Comparison/substitution sugars for priming

[meisel]

I think it's definitely worth experimenting with alternatives to discover how it affects the final flavor profile, then choosing a priming sugar based on what characteristics you ultimately want your beer to have. I don't think there is anything wrong with corn sugar per se. But I do think it's used mostly out of habit, and perhaps we should think about priming sugars in the same way that people are beginning to think about yeasts - that different strains result in wildly different beers even when all else is common.
It almost makes me feel sorry for y'all who keg instead of bottle. You have one less tool in your toolbox.
-Sally

Call me skeptical, but I have my doubts that priming sugars have that much effect on the finished beer. To be fair, there may be slight indelible differences when using completely different sugars like agave nectar or honey, but typically brown vs white sugar does not push a beer's flavor profile one direction or the other. Also, when I finish a beer, I want it to be just that, finished. I'd choose a priming sugar that has the least effect on the beer as possible. I use sucrose when bottling, I don't care where it comes from. BTW bottling is for suckers, kegging is the right tool for the job 99% of the time.

[Travel by the Pint]

Call me skeptical, but I have my doubts that priming sugars have that much effect on the finished beer.

Okay, Skeptical. Sounds like I need to save two bottles back for you so you can see for yourself. It's doesn't change the profile like, it had been a porter but the priming sugar changed it into an IPA. But it can integrate the existing flavor characteristics - or keep them distant from each other. The agave gave the finished pumpkin a more cohesive sophisticated flavor. And it does finish. There's no aftertaste, just "more please."
-Sally

[Jensen]

The only time "sugar" was apparent in beer flavor was in the early days of homebrewing when the levels exceeded 25% of the malt bill. It could lend itself to a cidery flavor. Kits and brewing knowledge has taken us to a much higher level these days.

There's no aftertaste, just "more please."
-Sally

[meisel]

Call me skeptical, but I have my doubts that priming sugars have that much effect on the finished beer.

Okay, Skeptical. Sounds like I need to save two bottles back for you so you can see for yourself. It's doesn't change the profile like, it had been a porter but the priming sugar changed it into an IPA. But it can integrate the existing flavor characteristics - or keep them distant from each other. The agave gave the finished pumpkin a more cohesive sophisticated flavor. And it does finish. There's no aftertaste, just "more please."
-Sally

I was more referring to the negligible differences between corn/beet/cane sugars, or raw or brown sugars for that matter. I believe you when you say there is a slight difference when using agave or honey as I mentioned, I think basic brewing radio did a show with a similar experiment.

[Travel by the Pint]

I've saved back a few bottles of the pumpkin beer priming sugar experiment, where I divided the 5 gallon batch and primed half with the brown sugar that my base recipe suggested, and the remaining half with agave syrup. All other conditions are the same, including storage conditions.
The differences between the two primers have become more pronounced over time. Agave is still very cohesive in flavor, while the spices in the brown sugar version are much more pronounced, spiky and distinctive.
I'll bring these to the meeting this week so interested bottlers can sample at the conclusion of the formal meeting. Same set-up as the herb experiments last year - the bottles will be coded with tape.
-Sally