Strange Beer Additive (Splenda)

[RedRaiderDavid]

OK, I have a strange question. I'm brewing a beer right now and with 15 minutes left I went to add my irish moss tablet and yeast nutrient. I had put the yeast nutrient in a small bowl that I had used to weigh the boil hops and unfortunately it is the same type bowl that my coffee sweetener is in which was in the same vicinity. You guessed it, I added about 1/2 cup of Splenda to my wort. Is this going to hurt it or just give me sweet beer?
I can be such a bonehead sometimes. lol

 

[MagicMatt]

With only 1/2 cup, hopefully you won't notice much. It'll definitely add a slight sweetness to the beer, but that's about it. Splenda does contain small amounts of maltodextrin, so you'll get a very small amount of it to ferment out, but mostly it's non-fermentable.

 

[fimpster]

Is it a 5 gallon batch? I think it's going to be pretty sweet. Assuming 5 gallons, it's equivalent to a little more than a packet per cup of coffee. I think that's pretty sweet for a beer. I don't even use a whole packet of Splenda in a cup of coffe, but that's my taste.

(0.5 cup splenda = 96 grams, 1 packet splenda = 1 gram, so the equivalent of 96 packets per 5 gallons, there are 80 cups in 5 gallons, so 96 packets per 80 cups = equivalent of 1.2 packets per cup, or 2.4 packets per pint)

What kind of beer is it?

 

[RedRaiderDavid]

5 gallon batch, cream ale. I'm not sure of the exact amount, 1/2 cup was just a guess, could have been more or less. Splenda is partially derived from sugar so hopefully some of it ferments out. Oh well, I'll assume it will be OK until I find out its not.

 

[adamdillabo]

That stinks man. A lot of people will add Splenda to mead or cider to add some sweetness. Hope it turns out alright

 

[Hello]

Hopefully it does taste okay and not artificial. I know Splenda touts itself as tasting like real sugar, but once the fermentables are gone, who knows.

I'd let it ride for sure and see what happens. In a cream ale it may just work, oddly.

 

[mcbar]

Could you dry hop it to offset some of the sweetness?

 

[MagicMatt]

0.5 cup splenda = 96 grams, 1 packet splenda = 1 gram

Whoa! You might want to check your numbers. Yes, 1 packet of splenda is 2 tsp (1 gram), however 1/2 cup of spenda is NOT 96 grams!!!!!

Per Splenda themselves, Splenda is a 1:1 replacement for sugar. Thus, 1/2 cup of sugar is the same as 1/2 cup of Splenda. And 1/2 cup is equal to 24 tsp. Since we know each packet is 2 tsp, we know that 1/2 cup is 12 packets of Splenda. They even say so themselves (see link below). Thus, that's 12 grams, not 96.

That's not even an ounce. I add 8oz of lactose (nonfermentable) and barely taste the sweetness difference. My bet is that only 12 grams will not be noticeable at all!


Source: https://www.splenda.com/cooking-baking/conversion-charts

 

[fimpster]

Whoa! You might want to check your numbers. Yes, 1 packet of splenda is 2 tsp (1 gram), however 1/2 cup of spenda is NOT 96 grams!!!!!
...that's 12 grams, not 96.

So you're telling me 12 packets of Splenda will fill 1/2 cup? Someone does need to check their numbers.

1/2 cup measuring cup

1/2 cup measuring cup with 12 grams

1/2 cup full

1 splenda packet and 1 tsp measuring spoon

1tsp measuring spoon with contents of 1 splenda packet

So 96 grams per half cup was probably a little low now that I've checked my numbers.

 

[1977Brewer]

Splenda blows my guts out. If we ever trade beers, warn me first.

Otherwise, the only way to find out is to try.

 

[bu_gee]

Packet splenda and "granulated" splenda aren't the same proportion of sucralose at least not volumetrically. They are both mostly dextrose, but there is just a lot less of it in the packets.

1 gram of packet splenda is roughly the same sweetness as 10 grams of sucrose. 9.7 oz of "granulated" splenda is the same sweetness as 5 lbs of sugar, which is roughly 10:1 by mass so roughly the same proportion.

The difference is the packet splenda is roughly 1/3 tsp (as per picture) per gram where the "granulated" is 2 tsp per gram.

Perhaps you should ask the OP which one he used first.

 

[bu_gee]

Just weighed some "granulated" splenda and 1/2 cup has a mass of roughly 19g.

I should stipulate that my stuff I'd several years old at this point and it has probably been crushed and has probably sucked up a good bit of moisture from the air so even the 19g is probably an overestimate. The math says it should be 11.9g.

 

[MagicMatt]

Just weighed some "granulated" splenda and 1/2 cup has a mass of roughly 19g.... The math says it should be 11.9g.

My point exactly. I really doubt the OP used actual packets and emptied 1/2 cup of them and threw it in his beer. I (perhaps mistakenly) assumed the granular Splenda, which when I weigh 1/2 cup equals 15.24g.

Still less than 1 oz.

 

[cyberbrew]

I'm definitely interested in how this turns out, and what, if anything, the OP does to offset the sweetness.

This one is perfect for the Confessions thread...

 

[bu_gee]

So you're telling me 12 packets of Splenda will fill 1/2 cup? Someone does need to check their numbers.

1/2 cup full

Wait, did you open 105 packets of splenda to get that?

 

[BGBC]

My point exactly. I really doubt the OP used actual packets and emptied 1/2 cup of them and threw it in his beer. I (perhaps mistakenly) assumed the granular Splenda, which when I weigh 1/2 cup equals 15.24g.

Still less than 1 oz.

Wait, did you open 105 packets of splenda to get that?

Do you people think Splenda only comes in tiny packets?

Bulk Canister

 

[MaxStout]

Sucralose is orders of magnitude sweeter than sugar. You might have some really sweet beer. But don't dump it just yet. Who knows, it might turn out OK.

 

[Jokester]

What happened to the Splenda beer ?
Well I am an expert in this, I throw Sucralose in my cocktails, and 99% of "Splenda" is dextrose and maltodextrin. I believe that 99% is fermentable. However 1% of that 1gm packet is sucralose. The active ingredient, and that has a 700-1200X as sweet as sugar taste. That's why 1/100th of a gram = 2 packets of sugar which is 10 gm. And really that isn't fermentable.
So, you have an unfermentable sugar taste proportional to 2X the number of packets you added when converted to sugar. Adding 1gm sucralose = adding 1kg or 200 packets of sugar just before drinking it.
In other words, adding 1 Splenda packet in 12oz of wort before fermentation = adding 1gm of fermentable carbs + adding 10gm sugar to your cup before drinking it.
You will taste that but you also have what I call sweetness washout. This is my rough description. First sip tastes sweet, second sip taken back to back, sugar has disappeared. Wait 1-2 min and sip, its as sweet.
I want to experiment with this, so I googled it and believe it or not, this thread pops up.

I cant believe someone who uses Splenda hasn't experimented with this anyway, time to google more.

Cool.
Srinath.

 

[Snuffy]

Industries have been founded on lesser mistakes. WD-40. Post It Notes. LSD. You may have discovered the secret to an entirely new beer genre!
Probably not, but I'd still drink it. My first attempt at bourbon barrel flavor was a Caribou Slobber that was so oaky it made your pee smell like a wet pallet. Still drank it. Took 6 months to get thru it. And it improved with age. Or maybe I just got used to it.
We had a local brewery that started selling beer smoothies and they were all the rage for a minute or 2 - especially with the ladies. Rumor is they skunked a batch of Raspberry IPA or something and improvised their way out of dumping it. Get creative, bro!

 

[Jokester]

Sucralose itself is a mistake committed by an Injun no less (I mean Injun like me, not native American). He heard Test as taste cos we tend to say it that way. Tasted it and found it sweet, likely was at low concentration, because in stronger concentration or in pure form its sour to burning taste more than sweet I hear. Never tried it stronger than 1% though.

Cool.
Srinath.