Inert sweetners for Ginger Beer and Cider

[Arismac]

G'day all,

I need to add a sweetner such as "Splenda" to my Ginger Beer and Cider recipes. Can the community advise the approximate amounts I should be using as say a percentage of total fermented wash or is it strictly a case of "suck it and see"?

[TasSpirits]

Try adding a unfermentable like lactose to your ferment. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Arismac]

Can you put a trade name and source to this, please?

[Sam.]

Any home brew shop should be able to supply you with Lactose :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Arismac]

Cheers, many thanks.

[bluc]

Not always possible but i found stopping fermentation early by chilling it is the best way. Google unfermentable sugars lactose is one there is others and there is artificial sweetners also. You would prob have better luck on beer forums, search "back sweetning" :handgestures-thumbupleft: good luck.

[Arismac]

Great thanks "bluc", I will certainly try that thanks.

[warramungas]

Only problem with chilling to stop fermentation is it now needs to live in the fridge. You can't bottle it and store in your brew shed or it goes boom if the yeast get going again.

[Arismac]

A very good point. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

[Arismac]

I found myself in Fiona Stanley over Easter. What a way to spend the holidays.

When I returned to the wash it now has an SG of 0.900 and is still active. So I going to hold off from stilling until I get the two clear days without a change in the SG, that is unless the community has better ideas.

[scythe]

Are you sure it still actively fermenting amd not just fizzing from disolved CO2?

[Sam.]

I found myself in Fiona Stanley over Easter. What a way to spend the holidays.

When I returned to the wash it now has an SG of 0.900 and is still active. So I going to hold off from stilling until I get the two clear days without a change in the SG, that is unless the community has better ideas.

Had to google what Fiona Stanley was, turns out not as fun as I thought :laughing-rolling:

Hope your feeling better :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I think you will find it is .990 not .900, also yeah it could just be CO2 escaping not actually fermenting. Good idea to let it clear a bit before running :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Arismac]

Much better, thank you Sam. You are quite correct I certainly have not read the SG correctly. I am taking lessons in another thread.

[the Doctor]

To my experience the best artificial sweetener for use in distilled products is Leaf Stevia... to start with try bakers stevia or liquid stevia... we also sue liquid stevia instead of sugar syrups in our cocktails... Stevia is not fermentable.
Doc

[Arismac]

Many thanks, Doctor. I will try and source.

[Bushy]

The other thing you can try is raw sugar instead of dextrose or white. Definitely sweetens up my ginger beer. That way I can add extra ginger and chilli and cinnamon and the kitchen sink. Fuckin love ginger beer. Gave up brewing the wifes cider though. Kept on letting it go too long and ends up dry as a nuns. Ralph at Brewers Delight does a nice one. Not cheap but still half the price of store bought. I wonder how raw sugar would go with a cider kit :think:

[Arismac]

Good information, thanks Bushy. I will certainly give it a try.

Presume you are a near neighbor of mine?

[Bushy]

Won't be far away

[Arismac]

Ralph at Brewers Delight does a nice one. Not cheap but still half the price of store bought.

I gotta go see Ralph tomorrow as a I want a single malt for "her indoors", he is just around a couple of corners from me. I will check out his GB, thanks for the tip.

[Bushy]

I haven't tried his ginger beer. My recipe is Morgans kit. Process a couple of good size ginger roots and some chillis. Boil them for half hour with some powdered ginger and cinnamon. Pour the lot in with a kilo of raw and await the results. I did have to take the guts out of the syrup valve on my gb keg because the chilli kept blockin it up. And it never clears but far out man. Great drop. Especially when you been breaking rocks in the sun all day. As us alcoans do.