Saccharin tablets in Dave Line's recipes

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Green Ninja

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Anyone know if these are important to the recipe?

I want to try the King and Barnes Old Ale recipe (as I'm from Horsham originally) and it states to put 5 saccharin tablets into the boil.

Can I use a substitute or are they now not rquired?


Thanks,

Terry.
 
Dave Line was brewing with 'unreliable' yeast, which often fermented 'to dryness' he used the saccharin tablets to add back that sweetness that was present in the commercial beer brewed with a decent brewing yeast.

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40 years later we have access to better quality brewing yeasts that actually perform properly, and therefore there is no need to bother to use the saccharin tablets.
 
So....careful choice of yeast will take the place of back sweetening ? I ask as my brewing is of the Dave Line vintage/style and things appear to have come on a lot of late , during my absence . On the subject of sweetening and body non-fermentables I saw mention of maltodextrin in an american article recently - how relevent is that on this subject ?

Also ,if one DOES choose to use non specific yeast for whatever reason and choose to backsweeten , I was having some doubts about the various artificials . I cant take the canderel type , cant stand saccharin so we are really down (in my case) to sorbitol and sucralose . Spenda/sucralose is the easiest to come by domestically but I worry about the lactose carrier it contains . I can source both the previous , uncut , in commercial amounts but it is ruinously expensive and more than I would use in 10 lifetimes .

Interesting thread , something I had been looking at myself . And coming to no useful conclusion , as usual :whistle:
 
Another alternative to sweeteners is Xylitol which is available from Holland And Barretts. it is approximately the same sweetness as sucrose, but is non fermentable. as 1 saccharin tablet ~= 1tsp of sucrose you could use 5 tsp of xylitol to do the same job ;)
 
I'll be of down H&B in New Street lunchtime then.

I have very fond memories of the K&B Old Ale, when I was in my early 20's I used to look forward to autumn to see whether it was a good year or a bad year for Old Ale as they seemed to vary. If it was a good year then I'd be drinking it all winter. If not so good a year then I'd be sticking to the Sussex Bitter.

Good times. Shame the brewery went bust.


Terry.
 
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