A little help?

[Ameritoon]

Good morning brewers -
I posted this on the Recipe thread - but didn't seem to get any traction... so...

I have a relatively simple question, I believe.
I brewed a base ale (Nov 12th), matching the characteristics of Northern Brewer's Bastard Stepson - using my superb math skills, I devised a 4 gallon batch to use this extract -

I'm almost ready to bottle, however the recipe in the Northern Brewer kit calls for 6 grams of sweetener. Any suggestions on what sweetener? Should I dissolve 6 grams of Stevia (like I do for a hard ginger ale, I brew)?

Thanks in advanced!

 

[bobeer]

Sure, if I already had a process for another soda type beer I'd probably follow the same process.
Or, like with any other flavoring I put in beer, just do it to taste.

NOTE: I've never made a hard soda before but this is what I would do based on 5 years of brewing beer!

 

[Homercidal]

I can say with positivity that 6 grams of sugar is not going to be noticeable in that much soda. They are likely using Stevia, Sucralose, or some other artificial sweetener that is not fermentable. I believe they all have different sweetening levels, so you should contact NB and find out what they are using and either use that, or cross reference sweetness levels with some other sweetener.

 

[Homercidal]

According to the forums on NB the sweetener comes labeled as Sucralose. This stuff is WAYYYYY sweeter than sugar, so 6 grams might be right.

 

[Ameritoon]

Thanks for the input! I did a cross reference between sucralose vs Stevia (because that's what I already have for my ginger ales) and this article says the following. Stevia is 100 times sweeter than table sugar and sucralose is 600 times sweeter than table sugar - so it would mathematically mean that I need 6 tiems the amount of Stevia.

6 grams sucralose for 5 gallons, - I my batch 4 gallons
8 * .80 = 4.8 grams sucralose
4.8 * 6 = 28.8g - converted to Stevia (6 times sweeter)

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/stevia-vs-sucralose-10342.html

Typically for my Ginger Ales (5gal) I use 2.5 Cups of Stevia, I've never weighed it but the stuff is VERY light, so that may be the 28.8 grams I need. I'll do some weighing tomorrow and let y'all know!

Thanks for the help!