How do the different sugars contribute to the sweetness in the distillate ?

Because hardly any distillation is absolutely pure (ie. above 192.6 proof or 96.3% with the azoetrope) there is a certain amount of the congeners or contaminants (dont know if this is the right terms here) carried with it in the form of bonded molecules as virtually no fermentation goes to the absolute limit where everything is converted.

Alcohol therefore tends to show its origins. The simpler the sugars (ie. monosaccharides c/f dissacharides) the greater the conversion. Also the greater the purification (ie. alcohol %) the less this is noticeable.

This is why rum fermented almost solely from molasses or sugar syrup distilled at a lot lower % apart from the actual congeners is so distinctive and also why vodka tends to be vodka regardless of source. At the very high levels it is only those of us (DR) with very distinctive palates who can discern. The more complex and longer the makeup chain of the starting sugars the more difficult it is to convert. This is why we end up with what are called hung fermentations sometimes. I (DR) also believe with more complex sugars that some of the dextrins are not totally converted.

I (DR) believe somewhere there should be what I would call Tables of Fermentability that deal with the properties of various sugars. Probaby in some wine book or similar. A good winemaker with the proper techniacal qualifications could probably tell us.     This page last modified Tue, 20 Jan 2015 20:51:05 -0800