Sugar Content

[mimps]

Hi

I’m new to this, my mate and I brewed our first beer and cider at the beer factory in seven hills.

The cider recipe had 3300g of sugar, which i worked out as 3300 / 144 bottles = just under 23g of sugar per bottle.

My question is, does all the sugar end up in the bottle once fermented and all the process are complete?

[Anna]

Hi Mimps! Welcome to the Forum. First of all, if you do a bit of research into the process (Google's good!), you will discover that all that sugar is actually eaten up by the yeast - this is called "fermentation" and is what produces the alcohol. You will also discover that once fermentation is complete and you bottle the cider (or beer) you will then add a tiny bit more sugar to each bottle (about 6 gm) and this will ferment again with what yeast is left and give you the bubbles. This is called "carbonation" or "secondary fermentation" and will take about another 2 weeks. You then get to drink it!

So I guess to answer your question, yes, in a way all that sugar does end up in the bottle - but in a different form - alcohol !!

Next time, give the beer factory a miss, buy a Coopers kit from Woolies and do the whole thing yourself - much more fun...

Also... check out the Stickies at the top of this forum - you wil find a wealth of information for beginners.

[mimps]

Cool, ill have a bit of a look around.

is there anyway to work out how many kjs are in each bottle or anything like that?

[Anna]

Check out "www.calorieking.com.au" and go to "Recipes, Articles & More" (top menu bar) and then "Browse our Food Database" and key "beer" into the search bar. Here is a preview:

Alcohol: - Average All Brands -
Stout (5.7% alc.)
106 cals / glass

Beer: - Average All Brands -
Ale (4.8% alc.)
70 cals / glass
Bitter or Draught (4% alc.)
72 cals / glass
Full Strength (4.9% alc.)
72 cals / glass
Lager (5% alc.)
72 cals / glass
Light (2.7% alc.)
50 cals / glass
Low Carb (4% alc.)
58 cals / glass
Midstrength (3.5% alc.)
48 cals / glass

Cider: - Average All Brands -
Dry (4.7% alc.)
78 cals / glass
Sweet (4.7% alc.)
106 cals / glass

This screenshot is in calories, but once you go into the database you can change your options for kj's, quantity, etc. Good luck!

Anna

[billybushcook]

The amount of calories would be a direct reflection of your beers Final Gravity which is unfermented sugars!

Mick.

[Anna]

Not sure about that Mick! I'm pretty sure even the sugar that has been fermented would provide calories... (but I apologise in advance if I haven't understood your post). Where's all our chemists today?

In any case, I reckon techo stuff like that is still pretty much over Mimps' head at this stage.

Happy Christmas everyone!! Try to stay upright!