The Dangers of Splenda!

[periolus]

Check out the 'evil' that is supposed to be Splenda:

http://www.steviacafe.net/dangers-of-splenda

Take with a pinch of salt - I am sure it is fine for brewing! Artificial sweeteners are generally prone to causing media panic from time to time. The only thing I wouldn't touch with a barge-pole is Aspartame, which is genuinely unpleasant.

People who work with Aspartame have to wear full body suits and negative pressure respirators when handling large quantities of it. Accidental exposure triggers a decontamination process and emergency medical treatment. So how do you get rid of it safely? Ram it into fizzy drinks aimed at children and fill them up with it instead. Breaks down into phenylalenine, methanol and formaldehyde. Again ideal compounds for children.

End of rant!

 

[Tony]

How long ago was that article written? Splenda has been around for years - the FDA approval mentioned in the article gave approval in 1998.

I thought sucralose was only a small part of what Splenda is composed of?

Ahh .. everything is bad for you!

 

[periolus]

Yeah, like I said - take it with a pinch of salt. There are loads of conspiracy theories and nonsense out there about it. The only thing I definitely won't touch is aspartame. I must admit, I would like a natural sugar alternative, but lactose seems to be incredibly hard to get hold of and phenomenally expensive!

Alcohol is probably worse for you than splenda ever will be anyway!

 

[markp]

Personally, I try to avoid aspartamine.....I certainly don't touch diet soft drinks.

There is plenty of information about on the net for people to make their own judgement.
sweetpoison.com is a decent starting point.

Far too much money at stake on this one IMHO :sick:

ATB

 

[shadow47]

Ah screw it who cares, won't do that much harm.

I think people are too paranoid about their health now days.

Stop worrying and enjoy your life I say! :

(And no it's not the beer talking, only had 9 pints so...)

 

[marshbrewer]

Lactose isn't that expensive, my local HBC in Grimsby does it for £3 for 500g, which isn't too bad compared with Splenda.

 

[shadow47]

Lactose isn't that expensive, my local HBC in Grimsby does it for £3 for 500g, which isn't too bad compared with Splenda.

How does it taste? Just like normal sugar?

 

[periolus]

Actually, a number of people seem to use concentrated fruit juice to back-sweeten; apple for cider, grape for wine etc.

I wouldn't mind trying lactose though - it's nowhere near as sweet as normal sucrose - apparently only about 25% as sweet, so it works out expensive when you compare it lb for lb.

 

[marshbrewer]

How does it taste? Just like normal sugar?

I'm afraid I'm a complete newbie, Shadow, so I don't know. I just read that as it's non-fermenting, its good for back sweetening, and is available from my local HBC (manufactured by Youngs, IIRC), so I'll give it a go to sweeten my Turbo cider when it's ready for bottling.

Actually, a number of people seem to use concentrated fruit juice to back-sweeten; apple for cider, grape for wine etc.

I've read this on here before but have to admit to not understanding this at all. Surely, it would just start a secondary fermentation, just like the normal sugar I will also be putting in for that purpose? Or am I being a bit of a wally and missing something? :grin:

I wouldn't mind trying lactose though - it's nowhere near as sweet as normal sucrose - apparently only about 25% as sweet, so it works out expensive when you compare it lb for lb.

Aye, but Splenda works out £2 per 100g in ASDA, so that's a tenner for an equivalent amount. However, assuming it is as sweet as sugar (Splenda, that is), then, ok, per 500g it works out 50p cheaper than lactose if it (lactose) is 25% as sweet and needs to be used in four times the quantity? Or have I got that **** about tit as well! :hmm:

I'm going to give it a go anyway, so I'll let you know how I get on. :thumb:

 

[periolus]

I've read this on here before but have to admit to not understanding this at all. Surely, it would just start a secondary fermentation, just like the normal sugar I will also be putting in for that purpose? Or am I being a bit of a wally and missing something? :grin:

You 'kill' your brew first, once you have achieved secondary fermentation, by adding some potassium sorbate (and sometimes a crushed campden tablet too). This will annihilate any remaining active yeast. You can then add the juice to sweeten with no risk of any further fermentation. Then bottle it and wait for it to mellow : Be careful that you use potassium sorbate, as campden tablets don't kill yeast, they only stun them (although some may die).

 

[Moley]

You 'kill' your brew first, once you have achieved secondary fermentation, by adding some potassium sorbate (and sometimes a crushed campden tablet too). This will annihilate any remaining active yeast. You can then add the juice to sweeten with no risk of any further fermentation. Then bottle it and wait for it to mellow : Be careful that you use potassium sorbate, as campden tablets don't kill yeast, they only stun them (although some may die).

Mostly right, but when fermentation has finished you knock out most of the yeasties with campden tablets, and sorbate prevents any survivors from reproducing and starting a secondary fermentation.

Never use sorbate without CTs or your brew could end up smelling and tasting of geraniums :sick:

 

[Ken L]

More scaremongering about aspartame. Show me a properly conducted scientific study that shows that it is unsafe in food and i'll take notice.
All I seem to see is a lot of noise and very little substance - rather like the recent MMR scare that has seen the fraudster behind it up in court.
Just for a little touchstone of reality, consider that both Coca cola and Pepsi use Aspartame and both operate in what is without doubt the most litigious society on Earth. Do you really think they would be feeding the stuff to kids if they thought that it was dangerous ?

Same goes for the rubish about Splenda.

 

[periolus]

The MMR thing was awful. The number of people that now don't vaccinate their kids is terrifying. And low and behold measles is returning in flash outbreaks.

I still don;t like Aspartame, it just seems to be a bit unstable in principle, although as you say Coca-Cola use it and haven't been sued yet! Sucralose - I have no problem with. I think really, I just don't like the idea of artificial sweeteners, especially when you have brewed something from scratch with natural ingredients. But we'll see. I will try splenda with a batch and see what it tastes like.

 

[Ken L]

People who work with Aspartame have to wear full body suits and negative pressure respirators when handling large quantities of it. Accidental exposure triggers a decontamination process and emergency medical treatment.

That would be positive pressure regulators but....
Same goes for Capsaicin but would you avoid a curry because one of the ingredients is nasty in concentrated form ?
Believe me, if I was exposed to concentrated Capsaicin, I'd welcome the cold hose pipes and the scubbing brushes.

 

[prolix]

well after extensive searching of "wikki" splenda is fine in beer, maltodextrins make it happy and the low ph makes it happier just make sure, these drinks are drunk sooner rather than later, as it decomposes over time.

 

[SamWise72]

I don't know enough about aspartame to have a valid view one way or the other, beyond knowing I don't like the taste, but I don't think the "Pepsi wouldn't use it" assumption is a safe one. They market drinks in India that are banned in the EU on the basis that they're carcinogenic, and let's not forget that the tobacco industry kept right on selling for a long time after they knew it was killing people, and just pretended it wasn't.

 

[timbim]

Ultimately aspartame may not be particularly bad, but it almost certainly won't do you any good, so is probably best avoided.

 

[Ken L]

A little perspective.
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/ ... ekey=82425

 

[SamWise72]

Just had another thought re cost. I'm not sure, but I don't think the gram for gram cost is a useful comparison, because isn't Splenda very light? I haven't used it yet, but most sweeteners seem to be. I picked up some sachets today when buying a coffee; I have to sweeten some cider tonight, and thought I'd try it, and inside a normal sugar size sachet is a tiny tiny tablet. So it might be that in powder form the cost per teaspoonful is a better comparison than the cost per gram.

 

[brewzone]

I read somewhere that Donald Rumsfeld was given the task of selling aspartame to the masses.

Does anyone remember Him?

He just happened to not be in the section of the Pentagon that got hit by a plane.

In His own words 'When the missile struck!'

Did he mean plane?