Why No Hangovers?

[rob brown]

So, I have not been on this site or werkin the copper all Summer. I shelved so much Rum, CornMash, Vodka, and Strawberry whatever, all I needed to do was drink to hide the evidence.

I've never been a lightweight. I've been a hard likker drinker since 12yo. I started to get hangovers at about 19yo. Now, in my early 50s, I get no hangover whatsoever when I drink my own distillates. I wake-up feeling fine. Literally no negative effects.

I nearly always drink my dark rum straight on ice at 100proof to 80p. Vodka is always 100 proof jars always, on ice with a splash of fruit juice. The Corn W., I'll drink it when I feel like a corn flavour, at 100pr. I'll kill a half-pint of anything in a night, but no more, ever.

I also never get stinkin/embarrassing drunk either. I'm in control.

I got some friends who are hesitant to drink HomeCraft Distillate to begin with. If I had a good explanation for the missing hangover and cooler buzz, they may man-up. Any input?

[Prairiepiss]

Proper cuts remove the stuff that cause hangovers. Store bought stuff is made for profit. They make more by including the stuff that causes hangovers.

[rob brown]

That's bloody shocking and insane!
Is mine a common experience among home crafting?

[Prairiepiss]

Yes it is. And is what draws a lot of people to this craft. If you do a search. You will find this published all over the net.

[redmud]

I never knew that hang overs weren't included with home made likker,until I made mY own my cousin owns a brew store and she has been making beer, wine, and honey Mead for years and every year she has a big Independance day party on the 4th of July you can drink her homebrew from sun up to sun up with no hang over she says its her yeast selection and temps she keeps the wash/mash as it ferments

[ga flatwoods]

Real "MOONSHINERS" don't use yeast that's what gives the hangovers! Don't you watch the show! No, well don't believe that bullshit either. It is indeed the cleaner cuts. Can you imagine the alcoholism rate in the world if distillers didn't sell a product for profit that didn't contain the bad stuff. Probably a good thing that they do!
Ga Flatwoods

[Doogie]

Shamefully, I once tested this theory on myself.

See, I was at the cottage, it was hot out, I had the tunes in, and was cooking some good Lord lovin jerk chicken on an open fire slowly. I started at noon, and well, by 9pm drinking Molassas rum at 180 proof (at a reasonable pace), I forgot everything.

Apparently I was talking quite a bit, brushed my teeth, went to bed.

Got up at 8 am the next morning, chugged some water and was fine for the day. Yes, I took a break

Point is what experienced distillers know - cutting out the crap at the beginning, not being greedy, can produce all the fun without much payback the next day.

[Just a Biker]

That's bloody shocking and insane!
Is mine a common experience among home crafting?

There are a couple of reasons distilleries do this, but short story long they have to make money.

The government forces distilleries to pay tax on every drop they make. They do not care if it fores, heads, hearts, or tails, to the government it is only one thing… money. They do not even care if the new guys spilled it, you pay tax on every drop out of the still.

(Excluding some micro distilleries) the big boys run continuous stills. Meaning just that, they never shut down and new mash is pumped in to replace the spent mash. So there is no way to make “proper cuts” now they do attempt to remove some of the worst stuff. But it is another reason they age their products for so long, to breakdown or mellow the nastiest stuff.

These are two of the largest reasons commercial spirits cause hangovers and properly produced home distilled does not. I have had success in explaining these two facts to folks, but some just don’t believe it. The media has done a real good job of demonizing “moonshine” as dangerous poison that makes drunken hillbillies go blind.

[bellybuster]

I never knew that hang overs weren't included with home made likker,until I made mY own my cousin owns a brew store and she has been making beer, wine, and honey Mead for years and every year she has a big Independance day party on the 4th of July you can drink her homebrew from sun up to sun up with no hang over she says its her yeast selection and temps she keeps the wash/mash as it ferments

She, my man, obviously knows something no one else does. Would love to have her recipes. Standard ferments include all the hangover components, some more, some less. Distillation and cuts is the only way to remove them (at least some)

[OBX Phantom]

my cousin owns a brew store and she has been making beer, wine, and honey Mead for years and every year she has a big Independance day party on the 4th of July you can drink her homebrew from sun up to sun up with no hang over she says its her yeast selection and temps she keeps the wash/mash as it ferments

Don't know how this could be possible. Beer, wine, and meade, would still have all of the congeners that cause hangovers. Yes, some yeasts, and ferment temps. will help reduce them, But the only way to remove them is to distill, and make proper cuts.

[Prairiepiss]

Have you guys never drank wine or beer. And not had a hangover? I have had a few good beers and wines that didn't give me a hangover. Not very often. But it has happened. So I beleave it is possible.

[LWTCS]

Have you guys never drank wine or beer. And not had a hangover? I have had a few good beers and wines that didn't give me a hangover. Not very often. But it has happened. So I beleave it is possible.

Keep the ABV down and sure it is,,,,with in reason.

[Fastill]

Have you guys never drank wine or beer. And not had a hangover? I have had a few good beers and wines that didn't give me a hangover. Not very often. But it has happened. So I beleave it is possible.

I heard Sulfites like campden can be a major part of the hangover experience in wines.
Good homebrew beer that is bottle carbonated has the sediment that is high in B-vitamins, also believed to reduce hangovers, according to Charlie P. in one of his books.

[rob brown]

That's bloody shocking and insane!
Is mine a common experience among home crafting?

There are a couple of reasons distilleries do this, but short story long they have to make money.

The government forces distilleries to pay tax on every drop they make. They do not care if it fores, heads, hearts, or tails, to the government it is only one thing… money. They do not even care if the new guys spilled it, you pay tax on every drop out of the still.

(Excluding some micro distilleries) the big boys run continuous stills. Meaning just that, they never shut down and new mash is pumped in to replace the spent mash. So there is no way to make “proper cuts” now they do attempt to remove some of the worst stuff. But it is another reason they age their products for so long, to breakdown or mellow the nastiest stuff.

These are two of the largest reasons commercial spirits cause hangovers and properly produced home distilled does not. I have had success in explaining these two facts to folks, but some just don’t believe it. The media has done a real good job of demonizing “moonshine” as dangerous poison that makes drunken hillbillies go blind.

THAT sounds so dead-on plausible and probable for our taxation. And that is sick! And that pisses me off to no end with the way the media has been calling shine poison, blinding, etc. One show this year sold itself (in the promos) as "exploring what has been blinding these natives." It was a show on shine in the 3rd world, but they totally dropped the blindness bullshit.

So now I get. And now there's one more establishment product category I'll have nothing to do with.

[BourbonStreet]

I never got hangovers from store-bought booze, but never got much of a buzz, either. Must be in my genes. I started making my own stuff, and the difference is huge! I can now smell heads a mile off.

I realized, like you did, that commercial liquor is full of heads. The foreshots smell like acetone or gasoline, and I dump them ASAP. The first time I did AG, they were nauseating. Now I know why JD tastes so bad.

I blend to about 110 proof, and put it on ice.
It's a very good anesthetic. Even my other half, who was a skeptic at first, was impressed.
After a shot or two, I'm good for the night, and wake up fine.

[Odin]

I never had much of a head-ache from store bought stuff.

But since I make & drink my own, it is as if I am used to the better quaility of homemade.

Now even two or three glasses of store bought stuff can give me a hangover.

Odin.

[Sleeping_Lifeguard]

a family friend says he doesn't use sulfates in his wine, and so it is hangover-free. i don't know enough about making wine to question him on it.

my first whiskeys i thought i was to collect a lot of the heads for the flavour, and for later runs cut out most of the heads to collect more tails. besides a quality change, it really becomes surprising how the first-batch whiskeys will give me a headache after just two or three, whereas the later versions feel so much better. it's a neater aspect of this hobby that you can change up procedures up and see for yourself.

[LWTCS]

it's a neater aspect of this hobby that you can change up procedures up and see for yourself.

+1
One of my favorite parts of the hobby.

[rcs1]

I used to make wine out of welches frozen grape juice never got a head ake if i drink store bought i am hurting all the next day

[Prairiepiss]

I realized, like you did, that commercial liquor is full of heads. The foreshots smell like acetone or gasoline, and I dump them ASAP. The first time I did AG, they were nauseating. Now I know why JD tastes so bad.

JD has a mobile distillery tour. Part of the tour talks about the sugar maple charcoal filtering. And how it smooths out the product. They had two brass trays sticking out of the wall. So you could lift the lid and smell the differences. One had white dog straight off the still. The other had what they get after filtering. The white dog smelled like pure heads. I held it open so my wife could smell. She said close it I can smell the heads from here. The other was a little better. But still nothing I would keep. And really I thing the added smell from the filter media was just masking some of the heads smell. I know oak aging will change those heads to what some consider good flavors. But there is no amount of oak or time to get rid of the heads contained in their white dog.

[brantoken]

also cleaner fermentation can help a whole lots, unstressed yeast produce less heads and tails.
but everybody know that right...if not let your stuff ferment at 95 degrees F and see how that works out.

[rob brown]

I have learned SO much from this thread! Thank you ALL!!!

[ibfestus]

A long time ago a friend told me he could drink copious amounts of alcohol and never have a hangover because he drank nothing but good high dollar booze.

I took his advice and the next evening I drank a fifth of Glenlivet 21, followed by a fifth of Wild Turkey, after which I did not even stumble...Hell, I couldn't get off the floor.

Bottom line is, my friend lied! I know that because I had a helluva hangover the next day.

[Prairiepiss]

Wild turkey is good high dollar booze?

[ibfestus]

Wild turkey is good high dollar booze?

After a fifth of Glenlivet, most anything is pretty good.

[bearriver]

Ketel one apparently does not sell the first and last third of the alcohol their single run pot stills produce.
(Obviously not a US distillery)

Does anyone else advertise that they make cuts?

[Jkhippie]

Ketel one apparently does not sell the first and last third of the alcohol their single run pot stills produce.
(Obviously not a US distillery)

Does anyone else advertise that they make cuts?

Vodka from a single pot still run? Okay.....? Any word on what happens to the unsold portion? Redistilled? Colored blue and sold as Windex?

[bearriver]

They advertise column distillation, followed by a pot still distillation where cuts are made. (Backwards I would think)

Not specific on the size of the cuts, but they only retain, then filter the hearts. Taking the seperated and filtered hearts, they blend them accordingly.

So 1/3 thing I regurgitated could be outdated, crap, or true. I cant find any reliable sources. Yet...

[friendly1uk]

Peeps have different reactions. Some of the worse effects of drinking come from stuff other than ethanol, but ethanol alone can cause most symptoms. It is often the heavily coloured drinks such as red wine that are the worst, and this represents the kind of hangover people seem to be talking about.

iirc to counteract dehydration alone 200ml of water is needed both before and after a shot. It sounds a lot, but a shot in a 250ml tall glass makes me want a glass of water afterwards which clears me up for another glass. Otherwise my brain shirks and slows and I quit after a 3rd. Keep the water coming and I drink many times more. In line with medical trials using pure alcohol.



I think tax on ethanol depends on what you use it for here in the uk. £9.56 a litre on 100% abv for drinking, While a liter of bio-ethanol for fuel can be bought for 80% less. So we can probably chuck out whatever we please and pay nothing. When I look what cuts go in various blends, and what I pay, there is no way the full tax amount is paid on waste.

[501outlaw]

Most headaches are dehydration related !!! I've always done 3 to 1 and never got a headache