Owly055
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- Feb 28, 2014
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I'm about to start an experiment with kombucha and Xylitol.
Xylitol is an alcohol sugar, and is the first of the sugar substitutes. It was developed during WWII when there was a sugar shortage in Europe, and was derived from birch wood. It is a naturally occurring chemical that is in many foods, and even produced by your own body. Unlike most modern non-nutritive sweeteners, it has many health benefits, and no side effects except that some people experience gas and bloating. It has a positive effect on oral health beyond just replacing sugar. Xylitol has about half the calories of sugar, but they are non-glycemic. That is they do not raise blood sugar, as most carbs do, and that is a good thing, as they do not result in production of insulin, which stores glucose as fat.
No other "artificial" sweetener is safe... Aspartame, which is the most common (Nutrisweet) is absolutely toxic, and has been shown to be carcinogenic. Even Stevia causes kidney damage and other problems.
Xylitol is the ONLY artificial sweetener I would even consider using.
My calculations show that around to 60% of the sugar used in Kombucha remains after fermentation to the desired sourness. That's a LOT of sugar. For that reason I am going to start trying to brew with 50/50 sugar and Xylitol. Xylitol is not fermentable. That will result is far less residual sugar......hopefully.
The Program:
1: Starting a new kombucha culture in parallel to my current kombucha. I started this using ordinary sweet tea made with INVERT sugar, mixed 50/50 with 2 bottles (1 qt) GTs Original Plain, which is the way I started the original culture (except the invert sugar). I also heavily aerated with my immersion blender, and will continue to do this daily for several days. The idea is to accelerate the fermentation and souring, as the acetobacter needs oxygen much like aerating when brewing a high gravity brew.
2: I will double this to one gallon once it's soured properly
3: I will again double this to 2 gallons
4: At this point, I will draw off a gallon and keg it. I should have a good scoby by this point base on experience.
5: Now I will replace the sweet tea with 50/50 sweet tea.... half Xylitol. This will again use invert sugar, and be heavily aerated, which I may do daily to help accelerate things. By this time the scoby should be solid enough that I can easily hold it aside during aeration.
6: This will continue at 50/50.....the percentage of sugar remaining diminishing gradually until I achieve what I want.
........................ thoughts anybody??
H.W.
Xylitol is an alcohol sugar, and is the first of the sugar substitutes. It was developed during WWII when there was a sugar shortage in Europe, and was derived from birch wood. It is a naturally occurring chemical that is in many foods, and even produced by your own body. Unlike most modern non-nutritive sweeteners, it has many health benefits, and no side effects except that some people experience gas and bloating. It has a positive effect on oral health beyond just replacing sugar. Xylitol has about half the calories of sugar, but they are non-glycemic. That is they do not raise blood sugar, as most carbs do, and that is a good thing, as they do not result in production of insulin, which stores glucose as fat.
No other "artificial" sweetener is safe... Aspartame, which is the most common (Nutrisweet) is absolutely toxic, and has been shown to be carcinogenic. Even Stevia causes kidney damage and other problems.
Xylitol is the ONLY artificial sweetener I would even consider using.
My calculations show that around to 60% of the sugar used in Kombucha remains after fermentation to the desired sourness. That's a LOT of sugar. For that reason I am going to start trying to brew with 50/50 sugar and Xylitol. Xylitol is not fermentable. That will result is far less residual sugar......hopefully.
The Program:
1: Starting a new kombucha culture in parallel to my current kombucha. I started this using ordinary sweet tea made with INVERT sugar, mixed 50/50 with 2 bottles (1 qt) GTs Original Plain, which is the way I started the original culture (except the invert sugar). I also heavily aerated with my immersion blender, and will continue to do this daily for several days. The idea is to accelerate the fermentation and souring, as the acetobacter needs oxygen much like aerating when brewing a high gravity brew.
2: I will double this to one gallon once it's soured properly
3: I will again double this to 2 gallons
4: At this point, I will draw off a gallon and keg it. I should have a good scoby by this point base on experience.
5: Now I will replace the sweet tea with 50/50 sweet tea.... half Xylitol. This will again use invert sugar, and be heavily aerated, which I may do daily to help accelerate things. By this time the scoby should be solid enough that I can easily hold it aside during aeration.
6: This will continue at 50/50.....the percentage of sugar remaining diminishing gradually until I achieve what I want.
........................ thoughts anybody??
H.W.
