Splenda in primary fermentation

[merlin306]

So, I bought some juice for my apfelwein - I didn't realize it at the time, but it used Splenda instead of sugar for sweetening.

After a few weeks, I took a sample, and it tastes nice(ish), and has a good amount of sweetness.

Is there any worry about using Splenda from the get-go instead of as a back sweetener (off flavors, etc)?

So far so good, but I'd hate to found out in 6 months...

 

[UpstateMike]

Splenda is a non-fermentable sweetener. Whatever fermentation you had was from the juice alone. Sounds like you accidentally did a "front sweeten".

 

[merlin306]

Splenda is a non-fermentable sweetener. Whatever fermentation you had was from the juice alone. Sounds like you accidentally did a "front sweeten".

And, a "front sweeten" is okay in terms of sitting in a fermenter for a few months?

 

[roadymi]

Can't see why it would matter when in the process splenda was added.

This leads to another related question.....does splenda or any other artificial sweeteners affect the SG readings?

 

[merlin306]

Can't see why it would matter when in the process splenda was added.

This leads to another related question.....does splenda or any other artificial sweeteners affect the SG readings?

I would think not. My "wine" with the splenda was at a SG of 1.000 after about 3 weeks in primary. It still tasted sweet, so the Splena didn't ferment out (no surprise). I would assume that whatever affects OG (sugar) completely fermented out, while the Splenda made it sweet, but didn't affect gravity...

Now I am interested if there is a reason to back-sweeten (after all fermentation and conditioning), instead of just front-sweetening??? Maybe better controlled sweetening, as you can taste the final product. Oh well, as long as active fermentation doesn't affect the Splenda in some negative way, who cares.

I suppose that if nothing else, it's a good reason to make another batch and compare.