S-04 vs S-05

I just placed an order for equipment and ingredients and am now wondering if I should have ordered S-05 instead of S-04. I like the higher sedimentation of the 04. But 05 gets such good rep from so many home brewers, I'm wondering if if I should make it my go-to dry yeast and deal with yeast in suspension by using additives etc.

Does anyone have opinions about these products?

Aging will clear almost any beer.

yeoldebrewer said:

Does anyone have opinions about these products?

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Try them both and see what preferences you develop for different beers. US05 is flocculant enough on its own to not require any additional techniques or additives to clear.

Flocculation is only one property of yeast...don't forget that flavor, esters/phenols and attenuation are pretty important to your beer too

I have used both with great results - I keep an extra 05 as my on hand yeast all the time.

This is a very difficult question to answer without some clarification from you. What sort of beers are you typically making? US-05 is a cleaner, more attenuative yeast compared to US-04- which will also lend some fruitiness.

US-05 is my go-to dry yeast for American styles and US-04 for English styles.

always pick flavor components over clarity. as above, pick the one for the style you are brewing, then deal with the clarity as needed

US-05 and S-04 are used for different types of beer. I use both and also Nottingham when I use dry yeasts.

US-05 is a clean fermenting, medium to high attenuation. It is great for most American styles, can also work for Scottish Ales, and with a stretch you can make some mock lagers.

S-04 is a lower attenuation, highly floccutant and produces classic English style yeast esters. This is great for low to medium gravity English Ales. The low attenuation can be a problem for bigger beers but can be managed.

Nottingham is somewhat between the 2. It is cleaner than S-04 but still produces some esters. It attenuates nearly as well US-05. This yeast I use for larger english beers or other beers where I want a restrained yeast character.

For other styles I use liquid yeast.

So I would have several packs of both S-04 and US-05 in the fridge so i would be ready for which ever style I wanted to brew.

Craig

I always pick up at least one or two sachets of each available dry yeast when I am at HBS. Of course, that is all I use too.

S-04, US-05, and Nottingham make up my workhorse go to yeasts but they all do things a little differently. I wouldn't let the flocculation figures make a decision for you but rather let the flavor profile you want make the decision.

From fruity to clean I would go S-04, Notty with US-05 as the "cleanest" only by a narrow margin. Ferment Notty and US-05 at 65* or below and they are both very clean.

As for attenuation, I would place them S-04, Notty and then US-05 only because the 1.114 OG American Barleywine I did went to 1.020 FG with US-05. 80% AA is nothing to sneeze at.

All three firm up nicely if given enough time or crash cooled. S-04 may drop out too easy if the temps get a little low during fermentation.

Depending on the recipe in question (unknown?) either S-04 or US-05 will be very drinkable.

Great thread. I've always wondered myself the difference between -04 and -05. I keep both on hand as well as a pack or two of Nottingham.

I really like US-05 and use it in 2/3 of my brews, I usually secondary and my beers are very clear so don't worry about having too much yeast in suspension. I use S-04 for the english styles but for most of my recipes I prefer the 05.

I used to only use liquid yeasts but now primarily use 05. I love it, i normally only brew higher gravity beers and 05 works awesome, my beers are crystal clear and taste great. The yeast ferments fast and with quick starts every time. Plus it is so simple to use, you don't need a starter, in fact doing a starter can actually weaken the yeast. You can either rehydrate it or just sprinkle it right on the wort, wait 30 minutes and then aerate.

I regularly use 05 and nottingham for any american hop forward style that I make. I tried 04 in my Christmas Ale because I wanted to emphasize the malt and spice. Man that was a compact cake on a clear beer in primary. Once in the bottle I don't think it clears any better than 05 if you practice proper homebrew patience. HTH

Oh, by the way, dried yeasts don't require aeration. The required oxygen has been taken up before they're dried. I have definately learned the advantages of a 5-10 shake of the primary with liquid cultures, but it doesn't speed up the start of fermentation with dried yeast.

cuinrearview said:

Oh, by the way, dried yeasts don't require aeration. The required oxygen has been taken up before they're dried.

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Fermentis the makers of us-05 and 04 recommend mixing the yeast into the wort by aerating it.

flyangler18 said:

This is a very difficult question to answer without some clarification from you. What sort of beers are you typically making? US-05 is a cleaner, more attenuative yeast compared to US-04- which will also lend some fruitiness.

US-05 is my go-to dry yeast for American styles and US-04 for English styles.

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This says it all right here, with out much fuss or much muss, +1 Fly

Cheers

+1 Fly on 04 and 05. Now for a little OT. Has anyone tried the 06 (heffe)?

there's an 06?

I don't see it on the website...

beerthirty said:

+1 Fly on 04 and 05. Now for a little OT. Has anyone tried the 06 (heffe)?

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https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/fermentis-wb06-59716/

RoaringBrewer said:

Search works wonders:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/search.php?searchid=1269651

If that doesn't work, here are the threads themselves:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=42686
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=57420
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=54083
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=38925
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=32373

EDIT: 2nd one is probably the best... (#57420?)

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