Problem with Beano and Splenda in lo carb brew......

Listees,

I have recently tried a few different recipes using Beano (as described in BYO magazine a few years back) and Splenda to flavor.

I have made 3 batches in the last 8 months, and here is what i did/experienced.

I make a batch as normal, once even split a Blue Moon clone in half (half to bottle as "normal" ale and the other half to recieve Beano and continue to ferment). I wain until primary fermentation stops, and then add a couple crushed tablets of Beano. In a few days, the air lock starts bubbling again, maybe once every 5 minutes........it will bubble for a couple weeks (it does slow down) . Then I take a hydrometer reading, and usually end up pretty low, like around 1.006. I then add about 2 cups of Splenda to give the beer a little body and not add carbs. Then, I mix a priming sugar solution, boil, and bottle the product.

What I then recieve is pretty typical. In a week or two i try one of the brews. I get a very high foaming beer....one that needs a HUGe glass to pour into, and then come back in ten minutes or so when the foam sinks back into liquid. Literally, when you pour, you get about an inch of liquid and the rest foam.

The beer itself as a little off taste, but not horrible. I attribute the flavor due to the Splenda.

id iomagine the problem is adding splenda an then the primimng sugar just prior to bottling. i've never done anything like this, but i bet it'd work better if you added the splenda with the beano. whats your reasoning behind adding it later?

That was what I believe, the BYO mag said to do.........you use the beano to break down starched, etc., into fermentable sugars.......Splenda is not Sugar, but something to add to try to give it a little something. I am concerned if i add the splenda with the beano, that the beano would just break down the splenda............I dunno. Maybe someone out there has had success.......

Here's what I found:

"Sucralose. Approved by the FDA in 1998, sucralose is the only alternative sweetener made from sugar. It is 600 times sweetener than sucrose. Sucralose is derived from sugar through a patented, multi-step process that creates an extremely stable substance unable to be absorbed by the human body. It is excreted in the urine virtually unchanged. Manufactured under the name Splenda, sucralose can be found as a tabletop sweetener and in a variety of products including desserts, confections, and nonalcoholic beverages."

Seems to be sonething that Beano might break down into fermentables, thus adding priming sugars, and making bottle bombs.

I'd try less priming sugar next time.

Please educate me-- My guess at your motivation is to lower the FG to make a "lite" beer? Cutting the FG in half gives you...um...10% less calories/serving? And, you feel that to be worthwhile...


ETA, oh I see by your other thread just how important a low carb brew can be. carry on, P. W. Vgonman...

Splenda has some fermentables in it not many (not adiquit to make beer/wine but plenty to F up your priming.) if you want to use it you need to put it in when you put in the Beano.

I've been wanting to do a beano/splenda brew for a diabetic friend of mine. Is anyone still trying to make this stuff? Is there a way to determine the caloric value/carb content of the finished product?

bob

Beano will not break down Sucralose. The chlorine makes it impossible. There are some microorganisms that can digest it, but I'm fairly certain yeast can't. Splenda is about 95% Dextrose & Maltodextrose for bulk.

Since I've used Beano in beers and haven't seen the foaming problem, I'd have to think your's is due to the Sucralose. However, I have noticed an odd sweetness to the brew.

If you heat the beer to 57C for 15 minutes, the enzyme will de-nature and anything added after that will not be broken down. You'll have to add yeast to carbonate once it has cooled.

david_42 said:

Beano will not break down Sucralose. The chlorine makes it impossible. There are some microorganisms that can digest it, but I'm fairly certain yeast can't. Splenda is about 95% Dextrose & Maltodextrose for bulk.
.

Click to expand...

I've made a few "Southbeach Friendly" beers.

The problem above is that Amylase/Beano will not break down the splenda, but WILL break down the complex maltodextrin into sugars that the yeast can eat.

The splenda that you see in candy/soda is pure Sucralose, but the Splenda you get in the grocery store had "bulk" added to make it measure the same as sugar. They do make pure, (water diluted) sucralose, but its hard to fine.

So I add the Splenda during the boil, and treat it like a fermentable instead of during bottling. This will allow the yeast to get rid of the MD, and then I'll use something more predictable at bottling. (ie corn sugar)

Alcohol is directly reconverted by ADH in the liver to form Acetaldehyde, this will be used by your body to feed into the Kreb's cycle, thus delaying fat/sugar breakdown. This will make you gain weight.

Also:
http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/29/3/303

cge0 said:

Alcohol is directly reconverted by ADH in the liver to form Acetaldehyde,.... This will make you gain weight.

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Alcohol lowers your blood-sugar, thus has a glycemic index of 0. It is a common repeated myth that the liver converts alcohol to sugar, when this is false. In moderation, which means keeping the metabolism levels to within the framework that allows the alcohol to very converted quickly to carbon-dioxide quickly by the ADH enzyme.

Oddly, the BYO article mentioned by the original poster was meant as a joke. The author later followed up by saying he never thought anyone would brew his fake recipe. Thus, he probobly never realized that the Amylase Enzyme would make the maltodextrin fermentable.

nick

Just because you see stuff in a magazine does not make it safe or a good idea. Garbage in = garbage out, as the old saying goes. Why would you want to put this crap in your beer? Waste of time, money, and what could be good beer when you start pouring all the man made chemical crap into it, and this includes flavor extracts too.