Do sugars matter?

So when making cider is there a preferred sugar? I know alot of people use brown sugar but the guys at the local brew shop told me to use dextrose. And if there is a discernible taste difference? and what the various available sugars tend to taste like?

Most sugars add absolutely nothing to the flavor. The ones that do have one thing in common: residual or added molasses.

Compared side to side you might get a little difference, but it is really hard to tell otherwise. I prefer to just use concentrate to keep the sugars in line with the juice. It's probably just superstition though.

david_42 said:

Most sugars add absolutely nothing to the flavor. The ones that do have one thing in common: residual or added molasses.

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ok i thought it would be like spirits where the sugars matter, my 1st batch was with dextrose and back sweetened with honey but my next batch i will use a less fermentable sugar

I can't say I would be able to tell a difference in a blind taste test when proper fermentation guidelines are followed, but I have had better results with dextrose and brown sugar over white table sugar.

Table sugar always seems to add a sort of earthy taste and aroma to my ciders. I guess it could be mental...but it happened on more than one experiment.

I have used brown sugar, cane sugar, corn sugar, even malt extract. IMO they are slightly different, and thus give you a wealth of options to slightly change your brew from batch to batch if wanted. Try them all!

+1, sugars absolutely matter for the above mentioned reasons.

I use table sugar as a rule, if using sugar at all. I don't like brown sugar a bit in wine or ciders, as fermented molasses tastes absolutely terrible to me. Others like it, though.

White sugars should give the same results. I've used "sugar in the raw" also, and it was about the same as white sugar but about 3 times the price! I've also used palm sugar, corn sugar, honey, and beet sugar as well as cane sugar. There were no noticeable differences, except in the honey. Honey ferments out, but it leaves behind a rich smoothness that I don't get with other sugars.

Nice, but I know honey takes a while to ferments because my mead is still chewing on those sugars 4 months later but my dextrose got all chewed up in 3 weeks. But hey thanks for the input