> wrote in message
...
> : In article > ,
> : Dog3 > wrote:
>
> : > Oh man, this stuff sounds killer. A couple of shots of beer and
you're on
> : > the floor. The article states "everyone" that has tried it has been
> : > enthusiastic. I guess so. After a few glasses one is probably
unconscious.
> : > I think I'll pass.
> : >
> : > Michael
> : >
> : > Fri Sep 9,11:24 AM ET
> : >
> : > BERLIN (Reuters) - A German brewer has concocted what he says is the
> : > world's strongest beer, a potent drink with an alcohol content of 25.4
> : > percent that is served in a shot glass.
>
>
> : I'm sorry, Michael, but this seems ridiculous, and nothing more than a
> : publicity attempt (which has apparently worked, at least on this group).
> : Techniques for increasing alcohol content have been known for hundreds
> : of years. Much whiskey is made out of the same ingredient as beer
> : (barley), can be served in a shot glass, and has a much higher alcohol
> : content than this stuff. It's just not called "beer". I'm not going to
> : call this stuff "beer" either. It is common to call beverages made like
> : beer but more than about 10% alcohol "barley wine". They don't taste
> : much like beer, and need to be aged more like wine than beer. In normal
> : fermentation, the yeast is killed when the alcohol content reaches
> : around 14% or a little higher.
>
>
> Not only that, but champagne yeast can only ferment to around 12-14% ABV,
> beer yeasts lower than that. So some other technique must be used to
> increase the alcohol content once the ferment has finished. By doing
> so it's no longer "beer".

They spend years breeding their yeast to higher alcohol tolerance, then in
the actual fermentation, not all the fermentable sugars are added at once,
rather part of it in one chunk at first, then when that has almost fermented
out, keep topping it up bit by bit so the yeast doesn't get shocked (yeast
doesn't like high sugar concentrations either, especially in the presence of
high alcohol too). There is *no* addition of extra alcohol at any stage -
all the alcohol present is from the actual fermentation.

I hope that helps!


Shaun aRe