Fermenting 20%+ abv

[punk_rockin2001]

I'm in the preliminary stages of planning a super-giant overly complicated beer and it appears that the only really different part is the fermentation. I've read about the methods of canning wort, or just adding a ton of sugar to the fermentation to bring up the alcohol.

My question is: if I just have a big enough starter and aerate well enough, why won't it work? I was thinking of pouring the syrupy wort over 2 yeast cakes worth of yeast and throwing a fish tank stone in there for a few days, then adding a few pounds of sugar at the end to try to dry it out.

If canning the wort is what has to be done, then thats what I'll do, but it just seems like any other higher alcohol brew that has stuck fermentation is usually due to temp, or not pitching enough yeast.

 

[rossi46]

Try doing it like this guy.
http://www.homebrewchef.com/120minuteIPArecipe.html

 

[jtrux]

You will probably want to start at 14-16 % and feed more sugar/malt each time fermentation slows until you get all the sugar in. Also carefully choose your yeast. Can a beer yeast get this high? Might consider K1V-1116, although I don't know how a wine yeast would taste in a beer. Good luck

 

[chickens4life]

at 20% you will be outside the alcohol tolerance of almost all beer yeast if not all of them. So adding a larger volume of yeast wont really to much ( it does help to pitch enough yeast, though).

I am not sure how canning wort would really help you, are thinking of canning a portion of the wort from this batch then adding it back during fermentation? If so I have no experience with that and therefore can not provide any useful advise.

As for me if i were going to try this I would make sure i have the most ferment able grain bill I could, and i would pitch a blend of my high gravity ale yeast of choice and some distillers yeast (there are several with alcohol tolerances over 20%) although i have no idea what sort of a flavor profile they would add. Your idea of aerating the wort for a portion of the growth phase of fermentation is not a bad one.

 

[TrainSafe]

As I understand it (and keep in mind I have never attempted a similar recipe ) the main problem will be that the alcohol becomes toxic to the yeast at higher concentrations.

Look at the specifications for your yeast strain. You may need to pitch distilled's yeast as it has a higher alcohol tolerance than beer yeast.

 

[jtrux]

You may also want to start with high gravity ale yeast then re-pitch with higher ABV yeast once fermentation stops. Both k1v-1116 and ec-1118 are advertised to 18+% with neutral flavor and good at restarting stuck fermentation. never tried myself, just a thought

 

[Homebrewtastic]

I did a 14% with a good starter of 099. I split the wort into two parts, low gravity and higher gravity. The lower gravity one (1.075ish IIRC) got the yeast first then at high krausen I put in the higher gravity one and aerated the crap out of it. Got it down under 1.020 with cool ferm temps. Didn't stall out once.

 

[beerman0001]

Start it off with a big starter or 2 paks 05 when it gets down to around 1.025 or so, pitch a big starter of 099. Start feeding it twice a day.

 

[punk_rockin2001]

I wanted to pitch it onto a ton of WLP001 yeast, and then add a cake of super high gravity yeast onto it after a few days, and then finish it with sugar.

 

[hopcop]

Try doing it like this guy.
http://www.homebrewchef.com/120minuteIPArecipe.html

I'm doing this style on Sunday. These guys have a very good knowledge of what your trying to accomplish. Although you seem to have some good roots. Good luck and post some results. I'm posting mine as I move along.

 

[KuntzBrewing]

Make a 12% abv beer and do an eisbock style with it

I've heard of getting an eisbock up to 80 proof, imagine making an 80 proof liquor completely legal, although I've never tried it it may have its challeneges since its not a very popular thing lol, do some research on it it may help u none-the-less

 

[kosmokramer]

I will be keeping an eye on this as well as reading everything i can get my hands on.. just ordered supplies for my own 120 clone ande plan on brewing in about 3 weeks!