What's You're Highest ABV?

So I've been kicking around the idea of making a big beer, probably a barleywine. I'm just wondering what are some of the highest ABV's you have personally made? How did they taste? How long to condition?

I have a barley wine right now fermenting (pretty slowly too) that started out at 1.121 and I hope to get it down in the 1.026-1.030 range, giving it a potential of ~13%. The highest I have done though is a tripel that finished a little over 10%. It has been in the bottles since early March and tastes pretty good. I suspect the Barley Wine will condition for at least as long too.

I brewed a 12% barleywine back in march, bottled in july and it's tasting pretty good now. Definitely improved over the last few weeks. Also just bottled a 13% potential (came out 11.6% cuz of all the dark/crystal) imperial stout from back in july that I'm giving about 6 weeks before it should be ready to drink, but it probably won't be peaked for a few more months.

I have a imp porter, og of 1.120, went down to 1.024 for 12.6%. Brewed it on 11/7/09 and it just got a first place at a local comp.

Nice. What kind of yeast did you use? Did you have to/ choose to do anything to keep the yeast going, aside from lots of aeration and proper ferm temps?

I did a imperial stout that started somewhere around 1.100, fermented down somewhere in the 1.020 range...ended up in the 10.5-11% range I guess.

Used WLP001 - Cal Ale yeast. Had a ridiculously large starter, aerated the hell out of it and made sure to keep it in the low 60's the first few days of ferment. Turned out fantastic. The main thing I think for the high grav beers is just lots and lots of yeast (mr malty pitching rate calculator is helpful), good aeration and solid temp control especially during the violent early stage of ferment.

I made a mead at 18% alcohol that I'm bottling this weekend. Highest beer I've done is 8%. I have a 10% barley wine and a 12% belgian quad on deck to brew, though.

Kriznac said:

Nice. What kind of yeast did you use? Did you have to/ choose to do anything to keep the yeast going, aside from lots of aeration and proper ferm temps?

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WLP007 and it was dumped on a yeast cake from a previous batch.

Highest I have done was a 9.5% Belgian Triple.

my barleywine was split onto WLP028, WLP530, and S-05, and half the S-05 one was finished with WLP645. S-05 finished lowest, WLP028 highest, WLP530 tastes best.
My imp stout was a mix of WLP530 and WLP028.

aerate a ton, pitch a ton, and then aerate some more around 12 hours later. if this is your first big one, id check this out for more tips: http://beerdujour.com/Howtobrewabigbeer.htm