Sweetners

Hey everyone,

For starters, thank God for this forum! I've been wanting to brew for a long time and after spending two weeks on this site, I finally got the courage to do so. This week I brewed my fist batch of beer and started a few gallons of cider.

Anyway- I've read about adding sweeteners such as splenda to help sweeten cider but keep it from fermenting further. What are some other options?

Thanks!

Honestly, to me the best cider is dry. Maybe a touch of carbonation but dry. As far as artificial sweetners go - lots of opinions. I myself think they taste fake, , but again, some really like it. If I sweeten, I do it with a concentrated apple juice before bottling. When doing so, you must be careful on how you store it as it will start to ferment again if you get it go warm.

I like to sweeten (if I absolutely need to) like Schott703 does with concentrate. But yes, it's "real" sugar that will ferment. I tried Splenda once and it was used minimally but tasted the fakeness. I myself haven't tried stevia but curious about the feedback from people who have. There's lactose also (unfermentable) but haven't tried that either.

Btw the reason I mentioned Stevia is because one can grow it therefore it's natural. Just not sure how it's processed but I try to keep as "natural" as possible.

JtotheA said:

Btw the reason I mentioned Stevia is because one can grow it therefore it's natural. Just not sure how it's processed but I try to keep as "natural" as possible.

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Stevia is typically ground into a powder or the leaves are steeped into a water based extract. The powder comes in grey, green or white color with white being the better quality. Cannot recall what is done to get the different grades based on color. I have made liquid stevia for two years now. Going to try ice extraction this year and see what happens, if anything. I like stevia as a backsweetener, but I also like to blend with sucralose and/or xylitol. I just do bench trials to figure out what I think works best for each batch.

I used xylitol to sweeten my first two batches. I used 2 tablespoons per gallon because that was suggested. The guy at the home brew store said to be careful because the bacteria in your digestive system do not enjoy xylitol so it can cause diarrhea in excess amounts. My wife has had two ciders in one night and there were no problems with the taste or in the bathroom.

Nice. Thanks for the information everyone. I like a dry cider but my wife likes em sweet. This is my first batch. I have 3 separate gallons going, so, I'll try something different with each one.

With bottling, what is a good amount of sugar to add before its bottled?

Thanks again for the input!