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seanog

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Have been brewing Solomon Grundy Kits for over 20 years, but putting on weight. I must add 4 Kg. sugar with these 30 bottle kits. I am thinking of changing to the kits where you do not need to add sugar. Will there be fewer Calories in these kits? There are 3870 Calories in 1 kg Sugar. I use 4 Kg = 15480 Cal. What I’m trying to say is….I get 30 bottles…..30 bottles of shop wine contains nearly 20000 cal…..nearly 5000 more!!!!
 
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Assuming that the 4kg of sugar you add is going to be fermented ...

Any residual sugar which does not get "fermented away" adds calories.
As well, there are also calories in the actual straight alcohol content.

For instance, Everclear 190 (which is 95% pure alcohol) has 190 calories in 1 ounce.
Using those numbers ... for something (wine etc) which contains 9.5% ABV; the *alcohol* portion of the calories would be 19 calories per ounce.
To determine the calories in a given wine ... you would have to add the "alcohol calories" to the "residual sugar calories" to get the total.
 
Is this sugar you are asking about getting fermented out?
 
Thanks, but you've lost me. How do you measure an "ounce" of wine?

1 US fluid ounce is about 29.6 ml.

If you look around online, there are calculators that will estimate the calories in your fermented beverage based on the starting and finishing gravities.
 
Yes, if you are brewing a wine kit and add 4 kg. sugar....where else would calories come from but the sugar, surely?
 
Thanks, but you've lost me. How do you measure an "ounce" of wine?
my referring to "an ounce" was just to illustrate that there is a certain number of calories that are the result of the alcohol alone.

bottom line ...
you'd need to do an estimate of the calories from alcohol and and estimate of calories from the remaining sugars in the wine, and add them, to get a calorie total.
 
At the moment I add 4 Kg. of sugar to a Solomon Grundy 7 Day medium dry red.
I am looking at a Beaverdale Cabernet Sauvignon with no added sugar.
Will it have less Calories than thse Solomon Grundy Kit?
 
At the moment I add 4 Kg. of sugar to a Solomon Grundy 7 Day medium dry red.
I am looking at a Beaverdale Cabernet Sauvignon with no added sugar.
Will it have less Calories than thse Solomon Grundy Kit?

This ABV calculator also tells calories, so just input your starting and finishing gravities.

Again, you haven't made it clear whether you are fermenting the sugar or adding it at the end to sweeten the wine, which will make a big difference in calories. If you are sweetening at the end, the calculation is more complicated so let us know and we can help with that.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/
 
Have been brewing Solomon Grundy Kits for over 20 years, but putting on weight. I must add 4 Kg. sugar with these 30 bottle kits. I am thinking of changing to the kits where you do not need to add sugar. Will there be fewer Calories in these kits? There are 3870 Calories in 1 kg Sugar. I use 4 Kg = 15480 Cal. What I’m trying to say is….I get 30 bottles…..30 bottles of shop wine contains nearly 20000 cal…..nearly 5000 more!!!!
That sounds like a huge amount of sugar to me. I made a batch today which was for a light summer pale ale and the recipe required only 1Kg of sugar and 2lbs malt (with fresh green hops from the freezer) for 32 (UK) pints. That will give an alcoholic content of 3.6%. If I double the malt and reduce the sugar by 1/4 the end result will 6% of alcohol.
 
Have been brewing Solomon Grundy Kits for over 20 years, but putting on weight. I must add 4 Kg. sugar with these 30 bottle kits. I am thinking of changing to the kits where you do not need to add sugar. Will there be fewer Calories in these kits? There are 3870 Calories in 1 kg Sugar. I use 4 Kg = 15480 Cal. What I’m trying to say is….I get 30 bottles…..30 bottles of shop wine contains nearly 20000 cal…..nearly 5000 more!!!!
Ah, sorry, I thought you were making beer.
 
This ABV calculator also tells calories, so just input your starting and finishing gravities.

Again, you haven't made it clear whether you are fermenting the sugar or adding it at the end to sweeten the wine, which will make a big difference in calories. If you are sweetening at the end, the calculation is more complicated so let us know and we can help with that.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/
That’s a terrific site, Marc, thank you for that.
 
What you’re missing is that once your 4kg of sugar have fermented, it’s no longer sugar, thus does not have the same caloric value.

Over simplifying here but, residual sugar + alcohol = calories

@bracconiere can probably elaborate, he’s got the low cal thing all figured out
 
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@Kickass 🤣 funny you mention me! i was drinking sugar wash yesterday, with orange juice. 14% ABV...surprisingly good actually....


But anyway for my calorie counting....it has a SG of ~1.012, a BRIX of 12.9...

1652450171798.png


1652450229379.png


so alcohol has 7 calories a gram..14% ABV is 11% ABW...so i multiplied 1280 oz's by .117 to get my alcohol...then calculated how many grams of sugar were in it which has 4 calories a gram...

(i figured this would be good enough i didn't need to get into it as far as calculating the SG Difference between alcohol and water...)

@seanog Do you have a refrac and hydrometer?

and i entered it into this program, and let it do the calculating for me! ;)

i've been using it for 12 years...it's how i manage to drink as much as i do, still only weigh ~176lbs, and my liver is in good shape...

https://sourceforge.net/projects/cronometer/
sorry for my incoherence, just started morning coffee, but i love talking calories, and nutrition values! couldn't wait!
 
Just made a brew of Solomon Grundy added 4 kg. Sugar and got this reading....I usually get that when it's finished......what am I doing wrong?
 

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Just made a brew of Solomon Grundy added 4 kg. Sugar and got this reading....I usually get that when it's finished......what am I doing wrong?

Can you list out the steps that you have done, including weights and volumes used?
 
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