Brewed 11 gallons of this on 9/13/2014, split into two 6.5G carboys. Decided since this is such a light beer to try S-04 and US-05 side by side to really see the differences.
Here are my notes from the process in case it is beneficial somehow for anyone:
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Brewday (9/13/2014)
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Mashed in at 152, held for a while but by the end of the 90 minute mash had fallen to 147. Recirculated for last 10 minutes of mash, ended up with stuck sparge on first runnings twice from recirc/draining tun too fast, stiring/recirculating solved issue, rice hulls needed for this recipe next time. Sparged with no issues, two batch sparges, drained slowly to avoid stuck sparge, worked well.
Preboil volume just at 14.7G.
Sanitized CFC by recirculating boiling wort last 10 minutes of boil after rinsing with clean water.
Used CFC to recirculate wort to get it down to 140F in brew kettle. CFC (no pre/post chiller) brought wort from 140F to 83F in single pass.
Seperated wort into two 6.5 gallon carboys, filling each to 5.5 gallons, about 1.5 gallons of wort left in brew kettle.
Placed in chest freezer set to 40F to drop from 83F to 65F.
Brewday + 1 Day (9/14/2014)
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Chilled to 65 in chest freezer set to 40F over night, pitched rehydrated US-05/S-04 the next day (9/14/2014) at 14:15 after 90 seconds of pure O2.
One note about rehydration, I absent mindedly shook the yeast in the water right after pouring rather than waiting the 15 minutes per directions. Since I had done this to the first yeast (US-05), I did this as well to the second, to ensure experiment similarity.
At 20:00 (+6 hours after pitch) the S-04 had solid krausen forming, US-05 had nothing. Temp probe in S-04 carboy reads 64.6F.
Brewday + 2 Days (9/15/2014)
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At 07:00 (+17 hours after pitch) S-04 had solid krausen, brown formation on white, US-05 still nothing. Constant airlock activity from S-04, no airlock activity on US-05. Temp probe in S-04 carboy reads 65.5F.
At 17:00 (+27 hours after pitch) S-04 continues to have krausen and constant airlock activity. US-05 just starting to show signs of krausen development.
At 21:00 (+31 hours after pitch) S-04 activity continues. US-05 finally has decent white krausen, no brown formation.
Brewday + 3 Days (9/16/2014)
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At 07:00 (+41 hours after pitch) S-04 activity continues. US-05 krausen has brown formation. Solid airlock activity on both. Temp probe in S-04 carboy reads 65.6F.
At 21:30 (+55.5 hours after pitch) S-04 krausen completely fallen, minor airlock activity. US-05 activity continues. Temp probe in S-04 carboy reads 65.1F.
Brewday + 15 Days (9/28/2014)
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Most of US-05 krausen had fallen, scheduled fermentation time has passed so dropped fermentation chamber temperature to 36F to cold crash before kegging.
Brewday + 17 Days (9/30/2014)
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US-05 krausen completely gone. S-04 carboy probe is measuring 38.5F.
Brewday + 19 Days (10/02/2014)
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After 4+ day cold crash at 38.5F, racked beers into kegs. S-04 finished at 1.010, US-05 finished at 1.008.
S-04 tastes very good. Slight fruitiness, might be a little sour apple off flavor, could just be the English esters of S-04.
US-05 tastes similar to S-04 batch but minus the fruity esters.
Brewday + 29 Days (10/12/2014)
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Allowed both kegs to carb at 12PSI for 10 days. Took samples of both:
Colors and aromas are exactly the same.
Clarity is about the same, maybe S-04 being slightly clearer as of now, most likely due to the finishing and yeast dropping out much faster.
US-05 (recipe yeast) has a nice clean flavor up front. Very light in body (expected from cream ales and especially with a FG of 1.008), but still has some substance. Very slight hint of fruity right before the finish. Excellent light beer, my BMC friends are gonna love this.
S-04 (test yeast) is very similar to US-05 in initial taste. Body should be slightly more as FG was 2 points higher, but I cannot detect. After the initial taste, the similarities end. I had read that English yeasts can bring out more esters and off flavors, but this beer is a diacetyl bomb, butter popcorn overload. I did not pick up this flavor at all in hydro samples, nor is it present in the US-05 batch. We'll see how it ages, I do not have much hope, right now it is pretty much undrinkable.
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This is definitely a tasty beer, really going to enjoy drinking the US-05 batch, had 2 pints last night.
I will definitely NOT be making another batch using S-04 again. Will probably try the Kolsch yeast next time.
Here is a pick of the US-05 beer!
