Back sweetening

[Chicken Dipper]

Hi guys

I've got 23l of 7% raspberryade, 5l melina wine, 5l apple wine and 5l rhubarb wine all 12.5% to 14% but all very dry and Swmbo wants it sweet!

I've seen from the ingredients lists on some artificial sweeteners that there are varying sweeteners from aspartame to lactose, the thing is, I've never used artificial sweeteners before. What do I need?

[CJR]

Hi guys

I've got 23l of 7% raspberryade, 5l melina wine, 5l apple wine and 5l rhubarb wine all 12.5% to 14% but all very dry and Swmbo wants it sweet!

I've seen from the ingredients lists on some artificial sweeteners that there are varying sweeteners from aspartame to lactose, the thing is, I've never used artificial sweeteners before. What do I need?

Big bag of splenda, couple of standard measurements of your drinks. Sweeten the glassses to taste then scale up.

[crafty john]

I have always found that sweetening wine with artificial sweeteners leaves a bitter back taste, the best way to achieve a sweeter wine IMO is to stop fermentation with potassium sorbate and campden tabs when your wine is nearly finished, leaving some residual sweetness.

[Chicken Dipper]

ThAnks guys, I want to prime the raspberryade and the rhubarb so can't use sorbate and campden tabs as they will kill the yeast. I wonder if the artificial sweetener causing bitterness was down to a certain type, say aspartame for instance. Anyone else had similar experience?

[Geezah]

For fizzy alcopops I use pot sorb and sweeten, then fizz them in my sodastream.

[Chicken Dipper]

If only I'd hung on to mine!

[CJR]

If only I'd hung on to mine!

Bugger a Sodastream, do it like a man with a Corny and a F'ing big CO2 cylinder.

[DeadFall]

I find that pot sob gives everything a bubble gum taste. Apparently some people are hypersensitive to the stuff and I must be one of them. A friend of mine was complaining that his stuff tasted funny compared to mine, when I said 'bubblegum' he said 'yeah' and stopped using it too. He's much happier now with the wines he's making now, so it's not just me. I want to avoid artificial sweeteners too, they're pretty awful things to be putting in your body. So need a solution for back sweetening that doesn't involve either.

[Geezah]

If only I'd hung on to mine!

Bugger a Sodastream, do it like a man with a Corny and a F'ing big CO2 cylinder.

I don't have a spare Corny, I really ought to buy a couple more.

[DeadFall]

Anyone got any experience with stevia? It's a natural, non-fermentable, extract from a south American plant that is 600 times sweeter than sugar, apparently some of the extraction methods can add a metallic taste so you have to figure out which brands don't use these methods.