What would happen if

[Jeffrey Markley]

What would happen if i used a yeast that produces a higher ABV than the one that i had hotten in the kit?

 

[hotbeer]

How do you know it'll produce a higher ABV? Attenuation ability and alcohol tolerance of the yeast might make it seem like it should. But it's the sugars you have created in the wort that go a long way to giving you alcohol. So if you don't have enough fermentable sugar to get to a higher ABV, then yeast type won't matter.

Unless perhaps you get a diastatic yeast that will also ferment the sugars in wort that are typically regarded as unfermentable.

Regardless, the more alcohol you are able to create the dryer your beer might be, depending on where you started and the total amount of any unfermented sugar remaining.

If you aren't wanting the exact beer the kit is supposed to give you, then you can use any yeast your care to and see what it does. Keep notes on everything. Because quite a bit of everything goes into getting the results you are expecting.

 

[RM-MN]

One of two things might happen. First is that the makeup of the wort will control the amount of sugars that the yeast can digest and you end up with the same amount of alcohol. Second is that the new yeast will eat sugars that would otherwise be indigestible to the original yeast and you get beer that has higher alcohol (Usually not by much) and a thinner body as the sugars that give the beer body will be gone.

 

[VikeMan]

With pretty much any "normal" beer wort, and assuming ABV limits aren't reached, a more attenuative* yeast strain will attenuate more than a less attenuative strain. Yes, the sugar/dextrin profile of the wort is very important in regard to what each of those strains will do, but the more attenuative strain will win out if the same wort is used. The reason is Maltotriose. Every (normal) wort has some. And each strain differs in its ability (or propensity, if you prefer) to use Maltotiose. A few can't use it at all, but the vast majority will use some of it. How much of it they will use is strain dependent. Variable use of Maltotriose is by far the main driver of differences in yeast strains' attenuation.

*When I say "more attenuative yeast strain," I don't necessarily mean the yeast manufacturers' website published attenuation ranges. Many years ago, Greg Doss tested the attenuation of all/most of Wyeast's strains using a "standard" wort. Exploring Attenuation.

ETA: A C&P from an olde post:
A little more detail on fermentability of various sugars/dextrins:
- Glucose, a monosaccharide sugar that all brewer's Sacch yeast strains can use
- Fructose, a monosaccharide sugar that all brewer's Sacch yeast strains can use
- Sucrose, a disaccharide sugar that all brewer's Sacch yeast strains can use
- Maltose, a disaccharide sugar that virtually all brewer's Sacch yeast strains can use
- Maltotriose, a trisaccharide sugar that almost all brewer's Sacch yeast strains can use, but to varying degrees by strain
- Higher Dextrins, a group of low-ish weight carbs that are more complex than sugars and that most brewer's Sacch yeast strains cannot use (but some, i.e. "diastaticus" strains can use)