Calculating residual sugar from ABV/FG

[QuadConPana]

Obviously, the reason gravity drops after fermentation is that ETOH has a lower gravity than sugars. So, all other things being equal, an 8% beer at 1.016 should have less sugar than a 4% beer at the same FG.

Has anyone ever seen a calculator that will let me determine residual sugar based on ABV/FG?

 

[Yooper]

Obviously, the reason gravity drops after fermentation is that ETOH has a lower gravity than sugars. So, all other things being equal, an 8% beer at 1.016 should have less sugar than a 4% beer at the same FG.

What?

The non-fermentable sugars remaining in the beer are long-chained carbohydrates (dextrins) instead of more simple sugars that can be broken down by brewer's yeast. That's where the body and mouthfeel come from.

Something like a barleywine may have 10% residual sugar, while a beer like a cream ale may have far less. Attenuation (the fermentation of the sugars of the wort) plays a huge role.

A higher gravity wort will make a beer with a higher residual sugars, in general, since about 25% of the wort as a general number come from unfermentable type of dextrines.