safale 04 question

hey, have you guys had much experience with safale 04?

I've only ever used safale 05 but I bought an extract kit from AHS for an ESB and it came with 04.

I did everything right, but noticed lack of fermentation activity after only 2 days, no biggie says I..... I waited a week and a half and started my hydro readings which have been consistent. Just wondering if a fast full fermentation is normal for 04?

2 days is very fast. At what temp did you ferment at, and what were your OG and FG?

I thought that was pretty fast as well.

I kept the temp at or close to 65 ambient air temp.... As for original gravity, I was unfortunately unable to locate my hydrometer on brewday...(I had stuck it in a different box that didn't contain my brew stuff....silly me) though it was supposed to be a 1.041 O.G. according to the kit instructions. I have remained at a consistent 1.02 since I started my readings...... seems a bit high still to me. That would only be about 2.75% abv when it's supposed to be coming in around a 3.9%

I already did the whole swirl the carboy bit a week ago or so and that did not seem to do anything...

Well, I'll be darned...deductive reasoning has made me think I have my first stuck fermentation! Yay!!

My experience is that 04 has a less active fermentation than 05. Although, sticking at 020 for a week is not something that I have experienced w/ 04.

i am brewing a mild with 04 and she took off right away within 2 hours or so. I started fermentation about 62-64. After 7 days it was still plugging away. Did you aerate it sufficiently?

MilwaukeeBrewGuy said:

i am brewing a mild with 04 and she took off right away within 2 hours or so. I started fermentation about 62-64. After 7 days it was still plugging away. Did you aerate it sufficiently?

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Well I certainly thought I did. I did three batches that day (all different) and the other two had different yeast.. one was an 05 and the other was the dreaded packaged yeast that came with a cheap kit... as it was experimental anyway, I used the garbage yeast. Did all three batches the same way and the 04 batch is the only one that acted weird.

I used the S-04 yeast in a batch recently and the fermentation seemed at least as vigorous as anything else I've done lately...

S-04 usually ferments almost completely out in around 48hrs for me.

thanks guys..... so from what I'm able to ascertain... 04 generally ferments out a bit faster than 05, but two days seems a bit abnormal (though not unheard of at all) and my high F.G. would likely indicate to a stuck fermentation.

Well, I reckon I'll Keep it in there for another week or so while I let the other two batches finish up then rack that batch onto the yeast cake from one of the other batches and give it a week or so to see if the gravity drops or if it truly is finished.

Sound like a reasonable plan?

Sounds reasonable, however some things to try first... ...what's your temp at, you could possibly raise it a bit and swirl the fermenter to wake the yeasties up and get them back in to suspension.

I used S-04 for the first time on Sunday. A roasted brown ale from Joy of home Brewing. Pitched the yeast around 1:00 pm est. By the time the super bowl was over it was going crazy.
At 3:30 am I heard a loud bang and a crash. Sounded like a gun shot. My wife jumped and was scared s-less. My first thought was "I didn't use a blowoff tube."
I went downstarirs, it looked like a crime scene. The airlock and bung had shot out. Hit the celling which in that room is about 12 feet high, and foam was spilling out all over. The spray on the celing looks like blood splatter, and the floor was like a glue trap.
I wanted to grab a camera, but it was 3:30 am.

Dave258 said:

I used S-04 for the first time on Sunday. A roasted brown ale from Joy of home Brewing. Pitched the yeast around 1:00 pm est. By the time the super bowl was over it was going crazy.
At 3:30 am I heard a loud bang and a crash. Sounded like a gun shot. My wife jumped and was scared s-less. My first thought was "I didn't use a blowoff tube."
I went downstarirs, it looked like a crime scene. The airlock and bung had shot out. Hit the celling which in that room is about 12 feet high, and foam was spilling out all over. The spray on the celing looks like blood splatter, and the floor was like a glue trap.
I wanted to grab a camera, but it was 3:30 am.

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Oh man, that's rough luck . Weirdly, I had a completely different experience with S-04. I once made an IPA which I split into a US-05 batch and an S-04 batch. The US-05 went off like a rocket, and had the biggest, ugliest krausen I've ever seen. Great. The S-04 did nothing. It sat for a week with no signs of life at all. It got to the point where I actually pitched another packet because I thought the first one must have been dead. About a minute after repitching, it occurred to me to check the gravity on the S-04 batch. It turns out it had fermented completely, but with no visible signs that I could see.

Given the difference between my experience and Dave's, I guess S-04 comes in both Silent Ninja and Terminator varieties.

Did you guys rehydrate the yeast prior to pitching?

I just used some S04 for a stout and it took off in 2-4 hours and was was going full-blast in the first 48 hours, then down to nothing by by 7 days...

Yep, I rehydrate my dry yeast.

broadbill said:

Did you guys rehydrate the yeast prior to pitching?

I just used some S04 for a stout and it took off in 2-4 hours and was was going full-blast in the first 48 hours, then down to nothing by by 7 days...

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No, I pitched it dry, and it still went crazy.