Safale S-04 fermented out in 34 hours!?!?

I just brewed a Special Bitter on Saturday, using BIAB and No Chill. Put it in the "cube" until Sunday, then racked it to a fermenter and pitched Safale S-04. I just pitched the yeast dry, sprinkled on top of aearated wort, then waited 30 minutes, and gave the fermenter some shakes.

I have the fermenter in a water bath that started at 68F and has warmed up, over the past 34 hours to 72F. Checked the airlock when I got home tonight and got NO bubbles. Checked the airlock to make sure it wasn't clogged or anything and started getting worried.

I have another fermenter next to this one with a single malt and single hop Cascade pale ale w/ US two-row. That batch got yeast pitched at the same time and temp, but is using Danstar Nottingham and is happily bubbling away.

I worried that maybe my yeast packet was bad, so I took out my wine thief and hydrometer and took a sample of the S-04 batch. It had dropped from an OG or 1.047 to about 1.008-1.010! (hard to tell exactly through the foam.)

That's pretty much terminal gravity in only 34 hours! Does this seem normal?

cmcquistion said:

That's pretty much terminal gravity in only 34 hours! Does this seem normal?

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I don't think you could say normal. But possible, yes. I think I've seen several accounts of reaching terminal gravity within 24-48 hours. However, I'd taste it just to be sure it was fermented by the yeast you intended. It would probably taste young at this point, but you'd know if it were fermented by something you didn't intend. In any case, just because FG was reached quickly doesn't mean you should rack it immediately. It will need some time to clean up.

I've had some pretty intense fermentations with safale yeasts; I wouldn't be too worried about it... I would leave it where it is for a while, though. It may have gorged itself, but it still has work to do

Hex23 said:

I don't think you could say normal. But possible, yes. I think I've seen several accounts of reaching terminal gravity win 24-48 hours. However, I'd taste it just to be sure it was fermented by the yeast you intended. It would probably taste young at this point, but you'd know if it were fermented by something you didn't intend. In any case, just because FG was reached quickly doesn't mean you should rack it immediately. It will need some time to clean up.

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Yeah, I wish I'd actually tasted it. I just drained it back into the fermenter because it was really cloudy and had a lot of yeast/protein/whatever floating in it. Didn't look appetizing

I plan to leave it for my customary 2 weeks to settle, condition and clear.

S-04 is a beast. I would do as recommended and let it sit for a couple weeks then bottle or keg it. Its a young beer, but once the yeast drops, a tasty one.

onthekeg said:

S-04 is a beast.

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seconded

Did you have much krausen during the ferment? Asking because I am currently have the same exact issue with 04. Pitched Sunday w/ a 1L starter, checked this morning...got about a 1-1/2" of krausen but not a single bubble in the blow off. Figured it should have been rollin' by now.....

I don't know if I had a lot of krausen or not. I'm fermenting in a plastic bucket, so I didn't really see the krausen.

I'm wondering if maybe my thermometer is way off that I use for mashing. My last English beer ended up over-attenuating and coming out thin. Considering how far this has attenuated already (it was supposed to finish at 1.012 and is already below that), I'm wondering if my mash temp was too low and I made an overly-fermentable wort.

I'm also wondering if my wort temp at the time of pitching was higher than it was supposed to be. A too-high wort temp at pitching time could explain an overly-aggressive ferment.

Too bad I won't really know for certain for a couple weeks

onthekeg said:

S-04 is a beast.

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Thirded.

I just brewed an English brown - S04 tore through it in like 30 hours.... Done

Had the same thing happen to my oatmeal stout
With s04

Only things I would add is...
I don't usually dump samples back into the fermenter, just one more way to infect.
If you're using a bucket, one probable cause for no bubbles in the air lock is minor leaks allowing the co2 to escape.
Last, .008 doesn't seem that low for a beer with such a low starting gravity.

Cheers!

bobbrewedit said:

...
Last, .008 doesn't seem that low for a beer with such a low starting gravity....

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1.008 is about 82% attenuation. That seems a lot higher than what I've read about S-04. That's why I'm worried.

S-04... Mark of the yeast beast!!

cmcquistion said:

1.008 is about 82% attenuation. That seems a lot higher than what I've read about S-04. That's why I'm worried.

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Yeah, but its much easier for the yeast to get lower when the OG is low. I wouldn't worry, Im sure its fine...though if you believe the temp was too high during ferment, u might taste the "hot" alcohols a bit.

I guess I am reviving this thread. I was trolling around the forums looking for info as I had a blonde that I pitched 2 packs of S-o4 into on Monday afternoon. Worried about the lack of activity and NO krausen, I drew a sample. Down from 1.052 to 1.007 in 36 hours. I guess I won't waste anytime worrying. Maybe dry hop in the secondary.