Predicting SG of non-standard ingredients

[MBM30075]

I was wondering whether anyone had ever tried to figure out SG measurements for items from the grocery store.

For example, most items have grams of sugar per serving (and servings per container) listed on their packaging. I was wondering whether this could be used to figure out how many points per gallon a particular substance would contribute.

Here's some of my thinking:
1 lb. Table Sugar = 46PPG
1 lb. Table Sugar = 454 grams
So, 9.87 grams of Table Sugar = 1PPG

Mott's Apple Juice
1/2 gallon container = 8 servings at 29g carbs (28g sugar) / serving
So, 1/2 gallon container = 8 * 28g = 224g sugar / half gallon
So, 1 gallon Mott's Apple Juice = 224g * 2 = 448g sugar
I've measured this juice at 1.048
1 gallon Apple Juice = 448g = 48PPG
So, 9.33 grams of Apple Juice sugar = 1PPG

Does this figure of ~9.5 grams/point/gallon hold true for other items?

Specifically, I'm looking at doing a wine or cider or hard lemonade from frozen concentrate. I see some recipes around, but most that I've read say something like "add ingredients and then add table sugar until you reach your desired OG."

I want something more concrete to try to hit the target the first time. We have these numbers with malt extract and with grains, so why not with other sugar-based products?

See, my thinking is this:

Let's say I want to try a 1 gallon recipe. Let's say I'm doing a lemonade, so it should ferment down to about 1.000. Let's also say I want about 5.5% ABV. So, my SG should be 1.042 (according to Beersmith). If I know that something like 9.5 grams of sugar equals 1 point of gravity per gallon, then I need to add 42 * 9.5 grams, or 399 grams of sugar. This way, I can look at my frozen concentrate's label and determine how many cans will get me to, say, 250 grams (this is just a round number), and then figure out how many grams of sugar I need to add (in this case 150 grams). Then, since I know that a cup of sugar is about 200 grams, I can simply measure out 3/4c of sugar and voila! I'm there!

Anyway, has anyone done this before? Is my line of thinking correct? Won't any gram of sugar (or gram of anything) add about the same amount of points to the SG? Don't you just have to worry about how much will ferment out? Am I crazy?

Thanks!!!

 

[Oldsock]

It will certainly get you very close. There is some difference by type of sugar though. For example table sugar (pure sucrose) and corn sugar (pure glucose) have different PPG ratings.

The other thing to keep in mind is that you are adding water as well as sugar with these things. In the case of the concentrate the water is minimal, but in the case of juice it is pretty significant. As long as you end up with a total of 5 gallons it will work, but if you add the juice/concentrate to 5 gallons of water you will end up low.

Good luck, and make sure whatever you add is preservative free.