First Time S04 User Questions?

[Barley Belly]

I am currently fermenting the below recipe and have a few questions to ask.
It is the first time I have used anything other than the kit yeast.

Morgan's Stockman's Draught
Mark's HBS Malt+ 1kg sugar blend (unsure of exact blend measurements, he did say LDME, Maltodex, Dex + 10% Wheat Malt, emailed him to ask make up but never replied)
Fermentis S04 Pitched Dry
Made up to 23l
OG 1043
Wort 20.5deg when yeast pitched 23/9

Wort down to 18deg and constant after 12 hours and yeast slowly bubbling and doing it's bit.

Has stayed 18deg + or - 1deg, SG 26/9 1026, SG 28/9 1023 and seems to have almost stopped

Noticed it is bubbling a lot slower than previous brews when using kit yeast.

My questions are:-

Given my temp and OG, how long should I expect for this to ferment out completely?

I know it's hard, given I don't have the exact makeup of my sugar blend.........grrrrrrrrrr LHBS guy :angry:

Also

I've noticed at both Gravity readings after OG, that droplets of yeast seem to blocking the tap somewhat and end up in the bottom of the test tube (about the size of a ten cent piece all together)
This is uncommon for me only ever happening once before when I made up a Brewcraft Newcastle Brown Ale kit.

Is this yeast in samples normal for this yeast?

I'm planning on harvesting the cake into 6 or so sample for later use, I hope this will still be OK as I don't wanna lose all the yeast when I bottle.

 

[Screwtop]

I am currently fermenting the below recipe and have a few questions to ask.
It is the first time I have used anything other than the kit yeast.

Morgan's Stockman's Draught
Mark's HBS Malt+ 1kg sugar blend (unsure of exact blend measurements, he did say LDME, Maltodex, Dex + 10% Wheat Malt, emailed him to ask make up but never replied)
Fermentis S04 Pitched Dry
Made up to 23l
OG 1043
Wort 20.5deg when yeast pitched 23/9

Wort down to 18deg and constant after 12 hours and yeast slowly bubbling and doing it's bit.

Has stayed 18deg + or - 1deg, SG 26/9 1026, SG 28/9 1023 and seems to have almost stopped

Noticed it is bubbling a lot slower than previous brews when using kit yeast.

My questions are:-

Given my temp and OG, how long should I expect for this to ferment out completely?

I know it's hard, given I don't have the exact makeup of my sugar blend.........grrrrrrrrrr LHBS guy :angry:

Also

I've noticed at both Gravity readings after OG, that droplets of yeast seem to blocking the tap somewhat and end up in the bottom of the test tube (about the size of a ten cent piece all together)
This is uncommon for me only ever happening once before when I made up a Brewcraft Newcastle Brown Ale kit.

Is this yeast in samples normal for this yeast?

I'm planning on harvesting the cake into 6 or so sample for later use, I hope this will still be OK as I don't wanna lose all the yeast when I bottle.

Given my temp and OG, how long should I expect for this to ferment out completely?

Like everything, it all depends upon something else.
That something else is 1. Was the yeast fresh 2. Had it been stored correctly 3. How much did you pitch in grams 4. How old was the extract 5. How fermentable was your wort, what had you added in the way of less fermentable adjuncts, plus a few other variables.

Correctly pitched S-04 in good fermentable wort usually goes off like a bomb with a good thick krausen around 100mm thick. Some extracts are as low as 60% in fermentability, usually they are around 75% fermentable. Dextrose if fully fermentable but Dextrin (Maltodextrin) is not, which did you add to your beer. Adjuncts which are less fermentable produce a beer with a lot of body (residual, unfermented sugars) due to the fact that your yeast could not ferment it, and it is not the fault of this beer yeast strain. This yeast should achieve 75% attenuation in good fermentable wort (1.043 wort should finish at around 1.011) but if the wort contains a lot of un-fermentable sugars then it is never going to be able to achieve that gravity. Let it go for 2 weeks make sure it's finished (2 similar consecutive gravity readings in 2 days), and thats it it's finished. Bottle, wait until carbed and drink, the memory it leaves you with will stick, you will read and learn and investigate how to put together a beer whose wort is much more fermentable and to your liking.

Is this yeast in samples normal for this yeast?

Like everything, it all depends upon something else.
If the yeast has floculated well and produced a lot of yeast on the bottom of the fermenter, if you are not using a yeast excluder/separator or whatever they are called on the inside of your tap, if your tap is close to the bottom of the fermenter, if you didn't release pressure inside the fermenter by loosening the lid - then most samples taken through the tap using almost any yeast will end up with yeast in the sample

Screwy