Just Want to Share a Tip

[joechianti]

I've been playing around with Stevia as a non-fermentable sweetener, mostly for wine and cider, but also for beer. I've tried it a couple times on brews with a little 'extract twang', and I have to admit, it's more than just a little promising. It may even be fantastic. I used the liquid stevia. It's easy to put too much and over do it, but if you just use the tiniest amount, it works like a charm. You can put it in one glass, or one batch at bottling.

[John Sand]

Pretty cool Joe. Nice to see you.

[Brewbirds]

Hey JoeC glad to see you made through tax time, hope you'll join in the fun again.

I haven't done any back sweetening to date, your using the Stevia in place of lactose?

[mtsoxfan]

Joe, welcome back stranger...

Can you give a few specific details on amounts? I know tastes vary, but a guideline might be nice for those interested...

[RickBeer]

Joe - good to hear from you again. The Borg isn't as lively without your sharp-witted barbs! I have to carry too much load.

[mtsoxfan]

RB... did you just call yourself FAT??

[Inkleg]

RB... did you just call yourself FAT??

>Insert rim shot here<

Great to see you Joe.

[BigPapaG]

Hi Joe!

Great to see you post!

More details on your Stevia experiments if you could sir...

Amounts, results, etc...

Thanks! Keep Posting!

[joechianti]

I've been pretty casual about the 'experimenting' with it. No precise measurements or anything like that. First I added a little to a half jug of apple wine that surprised me and turned into 'sherry'. I just thought it needed to be a tad sweeter, and the stevia did the trick. I just squirted a few drops at a time and kept tasting it until it was just a little sweet but not overly sweet. Then I had a batch of milk stout made with lactose that I also felt could have been a tad sweeter. Same routine, and same results. Then I thought what about that 'extract twang', so I tried the same thing with a batch of beer that was okay but had a little edge to it. Worked pretty good there, too. I haven't tried putting it in up front before fermenting yet. So far, it seems to work real good at the end of the line to adjust sweetness. I'm thinking about trying some up front, but as a few of you have said, we don't have any rules of measure to go by on this stuff, so it's a risk. Sweetening to taste at the end is all I got for now. But I do see good potential, as yet untapped, for this stuff. I also like the fact that it appears to be reasonably safe and healthy, as far as I can tell.

And it is real good to see you guys again.

BTW, Michele, since I've been drinking more wine than beer cause of the dumb gout and celiacs, and not having a 'pipeline' of wine, I've been buying it from the store, so my stockpile of gallon glass jugs is growing. I thought maybe you might find a use for some of them. My wife keeps trying to give them to the recycle folks, but I'm holding on in case someone nearby wants to use them for brewing purposes.

[Brewbirds]

BTW, Michele, since I've been drinking more wine than beer cause of the dumb gout and celiacs, and not having a 'pipeline' of wine, I've been buying it from the store, so my stockpile of gallon glass jugs is growing. I thought maybe you might find a use for some of them. My wife keeps trying to give them to the recycle folks, but I'm holding on in case someone nearby wants to use them for brewing purposes.

HEY, HEY, HEY will the Tap-A-Draft you gave fit on those? That would be a quick bottling day.

And don't think that just because you're trading in your LBKs for carboys you can leave the you've already been assimilated and there's no turning back.

[jimjohson]

And don't think that just because you're trading in your LBKs for carboys you can leave the you've already been assimilated and there's no turning back.

yeah, the only reason I still use lbks is. they are the only thing I found that'll fit the 3rd shelf in my fermentation chamber.

[joechianti]

HEY, HEY, HEY will the Tap-A-Draft you gave fit on those? That would be a quick bottling day.

I haven't tried that, but it's a good idea. I seriously doubt we'd get so lucky. But those glass gallon jugs make great fermenters for small experimental batches, especially for wine or cider. They take a rubber stopper and airlock really well. Easy to move around, too.

[swenocha]

Hey, Joe... Good to see you back. Agreed that those gallon jugs are great for fermenting in, or you can split your Mr. B batches in two if you need a secondary. I have four and I use them all the time (I have them from Whole Foods apple cider, but same concept).

Did you have any success with clarity-ferm? I use it in all of my brews these days...