Strongest Brews Possible

[Pollux]

Reading this, and also throwing in factors like it's too hot to brew a real beer and I am sort on ingredients almost makes me want to use the leftover coopers kit yeasts with some table sugar and water, then simply mix with cordial in the glass to make a carbonated alcopop......


Question is, how much could that yeast handle without a nutrient,

 

[MarkBastard]

I used to distill (drinking water and essential oils) and from memory I used 6kg white sugar or 7kg dex, plus 'turbo yeast', and it made a ~22% milky white disgusting liquid. Distilling got it to ~75%. I think it's impossible to have 100% alcohol in the atmosphere, because it starts sucking water out of the air and dilutes itself down.

As for the highest percent non distilled drink, well at least 22% but I don't know why you'd bother. Can't imagine too many beers over 15% taste any good, better off with a decent bottle of scotch.

 

[brendanos]

I brewed a RIS (all grain ie no dextrose or simple sugars) that came out at 13% and finished around 1.020 - not at all sweet, heavy, or cloying. I think the most important factor is yeast strain, pitching rates, and ensuring adequate nutrients in the wort (so if a large portion of dextrose is used you'll want to add a lot of yeast nutrient, or consider adding the sugars mid way through fermentation to let the yeast tackle the complex stuff first). I pitched 2 smack packs of a VSS release from wyeast (4366) designed for high gravity (up to 20%) brewing into 12-13L of 1.110 wort and splashed quite furiously.

You could also consider champagne yeast to finish off the brew when the ale yeast gives up.

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

totally aggre with most of the above sentiments. Why waste the time and ingredients making something undrinkable when you can get the same effect by whacking yourself over the back of the head with a pool-ball in a sock.

THAT SAID..... I'm all for experimenting with extreme and non-trad brews - Braggot, Gruit ales etc are all on the cards for me over the next 12 months. Most are destined to be failures, but I think its worth it for those rare sucesses.


geez - took me 5 hours to write all that! damm work getting in the way of my forum posting!

 

[Jazzafish]

Taste vodka. That is what alcohol tastes like. You'll need to add some malt and hops to mask the alcohol flavour to a certain point, or it will be harder to drink than a normal beer.

 

[marlow_coates]

To those who can't see the worth in brewing a high alcohol beer...
I say where is your sense of adventure

Creating a high alcohol beer with some intensely rich flavours that balances well is an artform (one I don't claim to be particularly good at... yet), as is brewing anything specific that requires some thought and experimentation.

I of course understand that very few people could, or would want, to sit around and drink something that is 15% out of a pint glass all afternoon. I certainly don't, and I brew 4-5% beers for that purpose.

But what about for those after dinner-party drinks? The bottle of something special you stored for 5 years to see what would happen?

The big beers I brew aren't for quaffing, they are for ageing and enjoying at special events where it is nice to have something different that I made myself. Sure it's not eveyones cup of tea, but something I am finding fun and rewarding at the moment.

I agree with Fatgodzila, and others here in one regard.
If you only want to make a high alcohol beer to get para off, then good luck, enjoy the headaches and when you want to start making beers that taste like beer and not vodka and soda water, this site will be waiting for you

 

[buttersd70]

To those who can't see the worth in brewing a high alcohol beer...
I say where is your sense of adventure

I think that most people that have commented negatively (at least from my own perspective), have no issue with high alcohol beer per se.....but more with the method of production, ie just adding lots of dextrose to up the gravity. A good high alc beer is indeed a thing of beauty (as is a good low alc beer, fwiw), but just pushing the OG through the roof with large amounts of simple fermentable is not (at least imo) the way to go about it. If you want it to be good, that is.

 

[Dave86]

I don't want to offer advice on how to make a supercharged VB, but I think a good pilsener kit, or two pale ales/draught kits with some dex/DME mix could be an alright place to start for a tripel/BGSA. Some calculation would be required for determing BU:GU, etc, but I think it could work.

On the topic of strong beers, while I can appreciate the beauty of a session beer (one of my best was 3%) bigger beers are an entirely different product. So unless you only ever drink beer under 5% and don't enjoy wine, port, a good whiskey, or any other alcoholic beverage over 5%, I'd say your point isn't really valid

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I think DrK had the most sensible idea of all - brew a decent beer with enough flavour to carry the alcohol, the fortify it with a neutral tasting spirit. The you can take whatever you have fermented, a glass and a bottle of vodka or whatever and work out just how much of the spirit you can add and have it still taste good... scale up for the full amount.

That's how they make port, muscat etc etc and it gives you control over the outcome. Alcohol is just alcohol, the only difference between adding vodka to the fermented beer and adding dex before fermentation, is that someone else has made the yeast do the work for you and then taken away the possibility of off flavours that have a fair chance of happening in your fermentor.

 

[muckanic]

Alcohol is just alcohol, the only difference between adding vodka to the fermented beer and adding dex before fermentation, is that someone else has made the yeast do the work for you and then taken away the possibility of off flavours that have a fair chance of happening in your fermentor.

Ethyl acetate levels go through the roof with high gravity ferments unless appropriate counter-measures are taken.Think nail polish remover with a sour undertone. Much of the art of high-gravity brewing involves making one that doesn't overwhelm with its congeners, or which winds up as a sweet sickly mess. I also find putting 'em in a permeable secondary for a prolonged period to simulate winemaking can add interest. No-one seems to get too upset about the strength of wine, but then of course it isn't drunk by the pint.

 

[Swinging Beef]

My favorite styles of beers are English Barley Wines and Belgian Strong Ales
These are often in the 8 - 12% range.
They arent that hard to make, but like all good beer, hard to perfect.

With the Barley Wines, time is your friend, and you just want the yeasties to sit in the bottle as long as possible to pull out as much of the sugar as they can, while still remaining full of malt body goodness.

With Belgians, add sugar to help get the body dowm and not become to sweet or cloying.

 

[Fourstar]

Why is there no smiley icon to indicate disgust by shaking head from side to side, with a bewildered look on it's face...............

Totally agree.

Best responses so far are Dr k and thirsty boy. Personally i would go for a Eisbock but i know of allot of people that dont like the taste of a syrupy/heavy undercarbonated malt beverage that finishes at around 1.020. I guess you could always thin that out with adding a neutral spirit e.g. vodka and see how she goes. In saying that a standard drink of this would be very liquor-esqe and would be sipped like port/brandy. and would be quite hard to pull off as something 'drinkable'

define drinkable? something you can have a mouthful of and not want to bring it up immediatly, unlike swigging on a bottle of bourbon. :icon_vomit:

 

[reviled]

unlike swigging on a bottle of bourbon. :icon_vomit:

But a shot of (good quality) bourbon :icon_drool2:

 

[David Lang]

For what it's worth, this Kit + extract turned out pretty nicely, especially after a few months to mature:
The Ultimate Winter Warmer:

• 2 cans Chocolate Mahogany Porter (use only one yeast sachet)
• 2 kg light liquid malt extract
• 20 gram Saaz hop pellets, added before fermentation (boil the pellets in 200-400 mL of water or 10% malt extract solution for 2 minutes, strain into the fermenter, press the liquid out of the hops)

totally pinched from http://www.cascadehomebrew.com.au/brewkits/recipes.asp

should be about 9-10%, not sessionable, but way tasty, like a nice port or a PX sherry

 

[ant]

Might be to sweet a dream to do as a kit.

I remember Johnny Max and the brew dog from brew crazy did a 10% plus brew.

Best to contact him for the method ( is he still a member here ) or search for posts from him.

Johnny Max actually made a 21% AG beer called Cause of Death. Just because it was said it couldn't be done. Sometimes its worth making a beer just because. Dogfish Head make a 21% 120 Minute IPA, which uses a fair but of adjunct, but is a well balanced beer. A sipper to be sure.

 

[brettprevans]

ok no comments on why you want to make it, or if you should or anything like that.

K&K high alc beer thats drinkable. yes you could make piss fire water by fermenting a shite load of fermentables but it tates etrrible and give you a headache. so something that you can drink. you need the right balance of ingrediants and a good alc tolerantr yeast.

Hers a few recipes

Hangover madness
muntons nut brown ale
500g black fern unhopped wheat malt
500g coopers amber malt
1kg LDME
1.5kg morgans unhopped extra pale malt extract
500g belgian candy sugar
10g hersbrucker hops
10g styrian
23L
22g T-58 yeast
SG 1074, FG 1018
9.5%

RIS
500g cracked roast barley
500g cracked light crystal
1.7kg can Draught
1.7kg can Porter
1.7kg can Stout
1.25kg dex
0.250kg malto dex
0.5kg LDME

60g styrian @ 60min
40g EKG @ 15min
20g saaz @ flameout

40g of yeast preferable made into a starter.
OG 1115, and an FG 1028. ~12.2%


now with esither of these recipes you could increase the amounts or change slightly to make higher in alc or to your taste. I have done a variaation on the RIS receipe above and it was great actually. Then as Muggas said youve got to have plenty of nutrient, to aerate the wort often, add additional sugars WHILST its fermenting, etc

 

[Luka]

I know a guy that made an Eisbock a couple years back, hard to work out the exact finishing alcohol but we put it around 16%ABV

 

[brettprevans]

i think eisbock may be a little out of this guys brewing comfort zone. its not exactly a simple no hassle process. I actyually dont think he'd get what he wants from it anyway. he probably wouldnt like the taste. its an quired thing not to everyones liking.

Im just assuming here i could be wrong of course as I dont know this bloke at all.

 

[Luka]

Grape beer?


Actually, that sounds way too tempting!

Sorry OT
I made an ale with grapes added in the secondary, it was a particular variety that is red juiced but hard to come by. Helps if you work at one of the few wineries that uses it B) Anyway I used it for mostly colour and some flavour, but it didn't turn out how I wanted, have to tweak the recipe, again sorry to be a bit OT

 

[Luka]

i think eisbock may be a little out of this guys brewing comfort zone. its not exactly a simple no hassle process. I actyually dont think he'd get what he wants from it anyway. he probably wouldnt like the taste. its an quired thing not to everyones liking.

Im just assuming here i could be wrong of course as I dont know this bloke at all.

I think that style is an aquired taste for even the experienced among us, like a barley wine on 'roids.