Safale S-33 Experience

Just brewed up a wheat beer using S-33 and thought I should post my experience since I don't see alot of info out there.

The Basic Recipie is:

5lbs pilsner
5lbs Wheat
1lb C20

Mash 154

OG 1.055
FG 1.018

Anyways it's been in the primary for 10 days and is completely finished.

As reported in other threads it took off like a shot and was done fermenting in about 48hours.

I was hoping for a nice fruity component but It tastes a little like a Wit to me at this point. That may be due to low fermentation temps around 62*F. The beer is also very cloudy (not necessarily a bad thing) but seems to point to low floc. of the yeast.

Can't say I'm real happy with the outcome so far. I'll chime back in after it's been in the bottle for a few weeks.

I'm wondering what other experience with S33 has been?

Later
Seth

h1tman said:

Just brewed up a wheat beer using S-33 and thought I should post my experience since I don't see alot of info out there.

The Basic Recipie is:

5lbs pilsner
5lbs Wheat
1lb C20

Mash 154

OG 1.055
FG 1.018

Anyways it's been in the primary for 10 days and is completely finished.

As reported in other threads it took off like a shot and was done fermenting in about 48hours.

I was hoping for a nice fruity component but It tastes a little like a Wit to me at this point. That may be due to low fermentation temps around 62*F. The beer is also very cloudy (not necessarily a bad thing) but seems to point to low floc. of the yeast.

Can't say I'm real happy with the outcome so far. I'll chime back in after it's been in the bottle for a few weeks.

I'm wondering what other experience with S33 has been?

Later
Seth

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This is actually a good thing... right? In a wheat?

The Pol said:

This is actually a good thing... right? In a wheat?

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Yeah no problem in wheat but I wasn't really expecting that.

h1tman said:

I'm wondering what other experience with S33 has been?

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Good middle of the road yeast with decent temp tolerance and mild esters. I've used it in several Robust Porters, Russian Imperials and IIPAs. I did the 888 RIS w/ S33.

Just brewed a Belgium Strong ale with this and took off like crazy. After 24 hours the temps in my carboy jumped up to 76 deg (68 ambient temp) and now has dropped back down 66. After 4 days I've went from .074 to .025 and now no more bubbles. I'll take a another reading in a few day but hope ferms not stuck.

Beernip said:

Just brewed a Belgium Strong ale with this and took off like crazy. After 24 hours the temps in my carboy jumped up to 76 deg (68 ambient temp) and now has dropped back down 66. After 4 days I've went from .074 to .025 and now no more bubbles. I'll take a another reading in a few day but hope ferms not stuck.

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Mine hasn't moved after the first 48 hours of fermentation. I've swirled the carboy and got temps up to around 68*F. You may try raising temp into the low 70's to see if that helps.

h1tman said:

Mine hasn't moved after the first 48 hours of fermentation. I've swirled the carboy and got temps up to around 68*F. You may try raising temp into the low 70's to see if that helps.

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Yeah, after 1 1/2 weeks it's still stuck at 1.25. I've swirled the carboy 2-3 times and each time I get gas bubbles for a few days but it's not fermenting more. I'm just put in a cooler with water and an aquarium to see about getting it up to a constant 70 instead of the 65-66 it was sitting at.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for getting the fermentation started again? The final FG should be around 1.015-1.021 so am not sure if it's done or just stuck.

Might try a starter with T-58 and get the temp up to 75.

Cheap and easy way to see if is going to ferment any lower. The best part about the T58 is the low end temp is around 58 or so.

Let us know what you do and if it works.

My experiences with this yeast have been good, but I think my attenuation has ranged from about 65 to 70 percent - it is generally low-attenuating.

I think your ferment is not stuck, but actually "done"

I halfway expect that the beer is done fermenting. It is a drinkable beer now but would like it to be a little dryer. I may just chalk this up to a "you should have made a starter stupid" mistake and bottle it in a few more weeks.

Well I roused the yeast and brought the temp up to 70 and after 3 days still was at a 1.025. I ended up racking to a secondary to let it age for a few more weeks. That seemed to kick of another round of fermentation and I took a reading last night and is now down to 1.020. Has really cut the sweetness down and given the beer some real character. I plan to let it go for another two weeks then bottle it.

For those of you making Belgians, try under pitching this yeast. That will stress the yeast and create more desirable flavors. Some of the Trappist breweries do this (as per "Brew like a monk" by BA).

I use 1 sachette for 10g.

And contrary to popular belief, they don't pitch really warm, but they do let the yeast take it up in temp. Basically don;t try to reduce the temp once it rises and start out around normal pitching temps.

Beernip said:

I halfway expect that the beer is done fermenting. It is a drinkable beer now but would like it to be a little dryer. I may just chalk this up to a "you should have made a starter stupid" mistake and bottle it in a few more weeks.

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Well, you generally don't make starters for dry yeast but you can pitch 2 packs in place of a starter if you need a higher cell count than 1 pack provides.

I've never really found this yeast (S33) to be an aggressive attenuator so if you wanted a drier finish, a different yeast like US05 would have been a better choice.

I am glad I found this thread. My ESB after 3 weeks is at 1.022 withan OG of 1.067. About 66% AA and I was freaking out. Maybe I am done also.

Any updates on S-33 is 66% normal or am I in trouble?

I actually racked a new beer onto the cake and I if this one takes off and finishes I might rack the 1.022 beer back on the cake to see if that would drop it any (it is in secondary).

Got that last Idea from a thread by Evan.

O.K. spent some time searching the net about this yeast and every place that sells it say the same thing...Good all purpose...bla..bla..bla..high attenuating bla..bla..bla..but no review on any other forum or someone who is not selling this stuff say anything good.

Everyone says the same thing that it has poor attenuation and you have to baby this stuff to attenuate properly. I don't know if this makes me feel better or worse about having this super sweet beer in secondary and another fermenting away with this yeast.

Snazzy,

What temp is it fermenting at?

I've found this to be a quite normal attenuator. 75% or so and quite tolerant of high OG's. I've used 33 a fair bit.

Denny's Evil Concoctions said:

Snazzy,

What temp is it fermenting at?

I've found this to be a quite normal attenuator. 75% or so and quite tolerant of high OG's. I've used 33 a fair bit.

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About 63 give or take a degree depending on the day. The beer I put on the cake seems to be going great, but then again I thought the last one was too.

Might be a bit cool for 33. Lists 59-75 deg F but I like it above 68F.

Also, I don't know your experience level so I'll ask the dumb question.. You are compensating for temp when you take you grav readings right?

I use this yeast for belgians so I'm usually in the 20-24c range (69-75F).

Well it is 63 in my basement so not far off from the 60 that is true for the hydro reading.

Not a stupid question. I have a fair bit of experience and have always had good results.
Only beer to finish above .020 was an oatmeal stout a couple of years ago.

Maybe a bit cool but well within the range. I mashed a little high at 155 still should have finished lower. Like I said I don't think I am the only one with this problem. Many more have said the same thing. I have moved it to a room that is around 68 so I hope it drops a little. .018 would even make me happy.

Hmmm... I've never had this yeast drop below 75% efficency. But Like I said I was alwayss in the 70F+ range.

I brewed what I thought would be a pale ale using S-33 back in October, at about 70 degrees.

I ended up with something much more Belgian in character than I think I'd prefer, although it's eminently drinkable. A homebrewer friend of mine called the Belgian taste for me- I couldn't put my finger on it exactly until he said "Pale ale? This tastes more Belgian to me than anything else."

FWIW... I started at 1.051 and ended at 1.011, so I got whatever that efficiency is. It also accomplished that inside of 2 days, with 2 sachets pitched.

I'm going to be making a Belgian Tripel with the S-33. Am I making a mistake using this strain?

I brewed a very tasty oatmeal porter with S-33.

Just took a reading on an Abbey Ale that started at 1.055 and fermented at ~63 ambient for 10 days. I rehydrated two packs before pitching, one for each of the two 5-gal batches. It's down to 1.011 in both, with maybe a little activity still going on. So, no attenuation problems with S-33 like some here have experienced.

gruversm said:

I'm going to be making a Belgian Tripel with the S-33. Am I making a mistake using this strain?

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I did BM's Belgian Blonde...1st with a liquid Wyeast (the belgian wit yeast i think) very tasty

For my second attempt i used an S-33 I had lying around...I wasn't too crazy about the outcome...just seemed to lack that good belgian estery taste...kinda bland imho but it coulda been anything as my hydrometer broke during the process and I couldnt take any reading lol

I'm sure other more exp Belgian beer brewers can chime in but if your gonna invest in a Tripel I would think you should go with the liquid

mike_g08 said:

My experiences with this yeast have been good, but I think my attenuation has ranged from about 65 to 70 percent - it is generally low-attenuating.

I think your ferment is not stuck, but actually "done"

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See, I couldn't disagree more. I've made MANY batches of mead, and they all hit 13-14% ABV which is the listed max for S-33. Sure attenuation % and ABV tolerance aren't the same thing, but I wouldn't say its low-attenuating. Mead is notoriously low in nitrogen which sucks for yeasties but it handles this fine.

I know...mead with S-33 that's some kind of 'belgian strain'? It works, and you really don't get any spice/pepper phenols in the mead. I do tend to age these a year, and it will clear eventually without any finings.

I have not made beer with S-33 though.

Beernip said:

Just brewed a Belgium Strong ale with this and took off like crazy. After 24 hours the temps in my carboy jumped up to 76 deg (68 ambient temp) and now has dropped back down 66. After 4 days I've went from .074 to .025 and now no more bubbles. I'll take a another reading in a few day but hope ferms not stuck.

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If is does would you add more s-33, another starter, oxygenate and or add yeast nutrients..or nothing?

rtg said:

If is does would you add more s-33, another starter, oxygenate and or add yeast nutrients..or nothing?

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you dont need to make a starter or oxygenate with dry yeast. if its a low attenuating yeast dropping the mash temp seems like the best place to start.

i was reading about this yeast when searching for something dry to use for an american wheat. it doesnt attenuate like 05 or 04 from what i read, so mashing at 150 instead of 154 is probably a good start... and as far as developing any esters i'm pretty sure it said the temp range was from 59-75 like stated earlier but ideal is 66-68 i think it said.

If you want a Beligainy tasting beer, then under pitch the 33.

I really like to try to use dry yeast for simplicity. I had some issues recently with a Wyeast, and I still think it was due to their yeast, but that is a different story.

Today just I opened up the first bottle of a wheat beer with S-33 instead of Wyeast 3944 recommended after a week in the bottle. The beer is slightly cloudy as it would be expected from a wheat, but the tastes just like a Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier which I really like and was not expecting to be so close in flavor. The flavor still needs more depth, but the beer also needs more time aging. So far so good.

The fermentation was really strong for the first couple of days but after 4 days it was ready for the secondary. I hit the same FG as it was recommended from the Wyeast for 10 days. The hot weather (75+ F) might had something to do with it though.

Javier

Just brewed an IIPA today and pitched s33. Seems like an odd choice for this style but it's what I had. Hopefully one rehydrated packet is sufficient for an OG of 1.092. We'll see.

Just brewed an ESB with this today. I'll post back my results in a few weeks.

Fermentation was strong but sputtered out at 68% attenuation, even after a month in primary. It's gonna be a bit on the sweet side but should be drinkable. We'll see about the flavor profile of this yeast if it can be detected over all the malt and hops.

i'm currently using this to ferment a lazy magnolia southern pecan'ish brew per recommendation of their packaging manger found HERE

I looked around for info on it, but it seems like it varies a lot. I'm rocking it out at 64-65F. I'll post back in a few days to see what I ended up with.

beesy said:

i'm currently using this to ferment a lazy magnolia southern pecan'ish brew per recommendation of their packaging manger found HERE

I looked around for info on it, but it seems like it varies a lot. I'm rocking it out at 64-65F. I'll post back in a few days to see what I ended up with.

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It took by batch from 1.054 to 1.021 in 2 days. I've let it warm to 67-68F to rest for another 5 days or so. Hoping it doesn't attenuate much more as I was hoping to get it to stop around 1.022.

That Lazy Magnolia Pecan beer is sooo good.

beesy said:

It took by batch from 1.054 to 1.021 in 2 days. I've let it warm to 67-68F to rest for another 5 days or so. Hoping it doesn't attenuate much more as I was hoping to get it to stop around 1.022.

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it stopped at 1.020 - I'm happy as that's really close on where I was trying to get it to stop (goal was 1.022). attenuated approx 63% for me when fermenting around 64. It tastes fairly clean to me.

im brewing an amber ale tomorrow around 1.052 OG and 1.013 FG. I was going to mash at 154F. This is my first time using S-33. Should I mash more around 152F? Thanks!

grasshopperfirestarter said:

im brewing an amber ale tomorrow around 1.052 OG and 1.013 FG. I was going to mash at 154F. This is my first time using S-33. Should I mash more around 152F? Thanks!

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I wouldn't expect attenuation over 68% on the 33, which will leave your fg a little higher than what you are shooting for.

fermentation started quicker after pitching than any other dry yeast I have used so far. Its Vigorous!