i heard that bread yeast can only tolerate up to 14% abv but

[adanac58]

okay so i am doing a little bit of everything mash now . all the sources of sugar i had in my house at the time turned out to be enough to make a mash . first i did a plain sugar mash with just bread yeast the potential alcohol was 14% , it wasnt fermenting at all so i then dumped the 4 , 1 gallon jugs of mash into a carboy . i added the lees from a batch of wine . some raisins and tomatoe paste . after that was done fermenting i decided to see how much more alcohol i can get out of it . i added about 1/8th jar of honey . a good long squirt from a bottle of corn syrup after that was done fermenting . a couple blobs of mollasses after that was done fermenting . some dark sugar after that was done fermenting . some dry malt extract after that was done fermenting . and i am in dis beileif that the airlock is STILL bubbling from the dry malt extract . to be honest i thaught the honey was over doing it . was my mash able to ferment past 14% because i added a crap tonne of yeast nutrients ?( the lees from a 5 gal. batch of wine , raisins , and tomatoe paste ) anyways is the yeast less likely of dying if there is more yeast nurtients ?

[likkerluvver]

Most of us, I think, don't push bread yeast much beyond 12% or so in order to avoid stressing it and causing off-flavours.

EC-1118 is probably a better bet for this type of experimentation.

It will be interesting to see how this fermentation works out. Other than seeing how far you could push the yeast, what were you aiming to achieve? I assume this is for refluxing?

[adanac58]

Most of us, I think, don't push bread yeast much beyond 12% or so in order to avoid stressing it and causing off-flavours.

EC-1118 is probably a better bet for this type of experimentation.

It will be interesting to see how this fermentation works out. Other than seeing how far you could push the yeast, what were you aiming to achieve? I assume this is for refluxing?

nope i got a pot still , its gonna be some sassy likker

[likkerluvver]

nope i got a pot still , its gonna be some sassy likker

Isn't that the beauty of this hobby? Almost every combination of ingredients works out.

You certainly proved the value of nutes - Should be interesting sippin.

[sparky marky]

Lees from a batch of wine you say?

Any non bread related yeast in there? Maybe a bit of left over wine yeast?....

[Mud Mechanik]

Sounds like you added more nutrients and sugars than the yeast could convert, bread yeast is good for about 10% abv. which is perfect for a pot still, if you keep adding sugar to it, it will only make something to scorch your boiler, the ferment was done before you added honey.

[adanac58]

Lees from a batch of wine you say?

Any non bread related yeast in there? Maybe a bit of left over wine yeast?....

the yeast that was in my wine is lavalin EC soemthing , and i know that yeast is pretty tolerant to alcohol

[adanac58]

Sounds like you added more nutrients and sugars than the yeast could convert, bread yeast is good for about 10% abv. which is perfect for a pot still, if you keep adding sugar to it, it will only make something to scorch your boiler, the ferment was done before you added honey.

i always rack my wash before putting in the still if it has alot of lees

[sparky marky]

Are you asking about how your abv went so high when you were using bread yeast? If so, then the answer is probably that it didn't. It was the wine yeast taking over. All those sources of nutrients will help a yeast reach it's max potential.

[rad14701]

Most bakers yeast can easily reach 14% ABV, but will start imparting off smells and flavors beyond that just as with most other yeast strains... I ferment to ~14% ABV, or a bit above, with Fleischmann's on a regular basis without problems...

But, as he mentioned, adanac58 most likely used EC1118 which can easily ferment to 14% and beyond (~18%)...

[doctee]

Most bakers yeast can easily reach 14% ABV, but will start imparting off smells and flavors beyond that just as with most other yeast strains... I ferment to ~14% ABV, or a bit above, with Fleischmann's on a regular basis without problems...

But, as he mentioned, adanac58 most likely used EC1118 which can easily ferment to 14% and beyond (~18%)...

Rad,

Are you saying that for your neutral, you start with a 14% abv wash? I see many references on this forum to staying around 10%, stripping then refluxing. The last two times I did a neutral, I made a 18% wash using the Dr. Clayton Cones Protocol, then straight into the reflux without stripping first. I wasn't real impressed with the results, very narrow middles. I am searching for that sweet spot of efficiency (high abv washes) and neutral flavor (low abv washes). Is 14% that spot? I do have access to EC-1118, DAP, yeast hulls, etc. if needed.

Thanks,

Todd K.

[rad14701]

Rad,

Are you saying that for your neutral, you start with a 14% abv wash? I see many references on this forum to staying around 10%, stripping then refluxing. The last two times I did a neutral, I made a 18% wash using the Dr. Clayton Cones Protocol, then straight into the reflux without stripping first. I wasn't real impressed with the results, very narrow middles. I am searching for that sweet spot of efficiency (high abv washes) and neutral flavor (low abv washes). Is 14% that spot? I do have access to EC-1118, DAP, yeast hulls, etc. if needed.

For a single run through a good reflux column it is possible to use a 14% ABV wash, but individual results may vary... Because of my small boiler I have taken to doing two or three stripping runs and then doing a single spirit run of the strips diluted to ~40%... If a single reflux run of a 14% wash doesn't clean up as much as desired you can either drop the potential ABV of your wash down to 12% or dilute the wash with water down to 12% to see if that yields better results... Remember, water is a filter so it may clean up the wash in the same manner that it cleans up low wines... And a lot has to do with whether you are shooting for pure neutral spirits, or vodka which has some mild flavor...

I accidentally mixed up a wash that had a 17.8% potential ABV recently, because I was in a hurry and getting distracted, which fermented out just fine using bakers yeast even though it took roughly an extra week to complete... Once stripped it tasted fine at drinking proof.. And then when diluted and refluxed it was perfectly neutral... I wouldn't make it a regular habit to shoot for such a high potential %ABV and consider that it a matter of I just got lucky - this time...

The biggest issue is avoiding off tastes and smells...