Yeast with high abv beer
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Adding more yeast doesn't help if you are going above the yeast's alcohol capability.
Up to 8% is generally no problem for pretty much all yeasts and brewers.
10% you need healthy yeast and decent aeration, but for the most part is not an issue. A limited number of yeasts may have a problem, but most are good to 10%.
10 - 12% is where it starts requiring decent practices in aeration, yeast health, and pitching rates. recipe design also comes into this ensuring there are enough fermentables. Also not all yeasts can tolerate this alcohol level, so yeast selection also plays into this.
Above 12% and it starts to become an Art (or Science, depending on how you look at it). You are starting to plan ways of feeding the yeast to keep it going, but not overcome it with osmotic pressure or alcohol.
14 to 15% is probably achievable by most experienced brewers on the forum. Max I've ever done was a Barley Wine to 14%. Never tried to go higher.
Maybe if you tell us what you are planning to do, someone can help you.
WLP099 supposedly can get up to 25%, but if you pitch it into a wort of gravity of 1.200 you will kill it. You need a healthy pitch, pitch it into a much lower gravity wort, and slowly 'feed' to get to anywhere that level. It takes a lot of preparation.
Up to 8% is generally no problem for pretty much all yeasts and brewers.
10% you need healthy yeast and decent aeration, but for the most part is not an issue. A limited number of yeasts may have a problem, but most are good to 10%.
10 - 12% is where it starts requiring decent practices in aeration, yeast health, and pitching rates. recipe design also comes into this ensuring there are enough fermentables. Also not all yeasts can tolerate this alcohol level, so yeast selection also plays into this.
Above 12% and it starts to become an Art (or Science, depending on how you look at it). You are starting to plan ways of feeding the yeast to keep it going, but not overcome it with osmotic pressure or alcohol.
14 to 15% is probably achievable by most experienced brewers on the forum. Max I've ever done was a Barley Wine to 14%. Never tried to go higher.
Maybe if you tell us what you are planning to do, someone can help you.
WLP099 supposedly can get up to 25%, but if you pitch it into a wort of gravity of 1.200 you will kill it. You need a healthy pitch, pitch it into a much lower gravity wort, and slowly 'feed' to get to anywhere that level. It takes a lot of preparation.
Singletrack
Because it's judgement that defeats us.
Thanks for the vote of confidence! In 5 years, I've never attempted anything greater than 8.5%. Now I feels it's my duty to give it a shot. Maybe up to 12% for something I can age.
I have a batch in primary right now, shooting for a Belgian Tripel/Piraat style. OG was 1.126, and after a week with Wyeast 3787, it's down to 1.016 and still bubbling a week later (I was only expecting a 1.020 or slightly higher).
3787 is rated to about 12% on the bag... I'm at 14.4% and it's still bubbling, although it has pretty much settled out a week after pitching. Try the 3787 on high gravity wort... but leave extra headspace or plan for a blow-off tube early on.
3787 is rated to about 12% on the bag... I'm at 14.4% and it's still bubbling, although it has pretty much settled out a week after pitching. Try the 3787 on high gravity wort... but leave extra headspace or plan for a blow-off tube early on.
What do you mean "1.200 will kill it"? High ABV will kill it sure, but why would high OG kill it?
Dogfish Head suggests starting with a normal yeast, letting it do half the work, then pitching a high gravity yeast like WLP099 to finish the job.
The osmotic pressure of a 1.200 wort would kill the yeast.
I think you will find DH also recommends feeding the yeast with sugar to get the high abv levels. Adding WLP099 to a 12% beer is also a recipe for disaster .... it may work, but chances are it will not. Even WLP099 needs to be 'worked'.
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NativeSun
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After reading all the responses, it makes sense to me now.
My beer was a watermelon wheat beer at 7.5%.
Yup. Most yeasts will easily be able to ferment to that abv as long as you pitch the appropriate amount of yeast. Good luck!
dahlseid
Well-Known Member
All grain? What was your mash temp? Yeast prep? I've been using this yeast for an "imperial Brown" and have had some trouble hitting predicted FG, in spite of making a starter, oxygenating both my starter and my wort. Insights would be welcome.
Extract with partial mash specialty grains. Fermentables included:
6.6 lbs muntons light LME
3.3 lbs breiss munich LME
1 lb breiss light DME
1 lb belgian candi sugar
3/4 lb breiss caramel malt
3/4 lb breiss carapils malt
I steeped the malt grains at 150 for half an hour in 3 gals water, then added and boiled the rest for an hour. I used 1.5 oz of Northern Brewer for bitterness and 1.5 oz of Hallertau for flavor/aroma. I also added .7 oz coriander seeds and 1 oz sweet orange peel to try and match Piraat flavors.
My boil size was much smaller than the calculator called for (about 3.5 gals after boil off) and I added 2 gals of spring water to bring the batch up to 5.5 gals (1/2 gal was lost due to cake/trub/gravity checks). I was amazed that the OG was much higher than predicted (1.083) but attributed that to the smaller partial boil size.
The only yeast prep was a recommended dose of yeast nutrient at 10 minutes to flameout and pitching 2 bags instead of just one.
Between my wort chiller and the 40 degree water I added, my wort was at 60 degrees when I pitched. I thought it was too cold, but the yeast seemed to like it since it took off within a day. After two weeks in the bottle, initial hotness has mellowed, the coriander has come through in the mid-taste, and there's slight carbonation. I expect it'll take another month or so before it's fully carbonated.
6.6 lbs muntons light LME
3.3 lbs breiss munich LME
1 lb breiss light DME
1 lb belgian candi sugar
3/4 lb breiss caramel malt
3/4 lb breiss carapils malt
I steeped the malt grains at 150 for half an hour in 3 gals water, then added and boiled the rest for an hour. I used 1.5 oz of Northern Brewer for bitterness and 1.5 oz of Hallertau for flavor/aroma. I also added .7 oz coriander seeds and 1 oz sweet orange peel to try and match Piraat flavors.
My boil size was much smaller than the calculator called for (about 3.5 gals after boil off) and I added 2 gals of spring water to bring the batch up to 5.5 gals (1/2 gal was lost due to cake/trub/gravity checks). I was amazed that the OG was much higher than predicted (1.083) but attributed that to the smaller partial boil size.
The only yeast prep was a recommended dose of yeast nutrient at 10 minutes to flameout and pitching 2 bags instead of just one.
Between my wort chiller and the 40 degree water I added, my wort was at 60 degrees when I pitched. I thought it was too cold, but the yeast seemed to like it since it took off within a day. After two weeks in the bottle, initial hotness has mellowed, the coriander has come through in the mid-taste, and there's slight carbonation. I expect it'll take another month or so before it's fully carbonated.
Update three months later.
I left it out for conditioning for 2 weeks and 4 weeks. The 2 week bottles were barely fizzy; the 4 week bottles are carbonated but not to the degree you'd want in this style.
The coriander has moved from mid- to fore-taste and is very assertive, pleasantly mixing with slight phenolic. Nice mellow malty mid-taste and pleasantly bitter finish. The alcohol heat has mellowed considerably, but this is not a "drink and drive" beer, as a half-liter results in a pretty mellow fellow.
I left it out for conditioning for 2 weeks and 4 weeks. The 2 week bottles were barely fizzy; the 4 week bottles are carbonated but not to the degree you'd want in this style.
The coriander has moved from mid- to fore-taste and is very assertive, pleasantly mixing with slight phenolic. Nice mellow malty mid-taste and pleasantly bitter finish. The alcohol heat has mellowed considerably, but this is not a "drink and drive" beer, as a half-liter results in a pretty mellow fellow.
