Sugar in Wine making

[hector]

Hi there !

Which kind of Sugar is more suitable for making red grape Wine , and why ?!

White crystalline or brown sugar ?!

 

[Madriver Wines]

Just about everyone uses white table sugar. The brown sugar inparts additional flavors. There may be some recipes where you will want the added flavors. Just not sure where or when.

 

[Wade E]

I use mainly white table sugar but brown has its place also like madriver says like for spiced apple wine and other things, it will also brown the color of your wine too. Its more expensive here hough and thats another deterent.

 

[St Allie]

Use a nice dark brown sugar for ginger wine.. you won't regret it.. it makes a huge difference to the finish. Dark muscovado is the best.

Allie

 

[Tom]

I use regular white table sugar for my wines.
I use dark brown for my Beer (Bass and Killians Red)

 

[smurfe]

Plain old cane sugar for me as well.

 

[canoe]

I've seen a couple of recipes for srawberry wine using brown sugar. Anybody made strawberry this way.
Bill

 

[gonzo46307]

I've seen a couple of recipes for srawberry wine using brown sugar. Anybody made strawberry this way.
Bill

I made a 3 gallon batch of strawberry with light brown sugar. The jury's still out on the taste. It's got a heavier flavor then the last batch of strawberry I made. The brown sugar does impart a taste to it. I decided not to back sweeten it, and left it dry. I bottled it about a month an a half ago, so I'm not going to touch any of the bottles for a couple more months. We'll see how it ages.

Peace,
Bob

 

[BettyJ]

I have always used white sugar, but several local Belize wine makers say to only use brown - that the white sugar has been bleached and it will ruin the wine (I say my wine is good - not sure what happened to yours LOL)

 

[firebob]

Betty they don't use bleach when they process sugar. But with the increasing of ethanol they have been importing more sugar form over seas. The imported stuff is "dirty" looking to Americans and it gets reprocessed before being sold.

 

[St Allie]

Brown sugar still has a molasses content, plus impurities, the darker it is, the less refined the sugar. The darker it is.. the more it will impart a caramelised flavour to your wine and your cooking.

Allie

 

[canoe]

I made a 3 gallon batch of strawberry with light brown sugar. The jury's still out on the taste. It's got a heavier flavor then the last batch of strawberry I made. The brown sugar does impart a taste to it. I decided not to back sweeten it, and left it dry. I bottled it about a month an a half ago, so I'm not going to touch any of the bottles for a couple more months. We'll see how it ages.

Peace,
Bob

Thanks, Bob

I may try a little when I make mine. I take it you decided it may be better dry after you tasted it.

Bill

 

[Tom]

Allie,
Here in the States its called Raw Sugar

 

[St Allie]

Tom,

raw sugar is the next step towards unrefined here in NZ

it goes..

icing sugar( confectioners sugar)
caster sugar ( fine crystals)
white cane sugar ( granulated)
preserving sugar ( big crystals)
raw sugar (demerara can be darker)
soft brown sugar
coffee sugar
muscovado


liquid sugars..
golden syrup
treacle
mollasses is the darkest form

the darker you go.. the more caramel flavour.


Allie

 

[smurfe]

Betty, just remind them that there have been billions of gallons of good wine made with plain cane sugar. Hell, sugar is a local ingredient for me. On the south side of town is where all the cane fields start. Drive south west to west and all you see is cane fields around here.

 

[Luc]

Over here it is different all together I presume.

We have beet sugar which is the normal white table sugar which we normally use for all purposes. That is the best suited for normal winemaking.

Then we have what we call 'basterd sugar' that is a mixture of white sugar and invert sugar and/or caramel. We have that in several grades like white basterd sugar, light brown basted sugar and dark basterd sugar. The color depends on the amount of caramel added to it.

There is another version called brown sugar and that is indeed sugar with molasses. You can find that mostly in the reform shops as we call it. Shops with natural products. Therefore they are more expensive.

I did an essay on this and in the photo's you can see clearly the differences in the colour when the sugar is dissolved in water:
http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2009/02/basterdsuiker-brown-sugar.html

Luc

 

[BettyJ]

I did a little research on the sugar cane industry in Belize and this refers to "bleaching":

"Raw sugar has a yellow to brown colour. If a white product is desired, sulfur dioxide may be bubbled through the cane juice before evaporation; this chemical bleaches many color-forming impurities into colourless ones. Sugar bleached white by this sulfitation process is called "mill white", "plantation white", and "crystal sugar". This form of sugar is the form most commonly consumed in sugarcane-producing countries."

I am assuming that the sulfur dioxide is totally evaporated and this should not affect the wine. The brown sugar is also available here (funny that there are no labels on any local products like rice, beans, sugar or flour - just clear plastic bags with twisty ties). Should I use that instead?

 

[St Allie]

What you are using for your wines is working fine for you Betty.. if you want to experiment with the local brown sugar.. make a test batch.. two wines side by side.. one with white sugar and one with brown..

sounds like you have access to some really interesting ingredients there.

Allie

 

[gonzo46307]

Thanks, Bob

I may try a little when I make mine. I take it you decided it may be better dry after you tasted it.

Bill

I'm going to give it a shot dry...we'll see what happens after a few months. I really liked the strawberry I made with regular sugar. I think I'll stick with that next time.

It's all a matter of personal taste. Try a small batch, it won't hurt anything.

Peace,
Bob

 

[bruno]

I used brown sugar in my strawberry wine which came out great. White regular table sugar for everything else.