# back sweetening with splenda



## kubi3875 (Jan 13, 2013)

Has anyone tried this or is it a bad idea to back sweeten with splenda


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## mmadmikes1 (Jan 14, 2013)

Splenda become fermentable after a while, Dont remember how long it take but it is months


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## kubi3875 (Jan 14, 2013)

So as long as its treated like sugar it would not ruin it to bad in flavor i was thinking about doing a couple for my wife with splenda


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## GreginND (Jan 14, 2013)

Sucralose (the main ingredient in Splenda) should not ferment. However, Splenda also contains some amount of dextrose and maltodextrin. These can hydrolyze (invert) and produce fermentable sugars over time. I don't know what the level of these other additives are but they should be small.


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## Chirata (Jan 16, 2013)

I'm a bit late to this thread, not sure what you have done, however have you thought of using liquid Splenda as it is pure sucralose without the dextrose and maltodextrin?

I was contemplating that as well so I'm wondering what you did and the results?
Aloha,
Colette


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## kubi3875 (Jan 16, 2013)

Im still clearing right now and i wanted to use splenda for my wife but she wont be drinking for a while so i get all 6 gallons for myself. Still may do a bottle just to see if it is ok


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## Chirata (Jan 16, 2013)

I'd love to know how it turns out and if you use granulated Splenda or liquid. Myself I switched over to liquid a few years ago as theirs no carbs and any of that other weird stuff that makes up the pwd.


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## kubi3875 (Jan 16, 2013)

I will. im going to try splenda and agave nectar but being this is my first skeeter pee / dragons blood im goingto do the bulk with sugar


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## ckassotis (Jan 16, 2013)

According to the manufacturer of Splenda, sucralose will over a matter of months convert into a fermentable form. It is simple chemistry though, if you look at a picture of sucrose and sucralose. The problem with these artificial sugars is that they are almost structurally identical to sucrose. It fools the body enough to prevent it from being broken down until it passes through the body (supposedly), but give it more than 2 months in the bottle and it most certainly can convert to a fermentable sugar.


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## kubi3875 (Jan 17, 2013)

So splanda will convert to ferment able sugars over time got you on that. but if i treat my wine that im using the splenda on like it was sugar with k meta and k sorbate i in theory should not have fermentation start in the bottle when it turns into ferment able sugar right? Plus i hear thus stuff won't last that long anyway


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## kubi3875 (Jan 17, 2013)

And also might be a idea for friends with sulfate allergies bottle dry letting it clear on its own and sweeten before drinking with simple syrup it may have dormant yeast but the cold wine would prevent them from becoming active with the sugar or am i missing something


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## ckassotis (Jan 17, 2013)

I wouldn't take that bet. You could wait for the yeast to die off and treat it with sorbate though (which isn't sulfite) to prevent them from starting up again. Any time you plan to re-sweeten I would just go ahead and add sorbate (and sulfites if you can). They are cheap, don't impact the taste of the wine, and there isn't any real reason to not add them.


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## kubi3875 (Jan 17, 2013)

Thanks just a thought at 1:00 in the morning


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## GreginND (Jan 17, 2013)

ckassotis said:


> According to the manufacturer of Splenda, sucralose will over a matter of months convert into a fermentable form. It is simple chemistry though, if you look at a picture of sucrose and sucralose. The problem with these artificial sugars is that they are almost structurally identical to sucrose. It fools the body enough to prevent it from being broken down until it passes through the body (supposedly), but give it more than 2 months in the bottle and it most certainly can convert to a fermentable sugar.



Chris, I've been looking for information about this. Do you have a source for the information about sucralose degrading to fermentable sugars? You indicate that the manufacturer said this was so. But I can't find it. Thanks.


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## GreginND (Jan 17, 2013)

FYI - there is one winery in Indiana that produces no-calorie sweet wines using erythritol. Apparently the were using sucralose but switched to this.

http://www.chateauthomas.com/slender/


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## ckassotis (Jan 17, 2013)

I couldn't come up with a source right now, would have to scavenge. It was from another winemaking forum - a direct inquiry to the manufacturer and copied and pasted for the rest of the forum to know. I copied the text down and saved it, but can't speak to which forum (or thread!) it might have come from. Another sweetener that I bet would work fine is Truvia/Stevia - all natural and sweeter than sugar. 

I think they are responsive to these things though, so I suppose you could always do an email on their website, which I assume they offer, to confirm that. Or see if they give the same answer twice. Haha!


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## GreginND (Jan 17, 2013)

I would not use stevia. It also has natural sugar molecules in it but they are bound to a bigger molecule. They can hydrolyze off over time in wine and produce fermentable sugars.


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## mmadmikes1 (Jan 18, 2013)

ckassotis said:


> I wouldn't take that bet. You could wait for the yeast to die off and treat it with sorbate though (which isn't sulfite) to prevent them from starting up again. Any time you plan to re-sweeten I would just go ahead and add sorbate (and sulfites if you can). They are cheap, don't impact the taste of the wine, and there isn't any real reason to not add them.


 This is not true, sorbate alone will not stop yeast from fermenting. People keep saying it but it is wrong. You may as well add water to stop the yeast. And yes sorbate does affect the taste. I can taste it and I dont like it


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## ckassotis (Jan 18, 2013)

mmadmikes1 said:


> This is not true, sorbate alone will not stop yeast from fermenting. People keep saying it but it is wrong. You may as well add water to stop the yeast. And yes sorbate does affect the taste. I can taste it and I dont like it



It is true, to a point. Sorbate prevents yeast from budding, which is how they reproduce. If you have a wine that has stopped fermenting then and are ready to backsweeten, adding sorbate will essentially prevent fermentation from becoming much of anything. Does it provide a certainty that fermentation cannot start up from the remaining yeast? No, but that's why you add sulfites as well, like I said. If you can taste the sorbate, you're adding too much in my opinion.


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## vernsgal (Feb 8, 2013)

sorry I'm a little late on this topic but was just thinking of trying to back sweeten with splenda.I did find this posting on it
http://blog.eckraus.com/blog/wine-making-tricks-and-tips/is-splenda-splendid-for-sweetening-wine.I'm not sure how it will taste though because I always taste something chemically when using splenda even though I know there's no chemicals in it


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## GreginND (Feb 8, 2013)

vernsgal said:


> I'm not sure how it will taste though because I always taste something chemically when using splenda even though I know there's no chemicals in it



Um, sucralose is a chemical. Everything is made of chemicals.


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## vernsgal (Feb 9, 2013)

It's amazing the knowledge you can learn while making wine! Thanks GreginND. I always believed the jargon that spenda was made with natural sugar, googled it,and ..wrong!!


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## GreginND (Feb 10, 2013)

Natural sugar is a chemical too. And sucralose is made from sugar.


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