ginger beer - how much sugar?

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I was looking through my copy of Sandor Katz's _Wild Fermentation_ and

got interested in making ginger beer (actually a soft drink) until I

did the arithmetic on how much sugar he's telling you to put in. Per

gallon of ginger beer he's got you putting in 2 cups of sugar. If my

arithmetic is correct, that's 1548 calories worth of sugar in 128

ounces of water. That's just about the same amount of sugar as in a

can of coke.

Can someone tell me how much of the sugar is consumed by the wild

yeast during a couple of weeks of fermentation? Is this not as bad as

it seems?

Thanks,

Sol