Counting carbs

[brewprint]

Does anyone know of a way to calculate grams of carbs for beer?

I have beersmith and that software calculates for calories but not carbs.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

Beer calories are going to be alcohol or carbohydrates (protein and fat are going to be none or minimal, depending on beer and style). You can take ABV to get total volume of alcohol, turn that

160 calories in 1oz pure alcohol
12oz of beer @ 6% alcohol = 0.72oz alcohol = 115 calories.
So if the total calories are 160 for the beer, less 115 alcohol calories, yields 45 carbohydrate calories, which is ~11g carbs.

 

[brewprint]

Well I ended up finding a link doing a search. Now I just need to find a yeast that will make the final gravity as low as possible. I know that brett will but I'm looking for a sacc strain.

 

[brewprint]

Beer calories are going to be alcohol or carbohydrates (protein and fat are going to be none or minimal, depending on beer and style). You can take ABV to get total volume of alcohol, turn that

160 calories in 1oz pure alcohol
12oz of beer @ 6% alcohol = 0.72oz alcohol = 115 calories.
So if the total calories are 160 for the beer, less 115 alcohol calories, yields 45 carbohydrate calories, which is ~11g carbs.

Thanks. I also found this link to a calculator: http://www.mrgoodbeer.com/carb-cal.shtml

 

[mirthfuldragon]

Well I ended up finding a link doing a search. Now I just need to find a yeast that will make the final gravity as low as possible. I know that brett will but I'm looking for a sacc strain.

Saison yeasts will attenuate very well (especially diastaticus variants). Brett can break down dextrins but works slower. Belgian strains can go pretty low, too. Basically, any dry beer will have minimal residual sugar and thus a lower final carb count.

If you are trying to lose weight, I may be able to help - I have been in the 100# lost club for going on six years (since 9/2012, from 296# in 2009).

 

[brewprint]

Saison yeasts will attenuate very well (especially diastaticus variants). Brett can break down dextrins but works slower. Belgian strains can go pretty low, too. Basically, any dry beer will have minimal residual sugar and thus a lower final carb count.

If you are trying to lose weight, I may be able to help - I have been in the 100# lost club for going on six years (since 9/2012, from 296# in 2009).

I was recently diagnosed as diabetic. I am trying to lose weight but mostly count the carbs. Currently I'm at around 100 grams per day and the weight is melting off. I also do about 30 minutes of cardio.

I do still like to have a couple of beers a day or so, so I'm trying to figure out how many carbs are in the beer. Since most craft beers don't tell you the carb count, or even the OG and FG, I'll probably just be drinking my own for the most part.

There's another strain of sacc that is 'brett like' called WLP644 that I hear gets down very low. If I do a 1.055 beer that goes to 1.001 that'll be 7% and have 9carbs. I can deal with that.

 

[passedpawn]

Saison yeasts will attenuate very well (especially diastaticus variants). Brett can break down dextrins but works slower. Belgian strains can go pretty low, too. Basically, any dry beer will have minimal residual sugar and thus a lower final carb count.

To nobody in particular: Wyeast 3711 contains S. diastaticus, and I can tell you it will attenuate way way down to near 1.000. It's important to consider this as you can easily make an undrinkable beer this way.

If you are trying to lose weight, I may be able to help - I have been in the 100# lost club for going on six years (since 9/2012, from 296# in 2009).

Woah, nice going!

 

[Lefou]

My dad is diabetic but can still drink a low ABV, low carb beer once in a while. I plan on brewing up a 3.2 Kolsch light ale for him soon.
One of the tricks is to get a very efficient mash conversion to reduce the majority of starches to glucose. This way, the yeast will eat most of the sugars. An SG of about 1.030-34 in a leichtbier style with the right yeast should do fine, mashed low around 145F-150F for about 90 mins.

A well-converted, low-gravity mash with highly diastatic grains coupled with an attenuative yeast should do the job.
Previous light beers I've done with WLP001 have given finished post-carbing gravities around 1.004 right out of the bottle.

 

[TGFV]

If extract brewing I would recommend lower ABV saisons for quick turn around or Brett beers for longer aging if you have the dedicated equipment.

You can get some amazing flavour profiles all around 1.001 with little to no problem.

 

[Jtk78]

My wife had asked me to make her a low calorie beer. I knew finished gravity being low was going to be key, so I immediately thought saison. It ended at 1.001, was about 100 calories and 5.5 carbs and 4%abv per 12 oz bottle.

 

[brewprint]

If extract brewing I would recommend lower ABV saisons for quick turn around or Brett beers for longer aging if you have the dedicated equipment.

You can get some amazing flavour profiles all around 1.001 with little to no problem.

There's no extract brewing being done here

 

[Toga]

Surprised no one suggesed lower mash temp Mash at a lower temp, and as others said use a high attenuating yeast.

Wlp099 or wlp545 will really drop the fg in a lower gravity beer mashed around 147 degrees F. Other yeast strains to look at are wlp007, and wyeast 1335.

 

[TGFV]

Surprised no one suggesed lower mash temp Mash at a lower temp, and as others said use a high attenuating yeast.

Wlp099 or wlp545 will really drop the fg in a lower gravity beer mashed around 147 degrees F. Other yeast strains to look at are wlp007, and wyeast 1335.

Primarily extract Brewer since I stepped away from biab so not really my forte or experience, but was wondering why no one else more experienced had mentioned it lol

 

[Lefou]

"Surprised no one suggested a lower mash temp"

Surprised at how some people disregard what they don't seem to read.
I would assume 145-150F at more than one hour would be an extended "low" mash temp, but what do I know?

Fact 1:
A highly diastatic mash at comparatively lower temps with very few adjuncts will take much less time to convert. The amylases will work in tandem because their active ranges overlap.

Fact 2:
Extending the mash time would allow the conversion of more complex sugars and starches, other wise known as "carbs". Likewise, slightly more water in a thinner mash allows extra medium for sugars to dissolve into solution. In other words, more water equals a lower starting gravity as hydrolysis happens.