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Wine yeast is not sold in Indian markets, and online it's very costly; around 12 times what it would cost in the US. I like wine above 15% ABV. Will that be possible with instant yeast? If so, then tips please.

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  • It wholly depends on which strain of yeast. (instant yeast will get you 3-6% of bread tasting mush)
    – Shaun
    Jun 25, 2019 at 0:15
  • If it's about making wine, I think you may have a bigger chance of getting an answer on Homebrewing.
    – Mr Lister
    Jun 25, 2019 at 6:33
  • i used rice wine yeast from ebay, that was very tolerant of abv
    – bigbadmouse
    Jul 3, 2019 at 13:24

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For fermenting with bread yeast most sources cite an average yeast alcohol tolerance of 13-14% AbV. Obviously bread yeasts vary between manufacturers.

There are numerous other factors influencing attenuation, some common ones are:

  • concentration of sugars in the juice / must / wort
  • amount of yeast used
  • fermentation temperature

If your intention is to make quality wine, then it would be best to purchase a small amount of a purpose-bred wine making yeast, and grow it up into an amount large enough to ferment a batch. Before pitching the yeast into the wine, reserve a small amount to grow up for the next-batch. This method requires the least cost, but still ensures the yeast-type is appropriate for the beverage.

If you are making a "country wine" (fermented fruit juices, ginger "beer", flower-flavoured water+sugar, etc.) then bread yeast will be OK, but you would need to experiment to get the pitch correct. For a rough idea, on a beverage that would ferment out to ~14% I would start with 40 grams* of dry bakers yeast into a 20 litre batch.

I strongly advise you to purchase a hydrometer so it's possible to monitor the performance of the fermentation. Do this by taking a reading before pitching the yeast, and during fermentation.

  • My reasoning on this is the original gravity to produce this amount of alcohol would be quite high, say 1.1 SG / 23 Brix. If this were beer, a pitch rate like this would be in order, and was verified with a pitch-rate calculator online.
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