Getting the wife into the spirit... Pomegranate something...

I've been brewing and wine making for a little bit now and have recently talked my wife into helping me with my (addiction) hobby.

She's not a big fan of heavy wines or beers and likes sweeter, lighter, bubbly drinks and is a fan of drinks like Smirnoff and Zimas. She has recently come across a pomegranate drink from Peels.

What I'm wanting to create with her is something very similar to this Peels drink. From what I gather about it, it appears to be a malt beverage with fruit juice added although it taste like carbonated Pomegranate juice. It has around 5% ABV according to the website.

What I'm planning on doing is taking 3 gallons of Pomegranate juice and then adding enough sugar to allow it to ferment to that 5% but still have a lot of sweetness (comparable to the sweet drinks I mentioned before) left. Then I plan on carbonating in bottle.

From what I understand this isn't that easy to do as the yeast will eat most of my sugar and create a dry non-sweet drink. I know that I can kill the yeast when it reaches that percentage that I need, but then I wouldn't be able to carbonate in bottle as the yeast would be dead. From what I've read on the boards, some recommend using Splenda. I'm trying to keep this as natural and organic as possible, plus my wife doesn't like the cloying sweetness of artificial sweetener.

So that's what I'm trying to do. Sorry for being so long winded and if this is impossible, which I've got a feeling it will be (but I don't know all of the different chemicals out there), just say so. But if any of you have any ideas as to how to go about doing this, I'd appreciate it. Plus it'll help me get my wife into the craft, which is my main goal.

Lactose?

10

Lactose is natural, but leads to some other wierdness, you could always try Stevia, which is a really good sweetener, you should able to buy it at the local health food store.

Freezeblade are you able to expand please?
Most of the options for backsweeten you have over there I can't get here, which is why I'm interested in lactose 'cause I can.

Stevia is a natural herb based sweetener. It also happens to be nonfermentable. So to the OP, you could ferment the juice straight without added sugar to complete dryness. (not sure what the SG of Pom juice is, but most juices are bettn 4 and 6%) Then just add enough stevia to reach your desired sweetness, prime it with an oz of sugar per gal and bottle for a bubbly sweet goodness.

Not sure what is available to your petes, I know stevia is grown, at least indigenously, in south america, but there might be a brand near you or available online.

I grew some stevia in my garden this year for my dad who is diabetic. It does taste sweet but also has some other weird flavors in, a sort of medicinal bitterness. It might be worth experimenting with, but be careful. I'd hate to see you ruin a batch.

Thanks for the info and tips.

I was looking through the other boards and read about root beer and other sodas. Quick question, if I left these cold, after building some carbonation in the bottle for a couple of weeks, would that stop fermentation? If so, are there any other issues I'd have to watch?

Thanks again.