Can anyone comment on if there is a detectable difference in the taste of a
> finished wine between using corn sugar or table sugar to adjust SG ? >
> I am making a second wine from the lees of approx 90 lb of frozen Yakima
> Merlot, 5 US gal of California "Burgundy" juice and 2 Imp gal of water.
> The adjustment calls for between 2 and 4 Kg of sugar.
>
> Thanks,
> Roger
Table sugar will work just fine Roger. More info here
In addition to Lum's excellent info, I believe sucrose will invert when in the juice environment due to the low pH.
clyde
Thank you Mike, Charles, Clyde and Lum. I had already made the SG adjustment using corn sugar when I posted. I used corn sugar because it dissolves so readily. None of the books I have specify what type of sugar to use to adjust SG. After I made the adjustment with corn sugar a beer guy told me they use corn sugar because it gives a better "taste" than table sugar. Made me wonder. Feel better now. Thanks again Roger. Making the adjustment raised another question about adjusting SG when combining lees, water and juice ...
Roger,
Yes, there is. Table sugar is sucrose which is will essentially hydrolyse to fructose and glucose in the wine environment. Corn sugar is dextrose, which is another name for glucose.
Fructose is sweeter tasting than glucose. So, for the same quantity of glucose (corn syrup) and sucrose (table sugar), you will get a slightly sweeter result in the case of the latter addition. This difference is probably pretty small though, and since different peoples' thresholds for sweetness differ, it will likely be variable from person to person.
Hope that answers your question sufficiently.
See you Thursday, Ben
In beer making, I've been told that corn sugar is better for the taste than table sugar. I've made it both ways. But I don't savour beers when I drink them, hell they're beers and they need to be guzzled! So I just use table sugar in my beers. Corn sugar is usually more expensive than on-sale table sugar. Also, you use less corn sugar... the rule of thumb is 1 unit of corn sugar = 1.1 units of table sugar.
Hi Roger,
I posted a reply to this yesterday, but obviously it hasn't made it.
There is a difference. Dextrose is just another name for glucose. Sucrose will invert to a mixture of glucose and fructose in a wine environment. Fructose is tastes sweeter than glucose, so ultimately sweetening with sucrose will give a sweeter taste (i.e., for the same quantity of sugar).
The difference will be small though and, also given the population's range of sensitivity to sweetness, a lot of people probably won't detect it.
See you soon, Ben
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