Boosting live ale?

[Oroku saki]

Hi all, just a quick question, not sure if this has been tried before but has anyone taken live ale added more sugar or grain etc and maybe if the yeast can’t handle The higher percentage add higher alcohol yeast strain. Basically I have access to half and three quarter full barrels of live ale at about 4-5% and was wondering if I could boost the percentage and make some interesting whiskeys I guess it would be called? I’m sure with all the different ales I have access to I’ll find something worth looking at further but 4-5% is a little low so want to boost it a little and since it’s still live surely I can feed them babies up and get a little more out of her, no? Let me know what you guys think?

[Chauncey]

If the yeast can tolerate the alcohol, youll be fine. Not saying it will taste good. but best case itll taste like sugarhead whiskey (fine by me) and the spirit wont be as flavorful as it would be at 5 percent.

If the yeast cant take it and theres residual sugar you're likely gonna have foaming and puking.

[Oroku saki]

Ye by higher percentage I was only thinking 7-8% tops, what about cornflakes or flaked? Would that give a better flavour profile? I’d rather not use just sugar

[Chauncey]

Without mashing only the extra sugar on the cornflakes would add anything but flavor. Maybe add some sugar and some flaked corn or meal for flavor ? Whats in the ale already

[NZChris]

Sugar has no flavor, so by adding it, you dilute the flavor you already have. You can do very much the same thing by distilling the beer and a sugar wash separately, then blending them.
Adding another grain is similar, in that you are probably better off doing a separate ferment and combining the low wines or blending the spirit runs. My preference would be to do my best cuts on both, then blend the hearts to suit my palate.

[azeo]

Since "interesting" whisk(e)y is the possible aim, if the yeast is still in healthy activity you could try adding a thick mash of fully converted speciality grains of choice to increase flavour and potential abv a bit - biab could do the trick. It's not unusal to get a good footing/krausen going in a thinner or starter mash and step feed. Measuring sg before and after adddition and at end of fermention will give a rough idea of finishing abv.

[Oroku saki]

Great info guys, well that’s what I was guessing since step feeding a ferment is a tek to get a higher abv in your mash that’s why I was thinking as long as the ale isn’t a hoppy variety then I’m sure I could pull some interesting flavours from what is essentially waste. I was Actually thinking of using it to blend the final distillate but mixing the low wines with a different mash to boost yield is a good idea too. The ale/stout I’ll be starting with would be any of the skinners range or the st austell brewery range, I’m hoping that a barrel of a stout called mena dhu comes up soon as that has six types of malt already in it which include pale, crystal, chocolate, smoked and malted oats as well as roasted barley! I’m sure even at 5% this would make some very interesting distillate with nothing added what so ever.

[Demy]

In my opinion, if you have a good amount of beer try distilling without adding anything. My second choice would be a separate wash (until fermentation), combine with your beer and distill.

[Bee]

Make sure you knock down the foam before you distill it. Decant it into a bucket, stir it to work the foam up and skim the foam off.

[Zeotropic]

I was under the impression that you couldn't distill beer because the hop oils would carry over and also it is pretty hard to clean out of your still.

[Bee]

I was under the impression that you couldn't distill beer because the hop oils would carry over and also it is pretty hard to clean out of your still.

It depends. I probably wouldn't go distilling 3 Floyds Alpha King, but the less hoppy beers are definitely doable. As with many things, it's a matter of degree.

[Zeotropic]

I was under the impression that you couldn't distill beer because the hop oils would carry over and also it is pretty hard to clean out of your still.

It depends. I probably wouldn't go distilling 3 Floyds Alpha King, but the less hoppy beers are definitely doable. As with many things, it's a matter of degree.

That is good to know. I have had some cheap mild beers laying around that are too gross to drink and not strong enough to cook with and I had thought about throwing them in with a batch of whiskey or a batch of who knows what random stuff just to see what it does. Next time I will just go ahead and do it.