Ninja Yeast

[miloa]

Some brewers are able to make monster beers reaching abv% of up to 25%, what kind of yeast are they using and how do I get my hands on it?

 

[Teromous]

Look for turbo yeast or super yeast at your LHBS.

 

[mordantly]

WY #9 sake. 20-something%

 

[miloa]

Would the sake yeast add any other flavor?

 

[mtlcafan79]

According to LHBS Wyeast Eau de vie will consume 24lbs of sugar for a 22%+ batch. It was still going at that point apparently. I'm sure it tastes like absolute jet fuel though.

 

[humann_brewing]

WLP099

WLP099 Super High Gravity Ale Yeast
Can ferment up to 25% alcohol. From England. Produces ester character that increases with increasing gravity. Malt character dominates at lower gravities.
Attenuation: >80%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 65-69°F
Alcohol Tolerance: Very High

just noticed this was the Cider forum, disregard or give it a try, who knows...

 

[Edcculus]

Ciders are a little trickier to get high gravity. Straight juice is somewhere around a specific gravity of 1.040-1.055 ish. If you ferment down to 1.000, that gives you an alcohol content of 4-5%. Now, throwing in "high gravity" yeast won't just give you a high gravity brew. You have to add fermentables somehow. That might be through concentrate, sugar, malt extract etc. There is also technique to this sort of thing. You can't just chuck yeast into a wort/must with a gravity of 1.200. You will need a MASSIVE starter to begin. It would also be a good idea to feed the fermenter incrementally to keep the yeast going.

There are some guys doing a SA Utopias clone here. Maybe check out that thread and see the techniques they are using. Brewing this high gravity is partly yeast, but a lot of technique too.

 

[miloa]

Well i guess we'll see if you can start at 1.20 because that is what i'm doing right now it is only a 5 gal. keg but its 4gal cider 20# cane sugar. If my lavin 1116 cant handle it i'm going to try Eau de vie yeast. Just pushing the limits

 

[Edcculus]

you are going to stall if you don't incrimentally feed the sugar into the fermenter, and use yeast nutrient for the first several days. You might not make down past 1.100 Juice and sugar don't have the necessary nutrients yeast require. Also, 20# of cane sugar makes something like 80% of your fermentables. Its probably not going to taste the greatest.

 

[miloa]

Both of my big ciders are brewing pretty well right now, I've been adding nutrients and energizer and it seems to be helping,if it does stall out I was thinking about adding a big yeast like Eau De Vie or WLP099, there others out there but both of these are good for stalled ferments.If I can get these ciders down to about 1.050 I'm hoping these big yeasts can do the rest.

 

[Yan]

What about the types of yeast used by distilleries? I imagine they would have a high tolerance. I don't know how available to the public they would be in countries where home distillation is illegal though.

 

[miloa]

Good thought i will look into that. Thanks