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

Analogueman wrote:
> 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 ?

<snip>

Roger,

I think it depends on the sensitivity of one's palette. I know of many
who say there's no detectable difference, but there are others who claim
to detect an obvious difference. I myself have never found a taste
difference, but then again, I can't taste fresh cherries either.

Sorry if this doesn't help much. I suspect there's no "universal"
answer, but in a dry wine there should be almost no sugar left anyway. I
would say it doesn't matter.

HTH, Mike MTM

Analogueman wrote:

> 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.

I would use whichever is cheaper, but I doubt there is much of a
difference in a situation like... I recall something about beer yeasts
needing invert sugar, but the same doesn't apply to wine. It seems
standard advice is sucrose for wine, dextrose for beer?

--
charles

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
- W.C. Fields

"Analogueman" > wrote in message
news:bfGac.31479$wg1.8745@edtnps84...
> 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
http://home.att.net/~lumeisenman/chapt5.html

>
> Table sugar will work just fine Roger. More info here
> http://home.att.net/~lumeisenman/chapt5.html

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 ...


"Lum" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Analogueman" > wrote in message
> news:bfGac.31479$wg1.8745@edtnps84...
> > 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
> http://home.att.net/~lumeisenman/chapt5.html
>
>

Roger,

> 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 ?

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.

"Analogueman" > wrote in message
news:uoXac.4419$hH3.352@edtnps84...
> Thank you Mike, Charles, Clyde and Lum.
> I had already made the SG adjustment using corn sugar when I posted.
> I used corn sugar because it dissolves so readily.
> None of the books I have specify what type of sugar to use to adjust SG.
> After I made the adjustment with corn sugar a beer guy told me they use
corn
> sugar because it gives a better "taste" than table sugar.
> Made me wonder. Feel better now.
> Thanks again
> Roger.
> Making the adjustment raised another question about adjusting SG when
> combining lees, water and juice ...
>
>
> "Lum" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > "Analogueman" > wrote in message
> > news:bfGac.31479$wg1.8745@edtnps84...
> > > 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
> > http://home.att.net/~lumeisenman/chapt5.html
> >
> >
>
>

Hi Roger,

I posted a reply to this yesterday, but obviously it hasn't made it.

> 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 ?

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