Safeale S-04 yeast

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400d

400d

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I pitched the yeast on Saturday and had a vigorous fermentation for 72 hours. Now everything stopped and trub settled down to the bottom of carboy. Beer cleared and has got a beautiful golden color.

Is it possible that fermentation is done so fast? I heard that S-04 in general is a fast yeast, but still.....

I have to say that I pitched 1.5 packs of dry yeast to 5 gallon, so I was a little afrait that I might over pitched.....
 
Yep, if your O.G. was 1.050, you over-pitched by about 50%. If you didn't re-hydrate though, you should be fine because half the yeast would be killed off. 16 grams of dry yeast is about enough for a strong ale at 1.080 O.G. You need a higher attenuating yeast at that gravity.

That said, 72 hours sounds about right for s-04. It's the fastest yeast I've ever used. I'd keep it warm at about 70-72 F, and take a hydrometer reading after a week or two. If it tastes under-attenuated, buttery or green appley, I'd keep it warm, and gently rouse the yeast by turning the fermenter.
 
Prionburger said:
Yep, if your O.G. was 1.050, you over-pitched by about 50%. If you didn't re-hydrate though, you should be fine because half the yeast would be killed off. 16 grams of dry yeast is about enough for a strong ale at 1.080 O.G. You need a higher attenuating yeast at that gravity.

That said, 72 hours sounds about right for s-04. It's the fastest yeast I've ever used. I'd keep it warm at about 70-72 F, and take a hydrometer reading after a week or two. If it tastes under-attenuated, buttery or green appley, I'd keep it warm, and gently rouse the yeast by turning the fermenter.
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my OG was very low and under my expectations (1.032), but I boosted the wort with 20 oz of sugar just before I pitched the yeast, so I probably got them a bit more busy with this additional sugar.....
 
72hrs is about right for that yeast. My last fermentation with that yeast was over at around the 72hr mark with the temp at 65.
 
I made a IPA last month with that same yeast and it was extremley violent, i had to pop off my airlock and make a blow off tube before my lid blew off. This only lasted around 72 hours as well. I tried rousing the yeast by bringing up the temp to around 75 degrees, and swirling gentley, but nothing brought the FG down. I proofed the yeast in 100 degree water for 30 min before i pitched, which may be why it was so active at first. My final reading was 1.020 which was a little high for that batch, but not by much. It looked good, smelled good, and tasted good, so i bottled it after two weeks in the secondary. I report back on how it comes out. CHEERS!

Fermentation temp-72 degrees
 
I just did a ESB with that yeast and it appears to have finished in 72ish hours as well. Started fast and strong and ended just as fast. My only concern is that the ambient temp in my fermentation room (read basement) dropped to 57-58. Should I be worried?
 
UnaBonger said:
I just did a ESB with that yeast and it appears to have finished in 72ish hours as well. Started fast and strong and ended just as fast. My only concern is that the ambient temp in my fermentation room (read basement) dropped to 57-58. Should I be worried?
Click to expand...

it is really too low. I think fermentis recommends at least 60 F for successful fermentation.
 
I usually let my fermenter warm up after about 5 days of fermenting low. I'll pull it out to room temp for another week or 2. The gravity will continue to drop, but I feel safe that it will not pick up esters. I had a stout that fermented quickly with S04. Its an awesome yeast.
 
400d said:
it is really too low. I think fermentis recommends at least 60 F for successful fermentation.
Click to expand...

I read that too which is why I started panicking... The temp didn't drop until the 4th day and I "think" it was mostly done with fermentation anyway. To be safe, I'll try and warm it up with the 'ol bucket of water and aquarium heater trick and see what happens...
 
mike1978 said:
I made a IPA last month with that same yeast and it was extremley violent, i had to pop off my airlock and make a blow off tube before my lid blew off. This only lasted around 72 hours as well.

Fermentation temp-72 degrees
Click to expand...

Did the same thing (except for proofing) on my Rye Ale with SafBrew T-58. Lost about 1/4 gallon to blow off.

Hoping it comes out good but I plan to leave it in for a full 2 weeks to settle out.
 
UnaBonger said:
. . . My only concern is that the ambient temp in my fermentation room (read basement) dropped to 57-58. Should I be worried?
Click to expand...
400d said:
it is really too low. I think fermentis recommends at least 60 F for successful fermentation.
Click to expand...
I pitched S-04 on an ESB two days ago and put it in a temperature contolled mini-fridge. I've had to slowly drop the ambient temperature to keep up with the raising carboy temperature. Last night the fridge was set to 57 and the wort was at 64. This morning the wort was up over 67, so I dropped the temperature setting back to 54 a few hours ago, but the beer is still very active and at 67+.

So, I wouldn't worry about your basement being at 57-58. This yeast produces a good amount of heat. Now that you're reaching the end of fermentation it would be a good idea to get it to a warmer location to allow it to finish. But personally, I wouldn't go over 70 degrees.
 
Brewed a sweet potato/pumpkin pie spice ale on Sunday. 5.75 gallon batch with a starting gravity of 1.061. Cooled to 66 degrees f, oxygenated with pure O2 and 0.2 micron diffusing stone for 30 seconds. Pitched one 11.5 gram package of S-04 without rehydrating and shook a little to get the yeast mixed in. Attached blow off tube. Temp controlled fermentation set at 67 degrees f using swamp bucket, t-shirt for wicking and a fan attached to a temp controller.

Monday morning there were some signs of fermentation (movement in wort and krausen beginning to form), however, no off gassing through blow off tube. Monday evening large krausen coming up neck of carboy but did not reach the blow off tube. Still no off gassing through blow off tube. I got worried I had a leak in the carboy cap, so I used parafilm to make sure I had a good seal to the carboy and also parafilmed the blow off tube connection and the other small white cap. Even after sealing everything up, still no off gassing. Last night, 48 hours after pitching, krausen had reduced significantly, still no off gassing evident. I decided to replace the blow off tube with a three piece airlock and watched for 10 minutes. Not even one bubble. At this point I removed the carboy from the swamp bucket, pulled back the t-shirt and tilted on its side. An amazing amount of bubbles, presumably CO2 started coming out of solution when I did this, but to my amazement, still no airlock activity. I've got three thermometers on this fermentation, the Johnson digital controller, an aquarium thermometer on the carboy itself and a traceable mini that is continuously on and logging high and low temps. So far, all three thermometers are in close agreement and the ranges logged by the traceable is 66-68 f.

I know airlock activity isn't a surefire sign of fermentation activity, and usually I don't worry, but I've never seen a fermentation that didn't produce at least some off gassing. Thoughts?
 
keelanfish said:
Brewed a sweet potato/pumpkin pie spice ale on Sunday. 5.75 gallon batch with a starting gravity of 1.061. Cooled to 66 degrees f, oxygenated with pure O2 and 0.2 micron diffusing stone for 30 seconds. Pitched one 11.5 gram package of S-04 without rehydrating and shook a little to get the yeast mixed in. Attached blow off tube. Temp controlled fermentation set at 67 degrees f using swamp bucket, t-shirt for wicking and a fan attached to a temp controller.

Monday morning there were some signs of fermentation (movement in wort and krausen beginning to form), however, no off gassing through blow off tube. Monday evening large krausen coming up neck of carboy but did not reach the blow off tube. Still no off gassing through blow off tube. I got worried I had a leak in the carboy cap, so I used parafilm to make sure I had a good seal to the carboy and also parafilmed the blow off tube connection and the other small white cap. Even after sealing everything up, still no off gassing. Last night, 48 hours after pitching, krausen had reduced significantly, still no off gassing evident. I decided to replace the blow off tube with a three piece airlock and watched for 10 minutes. Not even one bubble. At this point I removed the carboy from the swamp bucket, pulled back the t-shirt and tilted on its side. An amazing amount of bubbles, presumably CO2 started coming out of solution when I did this, but to my amazement, still no airlock activity. I've got three thermometers on this fermentation, the Johnson digital controller, an aquarium thermometer on the carboy itself and a traceable mini that is continuously on and logging high and low temps. So far, all three thermometers are in close agreement and the ranges logged by the traceable is 66-68 f.

I know airlock activity isn't a surefire sign of fermentation activity, and usually I don't worry, but I've never seen a fermentation that didn't produce at least some off gassing. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I always had vigorous fermentations with S-04. It was crazy always, but very short...... 2 days and krauzen starts to disappear, and no more bubbles....
 
I have used S-04, too. Same fast fermentation, but SLOW to finish: Got to about 59% attenuation after 3 days, but took 2.5 more weeks to finish and clear.

Nice flavor, just seems to be a lower attenuation and slower finish IME.
 
I don't have a problem with slow finishes on S-04. Maybe let it warm up after a few days of active fermentation to help the yeasties wrap up their business?
 
I didn't take an OG reading, but I'm guessing it was between 1.060 and 1.070. I used the S-04 yeast, it didn't do anything for 72 hours. When fermentation finally started it was pretty aggressive and lasted....I'd say just over 36 hours. I thought the FVs got too cold, so I tried warming up the FVs a bit and rousing a bit of oxygen in to the wort, but fermentation didn't start again.

I was worried about it, but took a gravity reading last night and it's around 1.012 which seems to agree with manufacturer's recommendations.

I hope I didn't ruin it by unnecessarily rousing it up.

I think I'm gonna let it "secondary" in the keg starting today.
 

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