non-fermentable sweetener?

Have a nice dry batch nearly ready- want to add just a smidge of sweetener to give it a little pip so my wife will like it- she wasn't a fan of my last bone-dry variety... I do not however want to put some artificial nastiness in my cider... does some one have a suggestion for a natural non-fermentable sweetener that I can use? I am bottling so I have to be mindful of cider bombs... thanks in advance...

I like Xylitol from a company called "Nature's Flavours" but I'm sure Xylitol is Xylitol. I have read several places that consuming too much of it will treat your intestines like Olean...I.E. explosive diarrhea. However, I've never had problems with it before. At the same time, when you're just using a little of it, I think you'd have to consume a LOT of cider to notice.

In my last batch, I used 3 Tablespoons per gallon. I know people that put a tablespoon in their cup of coffee! While this batch is not done aging, it's VERY sweet. I'd say too sweet for my liking.

Another alternative for the next time around may be Belgian Candi Sugar. The owner at my LHBS mentioned giving it a whirl several times, so I'm giving some a try right now. However, it's a fermentable sugar but it leaves behind residual sweetness. Last night I tossed 8oz's of it in 3 gallons that I'm fermenting dry with Cote des Blancs. I know that's not really cider, but curiosity gets me every time.

Would lactose work? It's not the sweetest sugar but it is unfermentable.

Lactose isn't really all that sweet at all, especially not in something that finishes this dry. The "problem" with lactose in a cider or wine is that it adds body, so even if it slightly sweetened things up to someone's liking, I'm not sure it'd give a pleasant mouthfeel.

If you want sweet, and everyone's definition is different, I think the best things to do are:
1) Pick an Ale Yeast that is ester-fruity as I call it. Most palette's are going to taste fruit and even tart and interpret it as sweet.
2) Ferment with Belgian Candi Sugar, Brown Sugar or something that will leave some residual sweetness behind (brown sugar will darken the final product, Belgian Candi Sugar is like .5 SRM or something like that)
3) Back sweeten with something non-fermentable that will not leave a nasty off flavor. I.E. Equal and Sweet'N Low are out. I've heard people say Splenda and Sucralose work well. Xylitol is DEFINITELY the most "sugar" tasting to my palette, but if your digestive tract is sensitive to it, well, stay away!

There are different types of "sweet" too. What someone gets in back sweetening may not be what they're really looking for.

While I'm not overly pleased with the progress of my young apfelwein (not that I expected to be at this point) I will say that there is nothing artificial tasting about Xylitol. Xylitol is also a natural sweetener. It is NOT calorie free, but it is low calorie and a good sweetening alternative for diabetics. It's the only non-fermentable "natural" non-chemical fakeness sweetener I've stumbled across. If you don't want to add any form of sweetener, I'd do some reading on yeasts and try the Belgian Candi Sugar. My next test batch (3 gallons) is going to ferment with Wyeast 1968 Special London, 12oz of Belgian Candi Sugar then go into secondary with some vanilla bean and french oak cubes for a while so we'll see how that sweetens out and what kind of flavors come with it.

Xylitol is the only sweetener I have been able eat straight without wanting to spit it out. It tastes mostly like sugar but with an alcohol coldness to it, like it is evaporating off the tongue. The above warnings should be taken into account, though i haven't had any problems with it yet, and i put a whole bag (250g I think) in my 5 litre batch!

What do you think of Stevia? Never used it myself but have seen it in some recipes.

I have heard that Stevia can leave an almost licorice-like aftertaste. I'm not sure in what quantities or what people have done to get that characteristic (maybe tossing it into primary at the time of fermentation?) but I'm sure everyone's mileage varies.

More than that though, I know that Stevia does not measure cup for cup with sugar. It's a LOT sweeter so it might take some playing with your quantities to get right...which might be why people talk about tasting licorice. They're just over using it?

I found if you use the white stevia and not the brown(or some refer to it as green) one you do not get the licorice taste. And I love licorice, but not in my wines or ciders...I just don't taste it when I use white stevia. Truvia is one particular brand that I will use for backsweetening.

I just used Truvia (a brand name for Stevia) in my last batch of cider and I don't have any hint of licorice. Just tasting it by itself, it reminds me of maple syrup. In my cider it sweetened it, but it is hard to explain the flavor. In cider it does not taste like licorice, maple syrup, or table sugar and not like any artificial/chemical sweeteners either. I think it has a taste of its own.

I used 9 teaspoons in a 5 gallon batch and we have been happy with the results. Just enough to give a noticeable sweetness, and take a little bite out of the dryness. Like saramc mentioned, a little goes a long ways.

Awesome info, I will likely be using white stevia to back sweeten my ginger beer.

Buck21 said:

I just used Truvia (a brand name for Stevia) in my last batch of cider and I don't have any hint of licorice. Just tasting it by itself, it reminds me of maple syrup. In my cider it sweetened it, but it is hard to explain the flavor. In cider it does not taste like licorice, maple syrup, or table sugar and not like any artificial/chemical sweeteners either. I think it has a taste of its own.

I used 9 teaspoons in a 5 gallon batch and we have been happy with the results. Just enough to give a noticeable sweetness, and take a little bite out of the dryness. Like saramc mentioned, a little goes a long ways.

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I did some googling on it. It looks like you have to add a LOT of Stevia to baking to get get that licorice profile. I'm sure it's like most things, if it's not fermentable, never add it to primary and you're good to go.

I know this is an old thread but I was trying to sweeten my cider up to accommodate a slight hop bitterness and came across this. Has anyone tried to add the original cider as a sweetener when bottling? I figured if you kill the yeast off and add fresh cider it may have the flavor im looking for. Let me know what you guys think of this idea.

Absolutely. It's called backsweetening.

I read lactose will eventually turn to fructose, and thus become fermentible. Might work fine for a beer that is only aged a month, but I presume it would be a problem for a cider or mead that is aged over a year.

What about xylose?

+1 on Stevia

I've used Erythritol and it worked well. It's like Xylitol but without the diarrhea problems.

A quick search seems to suggest that erythritol has the same diarrhea issues as other alcohol sugars such as xylitol. I would rather stay away from sugar alcohols in my recipes.

How does stevia taste? Is it bitter like those disgusting artificial sweeteners (ex: sucralose)?

Has anyone tried xylose? Seems safe as a food additive, not sure where to actually buy some though.

I've used erythritol frequently when making lemonade and limeade. Those probably have more added sweetness than what would be used for cider. No one here got the runs from it, amd my kids and I chug it in the summertime.

Xylitol is the one nonfermentable sweetener that works very well. I used it in my last cider and I do not notice any digestive issues with it. Just be sure to keep it away from dogs as it is lethal to them even in tiny amounts.

Stevia and sucralose are horrible. Lactose is fine but not very sweet. Xylitol is king.

I've used SweetLeaf brand Stevia for other things....not cider (yet)...and its by Far the best one I've come across.

Sorry for replying to an old thread. I'm a Homebrew noob still gathering basic info.

Can anyone explain how (or if) using these non fermentable sweeteners works with bottle conditioning?

Unfermentable sweeteners will not contribute any carbonation, but only sweetness. If you add fermentable sugars for purposes of priming for carbonation or for backsweetening, and there is any live yeast present, you will get carbonation but could end up with explosions if you use too much. You can use both, if you want both sweetness and carbonation. I do this. I'll add priming sugar AND xylitol or lactose at the same time on bottling day if I want a sweetened (artificially) AND carbonated beverage.

dmtaylor said:

Unfermentable sweeteners will not contribute any carbonation, but only sweetness. If you add fermentable sugars for purposes of priming for carbonation or for backsweetening, and there is any live yeast present, you will get carbonation but could end up with explosions if you use too much. You can use both, if you want both sweetness and carbonation. I do this. I'll add priming sugar AND xylitol or lactose at the same time on bottling day if I want a sweetened (artificially) AND carbonated beverage.

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Excellent, thanks! Using both was exactly what I was thinking. I definitely will be giving this a try.

Was reading through this old thread and wanted to add some info in case anyone is still following or find this when searching for non-fermentable sweeteners. I just did a bunch of research to put together a page on my site about hard cider sweeteners and wanted to share a few findings:

• Xylitol is the favorite, as already mentioned by several folks in this thread.
• Artificial sweeteners put a bad taste in the cider.
• I was very surprised to learn that Truvia is made up of <1% Stevia and >99% Erythritol (a sugar alcohol mentioned several times on this thread, and supposedly the only sugar alcohol that doesn't cause digestive issues). Based on the name similarity and their branding, I had always thought Truvia was a brand of Stevia. As you might expect, Truvia doesn't go boasting about this ratio, and most sites that discuss it are a bit on the conspiracy theory side. The wiki page does allude to it though: "...erythritol, which composes the majority of the product..."

diyHardCider said:

Truvia is made up of <1% Stevia and >99% Erythritol (a sugar alcohol mentioned several times on this thread, and supposedly the only sugar alcohol that doesn't cause digestive issues). Based on the name similarity and their branding, I had always thought Truvia was a brand of Stevia.

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I was initially confused by the naming thing too.

Regarding Truvia, the stevia ingredient seems to ruin it for me. I definitely can't tolerate any stevia content. My wife thinks stevia is great. But what does she know!?

Last January I researched and tasted just about every artificial sweetener known to mankind to determine which ones I could enjoy in cider, coffee, soda pop, or anything really. Results of my review are below.

Best of the bunch, with advantages & disadvantages:

1) Xylitol -- can't barely detect any difference compared to real sugar. Has a slight "cooling effect" in the mouth in large quantities. Has a few calories, if that matters, but not fermentable by yeast as far as I know. Very expensive. LETHAL TO DOGS. I've used in cider with great success, can't taste any "chemicals".

2) Aspartame (Equal) -- the best artificial sweetener besides xylitol. Breaks down due to heat in baked goods, but seems just fine in coffee. No calories. Cheap & available. I haven't tried aspartame in a cider yet but I imagine it will be noticeable to judges.

3) Sucralose (Splenda) -- close runner-up to aspartame, but a somewhat more chemically taste. But would be better in baked goods as it won't break down. Cheap & available. Left a chemical taste in my cider that was very noticeable to BJCP judges including myself. I won't use it in cider again, but will use it in other foods if I need to cut calories or whatever.

I could not recommend ANY other artificial sweeteners available right now, including saccharin (Sweet 'n' Low), stevia, acesulfame K (Sunett), Swerve (I don't recall what's in this one), and especially monk fruit extract (OMG - disgusting!). I tasted all these, and they all suck bad in some way compared with the other 3 above. I could go into more detail, but... suffice it to say, the other ones suck real bad.

P.S. Oh yeah... I forgot Lactose! It's great, it's natural (not artificial!), but it's not very sweet. In the amounts you need to use to taste it, it can add some body to the cider or whatever you put it in. Go ahead and use lactose, but be aware that you need a lot of it, and that some people are intolerant. Most people will tolerate it just fine.

Of course, many people are also intolerant of xylitol too. I myself seem fairly tolerant of xylitol in small quantities. Depends how much you use. In a cider, you shouldn't need enough to have much effect at all. Hasn't bothered me in the slightest.

Sorbitol. It's not deadly to dogs like xylitol and it's also naturally present in pears. The flavor is very neutral.

EDIT: and in case anyone is wondering the dose to cause diarrhea is around 50 grams. I use about 100-200 grams PER KEG, so the dose per pint is only 3-5 grams of sorbitol. For comparison, one pear contains on the order of 3-6 grams of sorbitol. So no ill effects will be incurred unless you drink >5 pints which is about equivalent to eating 5 pears.

I would be interested what you (@dmtaylor) think of Aspartame in cider... I found sucralose so off-putting that I wrote off all 'artificial' sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame, saccarin) for my cider.... I'll take anything in my coffee

Interesting on the monk fruit... I read a post here not too long ago from someone saying it was a good non-fermentable in cider.

I'll need to try lactose sometime.

diyHardCider said:

I would be interested what you (@dmtaylor) think of Aspartame in cider... I found sucralose so off-putting that I wrote off all 'artificial' sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame, saccarin) for my cider.... I'll take anything in my coffee

Interesting on the monk fruit... I read a post here not too long ago from someone saying it was a good non-fermentable in cider.

I'll need to try lactose sometime.

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Monk fruit is wretched. I'll take one for the team and taste it again right this second, it's only a few feet away........ (seconds later...) OMG...... think of the very worst artificial sweetener on the planet, multiply that by 10, add bitterness and umami(!), and that's what it tastes like. Never ever again. Yuck!!!

I can't handle aspartame in some soda pop (Mt. Dew for some reason) but it tastes fine in others. So I'm still not certain whether I could enjoy it in cider because I haven't tried it, but my GUESS is I would NOT like it. But I'm honestly not sure yet.

diyHardCider said:

Was reading through this old thread and wanted to add some info in case anyone is still following or find this when searching for non-fermentable sweeteners. I just did a bunch of research to put together a page on my site about hard cider sweeteners and wanted to share a few findings:

• Xylitol is the favorite, as already mentioned by several folks in this thread.
• Artificial sweeteners put a bad taste in the cider.
• I was very surprised to learn that Truvia is made up of <1% Stevia and >99% Erythritol (a sugar alcohol mentioned several times on this thread, and supposedly the only sugar alcohol that doesn't cause digestive issues). Based on the name similarity and their branding, I had always thought Truvia was a brand of Stevia. As you might expect, Truvia doesn't go boasting about this ratio, and most sites that discuss it are a bit on the conspiracy theory side. The wiki page does allude to it though: "...erythritol, which composes the majority of the product..."

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Have read your paper on Hard Cider Sweetners. Very good. Thanks for writing that. I have today bought some Erythritol. Is it easy to dissolve into solution. .. as I was thinking about placing a couple of table spoons into a 10 litre carboy as I rack my cider across.

Apimyces said:

What about xylose?

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At the suggestion of my local brew shop I tried backsweetening with BochaSweet, which turns out to be xylose. Not sure if it affects everyone the same way, but for me, it's a VERY effective laxative. Needless to say I won't be using it again.

DaveC73 said:

At the suggestion of my local brew shop I tried backsweetening with BochaSweet, which turns out to be xylose. Not sure if it affects everyone the same way, but for me, it's a VERY effective laxative. Needless to say I won't be using it again.

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Xylose or xylitol? I don't think I've ever found xylose sold anywhere, but I have used xylitol without any noticeable side-effect in my ciders.

Apimyces said:

Xylose or xylitol?

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Xylose. The product name is "BochaSweet", sugar extracted from kabocha squash. I tried xylitol as well, but it still tasted weird to me so I tried the BochaSweet. Tasted exactly like sugar, is non-fermentable by yeasts used in brewing and cleansed me thoroughly and completely. Apparently doesn't affect everyone the same way, but I won't be using it again.