Is this normal for S-04?

[Saunassa]

I brewed up a sweet stout this past Saturday and pitched a packet of S-04 into it. Placed it into my 60 degree basement closet with a fermwrap and inkbird controller set to 65.
Sunday morning it was a chugging along only needing to have heat added every few hours. Sunday at 4pm the temp went up to 65.1 with a beautiful krausen and kept itself there with no added heat until Monday night. Amazing how much heat it generated considering the fermenter was not insulated and in a 60 degree environment. By Tuesday morning the krausen had fallen and it was needing heat to stay at 65. I started increasing the temp a degree every 12 hours Wednesday and now at 68 where I will keep it until next week.
Krausen is gone, the yeast rafts that were present yesterday are pretty much gone and airlock has slowed to occasional bubble. I would swear that the beer is clearing already.

Is this a common thing with S-04? I am so glad I used the cold closet vs. room temp which is around 70.

 

[day_trippr]

S04 is a beast. With a proper pitch I'm not surprised if it's close to terminal gravity in three days...

Cheers!

 

[brewbama]

Just as a reference point, this is the beer in my fermenter now. S-04 is chewing thru the wort like a buzz saw. The blow off jar sounded like a Gatling gun. Granted, it’s not finished yet — it’s still bubbling away but beginning to slow — just wanted to give to a data point. ...and it’ll drop like a stone when it’s done having its way with the beer.

 

[speavler]

I once thought I had an air leak or I had a serious issue with my fermentation stalling, only to realize it was already over after taking a gravity reading. S-04 does not mess around.

 

[PersonalBrewer]

To Brewbama

What equipment did you use to generate that chart?

Looks like something worth doing.

 

[Rackrunner]

To the OP: That's pretty much been my experience with S-04 as well. Tears through it fast, and then drops like a rock

PersonalBrewer, I think that's a report from Tilt hydrometer app (I think logging to google sheets). They're a little pricey, but pretty cool:
https://tilthydrometer.com/

 

[Saunassa]

It is nice hearing others experience similar results. I am not so concerned now with the speed it fermented and thinking something else got in there.

 

[brewbama]

To Brewbama

What equipment did you use to generate that chart?

Looks like something worth doing.

Tilt. It’s a constant read floating hydrometer. I love it!

 

[PersonalBrewer]

Thanks guys.

I'm going to take a look into Tilt.

 

[dwhite60]

I have an insulated box as a fermentation chamber. Seven brews this year, five with S-04. I really like it.

Once S-04 gets going I really have to keep an eye on the temp and add ice packs frequently. It is a monster when it gets going.

All the Best,
D. White