Max Alc % ?

Hi Saul, It's not hard at all, I used to do it in my first days (back when I knew nothing) of wine making all the time. I used plain old Lalvin 1118 champagne yeast and it went to 18% in no time at all. Tasted horrible but it packed a punch! It was raspberry mead, blueberry mead, and strawberry mead. I know better now so I keep it under 13%, test PH and all that other stuff and mostly my wines are great! Unless I make mock ice wines and mock ice ciders, then I bring it up to 15% and you can hardly notice the higher alcohol. Louise:o)

In message , Saul_Sabia writes

Yup, it can be...

Choose yourself a yeast that's tolerant of high alcohol concentrations to start with (another poster will surely be along in a few minutes with the specifics). Start off with sufficient sugar to get you up to about

16% PA; make sure the brew is at a sufficient temperature, and with enough nutrients and vitamins to maintain a strong fermentation. When the S.G. gets down to about 1000, draw off enough of the must to dissolve sugar in, add 2-3 ounces of sugar per gallon, make sure it's dissolved, and throw it back in to the ferment. Stir it.

That amount of sugar/gallon will probably raise the SG to 1005 or 1010. Keep an eye on it over the next day or so; when it gets down to 1000 again, repeat the process, and keep repeating it until you get bored, or the whole thing grinds to a halt.

Shortly before it does , rack it in to the secondaries, and fit airlocks.

Adding only a small amount of sugar each time helps reduce the chances of a stuck and over-sweet batch of wine.

Though I'm not entirely certain (vide the other threads about the difficulties of calculating % alcohol, for starters), I did a batch of crab apple last autumn, which I think got up to about 22%

Now that is a far more pertinent question! The times when I just wish to have a pleasant glass of wine far outnumber the times when I wish to get completely hammered as rapidly as possible. But it's still nice to have the option.

cheers, robin

hmm. i'm using cote-de-blanc on my first batch, and i think i'm using

1118 on my second and third. i _don't_ test for Ph (though once i realize that it's important i'm sure i will =) but i was simply curious to see what kind of potential there was for making a higher percentage wine.

normally, 12-15% is more than i need, unless it tastes great, which is usually the most important thing. =)

but i've been tinkering with the idea of doing a batch meant spec. for the still, on the sly.

the idea came from chatting with my buddy about my failed batch of coffee wine, and saying that even after tasting the wine twice, it was "still fodder". i realized i had a double meaning on my hands, and now am thinking about the distilling process. but that's OT, and for elsewhere and later...

Saul Sabia saul_sabia@yaho[o].com

hmm. i'm using cote-de-blanc on my first batch, and i think i'm using

1118 on my second and third. i _don't_ test for Ph (though once i realize that it's important i'm sure i will =) but i was simply curious to see what kind of potential there was for making a higher percentage wine.

normally, 12-15% is more than i need, unless it tastes great, which is usually the most important thing. =)

but i've been tinkering with the idea of doing a batch meant spec. for the still, on the sly.

the idea came from chatting with my buddy about my failed batch of coffee wine, and saying that even after tasting the wine twice, it was "still fodder". i realized i had a double meaning on my hands, and now am thinking about the distilling process. but that's OT, and for elsewhere and later...

Saul Sabia saul_sabia@yaho[o].com

My apple wine (done in 60 gal barrels) is consistantly very good in taste/flavor at 15%. A book I have indicates that using fermentation with sugar & yeast, 22% is the max that can be achieved. Must agree with the rest here, though, unless you drink for effect, higher alcohol contents are conducive to getting drunk on one bottle as opposed to enjoying your wine if its tamer (11-12%) In my early days I always made stronger wine only to have my friends tell me how good it was, drink alot in too little time, then fall down an hour later. Not a desireable result, so I started leaving out some of the sugar to tame it down to 12% and the flavor is better & the end result more tolerable. Champagne yeast is what I used to use to achieve the higher % as it is more tolerant of higher alcohol content. Good luck.

A system of sugar additions to a must so that a high alcohol content can be achieved.

If all the Sugar / Honey is added at the start of fermentation, there is a great danger that the sugar or honey will inhibit or kill the yeast. By adding small amounts of the sugars each time the specific gravity falls to

1.005.

The yeast "LEARNS" to tolerate alcohol concentrations which normally would kill it.

In this way, a slow , steady ferment is encouraged.

This aids quality by not causing the vaporisation of esters.

Note:- Cyser example....................

One can use either a combination ( cooking apples, Cider, crab apples, or wind fall apples) or single parts to mix with honey or, a or combination of sugar types, White granulated, Brown, Glucose white powder.

For Exponential feeding, the sugars if added don't require diluting in water.

However the Honey may require purifying before use.

"Honey" is the basic ingredient of meads. It is the form in which bees store foodstuff, obtained from pollens of flowers.

Since it is high in bacterial contamination, it is ESSENTIAL to ensure sterility by boiling, or preferably, with sulphite.

When in liquid form after this process of sterilization the honey can be added directly to the brew without diluting.

By adding grape juice concentrate 250 cl per gallon, and champagne style yeast, this also will enhance the Alc

It's possible to have a potential alcohol (% by volume ) 25.5

Stephen SG

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