S-04 is super fast

[Mall]

Bloody hell, put a ESB down on Tuesday late arvo and by morning it was raging....Checked this morning (Thursday) and it has virtually finished (1.010, settled and beer is clear in under two days!!

Is this normal and can it be kegged already?

 

[Yob]

not normal no...

 

[mosto]

What temp did you ferment at?

I'm not a fan of S04 as I've had it stall a couple of times and had to fluff around to get it to finish off. Having said that it's currently munching away through a single hopped Mosaic pale ale quite happily.

 

[nvs-brews]

just read a review on the s04.. i mostly use us-05.. think i will have to give it a try!

 

[S.E]

Bloody hell, put a ESB down on Tuesday late arvo and by morning it was raging....Checked this morning (Thursday) and it has virtually finished (1.010, settled and beer is clear in under two days!!

Is this normal and can it be kegged already?

I frequently use s04 and have done for years. It usually finishes fermenting in 2-3 days @18c-20c and has dropped clear after about 4-6 days. I’ve read on here (and as mosto commented above) that people have had trouble with it stalling but I’ve never had any trouble hitting FG.

2 days to finish and drop clear sounds a bit odd though.

 

[dannymars]

I split a batch between s04 and US05 last weekend...

the US05 is way finished... where as the S04 is still bubbling out the airlock 10 days later....

 

[Mall]

What temp did you ferment at?

I'm not a fan of S04 as I've had it stall a couple of times and had to fluff around to get it to finish off. Having said that it's currently munching away through a single hopped Mosaic pale ale quite happily.

Fermented at 18.5. I'm going to check this again tonight..

 

[labels]

It's quick, at least I find it's quicker than most and it's usually done in 72 hours or less at 18°C. I bump the temp up to 25C at the end just to make sure it's completely done before dragging it down to -1°C for a week. Clears really nicely as well. Good all-round neutral ale yeast and clears a whole lot better than US-05

 

[michaeld16]

Despite the bad wrap so4 gets I quite like it and havnt had stalling dramas usually find it at fg 3-4 days

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I can never understand the negative posts for s04, can't say I have ever had a problem with it in the years I have been using it.

 

[antiphile]

Despite the bad wrap so4 gets I quite like it and havnt had stalling dramas usually find it at fg 3-4 days

I also know lots of people that dislike S-04 intensely saying it stalls. However, the half a dozen times I've used it it has worked an absolute treat, and finished as expected in about 4-5 days.

My gut feeling is it needs good aeration: I don't use pure oxygen, just air and airstones. But it's never failed me yet (even though 6 is only a very small sample size).

 

[panzerd18]

I've used US-05 twice and it took over 2 weeks.

Used S-04 and it was done in 3 days.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

Only used it once, but I found that s-04 stripped hop bitterness. Haven't used it since because of that, but I keep reading that others love it.

The beer turned out ok, but it wasn't what I was expecting.

Still have a pack in the fridge and I'll give it another go.

 

[labels]

1. 
   
   

   Only used it once, but I found that s-04 stripped hop bitterness. Haven't used it since because of that, but I keep reading that others love it.
   
   The beer turned out ok, but it wasn't what I was expecting.
   
   Still have a pack in the fridge and I'll give it another go.

   Basing the problem on a once only experience is probably not conclusive by any means. I could understand perhaps hop aroma being stripped out by CO2 gas because of the fast fermentation but bitterness is very hard shift, once the alpha acids have been isomerized, it's in.
   

 

[Black Devil Dog]

It might be that the yeast had little to do with the lack of bitterness, possibly hop age instead and I must say, I was surprised with the outcome. First sample and I noticed a complete lack of bitterness, instead, it was a very malt forward beer. Quite a sessionable beer it turned out to be though.

I've got a couple of cubes that I'm going to do a side by side with. Two identical brews and I'll use S-04 in one and US-05 in the other.

 

[Yob]

Yeast do uptake bitterness, but you'd need a **** load to strip it.

I made the mistake of chewing up a raspberry that had been in my RIS for a few weeks..

Hot damn.. Never again

 

[wide eyed and legless]

It might be that the yeast had little to do with the lack of bitterness, possibly hop age instead and I must say, I was surprised with the outcome. First sample and I noticed a complete lack of bitterness, instead, it was a very malt forward beer. Quite a sessionable beer it turned out to be though.

I've got a couple of cubes that I'm going to do a side by side with. Two identical brews and I'll use S-04 in one and US-05 in the other.

You might find this article interesting Bill.
http://sciencebrewer.com/2012/03/02/pitching-rate-experiment-part-deux-results/

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I tried to find the recipe, but I've just got a new computer and still haven't transferred my recipes over. Not sure how to actually :unsure: .

Cheers Tony, that looks like an interesting experiment and the way I read it, is that if my pitch rate was a bit higher, the bitterness would/could have come through.

 

[verysupple]

I've used US-05 twice and it took over 2 weeks.

Used S-04 and it was done in 3 days.

US-05 taking over two weeks doesn't sound right. For an average gravity ale it's usually done in 3 - 5 days for me - as in finished fermenting. If you're talking about clearing then that sounds normal. US-05 takes a while to clear some times

 

[TimL]

I remember reading on the jims beer kit website under the yeast section a while back that the majority of English micros either use saf 04 or dried nottingham so it must be fairly decent as it's their livelihood.Went to loch brewery today near leongatha and he uses it in his 3 beers and they were nice,best bitter,amber and dark ale.Its great in dark beers,it's the old Whitbread brewery yeast.Pretty sure willie Simpson/seven sheds uses it and stone brewing in the states use it in their pale ale.