Does yeast stop at ABV %

[Vjuga]

Hello everyone.

Im a newbie here and ive only made hard cider so far.
I thought it would be fun to also make 1 batch of apple wine.

Ive got a wine yeast that goes up to 12% alcohol. Does that mean that fermentation stops at this alcohol level?
That would mean I would be able to add sugar to taste before bottling, without having the risk of making ''bombs'' right?
Or that there can safely be some leftover sugar in the wine.

Thanks for letting me know!

 

[DBhomebrew]

Correct. Roughly 12%. Depending on yeast health, fermentation temp, exact wort makeup, etc, etc, etc.

A safe way to go about it is to ferment totally dry, add a little sugar, measure gravity, measure again after a few days/weeks. Keep doing this until the little bits of sugar stop fermenting. Then sweeten to taste. Then let it sit and watch gravity again to be sure it's stable.

"Backsweetening"

 

[D the Catastrophist]

Kind of. Sometimes. Yeast is dumb, it doesn't read the packaging or instructions so doesn't know what it's supposed to do(its just like me in that regard). A yeast rated to 12% abv will generally max out around there and not be able to process any more sugars. Could be a little higher, could be a little lower, these are living creatures so exact measurements are wishful thinking. Occasionally get a oddball that will go a few percentage points higher, but those are outliers.

For me, if I want to back sweeten, I add a small amount of sugar, then watch for a couple days. If you can see fermentation has kicked back in, you can either add more sugar, or wait longer. If you don't, taste, see if it's sweet enough, and add more of needed. I never add a large amount at once as well I can always add more, once it's too sweet it's harder to fix.

I bulk age the wine in secondary, and I have usually found that after racking off the lees(these are the dead yeast cells that collect at the bottom of the jar), and letting sit for 8 months, there generally isn't much yeast left if I decide to back sweeten later.

 

[Vjuga]

Okay thats been very helpful thank you!