Yeast Alcohol Tolerance - Overshoot or Backsweeten?

Yeast Alcohol Tolerance - Overshoot or Backsweeten? There are many ways to hit a target sweetness in mead cider and wine, and one is to overshoot the natural alcohol tolerance of the yeast, another is to backsweeten to taste. Which do I prefer and why? To overshoot or to backsweeten, that is the yeast alcohol tolerance question!

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[browncw]

This makes me happy - this is the conclusion I came to after my struggles with my stalled cyser... if I hadn't "expected" 17-18% I would not have added so much honey at the beginning!

[eddavanleemputten]

Yay! Another common sense, clear and concise video! Thank you!

My personal preference goes to back sweetening because it gives control. You know how much alcohol is in there, you know how sweet it’s going to be. Sure, you’ll get haze but hey: let it sit. It’ll usually clear on its own. Rack again, pasteurise and bottle. Easy peasy. It helps that I’m a lazy brewer who doesn’t often stress about how long it’ll take for that back sweetened brew to clear. 🙂

Of course there are brews I just allow to fully ferment to the yeast’s capacity. Usually something like JOAM that uses baker’s yeast, I know the tolerance of the baker’s yeast I’m using and it’s a set-it-and-forget-it brew. Or something I’m step feeding and that last feeding is, in essence, a back sweetening in itself. That basically means I’m doing… both. LOL. Babying a brew can be fun.

[aikiemarais]

Hi Brian and Dereka, Thank you, thank you, thank you for the efforts you put into your video's. I have been an off and on brewer operating on a shoestring over the years. Never really got going with it, because I mostly made Ginger beer for family outings and the alcohol in the beer was of no account, because there were children involved. I made a few brews with higher alcohol percentages, but never thought of back sweetening. Another thing I learnt from you is to leave the fermentation the hell alone and I did it! Only then I took a sneaky taste and the brew was mouth puckeringly dry. Then I remembered your adding extra sugar in one of your brews. My brew took off again like a rocket and is still going. I was impressed! Again, thank you and God bless.

[dgdafl]

Glad you added the tip about making sure to kill the yeast before backsweetening. Since obviously if you use a yeast with a higher tolerance than how much sugar is there, it will start back up again if you add more sugar.

[SpareTime-sbkz]

Nice intro. Quick and punchy with a bad ass vibe. Cool work.

[NapFloridian]

@City Steading Brews, Happy New Year guys, wishing you all the best for your channel, health and good brews 😉

[felixlabbe]

I think backsweeting is a good way to have the precise amount of sweetness in your mead, but I don't think that you get the same flavour. From my experience, for a semi sweet mead, I prefer the taste when I put just the amount of honey to be able to get around the alcool tolerance. Depending on the yeast, the fermentation will get very slow for the last percentages. At this time, I carefully rack into another vessel, and the fermentation practiqually stops, leaving a certain sweetness. Then I wait for month until it get clear. I would like to know if there is anything wrong with this method. Thank you, you are my hero.

[alexlarsen]

This was super helpful! I'm about to start my third batch ever (mixed berries) and I meant to overshoot the yeast with 16% of alcohol tolerance.
Instead I'll adjust the specific gravity to about 14% of potential ABV and pasteurize before back sweetening. :)

[iamno]

Good mention of bottle bombs..lol..I haven’t had any of those yet..but I did have some ceiling cider from blowing the airlock off the fermenter…this is how I learned about using a blow off tube..tehehehehe

[universalsasquatchventures]

I wasn't sure which video to post this to so, , , , After finding your YouTube channel I have been binge watching a lot of your videos which I find very informative as well as entertaining.
I was hoping to get some input from you on my first endeavor.
I operate a closeout grocery. I got several cases of Peach Nectar in and since I have been thinking about getting into wine making I thought this would be a good starter. Start date on this brew was Dec 30, 2021
I put five gallons (anything worth doing is worth over doing) of juice into a fermenter and took a first reading with a hydrometer which was .060. From some reading materials I determined I needed to add 7.5 Lbs of sugar (I may have mentioned I have never done this before). I took a reading after adding the sugar and it was .090. I added pectic enzyme, yeast nutrient, and a full packet of Red Star Premier Classique yeast.
I took a reading yesterday and it was at 1.00. If I did the calculations correct I get almost 12% ABV, is that accurate?
It is still bubbling actively so I am leaving it in the fermenter for a while longer before racking into a carboy.
I'm about to start a next batch with one gallon of apple juice concentrate (supposed to mix it 5 to 1 with water) and sliced apples. Not sure if we are going to do cider or wine yet.
Thanks for your time.

[MarkTheNewf]

Yessireee...I start off at a moderate SG. Say in the 1.1-ishy area and step feed it every 7 -10 days until the yeast taps out by the SG not changing for 2 weeks. At that point I backsweeten to the SG I want and let it sit for another 2 weeks. Normally we like our brews anywwhere from 1.015-1.024 depending on the brew type and that's what I go for. I then take another SG reading. If it's not changed, I leave it for another couple of weeks (just to make sure). If it has changed, I further backsweeten and let it ride again for a couple of weeks. I keep doing this until the SG doesn't change for a few weeks at the SG/sweetness I want.

No fuss or muss and no chemicals or heating. It takes a bit more time BUT I'm finding they brews come out significantly cleaner and stronger with the step feeding and extended brew time. Mead loves it some brew time and it usually only gets better.

[andresacebal]

So If I want a Sweet mead the process would be

Primary fermentation

Racking

Clearing/ secondary fermentation

Bottling


Where do I put the backsweetening? Before or after the racking?

[davidmcdonald]

Thank you.... always fun to hear common sense.

[Humble_Grumble]

Thanks for doing this video, Brian. I was going to try my first overshoot attempt this January but will carry on with the back sweetening method now. It does make sense really as you can do different levels of sweetening like I just did with my 2 gallons of Hawthorn Berry. One slightly sweeter than the other.

[BradGarner]

Case and point, I have a pineapple mead with D47 blowing past 14%. It is at 17% and still going. Gonna pasteurize it soon because it tastes awesome right now as is.

[patlawson]

P.S. when I Backsweeten, I'll Rack out about a gallon in a pitcher . Then add about half of a 5 pound jug of Honey 🍯 into the pitcher . Around 2 1/2 Pounds . Stir that in until disolved . Then Rack that back into the 6.5 Gallon Fermenter . That brings it back up to 1.010 to 1.014 . I'll keep doing that until it stops . Take it to the Outbuilding . Rack it into a Carboy . Let it sit in Conditioning for a month, Rack it into another Carboy, let it Clear for another month . Then Rack it into 1 Gallon glass Jugs . Bring a gallon in at a time . Then Rack into Bottle's 🍾 . Put them into fridge . By then, it's Clear . I lucked out and found 4 packs of Corks, with 6 Corks in each pack . They have a flaired out Wooden top with real Cork bottoms . Reusable, and work just fine . The flaired out Wooden top makes em easy to get off & on . But I knew a fellow one time, He was in W.W.II when he was young . But he would take the top off a Bottle 🍾, fling it over his shoulder . I asked him, why did you do that ? He said, ( Do you know how much time you spend, taking that top off and putting it back on, when you could be Drinking ?) To each his own . 😎🤠

[tuc]

Thanks for taking the time to make vids for us and answer questions. This is going to sound weird but I tried winemaking 15 years ago and was not impressed with my efforts. I racked my wine and meads and put them in the cold dark basement and forgot about them. Just this year I found them and WOW what a difference. My problem now is they need sweetening. If I back sweeten, do I have to worry that my 15 year old yeast may restart fermentation? Thanks (yes everyone can laugh at me 😛)

[aleithiatoews]

I agree back sweetening is more controllable because of the variation in alcohol tolerance. I was recently talking to a guy who got Red Star champagne yeast to 28% with supplementation and step feeding.

[danking]

with all of the various discussions about yeasts, My big question is do yeasts affect the flavor of beer? I've watched a lot of your videos and listened about the alcohol tolerances for yeast selection but I'd really like to know how yeast affects a recipe in terms of flavor. The web claims that yeast is as important as Hops so I'd really like to know. If anyone knows, please comment, or better yet if a series of test brews can be featured in a video with the only difference being the yeasts that would be great. Thanks for all of the videos you produce. Because of your channel I made mead for the first time and it came out great. I therefore started brewing beer again after that success, after a 25 year brewing hiatus, and have been having a great time. Thanks again

[michiganmonsters]

You guys should do a video trying coffee/grape wine, I made some a couple weeks ago with 1 cup of cold brew coffee, a bottle of grape juice, and 2 cups of brown sugar and so far it's turning out great