ABV and sugar question

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Crash21

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Let's say I am using Mangrove Jack Cider yeast that supports up to 12% ABV.
If your SG was high enough to produce...oh let's say 18 % ABV...when the 12% was reached the yeast would drop out and leave 5% sugar?
This seems ok in theory but I don't know if it actually works that way.
I was more just curious if this is correct or if my thinking was flawed.
If it worked this way after the yeast dropped out you could rack and add Camden and Meta and have a sweet still cider with no backsweetening?
 
I believe when yeast reaches it's max it gets stressed out and dies. as long as you don't leave it sitting on the trub for too long you'll have pre-back-sweetened cider. If I were to take that route I'd check the sg every day and rack to camden once it's maxed, something about killing it quickly before it dies slowly and painfully seems more appropriate and noble for such wonderful creatures as yeast.
 
Well, just because a yeast has a printed limit does not mean it will just stop there, like it put on the brakes. US-05 has a printed "limit" of 9.5 but I've brewed an 11% beer with it no problem. The couple of samples I've tried over the long conditioning time have been carbed up nicely, too.

I imagine it's a bare-minimum ABV printed, kind of like a "best by" date.
 
It was just a "hey, I wonder if..." kind of thought..you know like when you are watching TV and thinking about the next batch and you just think to yourself " I wonder if..."
I am preparing to start my biggest batch to date and have been thinking about it a lot.
I have made 4 batches with 50% success so i figure it's time to move to a 6 gallon carboy.
My others have been 1 gallon batches.

Thanks for the replies.
 
Crash21 said:
Let's say I am using Mangrove Jack Cider yeast that supports up to 12% ABV.
If your SG was high enough to produce...oh let's say 18 % ABV...when the 12% was reached the yeast would drop out and leave 5% sugar?
This seems ok in theory but I don't know if it actually works that way.
I was more just curious if this is correct or if my thinking was flawed.
If it worked this way after the yeast dropped out you could rack and add Camden and Meta and have a sweet still cider with no backsweetening?
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the principle behind using bread yeast for the JAOM mead recipe. The yeast reaches alcohol tolerance and dies, leaving residual sugar behind. I dunno how much variability there is in the tolerances though.

Another method is to ferment dry then add more sugar a little at a time and watch the change in SG. When the SG stops going down you've reached the limits of the yeast and you can adjust your sweetness level accurately.
 

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