Strongest Beer

I have just made a beer at 11% and was going to try for 12% in my next one.

What is the strongest beer people here have ever made? Am I correct in thinking that it is the yeast that is the limiting factor here, champage yeast being the best?

Any tricks or hints?


P.S. These are bottled in stubbies (I am not drinking these by the pint!) For a nice cold winters night in front of the fire - I can't wait

best I have done so far is 15%. I am still thinking about doing the Holy Hell but since I saw the guy make a 21%'er in BYO I started to rethink it . . . it just doesnt seem as cool anymore.

Best bet is to start out with a beer around 6%ish then add to it to get the ABV up super high and use plenty of O2 / air

I've seen 21% all grain beers and 24% barley wines that used extract and turbo yeasts to finish them. They're OK, but I'm not interesting in making beer you have to sip out of a shot-glass!

Pumbaa said:

best I have done so far is 15%. I am still thinking about doing the Holy Hell but since I saw the guy make a 21%'er in BYO I started to rethink it . . . it just doesnt seem as cool anymore.

Best bet is to start out with a beer around 6%ish then add to it to get the ABV up super high and use plenty of O2 / air

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C'mon Pumbaa, I'm counting on you! Don't let that guy discourage you! Yours'll be better, I know it!

Pumbaa, Pumbaa, PUMBAA, PUMBAA, PUMBAA, PUMBAA!!

YOU CAN DO IT!

Here's a link to the BYO story on the 21% All Grain beer (recipe included)

http://byo.com/feature/1556.html

Right now the record belongs to Sam Adams...Utopia @ 25%.

I've had plenty of EKU 28. It's 11%, but you can't pour one in a glass and enjoy it. I usually poured 3 shot glasses and shared with 2 others.

homebrewer_99 said:

Right now the record belongs to Sam Adams...Utopia @ 25%.

I've had plenty of EKU 28. It's 11%, but you can't pour one in a glass and enjoy it. I usually poured 3 shot glasses and shared with 2 others.

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I agree. It is not for drinking pints of! ...at least not many. Would class it as a sipping beer. ...I used to drink Skull Splitter by the pint. Took the edge of the cold walk home in the snow due to my entire body being numb! That would kill me now though.

I am just looking to make a nice strong beer that I can cellar for a few years. Traquair made a nice 1000th brew special that was 11%, I have some stored in my Dads cellar and it is the best beer I have ever tasted. Each time I go back to Scotland I have one and I wish I had bought a LOT more of it!

25% may be a little strong but one batch wouldn't go amiss

Hmmm... 25% you say? Well, I got a vial of this for my birthday last week, and was just pondering what to do with it. *evil grin*

eviltwinofjoni said:

Hmmm... 25% you say? Well, I got a vial of this for my birthday last week, and was just pondering what to do with it. *evil grin*

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Will see if I can get my hands on some

I have not yet progressed to all mash, going to try 25% with DME and a tonne of hops. Once I have done this I will have enough beer to allow me time to try partial mash. Yippppeeeee...

My LHBS probably think I am insane already - wait until I ask them to get this yeast (and 20kilos of DME!!!)

What's that beer Sam Adams has? It's supposed to be the strongest, anyone try it?

Radarbrew said:

What's that beer Sam Adams has? It's supposed to be the strongest, anyone try it?

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Up a few....

homebrewer_99 said:

Right now the record belongs to Sam Adams...Utopia @ 25%.

I've had plenty of EKU 28. It's 11%, but you can't pour one in a glass and enjoy it. I usually poured 3 shot glasses and shared with 2 others.

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John McKissick in the BYO artical is a friend of mine. He made the 21% cause of death beer. It tastes ok, but a little sweet and a weird aftertaste. He gave ma a bottle I aged for a few months and drank. Hardly any carbonation to it. I made a braggot out of 35 lbs belgian pils, and 5 lbs of honey. It is about 23% or so. The OG was 1.220, and the FG was 1.065. I used 2 of the super high gravity yeasts mentioned earlir, and I racked it onto 3 other beers I was finished with, to utilize a day or 2 of the yeast. I sent 2 bottles to Colorado for the big beer comp. on Jan 5th. We will have to wait till then to know the out come. Everyone who tastes it loves it. When you breath out your nose after a sip, the alcohol singes your nose hair. 1 12 oz bottle is like drinking 7 regular coors or buds. I love it. Hell, I have it on tap, and I am about to bottle it and save for next year.

Sounds good.

Most of my Ales tend to be around 5.5% and they warm me up nicely. I'm about to do a leffe clone that I'll take up to 7%.

My Turbo Cider is 10% off an ale Yeast.

I don't think I'll go any higher.

My highest was a chocoloate coffee stout... it really wasn't so much a chocolate as it was a coffee. I used like 2 pounds of coffee grounds when I made the beer... whoa, did it wake you up.

10.56% ABV

homebrewer_99 said:

Right now the record belongs to Sam Adams...Utopia @ 25%.

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I have a couple Utopias and have yet to try them. Quite frankly, it's killing me. Someone here was going to try to make one... whatever happened to that?

That was Pumbaa - I tried goading him into doing it, but sounds like he's backing away from the project now...

Radarbrew said:

What's that beer Sam Adams has? It's supposed to be the strongest, anyone try it?

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HB99 already metioned it- it's Sam Adam's Utopias. 50 Proof. Around $100 per bottle. I dunno, if I want something for sipping, where the ABV is mentioned by proof rather than %, I think I'll stick with Asbach. Yummy!

Old Bog Water runs 11-12%, but that's part extract. Then there's the melomel. Started with 1.063 blackberry juice, fermented out to 0.995, then enough honey to bring it back up to 1.090. I don't know where it will stop, but I had to use Turbo yeast to get the ferment started after adding the honey. Just hope I live long enough to let it age properly.

I had a few sips of Utopias. Tasty, but it's not a drinking beer & it ain't sipping whiskey.

I think the Utopias tastes just like maple cookies, others say it has too much green apple to it. It is unique

the_bird said:

That was Pumbaa - I tried goading him into doing it, but sounds like he's backing away from the project now...

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It's lost it's mystic (sp?) Now that someone made a 21% and it's been published I sort of feel that making the highest ABV beer possible is going to be the next big trend and I'm not much for trends. Maybe I'm wierd but I sort of have a disdane for being like everyone else.

Dont worry I'll come up with some other wierd ass idea, and I'm still refining my last frankenstien type project, my Rootbeer . . . BTW everyone that has tried it has LOVED it. And I'm not talking about the "yeah thats great I really like it." BS you sometimes get but the "HOLY ****! Man you have to give me a 12'er of that" kind of love it. In fact between my rootbeer and my red my next 20 gallons are spoken for and I MIGHT get to keep a case of each

We're opening one of the Utopias this evening (this will be my first taste of one). Definitely looking forward to this...

The belgian I bottled last week hit around 7.4%, which is my highest so far. I don't really plan on going much past that, except for a barleywine somewhere down the line. I've had a Dogfish Head 120min, and while it was delicious, it sucked because you couldn't just drink it. You had to carefully pace yourself, and even drinking over the course of an entire hour I was very toasty. I'd rather be able to drink without concern.