64 Calories

I am new in the whole home brewing hobby. With that said, i am on my 4th batch and my 1st all grain. I have no clue how many calories are in my home brew is it close to commercial brewers?? What makes a low calorie beer so low in cals? Could we make them as well? Thanks for any replies Jeff

 

low calorie beer scares me, most likely using 6 row barley instead of 2 row and a lot of adjuncts like corn or rice. And yes this is homebrew you can make any kind of beer you want, but I wouldnt go around bragging about low calorie beer

 

It was mostly my Girlfriend hounding me about beer questions and i had no answer for her Thanks hopsalot

 

Calories in beer are largely from the alcohol. Less alcohol will typically yield less calories. There's other factors like un-fermented sugars, but alcohol is a big caloric player

 

its home brew, you shouldnt be worrying about the calories! i just account for a few extra calories in my day so i can drink a beer or two.

 

Tupoly is right about the alcohol. I know some people who think beer has more calories than wine because it is "bulkier," but that's wrong.

Most beer is between 125 and 200 calories per 12 oz. 64 is ridiculously low.

 

IIRC lite beer is also thinner with fewer calories because a chunk of the dextrines are made fermentable by tossing in some extra enzymes. The highly fermentable wort is then diluted.

 

Just take 2 tablespoons of homebrew, put it in a 16 oz. glass and top off with water. Wallah! Instant MGD-64!

 

Or just get her a smaller glass. A 6oz glass has half the calories of a 12oz glass!

 

There are some calculators that guesstimate calories in homebrew based on attenuation/alcohol content, if I am not mistaken. BrewCalcs: Free Homebrewing Calculations is one example.

 

If you have a program like beersmith, it will calculate the calories for you in any recipe you make. Higher alcohol beers can have a ton of calories in them, so they can add up quick!

 

I was just cranking up a California Honey Steam brew on Beersmith - and it came out at about 258 calories if I remember. This was for a 5.6% brew with an OG of 1.058

I'd hate to think what I'd have to cut out to get it down to 64 calories.... or even 128.

My comment would be - "Does anyone ever ask Grandma to make her delicious home-made desserts in a low calorie version?" Low calorie is marketing....... they get to sell you two or three times the amount of beer - cause you drink twice as much - while getting the mental reward of "diet" beer, without any of the flavor of real beer.

 

When I want a low calorie drink, I drink water. When i want beer I don't concern myself with the calorie content.

As mentioned many recipe calculators like Beersmith will give you an estimated calorie content for your beer. If you want to make a lower calorie beer then you need to make a lower alcohol beer that ferments very dry. You can do this by mashing at low temperatures and/or using a considerable amount of corn sugar in the wort. Ofcourse the result will have very little flavor and so will very difficult to get good results.

You are much better off buying your significant other her MGD-64 and brewing good beer for yourself.

Craig

PS my imperial stout has over 500 calories per 12oz serving and I love it.

 

I think that going from 1.023 down to 1.003 might get you pretty close to MGD 64......not something that interests me too much

 

It's already been digested by someone then deposited in the bottle. You might want a lemon with that.

 

To me, worrying about the caloric content in beer is like worrying about the gas mileage of a Ferrari.

 

About the close I can get without spending more time than I want to in Beersmith is by going from 1.017 to 1.001, which nets 70 calories per pint --53 of those coming from alcohol.

May as well drink water, this is a 2.1 abv beer.

 

This is so sig worthy

Craig

 

If you're worried about calories from alcohol, this might be of some interest...
Alcohol, Calories, and Weight

 

I'm just starting to get my wife away from those clear, fruity, alcoholic beverages that I just can't bring myself to label as beer. Started her on Corona, now we're moving very slowly up to brown ales.

When she finally starts to ask about caloric content of homebrew, I have a very simple response in mind. I'm just going to lie my tail off.

 

Or you could just print out the linked article above your post and give that to her.

I like that Euros consider 4-5 drinks per day to be 'drinking in moderation'. Apparently I'm 'under-drinking' and need to pick up the pace.

 

To further sweeten the deal, the TV show "Manswers," showed a few studies that linked beer drinking to an increase in breast size among women. Granted, it was a very small increase, and only after consuming large quantities of beer over an extended time... but I can conveniently forget to mention that last part.

 

I am honored! Thanks....

 

Trying to be constructive...

I've had commercial beer brewed with champagne yeast. Would this give a low Final Gravity? And aiming for something about 3.8%-4% would still produce a nice home brew that was lighter on the calorie front even if only a little bit... Correct?

 

I think you'll find the added alcohol will negate most of the benefit of reduced sugar.
A pint of normal beer is very roughly around 250 calories. Increased body or Alcohol will increase this.

Weight for weigh alcohol contains almost twice the calories as sugar.
Any one want to do the rest of the maths?

 

It might increase the breast size of men as well. I have a body-building friend that mentioned drinking increases estrogen levels, which subsequently impacts sexual characteristics in men and women.

Granted, I highly, highly doubt low to moderate drinking will cause any negatives in this regard. Notable changes would probably only occur in an alcoholic.

It had me curious, though, by exactly what mechanism the estrogen was introduced. Either by an estrogen-like chemical being present in the booze, or the booze physically damaging hormone centers and causing an imbalance...

 

I believe there are estrogen like chemicals in hops and hence beer. But I'm open to correction.

 

Hops have compounds similar chemically to estrogen, but not estrogenic effects. Alcohol of any sort, on the other hand, raises estrogen levels in men, particularly the day after. To the best of my knowledge, this is only pronounced and significant with heavy drinking, and then for only a short time afterwards.

But if you're drinking heavily every day.....well, if you're drinking heavily every day then hormone levels are probably the least of your concerns.

 

Good call

 

I think excess drinking leads to increased size all over the body....especially areas like the belly, butt, and breast