Calculating the Calories in Homebrew

Anybody who has done homebrewing for a while eventually runs into a bit of math. If you are afraid of math, skip this post. However, if you are like me, and a bit of a geek, this might be fun.

If you've looked into homebrew math at all in any detail, you will know that there are a million different formulas for calculating the same thing. For IBUs, there is the Rager formula and the Garetz formula and the Tinseth formula, and they do about the same thing. The same goes for this exercise, calculating the calories in beer. Purists will say, "Why did he use this formula and not that formula?" Whatever! This is supposed to be simple and fun, so I've used the simplest ones I could find.

The steps for calculating the calories in your beer is as follows:

Step 1: Get measurements of Original Gravity(OG) and Final Gravity(FG).

OG
FG


Step 2: Convert those to Plato using this formula:

P = -463.37 + (668.72 * SG) - (205.35 * SG^2)

OP
FP

Step 3: Calculate the Real Extract (RE) using this formula:

RE = (0.1808 * OP) + (0.8192 * FP)

RE

Step 4: Calculate the Alcohol by Volume (ABV) using this formula:

ABV = ((OG - FG) / 0.75) * 100

ABV

Step 5: Calculate Alcohol by Weight (ABW) using this formula:

ABW = 0.78 * ABV

ABW

Step 6: Calculate the calories in a 12 ounce serving of your beer using this formula:

Calories = ((6.9 * ABW) + (4.0 * (RE - 0.1))) * FG * 3.55

Calories

Note: If you are viewing this through an RSS reader, you will not have the nifty javascript calculator I created to do the calculations.

Acknowledgments: I, of course, did not invent these equations. With a little research on the web, I found various sites around the web that had them. This post is a culmination of the research from these sites:

1. A post by the late Dr. George Fix, to the Homebrew Digest: http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/880.html#880-9
   
2. Another page at the Homebrew Digest entitled "Beer Data: Alcohol, Calorie, and Attenuation Levels of Beer," by Peter A. Ensminger: http://hbd.org/ensmingr/
   
3. A discussion post at RealBeer.com by a gentleman who calls himself hooky: http://www.realbeer.com/discussions/showthread.php?threadid=12436
   
4. Yet another post to the Homebrew Digest entitled "re: Weight Watchers and Homebrew points," by Jonathan Royce: http://hbd.org/hbd/archive/4183.html#4183-14
   
5. An online calorie calculator called "Calculate Calories & Carbs in Your Homebrew:" http://www.mrgoodbeer.com/carb-cal.shtml
   
6. Another online calorie calculator called "Beer Specs Calculator" by Glenn Tinseth: http://www.realbeer.com/hops/kcalc_js.html
   
7. Many of the sites I consulted gave credit to this publication as the original source of some of these equations: "Caloric Content, Beer-33" in: American Society of Brewing Chemists, 1992, Methods of Analysis of the ASBC. American Society of Brewing Chemists. I did not actually consult this publication, but thought it was worth mentioning.
   

Spent Grain Dog Biscuits

Brewers are always looking for things to do with spent grain from brewing beer. It seems like such a waste to throw it away. Many commercial brewers give their grain to farmers to feed to livestock. Some homebrewers make bread. For me, many years ago, I got a recipe for dog biscuits using spent grain. I'm not exactly sure where; I think maybe off the Homebrew Digest.

You see, Julie's mom, my mother-in-law, used to work for the English Springer Spaniel Rescue, and would make the biscuits to sell at fund raisers. For years, every time I'd brew beer, I would call and ask how much grain she needed, and set it aside in our freezer, until the next time we'd get together. My spent grain used to help dogs in need.

It has been a number of years since then, but we still have the recipe. Here it is, in all its glory:

Spent Grain Dog Biscuit Recipe

Ingredients:
4 cups spent grain, drained, but still damp
4 cups flour
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg

Steps:
1. Take all the ingredients and mix them together with your hands.
2. Roll out onto a cookie sheet to desired thickness.
3. Score the rolled out dough almost all the way through, or cut out shapes with a cookie cutter.
4. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. They will not rise or spread out like normal cookies.
5. Allow to cool.
6. Break up scored biscuits.
7. Dry in 225°F oven for 8-10 hours. Make sure they are completely dry. If you break open one and it looks like a Fig Newton, then it is not dry enough, and will likely mold during storage.
8. Store in an airtight container.
9. Feed to your dog, but only when he has been good, and deserves a treat.

NOTE: Hops are poisonous to some breeds of dogs, so do not use grains that have hops added to them.

Averted Disaster on the Homebrew Digest

Not long ago, I mentioned that the Homebrew Digest (HBD), a long lived forum for discussing all things homebrew, had been going though a resurgence. Just as that was happening, the janitor of the HBD, Pat Babcock, dropped a bomb. He posted the following:

Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:08:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Pat Babcock"
Subject: HBD Status

Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager...

Very soon, I will learn whether I am one of those who will lose their employment in the automotive industry. At present, there remains $1823.54 in the treasury - or just over 9 months of the ISP costs. In the event I am let go, the HBD will run only for another 6 months as I will be forced to use $500 to terminate the current contract with our ISP (exp 8/17/2009), and Home Brew Digest, Inc. will be dissolved. This because I will no longer have the means to fund the shortfall to the end of the current contract, and, without internet connectivity, the corporation becomes obviated. Of course, any funds received in the interim will serve to extend the timeframe in which the HBD will continue to operate.

I will keep you posted on what occurs. All separations will be completed by 1 August, and, though I believe I have exemplary credentials which compare most favorably with those of my contemporaries here, no-one knows what criteria they are using to determine who goes and who stays - and we're all in the same boat...

- --
See ya!

Pat Babcock in SE Michigan
Chief of HBD Janitorial Services
http://hbd.org
pbabcock at hbd.org

This sort of knocked the wind out of me. The HBD had been around since 1988, 20 years, and was having a second wind. Now, it might be defunct.

Several posts appeared about possible ways to save money, by changing the way it was hosted, or using different software to run the thing. It was a mad scramble to find a way to keep the HBD from having a sudden fatal car crash.

I even had a personal email conversation with Pat. This was to do two things: first to get permission to publish his post on this blog, but also to wish him well, and discuss possible employment alternatives.

A couple of days later, Pat posted a long detailed message about the history of why the HBD was hosted the was it was, and that it would not be as simple as changing software or the way it was hosted. Thankfully, he ended the post with the following:

In other news, I have just returned from a meeting in which we were informed that all that were to be separated from the compay within my division have been. For the time being, at least, my employment is secure. My thanks to all who offered help and/or well wishes - it is appreciated. In the meantime, I plan to redouble the effort to break the HBD free from its current instantiation. This ain't no way to live...

So, certain disaster was averted, at least for the moment. However, it was a lesson about the tenuous nature of the HBD. Hopefully, it will be around a while longer. Although, I guess you never know.

Quick Tip: Converting All-grain Recipes to Extract, and Visa Versa

How many times have we, as homebrewers, found recipes that we want to use only to find that they are not in the form for us to use. It always seems that if you are an all-grain brewer, a recipe that you want to use is provided as an extract recipe, and if you are an extract brewer, they are always all-grain. There are, however, simple ways to convert between the two.

First, extract to all-grain: Extract recipes usually come with a mixture of liquid malt extract (LME) or dry malt extract (DME), and specialty grains. The specialty grains can be used directly in the mash. However the extract needs to be converted to a base malt. For LME, multiply the weight by 1.37 to get the equivalent base malt weight. For DME, multiply the weight by 1.70 to get the equivalent base malt weight.

Going the other direction, from all-grain to extract, can be a little more challenging. Converting base malt into DME of LME is straight forward. Multiply the base malt weight by 0.73 for the equivalent LME, and multiply the base malt weight by 0.59 for the equivalent DME. However, specialty grains can be a problem. Many grains like Munich malt, wheat malt, Vienna malt, flaked oats, etc., need to be mashed to have the starches converted into sugars. Steeping these directly will make the beer hazy. Some of them, like Munich malt, have DME or LME equivalents available. Others need a partial mash to be used. On the other hand, other malts, like crystal malt, can be steeped, as they are already converted. Each grain ingredient has to be considered on a case-by-case basis. To make matters worse, if a partial boil is employed, bittering hops need to be increased to make up for the decreased hop utilization caused by the concentrated wort. It can be done though, and it is not really that hard.

That is pretty much it. You can now convert all-grain to extract, and visa versa. Good luck.

Homebrew Digest Resurgence

Some months ago, I gave an impassioned plea to save the Homebrew Digest (HBD), a daily digest of brewing information that has been around since like 1988. Over the last few years, activity had dropped off to the point that it was not even going out everyday, and when it did go out, it only had one or two posts in it.

Well, there has be a resurgence, of sorts, on the ol' HBD. For about the past month, people have been posting to it again, including myself, with between six and 12 posts going out each day. Many of the discussions have centered around how we miss the old HBD. However, there has been some good brewing information as well, including a discussion on the nuances of Noonan, which I think is a sign that things might get back to normal.

I do not know how long the resurgence will last. It may drop off before long. Flurries of activity have happened before, though it has not lasted as long as it has this time.

Still, even with the recent activity, we do not see the faces that we used to. Jeff Renner, who is often called the center of the brewing universe, has not been involved in this resurgence. Other familiar names have shown up, though, including a cameo by Jethro Gump.

One of the results of this resurgence is that there is now a feed to a blogspot blog. This has allowed people to sign up via their RSS readers. I hope that, with the new feed, if it gets picked up by the Real Simple Beer Syndication (RSBS), that that will breath new life into it. I encourage readers to contact the RSBS and request that the HBD be added.

If you are an old HBD reader, or even a new brewer who has never read it before, I encourage you to get involved. Let's keep the resurgence going for as long as we can.

Beer Memories: Hofbräu Dark Reserve

Many years ago, back when I first joined the SCA and was first introduced to good beer, I tried a beer at my first Estrella War called Hofbräu Dark Reserve. It quickly became one of my favorite beers. Back then, the only place you could get it was a specialty liquor stores, such a Plaza Liquors, here in Tucson.

As the years went on, and I went to college, the beer industry went through a revolution. Microbreweries began popping up all over the place, even in the small town where I went to college, in Flagstaff, Arizona. In addition to that, rather than just mega-swill, a wide variety of beer began to show up in supermarkets, including Hofbräu Dark Reserve.

I remember one evening, in the eclectic group of neo-hippies and actors that I hung out with in college, we rented a bunch of art movies and got beer. I, of course, brought Hofbräu Dark Reserve to the party. Afterwards, I cut out the side of the six-pack box and hung it up in my dorm room, proudly displaying my affection for the beverage.

Another time in college, I had a girl over to my dorm room for a "study" session. That evening began with a bucket full of snow, with the necks of Hofbräu Dark Reserve bottles sticking out of it. Over the years, the girl's name has long since faded in my mind, but I've never forgotten the beer.

I remember vividly the flavor, now some 15 to 20 years later. It was a lager, with a very strong and malty alcohol bite, almost dopplebock like. The dark malt gave it a smooth, almost nutty flavor. It was unlike any beer I have tried then or since.

One day, it just disappeared. You could no longer find it in super markets; you could no longer find it in specialty liquor stores. It was just gone. I figured that the importer just couldn't get it anymore. Other dark lagers kind of took its place in my beer repertoire, such as Spatan Optimator. However, it was never forgotten.

There was a magical invention since then that has changed everything. You may have heard of it. It is called the Internet. Today, I was recalling that beer, and I thought, why don't I do a search for it?

This is what I found: There were not too many hits. There seemed to be a few restaurants that carry it (maybe). First, there was one in New Orleans at a place called Cooter Brown's Tavern & Oyster Bar. They have something that they called Hofbräu Dark, close to Hofbräu Dark Reserve, but not quite the whole name. Second, there is a place in Michigan called Hofbräu Interlochen. They claim to have Hofbräu beer, not specifying if it is dark or not.

Then there was the Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas. According to their website, Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas is a faithful reproduction of the original Hofbräuhaus München, a famous Munich attraction that has been around since 1589. Across from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas features a beer garden and beer hall, and offers authentic German beer and food.

They carry a beer that they call Hofbräu Dunkel. Dunkel means dark in German. Could this be my beer? They have pictures of the bottle, and it is not the same green bottle, with gold foil on top that I remember. However, they could have changed it over the years. I guess that I will not know until I travel to Vegas and try the beer. Still, I have my doubts, as the beer I remember was more dopplebock like rather than dunkel like. Of course, my memory of the beer could have been tainted over the years, as I've tried more and more beer.

I did finally find its presence on the web, however, in an online database of beer called Brew Palace. They actually had an entry for Hofbräu Dark Reserve. They claimed that it was available in the States, but did not say who imported it or where to find it. Also, the entry in their database dated to June 23, 1995, 13 years ago, which is not a good sign. They included a picture of the bottle, which was definitely the bottle I remember. It was a trip down memory lane.

Could it be that my beer is simply gone for good? Maybe so. I will not give up hope until I try the beer in Las Vegas. Regardless, I do have great memories of that beer. It is a beer that gave me my send off into the world of great beer. It is a beer that carried me through college. There will never be another beer like it.

The 250th Post

I cannot believe that I have written 250 of these things. What does a milestone like this mean? For one thing, I've established my blog as a source for information about brewing. However, it is much more than that.

Most of my traffic comes through search engines, such as people searching for information on keeping a beer cool during fermentation. People also search for information on yeast starters, and parti-gyle brewing, not to mention hop substitution. People research equipment like the Mini-brew Mash/Lauter Tun or the BrewMometer. Sometimes people search for non-brewing subjects such as the SCA and Estrella War, or the Australian Pink Floyd Show. And then there are travel or bicycle posts.

A handful of people also follow this blog on a regular basis, as my regular readers. There are posts -- personal ones they might find mildly entertaining -- I've written for just for them. These include eating palak paneer in Paris, meeting Roberto, and being visited by the piña colada truck.

Blogging really is a journey. It is your life right at a particular moment. I can look over all the posts I've done and remember how I was feeling at exactly that moment. It explores various subjects; it explores the self. Sometimes it sparks ideas; sometimes it is marred by doldrums. It is a daily, weekly, monthly exercise that keeps the mind alive.

Every week, when I finish writing a post, I wonder if I will have anything to write about the next week. The next week comes, and, of course, I find that idea, but wonder again about the next week. Wherever they come from, the posts keep coming and coming, and I keep on writing them.

I've reach the 250 post milestone. I raise my glass to 250 more. Cheers.