Boil times & wine yeast?

Can anyone tell me what results from boiling your wort for different amounts of time (exa. 60 min. vs. 80 min. boil)?

Also, is it at all possible to use wine yeast to ferment more of the sugars of a high gravity beer? If so, do you hydrate and pitch it the same way? And can you pitch it in say a week or two into the fermenting process (when the beer yeast begins to slow down)?

When you're doing extract batches, you're only boiling a max of 60 minutes to get hop bitterness. Longer boil times are for all grain batches when you have to boil down several gallons of water (say, boil 8 gallons down to 5 gallons)

For really big beers (around 10% and over) many brewers will start with a beer yeast to get the yeast flavor profile, then use wine or champagne yeast to continue drying it out. Keep in mind if you use it at the same time as beer yeast, they will compete with each other and you may not like the flavor you get. It could get more of a wine-y taste.

Thanks, that was very informative. How about pitching wine yeast? Is it hydrated the same way as dry beer yeast?

I wouldn't pitch straight wine yeast. They aren't designed to munch on maltose. Otherwise, yes you would rehydrate in the same way.

Longer boil times will boil off larger amounts of water and possibly extract a slight amount more hops bitterness. The greater boil off can be important in AG brewing to concentrate the wort. It is also useful when brewing with a large percentage of Pilsner malt because it will drive off DMS. It is not necessary for extract brewing.

Some wine yeast have higher alcohol tolerances than most beer yeasts but they will not normally ferment a greater percentage of sugars. Also be aware they will taste different. Ale or lager yeasts are sufficient for all but the most outrageous beers. Yeasts like Belgian High Gravity, Scottish Ale, dry English Ale and American Ale yeast are all good to 12+% ABV and have good attenuation.


Craig

how high are you planning to go?

Edcculus said:

how high are you planning to go?

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Well, I haven't really set any limits, but I recently brewed up a wheat stout and pitched nottingham ale yeast. It fermented down to 1.014 gravity and turned out to be 8% ABV. I was very happy with that batch (it was probably my best yet), and I figure that maybe I'll try increasing the ABV a little bit every now and then. If I had to give a number...maybe 15%.

15% is definitely possible. I've never done it, but there are a few threads around here where people are shooting for more than that. I'd go with one of the high gravity belgian strains. When that poops out (or a little before), put in some wine yeast to carry it the rest of the way. You probably need to add extra sugar later in the ferment as to not shock the yeast. Finally, pitch a LOT of yeast. Better yet, brew a mild and pitch on the cake.