dannythemanny
Well-Known Member
Hi,
I am getting terrible, splitting headaches from my brews. I had put it down to over consumption, but now I'm not so sure! Yesterday, I drank a pint of 2.7% and three pints of 4.4% homebrew. I also had a double scotch (not homebrewed!). This was all consumed over about 5 hours. I feel like if I did that in the pub, I would feel completely fine today. As it is, I've got a headache and feel *very* shaky and lethargic. Something else that seems to happen to distinguish this from a typical hangover headache is that it often starts in the middle of the night. If I get a hangover, it usually doesn't really kick in until the morning, but this wakes me up with a migraine in the early hours. In addition, I feel like I get a bit of a headrush after drinking just a small amount of homebrew, and sometimes get flushed cheeks at the same time. Could be hypervigilance on my part, though.
I have a few thoughts as to potential explanations for this...
1 - I am a bit older than i used to be, so now get hangovers from less alcohol. I am putting it down to homebrew because I haven't been to the pub in a while.
2 - Something in the being process is causing it. What that could be, I've no idea. I brew all grain with a Klarstein all in one system. I use silicone hoses, not vinyl or pvc. I get my water from an outdoor tap, but I'm pretty confident there's nothing wrong with that water. I keep my fermenters in an outbuilding with heat belts to keep them from dropping below 16C, generally. The weather has not yet been warm enough for them to get much above 17C, which as I understand it should eliminate problems with fusels.
3 - Sulphites: I use campden tablets as part of my water treatment. Half a tablet in 33L of water. I have read that this can leave sulphites which done are allergic to. I don't have reactions to wine, though, and it seems a miniscule amount.
4 - CO2: I'm wondering if the CO2 I'm using contains Benzene or some other nasty, even though it is labelled "food grade". I've heard that food grade might mean it's suitable for food packaging, not consumption, and that we ought to use "beverage grade", but I'm not even sure that exists in the UK! I did read on a forum somewhere that someone had a similar issue to me and when he switched gas supplier, he immediately stopped getting the headaches, etc. He had been getting it from a welder's supply, I think.
Curious to hear if anyone else has experienced this and what people reckon. I plan to have an evening of drinking a similar amount of commercial beer to see how I feel the next day, and also to use the gas to carbonate water in an empty corny and drink four or five pints of it!
Cheers.
I am getting terrible, splitting headaches from my brews. I had put it down to over consumption, but now I'm not so sure! Yesterday, I drank a pint of 2.7% and three pints of 4.4% homebrew. I also had a double scotch (not homebrewed!). This was all consumed over about 5 hours. I feel like if I did that in the pub, I would feel completely fine today. As it is, I've got a headache and feel *very* shaky and lethargic. Something else that seems to happen to distinguish this from a typical hangover headache is that it often starts in the middle of the night. If I get a hangover, it usually doesn't really kick in until the morning, but this wakes me up with a migraine in the early hours. In addition, I feel like I get a bit of a headrush after drinking just a small amount of homebrew, and sometimes get flushed cheeks at the same time. Could be hypervigilance on my part, though.
I have a few thoughts as to potential explanations for this...
1 - I am a bit older than i used to be, so now get hangovers from less alcohol. I am putting it down to homebrew because I haven't been to the pub in a while.
2 - Something in the being process is causing it. What that could be, I've no idea. I brew all grain with a Klarstein all in one system. I use silicone hoses, not vinyl or pvc. I get my water from an outdoor tap, but I'm pretty confident there's nothing wrong with that water. I keep my fermenters in an outbuilding with heat belts to keep them from dropping below 16C, generally. The weather has not yet been warm enough for them to get much above 17C, which as I understand it should eliminate problems with fusels.
3 - Sulphites: I use campden tablets as part of my water treatment. Half a tablet in 33L of water. I have read that this can leave sulphites which done are allergic to. I don't have reactions to wine, though, and it seems a miniscule amount.
4 - CO2: I'm wondering if the CO2 I'm using contains Benzene or some other nasty, even though it is labelled "food grade". I've heard that food grade might mean it's suitable for food packaging, not consumption, and that we ought to use "beverage grade", but I'm not even sure that exists in the UK! I did read on a forum somewhere that someone had a similar issue to me and when he switched gas supplier, he immediately stopped getting the headaches, etc. He had been getting it from a welder's supply, I think.
Curious to hear if anyone else has experienced this and what people reckon. I plan to have an evening of drinking a similar amount of commercial beer to see how I feel the next day, and also to use the gas to carbonate water in an empty corny and drink four or five pints of it!
Cheers.
