Newton

Recipes 

Noob question here. I have a portion of a washed yeast cake of Safale S-04 in my fridge. I'd like to make a stout, yet all the recipes I've come across call for Irish Ale yeast. How much of a difference would it make to use the S-04 in place of the recommended yeast? Thanks!

FlatcapBrew

Recipes 

s-04 is fine for stout

mezak1gd

Recipes 

just do it. I use S-05 for almost every beer i make.

goose1873

Recipes 

You will be fine. S-04 makes a great stout

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wyzazz

Recipes 

+1, to date S-04 (Whitbread Dry) is my 2nd favorite yeast next to Bell's House Strain. I'd use it in almost anything, if you want it dry then ramp up the temps toward the end of fermentation as high as 74, if you want it malty then ferment it around 64.

Beware, this will go off like gangbusters if it's from a previously used batch.

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thisjrp4

Recipes 

In my opinion S-04 is great in just about any ale.

goose1873

Recipes 

I adjust maltyness with mash temp. I didn't know ferment temp had anything to do with fermentable's???

I would be worried about off flavors fermenting that high. I typically try to keep 04/05 in the low-mid 60's.

If not mashing, I would just add some extra crystal/dextrine as an adjunct...

my .02

__________________
You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.
----Frank Zappa

wyzazz

Recipes 

If you ferment lower with Whitbread Dry I've noticed it doesn't attenuate quite as well, leaving you with more malt. While the mash temp is probably the best option, if you're doing Extract or a small PM changing the ferment temp is about the only way to go. (Aside from the dextrine, I'd be worried about adding extra crystal & changing the flavor of the beer.)

As for the off flavors, this yeast is almost completely done actively fermenting at the end of 72 hours in my experience if you pitch the right amount of healthy/viable yeast. I ramp temps up after 4-5 days slowly to keep the yeast working and help them clean up the off flavors produced by fermentation.

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