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Post by bklmt2000 on May 20, 2020 15:29:17 GMT -6
Started last night. Drastic action was needed, so I'm drying out for the next 30 days. No booze/beer of any kind. I already feel a bit better since yesterday.
Been drinking too much, for too long, and the beer I usually brew is rather high-octane, as in 6-7%+. More than a few stressful personal issues that I dealt with over the last year didn't help: sister's sudden death, my biological family's BS afterwards, having to put down 2 cats this year (with the first cat, we knew it was time, the other I posted about here was much more sudden). Not mention the pandemic we're all impacted by.
Started brewing more to keep up with my increasing consumption, which only made things worse instead of better. Sleep quality went down the crapper, more frequent/intense hangovers, drinking earlier in the day, etc. No bueno, mis amigos.
Told my wife of my plan, which she heartily supported. I'm also rethinking my ABV targets for when I start brewing again in a few weeks; might be a good time to make 5.5-6% the upper limit instead of a starting point; I'm thinking abv %s in the upper 4s/low 5s should be safe enough to enjoy a pint or 2 without risking trouble.
Cheers all.
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Post by jimdkc on May 20, 2020 15:34:01 GMT -6
It's good that you recognize it's becoming a problem. Hopefully you can get a handle on it. Best of luck!
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Post by bklmt2000 on May 20, 2020 15:42:55 GMT -6
It's good that you recognize it's becoming a problem. Hopefully you can get a handle on it. Best of luck!
Many thanks.
One thing that runs in my bio family is alcoholism (mother's side): grandmother (mom's mom, deceased 15 years ago) was a confessed alcoholic for over 60 yrs before one day, completely out of the blue, she quit, cold turkey. Mom's sister is still alive, but has struggled badly with controlling the booze; she's had several serious health issues because of it, and so far as I know, hasn't stopped.
A few years ago, my sister mentioned that she was having drinking problems, to the point of putting away a 750ml of undiluted vodka a week. For her, that was an enormous amount of booze, and it bothered her so much, she did the same thing Gram did and stopped the booze on a dime. So far as I know, once she stopped, she never had another drop.
Not sure I have to go to that length, but I'm certain my liver (hell, all of me) will benefit greatly from a break from beer.
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Post by jkor on May 20, 2020 15:49:43 GMT -6
Best of luck. I'm glad you caught it when you did. I will vouch for lower alcohol beers, I've been going down that route for a while. There are quite a few beers now that are even below 4% that are pretty decent. Speaking for myself, i find that ~4.5% is my inflection point. I seem to be able to drink 4% beers essentially non-stop without going overboard, at 4.5% I have to pay attention by 5% I can only have a couple before it's sleepytime. Sometimes it depends what i'm doing but there's a pretty good shot that if I'm working outside a 5% beer will cut my working time in half, 4.5% will knock off a few hours but a 4.0% won't slow me down. i usually drink Harpoon Rec League IPA (3.8%) while doing yard work. Of course a lot of this is tolerance. I've worked my tolerance down over the years (unintentionally) by restricting drinking to one or two beers a day and progressively going lower ABV.
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Post by bklmt2000 on May 20, 2020 16:57:26 GMT -6
Best of luck. I'm glad you caught it when you did. I will vouch for lower alcohol beers, I've been going down that route for a while. There are quite a few beers now that are even below 4% that are pretty decent. Speaking for myself, i find that ~4.5% is my inflection point. I seem to be able to drink 4% beers essentially non-stop without going overboard, at 4.5% I have to pay attention by 5% I can only have a couple before it's sleepytime. Sometimes it depends what i'm doing but there's a pretty good shot that if I'm working outside a 5% beer will cut my working time in half, 4.5% will knock off a few hours but a 4.0% won't slow me down. i usually drink Harpoon Rec League IPA (3.8%) while doing yard work. Of course a lot of this is tolerance. I've worked my tolerance down over the years (unintentionally) by restricting drinking to one or two beers a day and progressively going lower ABV.
I'm hoping the next month helps reset my tolerance down, hopefully a lot. That, and focusing on making lower-abv beers.
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Post by Ken on May 20, 2020 17:15:00 GMT -6
It's good to see the acknowledgement of this. Occasionally over the last 10 years or so I have also reflected on it too. Drinking every day or close to every day, drinking beer from the tap so there is no evidence of how many beers you've had, etc. In February, March and April of this year I cut back. I would drink a couple of beers two days a week and the rest of the week it was coffee and water. I didn't have any specific symptoms but I just felt better when I watched it. Almost all of my beers are in the 4-5% range. If I break 5% it's really rare. B2000, I know you like to make 6-7% beers and if I did that and also drank at all hours of the day, I know I would be sleeping by 6pm. Remember too that I turned 55 this year. I'm getting crusty. I still love my beer and I'm having a beer right now and it's my 3rd of the evening. But I didn't drink the last two days. I'm just being more mindful of it and it sounds like B is being more mindful of it as well. Drink some, eat some, everything in moderation and if you're the type of person who can recognize that too much is too much... just take a break for a bit. Do I have to post this snip of Homer at a baseball game during a 30-day beer fast?
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Post by chils on May 20, 2020 18:50:38 GMT -6
Folks start shaking by day 2 in the hospital. If you're at day 4 with no symptoms you got it made.
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Post by jkor on May 20, 2020 19:57:38 GMT -6
I ran out of beer Saturday, so i'm good too. . I thought my homebrew would be ready this week but looks like i'm going to need to let me citra session sit longer than expected due to the massive dryhop. I may need to buy some beer for the long weekend.
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Post by bklmt2000 on May 20, 2020 20:14:25 GMT -6
Folks start shaking by day 2 in the hospital. If you're at day 4 with no symptoms you got it made.
I was reading up on alcohol withdrawl symptoms earlier; scary stuff that is.
So far, things seem ok. No shakes, no irritability, and a feeling of being lightheaded (off and on the last several days) is completely gone. Clearest I've felt in a long while.
Appetite at dinner was 90% back to normal (appetite had been way down the last several weeks; probably why I'm down over 20lbs since late February).
We'll see what tomorrow brings, but these seem like encouraging signs to me.
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Post by chils on May 20, 2020 20:37:37 GMT -6
Folks start shaking by day 2 in the hospital. If you're at day 4 with no symptoms you got it made.
I was reading up on alcohol withdrawl symptoms earlier; scary stuff that is.
So far, things seem ok. No shakes, no irritability, and a feeling of being lightheaded (off and on the last several days) is completely gone. Clearest I've felt in a long while.
Appetite at dinner was 90% back to normal (appetite had been way down the last several weeks; probably why I'm down over 20lbs since late February).
We'll see what tomorrow brings, but these seem like encouraging signs to me.
Hope ya cruise thru it with no problems. I've seen some rough stuff in the hospital. Some alcohol detox so bad they were put in a chemical induced coma and intubated on a ventilator to get them thru it. Keep a handle on things tomorrow and keep family close to monitor what's happening. ETOH detox is worse than herion.
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Post by Ken on May 20, 2020 21:07:13 GMT -6
There is also gout (painful from what I have heard) and also 'alcohol nuerosis' which starts messing with your legs, feet, etc. It seems like you need to be drinking more distilled alcohol to get to that point but the bottom line is that we have variables... what are you drinking, how often, what are your genetics, do you have other factors, etc. Still... enjoy it but don't get to the point where you have enjoyed it so much that you can't enjoy it anymore. That would suck.
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Post by poptop on May 21, 2020 12:25:11 GMT -6
B2000, you got this. And upon return, definitely lower 'some' of the abv's. It's always nice to have a bigger one handing around too but mine average between 5 to 5.5
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Post by bklmt2000 on May 21, 2020 12:49:09 GMT -6
B2000, you got this. And upon return, definitely lower 'some' of the abv's. It's always nice to have a bigger one handing around too but mine average between 5 to 5.5
Thank you brother. And yes, future abv's will lower than what i'd been making. I think 6% is a reasonable cap, but as an actual cap, and not a routine abv; also being mindful of how much I'm putting away will be important, too.
It'll be an adventure to see what I can whip up in the 4.5-5.5% range, b/c I'm really after flavor more than anything.
Might have to hit up Brother Ken's website for some recipe ideas. Or take some of my own and scale them down.
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Post by drez on May 21, 2020 13:53:09 GMT -6
B2000, you got this. And upon return, definitely lower 'some' of the abv's. It's always nice to have a bigger one handing around too but mine average between 5 to 5.5
Thank you brother. And yes, future abv's will lower than what i'd been making. I think 6% is a reasonable cap, but as an actual cap, and not a routine abv; also being mindful of how much I'm putting away will be important, too.
It'll be an adventure to see what I can whip up in the 4.5-5.5% range, b/c I'm really after flavor more than anything.
Might have to hit up Brother Ken's website for some recipe ideas. Or take some of my own and scale them down.
Scaling down is a good approach. I just created a recipe this morning for a Czech Pils that is under 4% with a 1.038 OG. There are lots of great session beers. Take a look at the website for Notch Brewing to get an idea. They only do session beers. You got this!
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Post by Ken on May 21, 2020 14:23:26 GMT -6
... more frequent/intense hangovers ... On this topic, I had to try to remember the last time I actually had a hangover. Whenever it was it was awhile ago and it was probably when I was out somewhere drinking commercial pale ale that was 6.5% and drinking them like they were my 4.8% homebrews. I also have to believe the stories about residual yeast in homebrew helping to get around hangovers. I know I have been overserved on my own grog many times only to wake up feeling on top of the world. There are issues with putting away too much beer but that has not been one of them for me. I agree with the experts on the panel... you got this.
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