pubs iv been in it may be to do with not cleaning pipes properly etc, as only in certain pubs i feel worse than when iv been to others.... if you get me lol

 

[fluff]

I've always got a head ache after drinking certain lager regardless of the amount so i tend to say away from them now and i'm fine even on a bender.

So there must be some chemicals at work somewhere here rather than just quantity of alcohol!

Fluff

 

[shadow47]

It was my understanding that hangovers occur because of dehydration and alcohol poisoning, the poisoning is worse with certain drinks because different yeasts/grains/fruits produce a different level of alcohols including Methanol and Fusel Oils, so some drinks might be higher in Methanol/Isobutyl or whatever giving a worse hangover than Vodka which is a lot purer because of the distillation process.

My cure is two paracetamol and a can of red bull (the cheapo Asda version lol), and I'm writing this hungover, can feel the para kicking in now

:

 

[fluff]

Hmmmm sounds like a good idea for a new thread hang over cures......???

Think i'll start one now!


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