How much sugar is left in my beer

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Wrathchild

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if I have a 5 gallon batch of beer that finished out at 1.008, how much sugar does that equate to in weight of sugar thats in my beer? It also started at 1.078
 
Your question does not have a simple answer. There are sugars that don't ferment. Some yeasts attenuate more highly than others. There are likely some proteins in there. Are you afraid your yeast gave up?
 
D.B.Moody said:
Your question does not have a simple answer. There are sugars that don't ferment. Some yeasts attenuate more highly than others. There are likely some proteins in there. Are you afraid your yeast gave up?
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Not at all. This batch attenuation was better then all my other brews. When I did the abv calculator it gave me well over 8%abv and the appearant calories was close to 270 per 12 oz bottle. Thats where I was wondering if there is a calculator to give an approximate amount of sugar by weigh thats left in the beer? If that makes any sense
 
Wrathchild said:
Not at all. This batch attenuation was better then all my other brews. When I did the abv calculator it gave me well over 8%abv and the appearant calories was close to 270 per 12 oz bottle. Thats where I was wondering if there is a calculator to give an approximate amount of sugar by weigh thats left in the beer? If that makes any sense
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I think this is all above my pay grade. :) I just don't see how it knows what's sugar and what isn't except for telling it "I added 4 oz. maltdexetrin and used yeast X which doesn't ferment sugars y and z." Seems sketchy.
 
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D.B.Moody said:
I think this is all above my pay grade. :) I just don't see how it knows what's sugar and what isn't except for telling it "I added 4 oz. maltdexetrin and used yeast X which doesn't ferment sugars y and z." Seems sketchy.
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Its a little too much personal info but I dont care when looking for answers. My doctor did bloodwork and my triglycerides are high. Everything else is great but he blames this on my homebrews being heavy with sugar that I cant metabolize. Thats why I wanted a small window of knowledge on how much sugar im actually consuming
 
Wrathchild said:
Its a little too much personal info but I dont care when looking for answers. My doctor did bloodwork and my triglycerides are high. Everything else is great but he blames this on my homebrews being heavy with sugar that I cant metabolize. Thats why I wanted a small window of knowledge on how much sugar im actually consuming
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there's always gluco, if you want to make sure it's dry....(i'd be curious how something you can't metabolize is effecting them though?)
 
bracconiere said:
there's always gluco, if you want to make sure it's dry....(i'd be curious how something you can't metabolize is effecting them though?)
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It seems there are several types of sugars in brew and I definitely don't know the breakdown but it would make sense that im not processing all of them and they are being stored in fat cells and in my bloodstream. Could also be hereditary which alot of my problems are. Im just trying to find a balance so I can still hammer homebrews cause thats what I love!
 
Wrathchild said:
Im just trying to find a balance so I can still hammer homebrews cause thats what I love!
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amen brother! definetaly with you on that! that's why i add gluco to all my beers, but for calories sake...gluco is an enzyme that breaks down larger dextrins, the unfermentable sugars so that the yeast can turn those into alcohol also....kinda homebrew light beer....

without gluco, my pudding belly would become the mitchellin man...... ;) :mug:

edit: in other words, gluco your 1.078->1.008 for 9.3% ABV & 262 calories, would become 1.078->1.000 & 10.3% ABV, 259 calories....
 
bracconiere said:
amen brother! definetaly with you on that! that's why i add gluco to all my beers, but for calories sake...gluco is an enzyme that breaks down larger dextrins, the unfermentable sugars so that the yeast can turn those into alcohol also....kinda homebrew light beer....

without gluco, my pudding belly would become the mitchellin man...... ;) :mug:

edit: in other words, gluco your 1.078->1.008 for 9.3% ABV & 262 calories, would become 1.078->1.000 & 10.3% ABV, 259 calories....
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Is that a powder you add? And when do you add it? I'd love to brew a lower calorie beer that tastes good but im brewing on a beginner primitive system and I dont have fermentation temperature control which kills me to brew a light or lager beer dang it. Ive got the high abv brew down but it comes out very sugary. Ive also under bittered alot of my brews but at the same time, that just masks the sugar
 
Wrathchild said:
if I have a 5 gallon batch of beer that finished out at 1.008, how much sugar does that equate to in weight of sugar thats in my beer? It also started at 1.078
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The calculation for residual carbohydrates in beer is a bit tricky. Basically it assumes what the FG of a ferment would be if the wort was 100% fermentable, then works out how much carbohydrate there would be to account for the actual FG (minus a little bit as a guesstimate of 'other stuff'). Easier to use a calculator like this one Beer Calories & Beer Carbohydrates
In the beer you mention above, it gives 17.9g of carbs per 12oz. How much of that is sugars? I suspect lab analysis would be the only way to know. Some online sources say the carbs in beer are from starch (which I doubt is correct), some say sugars. Where beers are listed as 0g sugar, but containing carbs, I suspect the carbs are still mostly longer chain sugars. One reference I've read said remaining sugar in beer is approximately 80% fermentable sugars and 20% ogliosaccharides (the ones we have trouble digesting). Drier beers probably have a higher percentage of ogliosaccharides, but lower carbs overall (my guess only).
 
bracconiere said:
Thanks for the compliment, but if you REALLY want something to take to the heart....check out cronometer.com...no one ever listens to me but it's a good compliment to gluco!
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Looks interesting, but I was sad after clicking the link, I was expecting a time-cube level site TimeCube.2enp.com not the original, but some of the same source material..
 
khannon said:
Looks interesting, but I was sad after clicking the link, I was expecting a time-cube level site TimeCube.2enp.com not the original, but some of the same source material..
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LOL, like i said most people aren't interested....but it's state of the art nutrition data, and with a search tool like nutritiondata.com 's, in 5-6 months you'll have your nutritionally complete diet dialed in....i've been using the old school java app CRON-O-Meter for 12 years now, works flawlessly.....
 
Wrathchild said:
if I have a 5 gallon batch of beer that finished out at 1.008, how much sugar does that equate to in weight of sugar thats in my beer? It also started at 1.078
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Ignoring proteins and other "insignificant" stuff, the OG of 1.078 would mean about 1.69 pounds of carbohydrates per gallon. (78 "points" divided by 46.21 points per pound per gallon = ~1.69 pounds per gallon)

Next, we can compute apparent attenuation:
(1.078 - 1.008) / (1.078 - 1) = ~ 89.7% Apparent Attentuation

Next, Actual Attenuation ~= Apparent Attenuation / 1.22, so...

89.7% Apparent Attenuation / 1.22 = ~73.5% Actual Attenuation

Original carbs were ~ 1.69 pounds per gallon. ~73.5% of those carbs were converted into alcohol, CO2, and some "trivial" stuff we like to ignore. So the remaining carbs are about:

1.69 pounds per gallon - (73.5% x 1.69 pounds per gallon) = ~0.45 pounds per gallon

Note: some of these residual carbs are actually sugar (maltotriose). Some are more complex dextrins. There's really no way (for us) to tell how much of each.
 
VikeMan said:
1.69 pounds per gallon - (73.5% x 1.69 pounds per gallon) = ~0.45 pounds per gallon
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That's roughly 19g per 12oz which is about a gram more than the calculator linked above. I'd guess the difference is proteins/ash/other stuff.
 

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