Plain White Sugar is high octane to ferments and the kombucha SCOBY because the yeasts can easily break it down into glucose and fructose and thus into beneficial acetic and gluconic acid.
Maltose is the most abundant fermentable sugar in the wort. Another group is called trisaccharides, which are three-part sugars, and this includes a sugar called maltotriose.
The fermentable sugars include glucose (from cellulose), xylose, arabinose, galactose, and mannose.
Of glucose, sucrose, and fructose, fermentation of glucose in yeast is the fastest and most efficient because glucose is a monosaccharide and does not need to be broken down. It can be used directly in the glycolysis cycle because it is already in a usable form.
Glucose was the most efficient, producing 12.64 mm of carbon dioxide per minute. Sucrose yielded 9.27 mm of carbon dioxide per minute during fermentation while fructose functioned at a rate of 3.99 mm of carbon dioxide per minute.
Studies have shown that certain types of sugar and yeast have faster rates of fermentation than others. We decided that a monosaccharide's (glucose) rate of fermentation would increase more rapidly than a disaccharide's (sucrose) rate of fermentation.
Many types of sugars may be used in the fermentation process. There are two main families of sugar, monosaccharides and disaccharides. Most brewers and distillers gravitate toward monosaccharide sugars, but virtually any sugar can be used for fermentation, with varying results in taste, texture, and mouthfeel.
During alcoholic fermentation, yeast converts sugars into carbon dioxide (CO2) and ethanol [1], with a preference for glucose consumption over fructose and maltose.
If your goal is to make a more juice cider, with or without alcohol, you will need to add a non fermentable sugar like xylitol, erythritol, stevia, splenda, lactose, or maltodextrin. Stevia and splenda are usually the easiest non fermentable sweeteners to find.
So yes, sucrose is absolutely a fermentable sugar, along with any form of glucose, fructose, or maltose, which is a disaccharide formed from glucose. High fructose corn syrup is another highly fermentable sugar, which is why bioethanol producers are so fond of using corn as an alternate fuel source.
The slow fermentation of fructose appears to be a major cause of high residual sugar levels in finished wine and is often associated with sluggish and stuck wine fermentations. The results show that, for all wine yeast strains investigated, fermentation of fructose always lags behind that of glucose.
It is generally accepted that sucrose fermentation proceeds through extracellular hydrolysis of the sugar, mediated by the periplasmic invertase, producing glucose and fructose that are transported into the cells and metabolized.
DEXTROSE SUGAR
It is widely accepted that dextrose (glucose) is the best sugar for brewing. When used in the boil, dextrose sugar can lighten the body, boost alcohol, and dry out big beers. Dextrose yields up to 35 gravity points per pound per gallon, 77 points per kilo per gallon or 345 points per kilo per litre.
Like table sugar, brown sugar offers 46 ppg and is nearly 100 percent fermentable. Invert sugar is produced by the reduction of sucrose (table sugar) into glucose and fructose, often by boiling with cream of tartar or bicarbonate of soda (baking soda).
Fructose is a 6-carbon polyhydroxyketone. It is an isomer of glucose; i.e., both have the same molecular formula (C6H12O6) but they differ structurally. It is one of the sugars consumed by yeast during wine fermentation. Glucose and fructose are the main fermentable sugars in wine must.
Plain White Sugar is high octane to ferments and the kombucha SCOBY because the yeasts can easily break it down into glucose and fructose and thus into beneficial acetic and gluconic acid.
Yeast is fed by sugar, which will help it multiply and activate. It speeds up the process. Note that this sweetener does NOT have to be granulated white sugar. If your recipe calls for it, you can use brown sugar, molasses, honey, or maple syrup.
One such product is coconut sugar, which is derived from coconut palm sap and has an appearance similar to that of brown sugar; it's also completely fermentable like sucrose.
The results show that while sucrose readily undergoes mass loss and thus fermentation, lactose does not. Clearly the enzymes in the yeast are unable to cause the lactose to ferment. However, when lactase is present significant fermentation occurs. Lactase causes lactose to split into glucose and galactose.
Partial invert the ideal fermenting and priming sugar for cider. Partial invert sugar syrup is the ideal pure sugar product for fermenting and, especially, priming. This is because it is sucrose that has been broken down into glucose and fructose via an inversion process.
Can You Use Normal Sugar Instead Of Brewing Sugar? Yes, normal table sugar or white granulated sugar is perfectly fine to use in the vast majority of cases you'll be hard-pressed to tell the difference.
So, ok, we've established that yeast prefers glucose to fructose because it makes for a more energy efficient fermentation process.
The addition of sucrose significantly improved yeast growth and alcohol production, altered the color qualities, and slightly decreased titratable acidity during fermentation. The highest tested proportion of added sucrose resulted in the highest maximum yeast counts and final ethanol concentrations.
During fermentation, the maltose present in the wort is transported into the yeast cell and broken down to its constituent glucose molecules before subsequent metabolism into cell components, alcohol and CO2. Maltose can also be added to the wort from starch sources other than malted barley.