What is the max ABV that can be attained with instant yeast? 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.
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.