high percentage

[WillG3]

What is the highest percentage ABV that yeast can possibly be pushed to in cider production and how is this achieved?

Need to know for an "experiment" :whistle:

 

[alanywiseman.]

Depends what yeast you plan to use but a word of warning, the more sugar you add o increase abv the more dilute the flavour.

 

[ScottM]

8.5%

After that it's a cider :)

 

[oldbloke]

The yeast won't care much what it's in as long as it has enough nutrients and sugars.
Gervin do a wine yeast that in theory goes to 20, which may or may not taste better than the turboyeasts that reach about the same.

 

[WillG3]

So what level of nutrients and sugar are we talking?

 

[ScottM]

The yeast won't care much what it's in as long as it has enough nutrients and sugars.
Gervin do a wine yeast that in theory goes to 20, which may or may not taste better than the turboyeasts that reach about the same.

That would be a wine though

 

[oldbloke]

So what level of nutrients and sugar are we talking?

Not an expert on nutrient quantities. I generally stick 1tsp in a gallon of cider, so I'd try 2tsp to help the yeast out a bit as it's going to be pushed to high ABV.

Sugar...
Your AJ will have enough to get to 5, maybe 6, %.
So you want another 14 or 15.
Which is 3lb per gallon, roughly.
If it doesn't all get eaten, well, anything that strong will want at least a hint of sweetness to make it palatable.

 

[Gayle]

If you just want a very strong cider, not a wine, maybe add upto an extra pound of sugar (per gallon) to the apple juice and use champagne yeast. If you use cider yeast you can add less sugar, but after a few days add more sugar, a bit at a time and you can build up the alcohol level til the yeast gives up. Adding a lot more sugar and using a high alcohol yeast will produce a strong wine.

 

[graysalchemy]

The highest abv with just apple juice is 5-6% after that you need to add sugar. As said above sugar is a flavour dillutant and cider is notorious for for being insipid and flavourless if not left to mature. So you may end up with a drink full of alcohol but limited in taste, I suppose it depends what you want. :thumb:

 

[tonyhibbett]

No friend of the nanny state but this surge of interest in high alcohol home brew is quite worrying.

 

[graysalchemy]

I agree Tony :thumb:

 

[Gayle]

When I began brewing, the whole thing was pretty amazing and I was very interested in how strong I could make a brew.

"You mean yeast sh*ts alcohol?? That's brilliant, why haven't I heard that before??!"

The highest I tried was an 11% cider (I think the yeast died then, although I suppose it was wine by that point) and that was :sick: it was certainly not something I actually wanted to get drunk on, and even friends who described it as "rocketfuel" rarely took a second glass. I considered it as something to give to my friends as a prank, or to prove that homebrewing "worked" (some people didn't believe you could actually make alcohol at home :mrgreen: ) and the last few litres were looked at with a shudder then poured down the sink. As the OP said he was trying it as "an experiment", and a 20% apple wine is unlikely to be something that's going to be repeated, or drunk in large quantities every weekend (go on, try it, see how sick you feel on monday :lol: )

I don't usually add any sugar to my TCs now as I prefer them to be drinkable and enjoyable. That, and over the years I've become quite fond of my liver.

 

[graysalchemy]

Don't get me wrong mosty of my beers at the moment are 7+% but they are full of flavour and body. Adding just sugar does nothing for the flavour of cider or beer.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Don't just love your liver. That's just where the buck stops.

 

[graysalchemy]

That is right Tony. :thumb: