Safale S-04 Yeast

[daveHQ]

hi all

i brought myself a FWK, from the ballarat HBS, i got a porter, it came with a safale S-04 yeast

i don't have a heater for my fermenter, which has been fine til now cause so far iv'e only done lagers during winter, but i want to get this brew going soon

what's the lowest temp will the S-04 ferment at? i average around the 14deg mark with my lagers in the shed, is this too low for the S-04

to jump start a stalled CPA a while ago i put the fermenter in a large tub and put a fish tank heater in it, it worked a treat but was a bit of a pain in the bum, i could do it again but would prefer not to

the minister for war and finance won't let me brew inside so it has to be done in my shed, i could drill a hole in my lid and dangle the heater inside but i have read that it's not a great idea, i also could buy a a heat mat or something but i cant afford to spend any money ATM

the packet says 18-24deg, so i'm thinking it is too cold, what do you guys think i should do, am i wasting my time trying to brew it at 14deg?

thanks dave

 

[felten]

their website says 15 - 24 /shrug

 

[Wolfy]

If you are able to sanitise your fish-tank-heater, you could just dump it in the fermenter and cling-wrap the top, that would work fine.
However, I'd go for the heater-in-tub-of-water approach if it was me.
Not only will that allow you to keep it warm enough, but it will also keep the temp stable, since I imagine a shed in Ballarat is going to get pretty cold at night and warmer in the day time.

 

[Bribie G]

Any chance of swapping it for a Nottingham Ale yeast? They officially work down to 14 degrees, but I once did a fake lager with it, chilled it a bit too much and it was still hammering away at 12.

 

[Screwtop]

Not so much about what temp it will ferment at, more about whether the yeast can handle temp swings. If you pitched it at 18 with good temperature control to maintain that temp then S-04 would happily ferment your brew. However if S-04 senses the temp going south it will drop out and stall. Good fermentation requires a stable temperature, especially when fermenting below 20C.

Screwy

 

[daveHQ]

wolfy, yeah it's gets damn cold here at night, it's been around -2 to about 4deg most nights lately and only reaching a top of between 7 to 10deg during the day

the lager yeasts are coping with the temp just fine, a little slow but that's cool, the currant batch has been in for 4 weeks now and has had stable FG for 5 days now

the temp range is a concern it's not unusall for the wort temp to drop below 10 at night and peak at 14 in the arvo, will the nottingham handle these conditions

the more i think about it the more i'm convinced that i should just put the bloody fish tank heater in and glad wrap the top

i have a bottle a starsan and some nappysan so cleaning and sanitising isn't a problem, i'm quite though with my cleaning

when using gladwrap, do you need to sanitise it or do you just use it straight off the roll?

 

[seemax]

clean the hell out of the aquarium heater, then starsan it
drop it in your wort, dangle the cord over the edge and tape it down on the outside of your fermenter
cover the top with glad wrap and seal as best as you can, no need to sanitise the wrap.

 

[daveHQ]

update

ok, i soaked the heater in a nappysan mix overnight, then i gave it a soak in starsan for a few hours

i mixed up the wort and dropped in the heater, i then glad wrapped the top, i set the heater at 20deg

i'm happy and confident iv'e done all the right things, temp in ballarat reached a top of 8 today! and there no sign of things warming up

thanks for all you help

Dave

 

[flano]

pretty sure I used US-04 with a pilsener FWK I have just done.

I sat the fermenter on the cold concrete the whole time..temp was between 14 and 12 for 2 weeks .
It came out great ...real great.
It was really cold in Sydney the 2 weeks I fermented it.

So good that I am wondering how I can keep emulating it through summer.

I also tried the gelatine in it..no worries...not perfectly clear but good enough.

 

[Screwtop]

pretty sure I used US-04 with a pilsener FWK I have just done.

I sat the fermenter on the cold concrete the whole time..temp was between 14 and 12 for 2 weeks .

It came out great ...real great.
It was really cold in Sydney the 2 weeks I fermented it.

US-04 Are you sure ???????????????

If it was the ale yeast S-04 then 12 - 14 is v-e-r-y surprising.

Screwy

 

[flano]

US-04 Are you sure ???????????????

If it was the ale yeast S-04 then 12 - 14 is v-e-r-y surprising.

Screwy

I think so , I will have a look when I get home .
I am a complete tyre kicker when it comes to brewing.
The bloke in the HB shop gave it to me and said to try to keep it cold.

It was a yellow packet from memory...before that I have only used the red packet US-05???
safale??

Sounds like I am probably wrong though.

 

[Wolfy]

It was a yellow packet from memory...before that I have only used the red packet US-05???
safale??

SafLager S23 comes in a yellow pack:

which might explain the low fermentation temp recommendations.

US05 is a red pack (as you suggested):

 

[Nick JD]

A mate of mine used to call it Saf-ahhh-lay, until he bought the yellow packet and went, "Duh."

 

[flano]

um

s-23 it was.

yep...told you I was a tyre kicker.

it is a good beer though.

 

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

clean the hell out of the aquarium heater, then starsan it
drop it in your wort, dangle the cord over the edge and tape it down on the outside of your fermenter
cover the top with glad wrap and seal as best as you can, no need to sanitise the wrap.

hi i dont mean to hijack this thread, but can u use the aquariam heater in a non-temp controlled fridge? and still get the same result?