Sorbates and sulphites and secondary fermentation, oh my!

[Smoey]

Hi, I intend on sweetening and flavouring some cider using 'no added sugar' squash.
I've found one which only has sucralose in it (I'm not a fan of saccharin, acesulfame or aspartame) but my issue is that it has preservatives in it and I want to also add sugar to bottle condition and end up with a sparkling cider.
I want to ask if the level of preservatives in the squash will kill my yeast colony (20L brew 1.047 OG, vigorous ferment)?
I don't know how much squash I'm going to need to add at the mo and I don't know the levels of preservatives but just want to hear your guys' thoughts on whether this would theoretically be possible. If not, is there a way I could remove/deactivate the preservatives without using peroxide? Cheers, Smoey.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

This advice may sound harsh but believe me if you follow it you'll save yourself a lot of grief.

To be honest when it comes to juice which contains preservative my advice (from my own failed attempts using it) is leave it on the shelf, people say you can boil it to get rid which believe me doesn't work i doubt anyone is going to be able to say how much to use i would say non.

 

[Smoey]

Thanks Chippy Tea, nothing harsh about it, I appreciate it. I'd have been annoyed had I gone for it and it not worked. Is there a consensus in regards to a preference between Stevia or sucralose? I think I'll just use one of them to sweeten instead and save mucking about with flavours for another time. Cheers.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Unfortunately I don't back sweeten so cannot help i know several members do so i am sure they will be able to advise.

 

[Cwrw666]

Don't use stevia. It just tastes like liquorice root. Not nice at all.

Best thing for me is to prime and bottle and when you pour a pint chuck a spoonful of sugar in your glass first.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Don't use stevia. It just tastes like liquorice root. Not nice at all.

Best thing for me is to prime and bottle and when you pour a pint chuck a spoonful of sugar in your glass first.

That took me back C.
When we first started making supermarket juice wines i wasn't keen on dry wine but SWMBO was so i got round it by adding 2 teaspoons of sugar to a 2 litre plastic bottle of finished wine then i shook it until all the sugar was dissolved i drank this and SWMBO had the straight stuff, it did the trick but i soon got used to drinking a dryer wine and now don't like sweet wine.

 

[Smoey]

Don't use stevia. It just tastes like liquorice root. Not nice at all.

Best thing for me is to prime and bottle and when you pour a pint chuck a spoonful of sugar in your glass first.

Thanks Cwrw666, I do like liquorice but in toffee rather than my brews so I'll avoid that. Cheers.

 

[Cwrw666]

As Chippy says though, I don't bother sweeten anymore either as you soon get used to the dryness. Letting your cider mature for a few months also smooths it out considerably and reduces acidity. There's a huge difference between newly made cider and 3 month old stuff.

 

[DocAnna]

If your preference is sucralose then could you just buy a pack of Splenda from a supermarket and use that for sweetening?

Anna

 

[Smoey]

As Chippy says though, I don't bother sweeten anymore either as you soon get used to the dryness. Letting your cider mature for a few months also smooths it out considerably and reduces acidity. There's a huge difference between newly made cider and 3 month old stuff.

I personally enjoy a dry cider and on the rare occasion I do fancy a sweet one I'll use sugar syrup. The reason I want to sweeten (and carbonate) is so i can give some to friends who are only used to sweet commercial stuff and not your flat, dry, toe-curling scrumpies. Ha. I've lacked the discipline to age my ciders until now and don't really understand what affect aging has, but if it really makes that much of a difference I'll do it. Cheers cwrw.

 

[Smoey]

If your preference is sucralose then could you just buy a pack of Splenda from a supermarket and use that for sweetening?

Anna

Hi Anna, I'll have a closer look at the ingredients and compare brands but I think that's going to be the plan. I'll post quantities once I've done it in case anyone wants to know and I'll do a taste test with watered down apple juice and see if I can come up with a rough specific gravity comparison. Aiming for the equivalent of around 1.015 - 1.020, maybe drier but we'll see...

 

[Chippy_Tea]

If your preference is sucralose then could you just buy a pack of Splenda from a supermarket and use that for sweetening?

Some members have reported Splenda leaves a strange aftertaste did you get any hint of this?

 

[AXW123]

I have carbonated cider with polish black currant Lowecitz brand- which has no preservatives and also added normal saccharine tablets and it tasted very nice.

 

[Smoey]

Thanks AXW123. Nice one, I'd completely forgotten about that brand. I had a bottle of their cherry syrup years ago. I'll ask SWMBO to keep her eyes peeled and see if we can track some down. Cheers.

 

[LED_ZEP]

I use this, sucralose and £1. I find that 3/4 of a tub in 23l of TC is right for me.

 

[Smoey]

Cheers LED_ZEP, SWMBO's being sent to Tesco, I say "being sent" - I mean asked pleadingly to go but I think chances are slim at the mo given the deluge of rain here in Bristol. Lowicz syrup, sweetener, 4 for £6 and a pumpkin.

 

[LED_ZEP]

I make a TC with the Raspberry Lowicz. One bottle in the ferment and prime the PB with half a bottle and sweetener as above.
Made to about 9.5% - 10% it's one of my goto brews.