Calories in my Beer (7/25/16)

I heard that craft and homebrewed beers tend to be higher in calories than mass produced beers and I was curious and decided to look up how to calculate the calories in my beer.

I found this calculator which uses OG and FG - original and final specific gravity - to calculate the calories in beer. This calculation combines the calories from alcohol and unfermented sugars in the final product.

There are about 7 calories per gram of ethanol, and 4 cal/g of carbohydrates, and the OG and FG can be used to determine the ethanol and sugar content of the beer.

For more information on the formulas, check out these two sources - the first is very detailed and the second is easier to follow and calculate but it is less clear where the values in the formulas come from.

For my two batches of beer, here are the results for a 12 oz bottle:

American Red Ale = 207 cal

Mandarina Pale Ale = 179 cal

This graph from this article shows the calories in 12 oz of some popular beer brands:

Compared to these beers, it looks like mine are on the high end calorie-wise, but that may not be true for all homebrewed beer. Anyway, the first batch was delicious so I can't complain!

Also, today I brewed my next batch, a grapefruit IPA, which is now fermenting.The new setup with grounding worked with no issues. My mandarina pale ale should be done next week, and the cider the week after, so there is lots of good beer to come!