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Experimenting with Splenda

All,

When my wife went on a diet and switched from sugar to Splenda, I wondered how I could make Port that she could drink. Since she has been using Splenda, I decided I would try it to sweeten my latest batch of Port. Before bottling, the Port measured -1 degree Brix. Since I was working with

3 gallons of wine, I caculated that I needed about 1 pound of sugar to raise the Brix up to 2 degrees. I took a small box of Splenda that was said to be equivalent to one pound of sugar and added it to my Port. The taste was right where I wanted it. However, when I used my hydrometer after adding the Splenda, I was suprised to see that it still read -1 degrees Brix!

Anyway, from what I can determine, Splenda is a suitable substitute for sugar (at least for sweetening finished wine). I have not attemped fermentation of Splenda. Perhaps some brave soul will try that and share the results.

Regards,

Gary

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Reply to
Gary Flye
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Reply to
STEPHEN PEEK

It's a non-breakable?sp sugar. It has chlorines substituted and, as such probably doesn't have the same specific gravity as measured by your hydrometer.

A hydrometer just measures the relative 'strength' of displacement of a solution. Just because a material is sweet doesn't mean it displaces the same :)

Using your tastebuds sounds like a smart idea in this case.

Reply to
purduephotog

According to

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splenda is

600 times as sweet as sugar. So, you'd need far less sucralose to sweeten wine to the right degree- on the order of a gram instead of a pound. Even assuming that sucralose and sucrose change the density of wine to exactly the same degree (which it probably won't), a gram of it isn't going to change the density of your wine enough to observe with a hydrometer.

Stephen claims that splenda won't ferment. I hope nobody will try this- it it were to be broken down by yeast or anything else, it would give you small organic molecules with chlorines in them. Organochlorines, with notable exceptions (including, presumably, sucralose), are nearly universally bad- you don't want them in your wines.

Reply to
The Mad Alchemist

I've used Splenda to sweeten wine when all of the following apply: 1) Giving a bottle as a gift 2) Haven't stabilized it w/ sorbate while in bulk. and 3) I know the bottle will not be under constant refrigeration. Yeah, I guess I could add sorbate & sugar directly to the bottle, but that's more trouble than it's worth.

It does seem to work well. The Splenda instructions say to use it volume for volume as you'd use sugar. Most of the people I've given wine to like it sweeter than I like it. My dose is ~1.25 tablespoons per bottle.

Robert in the hills of TN

Reply to
Robert Lewis

Help a poor, uneducated Brit. Is Splenda a sugar-substitute and if so, what does it contain?

Reply to
Old Rocker

Their website can explain what it is much better than I can.

Robert

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Reply to
Robert Lewis

Oh, and if it matters, Splenda disolves in the bottle much faster than either sugar or honey.

Robert

Reply to
Robert Lewis

Bad stuff?

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Good stuff?
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Rock on

Steve - crush, destem, ferment, press, store, rack, rack again, age in oak, bottle, wait a year, drink!

Reply to
Steve Landis

Found some on a local supermarket shelf, so it is here in the UK. Funny I've never come across it before.

Reply to
Old Rocker

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