Splenda?

[jeffbrowand]

Anyone ever use Splenda instead of sugar in a root beer recipe?

 

[Jacktard]

Hi there-
I am fairly new to kegging root beer, but thought I had it dialed in... so tried Splenda cup for cup in my root beer... it just isn't the same. The whole family is now complaining that the taste is "off". Hope that helps a little.

 

[MrFoodScientist]

I've done half & half (sugar and splenda), it's better than going straight splenda, but you can still tell that it has that artificial sweetener taste.

 

[aruzinsky]

There is wisdom in a quote from Breaking Bad, which was something like, "I put ricin in that Stevia sh*t you always loved so much."

In my experience, the best tasting high intensity sweetener is a combination of 60% Aspartame and 40% Acesulfame Potassium (Ace-K). You can buy them inexpensively at

http://pforlife.com/acesulfame-potassium-ace-k-200x-sweeter-than-sugar-kosher.html

http://herbstoreusa.com/sweetener-aspartame.html

 

[aruzinsky]

I've done half & half (sugar and splenda), it's better than going straight splenda, but you can still tell that it has that artificial sweetener taste.

The active ingredient, stevia extract, in Splenda is natural and therefore, by definition, Splenda does not have an "artificial sweetener taste." Splenda just has a undesirable unsugar-like taste mostly due to a very long sweet aftertaste.

 

[solbes]

I put just a little bit of Splenda in my 2nd apfelwein, thinking it would give some residual sweetness. Mistake. Did not like that batch near as much.

 

[MrFoodScientist]

The active ingredient, stevia extract, in Splenda is natural and therefore, by definition, Splenda does not have an "artificial sweetener taste." Splenda just has a undesirable unsugar-like taste mostly due to a very long sweet aftertaste.

Splenda is not stevia.

Splenda is a brand name for sucralose and was on the market for a little while before stevia extract based sweeteners were even approved, so I'm not sure where you're getting that. I've worked with sucralose, aspartame, stevia glycosides, and a little bit of ace k, and all of them seem to have a lingering aftertaste, though I would agree that stevia seems to taste the cleanest. (Even if everything tastes sweet all day long after you breathe in that powder).

Perhaps "artificial sweetener" taste is the wrong term, but "high intensity sweetener" taste may be a more appropriate explanation. They all have certain nuances in flavor, but none of them taste like sugar in my opinion.

One thing about the most available type of Splenda is that it's actually sucralose on a maltodextrin carrier so that it measures cup for cup with sugar. This makes it easy to use and it does seem to add a little bit of body.

 

[aruzinsky]

Splenda is not stevia.

Splenda is a brand name for sucralose and was on the market for a little while before stevia extract based sweeteners were even approved, so I'm not sure where you're getting that. I've worked with sucralose, aspartame, stevia glycosides, and a little bit of ace k, and all of them seem to have a lingering aftertaste, though I would agree that stevia seems to taste the cleanest. (Even if everything tastes sweet all day long after you breathe in that powder).

Perhaps "artificial sweetener" taste is the wrong term, but "high intensity sweetener" taste may be a more appropriate explanation. They all have certain nuances in flavor, but none of them taste like sugar in my opinion.

One thing about the most available type of Splenda is that it's actually sucralose on a maltodextrin carrier so that it measures cup for cup with sugar. This makes it easy to use and it does seem to add a little bit of body.

My mistake, I confused Splenda with Truvia.

These days, you can buy a pocket electronic scale with 0.01 gram accuracy for about $5 which makes the use of pure high intensity sweeteners much easier than previously possible. The reason that manufacturers use bulking agents is to hide the exorbitantly high price that they charge. I.e., when potential customers see the actual volume of active ingredient, they are much less willing to pay the high price that groceries charge. Otherwise, all of the manufacturers would offer their artificial sweeteners in the form of small tablets, like the tablets that were available for saccharin. I note that a packet of Splenda contains 0.99 g of maltodextrin and dextrose which has 3.96 kcals and products with less than 4.0 kcals can legally be labeled as "zero calorie". Thus, the adulterated high intensity sweeteners are for suckers.

 

[jeffbrowand]

Thanks for all the input. Was just looking for a, tried it before and it didn't work, but more knowledge is always better.

 

[aruzinsky]

I would like to point out that you have the ability to easily answer your own question. Just read the ingredients on the label of your favorite commercial diet root beer and copy the listed sweeteners. It is very unlikely that your favorite diet root beer is sweetened with just sucralose. For example, Diet A&W Root B
eer is sweetened with aspartame and acesulfame potassium. Sometimes, after I begin drinking Diet A&W, I have to check the label to make sure that I didn't accidentally buy the non-diet version. In other words, I sometimes can't tell the difference in flavor between sugar (actually high fructose corn syrup) and the combination of aspartame and acesulfame potassium. When making my own diet root beer, the obvious thing for me to do is copy the sweeteners used Diet A&W.

 

[jeffbrowand]

There is wisdom in a quote from Breaking Bad, which was something like, "I put ricin in that Stevia sh*t you always loved so much."



In my experience, the best tasting high intensity sweetener is a combination of 60% Aspartame and 40% Acesulfame Potassium (Ace-K). You can buy them inexpensively at



http://pforlife.com/acesulfame-potassium-ace-k-200x-sweeter-than-sugar-kosher.html



http://herbstoreusa.com/sweetener-aspartame.html

What is the total amount used for a 5 gallon batch? I don't want the price to get out of hand. I'm also leaning towards the KISS method and sticking with sugar.

 

[aruzinsky]

What is the total amount used for a 5 gallon batch? I don't want the price to get out of hand. I'm also leaning towards the KISS method and sticking with sugar.

About 5 grams aspartame and 3.4 grams Ace-K.

Individually, both are sweeteners are about 200 times as strong as sugar, but, together, a 35% improvement is claimed, so the mixture should be about 270 times as strong as sugar. Assuming that you would normally use 5 pounds of sugar to make 5 gallons of root beer, the amount of mixed sweetener to use is

5*454.3 g/lb /270 = 8.41 g of mixed sweetener

or

0.6* 8.41 = 5.0 g of aspartame

and

0.4*8.41 = 3.4 g of Ace-K

 

[jeffbrowand]

Thanks!

 

[hopfool]

Interesting stuff on temperature and pH here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame

Used to drink a lot of diet soda (probably two liters per day) and ended up on arthritis meds (Viox) my joints hurt so bad. Family member with diabetes mentioned that the Aspartame might contribute, and I was miserable/desperate, so I abstained for a few weeks. Like magic the joint pain subsided and I haven't drunk any of that, or taken any meds stronger than a rare aspirin, for about eight years.
Anecdotal I know... but it worked all the same, and I've spoken with others who have had similar experiences. Also a newer study out that I believe suggested that Aspartame was responsible for a significant increase in heart disease. Whether definitive or not, I think I'd rather err on the side of caution regardless and just stay away from it all.
Also anecdotal, but it sure got my attention; that family member mentioned drank more of that crap than I did, and he died at the ripe old age of 54... heart disease. This was AFTER he warned me about the sweetener, but he was admittedly hooked and simply refused to quit drinking the crap. Never was too smart. Just glad I got the memo.

http://www.naturalnews.com/044510_diet_soda_aspartame_death_risk.html

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Heart-Disease/Aspartame/show/454063

http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm#additive_testing

 

[Ariffraff]

I use only splenda for my force carb sodas. Unless I tell people they are diet no one would ever guess. I use a commercially purchased root beer extract and splenda. What I love about using splenda vs sugar aside from calories is that I can make the soda with ice cold water, yep ice cold. So I can make a batch of soda in 45 minutes including force carbing.

 

[Ariffraff]

What is the total amount used for a 5 gallon batch? I don't want the price to get out of hand. I'm also leaning towards the KISS method and sticking with sugar.

I use about 1 cup per gallon as a starting point for my splenda. Of course I've never measured every bit of any batch but ... it's a starting point.

 

[schiddy]

I use about 1 cup per gallon as a starting point for my splenda. Of course I've never measured every bit of any batch but ... it's a starting point.

What type of splenda did you use, the granulated one? All I seem to see lately is the baking blend in the store, not just plain granulated.

 

[JayDubWill]

Why pay for fillers? I buy pure sucralose and measure it out to mix 50/50 with table sugar. I find this to be the best compromise between the "diet" aftertaste and sugar. I get mine from here but there are other places too. Splenda is cut with dextrose and maltodextrin to make it easier to use. Since a lot of brewers also have jewelry scales to measure water additions and hops, why not use it to save some money too. Here is what I go with to provide an equivalent of 5lbs of sugar for 5 gallons of soda.

80 cal/12oz serving:
2.5lbs (about 5.5 cups) sugar
1.89g Sucralose

 

[aruzinsky]

Why pay for fillers? I buy pure sucralose and measure it out to mix 50/50 with table sugar. I find this to be the best compromise between the "diet" aftertaste and sugar. I get mine from here but there are other places too. Splenda is cut with dextrose and maltodextrin to make it easier to use. Since a lot of brewers also have jewelry scales to measure water additions and hops, why not use it to save some money too. Here is what I go with to provide an equivalent of 5lbs of sugar for 5 gallons of soda.

80 cal/12oz serving:
2.5lbs (about 5.5 cups) sugar
1.89g Sucralose

Your sucralose source is currently "unavailable" nor is the price given. I purchase my sucralose from http://www.puresucralose.com/ .

Incidentally, in case you are tempted, do NOT buy the neotame that is advertised at http://www.puresucralose.com/ . I tried it and, although my first sip of a water solution of neotame was as sweet as advertised (8000 times sweeter than sugar), each successive sip was less sweet than the previous sip. By the tenth sip (equilibrium), neotame was only about one tenth as sweet as advertised. I returned the unused portion for a refund and got it.

I use sucralose for cooking because, unlike aspartame, sucralose is heat stable. But, even for cooking, I mix sucralose with Ace-K which is substantially less expensive.

 

[JayDubWill]

You kind of lost me with the equilibrium part. Are you saying the sweetness dissipated over time?

 

[aruzinsky]

You kind of lost me with the equilibrium part. Are you saying the sweetness dissipated over time?

I am saying that my tongue's sensitivity to neotame decreased asymptotically with time. The "equilibrium value" is the final sweetness when I could not detect a further decrease in sweetness, i.e., almost the asymptotic sweetness. The approximate period of time to reach equilibrium sweetness was the time it took me to drink 10 sips, maybe, a minute. It seemed like bad magic because, otherwise, neotame would be cheaper than sugar on the basis of sweetness. Your tongue might be different than mine. Who knows?

 

[JayDubWill]

Gotcha...I think. I like how sucralose is easy to measure out an equivalent amount to a pound of plain sugar. With neotame being 8k times sweeter than sugar 1g would be equal to over 17lbs of sugar!