Did I just make a bottle bomb?

I bottles a couple beers this weekend. A mirror pond clone, a great German Hefe and a bit if a disaster: a watermelon Hefe.

Knowing it was going to be a bit tart, I decided to add some splenda right before bottling. But all I did was open the splenda packages and pour them into the bottling bucket and mixed with a sanitized spoon.

Did I screw up? Should I have boiled the splenda?

I only did a half batch and given the rotten watermelon taste it has right now, I won't be bummed if it dies. But I just don't want a mess in my closet. And I want to learn.

I don't believe Splenda is a fermentable sugar. I could be wrong, but I think you'll be fine.

I've never used an artifical sweetener, but I've heard that there are two types of Splenda- plain Splenda and a mix of table sugar and Splenda. One is Splenda, and one is "Splenda Sugar Blend".

Check the package carefully to see which one you have. If you used plain Splenda, the only issue that might come up is that some bottles will be much sweeter than others since you didn't dissolve it well before adding it to the beer. If you used the sugar blend version, BOOM.

Splenda is pretty much non fermentable so it's not likely to add carbonation to your bottles. It sounds like you were just trying to increase the sweetness and not add something to carbonate so that's all good.

As to whether or not you should have boiled...yes. Everything that touches your beer after the boil is a potential avenue for contamination and should be sanitized. Whether or not you end up with an infection is hard to say, but you have opened the door a bit. The fact that you describe the current taste as rotten watermelon could mean you already have some issue in there.

+1 non fermentable

+1 non fermentable .... synthisized surgar

Thanks all for the input.

I was hoping to just add sweetness and hence the Splenda. The concern was really a potential infection.

I just figured if it's inside a Sealed package, it's going to be bacteria free.

I guess I'll just keep an eye on it.

Yeah, the rotten watermelon was just like over ripe watermelon. Not fresh, crisp watermelon. Don't know if it's an infection. Maybe it's just what watermelon hefes taste like.

muenchk said:

Thanks all for the input.

Yeah, the rotten watermelon was just like over ripe watermelon. Not fresh, crisp watermelon. Don't know if it's an infection. Maybe it's just what watermelon hefes taste like.

Click to expand...

I can't speak to all watermelon Hefes, but I had one on tap a few weeks ago at Naked City Brewing from a smaller brewery. I can't for the life of me remember the name though. The watermelon did not taste over ripe. Most of the sugar had been fermented out of the watermelon and the taste was sort of like what watermelon tastes like when you are biting into the white part of the melon near the skin.