noobie question, allergies and beer

I love beer but it doesn't love me. It tends to plug my head up. It seems the darker the beer the worse it plugs me up. The sad part is I love amber and dark beer and ales. What is in it that does this? And why the difference between light and darker beers?

Thanks, JK

Reply to
JK
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Anybody's guess. There are plenty of variables. It could be the malt, the hops, the yeast, alcohol....or the dust in your house. You may want to check with a doctor as opposed to us hobby brewers.

Reply to
Frank J. Mosca

I'll admit right off the bat that I am not a doctor, but I can make a few reasonable guesses and proposals for experimentation anyway.....

Your allergy is likely due to one of three things: 1) malt, 2) yeast, or 3) hops.

I seriously doubt the malt has anything to do with it... it's mostly just sugar... unless you are also allergic to all sorts of breads, crackers, biscuits, pie crusts, oatmeal, flour, etc., I wouldn't think this would be a problem. Therefore I also believe the darkness of the beer has very little if anything to do with it, since malt gives beer its color.

Yeast could be the culprit, however in most commercial beers the yeast is filtered out. Certainly in pilsners such as Bud, Miller, and Coors, there is little if any yeast, because the masses all want to drink something that is crystal clear and as close to water as possible. Whereas in your so-called "darker" beers, these are generally of more interesting quality and come from a variety of different brewers with varying degrees of yeast-filtering capabilities. In fact, many German and Belgian ales are SUPPOSED to be cloudy and full of yeast. If you want to see if this is your problem, suck down a nice Hacker Pschorr Weisse sometime and see if your head plugs up. Or have a local homebrew or microbrew. Have the phone number of the ambulance handy just in case. However, once again, if you are not allergic to yeast breads, then yeast is not likely to be your problem either.

Which brings me to my conclusion.... I'm guessing you may be allergic to hops. As discussed above, pilsners have very little hops, and are well-filtered. "Darker" beers have varying degrees of hops. If you want to find out if hops are your problem, first try a McEwan's Scotch Ale. This beer has very little hops and tons of malt. If this doesn't kill you, then malt is definitely not your problem, but hops still could be. Then try a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or an Anchor Liberty Ale. Those are loaded with hops. If they swell you up, then the hops could be the problem.

In general, I should mention that homebrews may have more of a tendency to bother you than commercial beers, simply because the commercial brews are usually filtered, while homebrews generally are not. So if hops or yeast is your problem, homebrews will often cause trouble.

If you are willing to run some of these experiments, and you find out which of the three is the cause of your allergy, then do a little research on beer styles and do a little more drinking to find out which ones you can get away with. I, too, would be very disappointed if I couldn't drink any dark beers at all. However it is not reasonable to lump all dark beers together in one category, because there are zillions of differences between different styles and different breweries. I believe you will be able to find many dark beers that will suit you just fine. It's just a matter of finding out first what to avoid: malt, yeast, or hops. Good luck to you.

Reply to
David M. Taylor

Most issues with allergies occur as a response to a group (family) of allergens (yes, I am afflicted with MANY allergies).

One thing that was not mentioned was SULFITES which occur in ANY fermented substance (including wine). If you look on a bottle of wine or wine coolers (wine coolers are flavored beer), you will see a notice for allergy reaction to sulfites.

If you can rub your arm with "hops" and not have a reaction (I do not suggest this without adequate [in essence: short] response time from the local EMS service), try using a generic "baking yeast", again, using a skin test. Use a "wet" refridgerated style yeast since dry yeast will not create this reaction in almost all except the highly allergic people who need 911 to respond to things like bee-stings.

Overall, I would strongly suggest you have a strong fast acting anti-histamine like liquid benadryl handy so you don't have a reaction which could cause you harm! Making beer should be fun, not dangerous....

Now for the legal jargon: Consult with your healthcare professional prior to conducting any self-imposed tests as yuo may inadvertantly injure yourself. If you choose to ignore this warning, at least have someone else around you who can dial for emergency care for you, and do so only at your own risk!

Reply to
Jonathan

meta bi sulphate is proven cause of asthma attacks ( my wife was involved in the research for this ) it appears as 220,222 (IMHO) on a Aus label. It is used as a preservative in wines

Reply to
dechucka

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