Backsweetening

[deesloop]

Can you use artificial sweeteners to backsweeten?
I am sure there have been a few issues with fermentation restarting due to real sugar and wonder if fake chemical stuff owuld do the job?
Or what about stevia - seems abit of a compromise - although that's a bit of an issue for USA folk I believe?

 

[ratflinger]

What do you do with artificial sweetener taste? I've never encountered an artificial sweetener that I couldn't taste. I'd take a 1 gal sample and use that for testing, anymore is just asking for waste. Stevia is available in bulk here, why is it an issue?

 

[deesloop]

I do appreciate it has a thick, cloying aftertaste and isnt ideal.
Ensuring fermentation is finished makes a lot of sense of course,


An article I read said it was banned in the US for causing cancer. I know the real artificial sweeteners many have doubts on, but with a natural product like stevia (or as natural as you can get without the full fat cane sugar) I was surprised. Of course it could be mis-information.,

 

[Raptor99]

I have tried stevia but did not like the aftertaste. For my bottle carbonated drinks (cider) I use erythritol (Swerve brand). For my still wines and meads I stabilize and use sugar or honey.

 

[bstnh1]

I do appreciate it has a thick, cloying aftertaste and isnt ideal.
Ensuring fermentation is finished makes a lot of sense of course,


An article I read said it was banned in the US for causing cancer. I know the real artificial sweeteners many have doubts on, but with a natural product like stevia (or as natural as you can get without the full fat cane sugar) I was surprised. Of course it could be mis-information.,

I don't use Stevia. But it's not banned in the US. It's readily available in grocery stores. I prefer Splenda in coffee, etc. But I'm not sure how that would work as a backsweetener.

 

[Rice_Guy]

food industry view; of course you can go artificial, what do you want the flavor to be? ,,,,, do some bench trials.

nutrasweet is the most natural taste, it slowly breaks down in an acidic environment like pH 2.5 soda.
I have used erythretrol in wine/ cider, I know it is there but it masks fairly well for non warned customers

 

[salcoco]

I have not sued it myself but as noted above and I have read elsewhere they can break down over time.

 

[Scooter68]

Any artificial sweetener out there is detectable to some people and as mentioned the potential for an off flavor is there.

Other than reducing calories I'm not sure the rationale for using them in a wine. Wines are not "Health Drinks."

The idea of preventing a renewed fermentation is going to come at an unknown cost in terms of off flavors or perhaps outright ruining the flavor entirely.

If this is a wine for sale then you need to adhere to your countries laws which, in Europe are pretty stringent.

Finally - your own words cover the issue well as artificial sweeteners are "fake chemical stuff ."

 

[Rice_Guy]

come come Scooter, , ,wines are fermentations so have to probiotics

I'm not sure the rationale for using them in a wine. , , , Wines are not "Health Drinks."

yes good point why do you want a sweet wine? We can accomplish flavor balance by reducing the TA to the 0.5% range so that the sweetness from the ethyl alcohol is in balance with the acids.
If I am developing a teenager product I will load it up with sugar, but products marked for adults really tone down the sweetness. ,,, or if I make a mistake as 15% crab apple (tannins) in white grape I will hide the mistake with sugar. ,,, or if astringent, ,,, but what is the style that requires lots of sugar?

 

[Raptor99]

Other than reducing calories I'm not sure the rationale for using them in a wine.

I agree. In wine I use sugar for backsweeting if necessary. But for my bottle carbonated cider I need a sweetener that will not ferment.

 

[Stretch]

I copied this from another thread that I just posted to which was also discussing carbonation:

"I greatly prefer my ciders to have a decent amount of sparkle. I'm still relatively new to cidermaking, but I like to run my primary fermentation down to SG 1.000 (or even less) and that obviously leaves a really dry cider. I back sweeten with a nonfermentable sweetener (I like splenda best, about 1.25 cup/5 gal) and then add a bit of tannin and also a nice high-quality dark maple syrup as a primer. I've used honey as well, but prefer the maple as it gives a bit more body. I then bottle it and allow it to use the primer to naturally carbonate in the bottle. I obviously don't use any sorbate or K-meta as that would prevent the natural carbo. Using about 500gm of maple syrup per 5 gallons yields a carbonation level of about 3 volumes which is moderately fizzy if all goes well and the bottles don't leak. When bottling, I fill one plastic bottle like a 16oz soda bottle or a 1/2 gal plastic cider bottle (both sanitized) and then use glass flip top bottles for the rest of the cider. I let all of the bottles sit out at room temp for several days while priming. When the plastic bottle is VERY firm, I put them all in the fridge to markedly slow the fermentation, and then *fingers-crossed* most of the primer should be gone by then too. I use flip top bottles of decent strength and so far (knock on wood) haven't had any fridge grenades."

Personally, I don't think that the small amount of splenda is overly detectable, and my wife (who dislikes splenda or any other artificial sweeteners) loves the cider . I tried Swerve, but it left a very gritty mouthfeel and even left gritty residue in the bottles. Your other alternative is to halt your primary closer to 1.010 or so, but then you're adding chemicals like sorbate or K-meta which is just as off-putting to some folks as the artificial sweeteners are. And, of course, you're also not getting as much EtOH as you otherwise would, which seems defeat the point of making hard cider.

I'd really like to learn how to do forced carbonation with kegs and compressed CO2 tanks, but I don't have the equipment or space to do so just yet. Would love to hear from those who have experience with this.

Hope this helps.
Cheers, Stretch

 

[winemaker81]

Your other alternative is to halt your primary closer to 1.010 or so, but then you're adding chemicals like sorbate or K-meta which is just as off-putting to some folks as the artificial sweeteners are.

If you add sorbate/K-meta, you're also not going to get the sparkle, as you've stopped the fermentation. I suspect that forced carbonation is your only way of doing it.

Another thought -- ferment dry and carbonate with additional sugar. At serving time, add a small amount of sugar syrup to each glass and fill with cider. You'll get the sweetness from sugar (or whatever sweetener you want), plus you'll get the carbonation.