Calories in British beers/ale

Jimzilla0

Hi All,

Does anyone have a realiable source for the number of calories in British beer/ale? Unlike everything else in the UK, it seems that there is no requirement for manufacturers to label beer with nutrition information, even though I have no doubt that this information would be trivial for them to calculate from information they must know in order to brew it - they presumably know how much sugar went in, how much got turned to alcohol etc.

I say *reliable* source because, a lot of websites have this information, but given that the manufacturers don't provide it, it's not at all clear where it comes from, and some of the numbers look extremely suspicious to me.

For example - Myfitnesspal (and lots of other websites) claim that Tribute (Brewed by St Austell) has 126kcal per pint. That seems extraordinarily low to me, given that most comparable 4.2% beers come in closer to (sometimes above) 200kcal per pint.

Does anyone have any idea where these numbers come from, or did someone just make them up, and then they got copied from one website to another?

Alternatively - hyrdrometers are pretty cheap. Would it be possible to get a pretty decent figure my measuring the specific gravity of a beer, or are there enough calories in the non-alcohol/sugar component to throw out the calculation?

Jim
(A Real Ale Fan)

RunBrew

In order to use a hydrometer, you'd need to know the original gravity of the beer (before fermentation), and compare it to the final gravity (after fermentation). There's some fairly serious math there, but if you knew OG/FG, or close to it you could use one of the hundreds of online calculators to get a round estimate.

A quick search of homebrewers forums for a St. Austell clone beer recipe suggests something like a 1.043 OG and a 1.010 FG, so that'd give 140-ish cals per 12 fl. oz here in the US, or 176-180 for a 20oz Imperial pint

The numbers you're seeing on MFP are probably guesstimates based on similar styles. I often do this when logging beer I don't know, like friends homebrew. I pick a style that's similar and close to the same ABV and use that info. For my own batches, BeerSmith does all the calcs for me when I enter the grain bill.

Virtually every beer worth drinking (i'm looking at YOU, crappy domestic light beer) is at least 150 cal per 12 oz.
Such is the price for drinking decent beverages.

Jimzilla0

Ah... nice! It hadn't occurred to me to search homebrew forums for comparable recipies - that's a really useful tactic that's probably quite widely applicable.

Though it carries significant danger that I'll be tempted to get into homebrewing. ;-)

RunBrew

Do it! Homebrewing is one of the best hobbies I ever got into. It's creative like cooking, it's science like chemistry and biology, it's an easy hobby that requires like 10 hours a month and yields 25L of beer that's as good as anything you'll find on tap anywhere, and costs less than what you pay per drink at a pub.

I'm totally biased, but I also think Homebrewers are some of the cooler people you'll ever meet. Improve your social circle!

Edited for grammar

waxon81

I'm going to hazard a guess at 200cals a pint (give or take).

I work in a brewery and the subject has never come up once, I expect I would be punched and laughed at by a large group of men if I uttered those words whilst on the premises.lol

Runbrew clearly knows his stuff too, some good stuff there

waxon81

However.... I am intrigued enough to find out now. I'll report back tommorrow

waxon81

Depending on the strength I am reliably informed the calories will vary wildly. You could expect an average of 200/250 cals for a pint of ale. So, not too bad really

danimalkeys

It depends on the type of beer and the % of ABV. Something like Guinness Stout is actually pretty low in calories compared to things like India Pale Ales. Much lower in carbs too, IPA's are 20+ grams of carbs each for a 6% brew.

richardheath

The CO2 will also through the hydrometer off, so not really appropriate. RunBrew's numbers seem pretty close when I put a recipe into BeerSmith.

And yes - homebrew! It's fun, and you get to make beer. Oh, and then drink it...

CleanScience

If you are worried about the calories of beer, you are worried about the wrong negative effect of beer. I have brewed my own beer for a few years. I can tell you the calories are anywhere from 150-400. All depends on the malts used, how much sugar was converted and so on. The average ale like you asked is about 200-250.
Now, like I said, the calories are the least of your worries. Alcohol causes free radicals. Free radicals do all kinds of damage to your cells. In addition, I am sure you know that fats are about 9 cals per gram, carbs and protein are 4 cals per gram. Alcohol is about 7 cals per gram and there is no good alcohol like there is good fats and carbs. Alcohol lowers your immune system. Alcohol makes your body store fat and not build muscle.
To be honest, fitness and alcohol are basically polar opposites. I know for sure weight loss and alcohol are exact polar opposites.

danimalkeys

It's all about moderation. If you drink half a case of beer a night, yeah, it's going to have an adverse affect on weight loss. A couple beers or glasses of wine in a week isn't going to hurt you.