Amazed at S 04

[fartinmartin]

I brewed on Sunday 11 Jan the OG was 1.062 (15.2 Brix) I pitched in the evening.
This morning I notice that the airlock that was very active is quite still , so took a dip sample for the refractometer just because I am curious. I read 8.5brix that concerts to 1.015 SG. '!!!!!!!
Today it's the 15 Jan that's only 3.5 days including the lag time, a drop of 0.047 that's a record for me. The FV has been on my kitchen counter with a thermometer laying in the top that has been hovering around 18C.
I will still leave it full three weeks tho before bottling.

Is this good or bad ?

 

[mrgrimm101]

S04 is a champ! I've had pretty much full attenuation after 3-4 days as well. I did the same as you, I let it sit for 3 weeks then bottled. Turned out nice and clean and clear.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

It really depends on your beer style if it is good or bad. S-04 gets more and more "fruity" the warmer the fermentation temp. Due to the vigorous fermentation at anything about 65F for a starting temp, it can raise the fermentation temp as much 8F if pitched sufficiently (or over-pitched). So your air temp is often not a good indicator when using this yeast.

I like the "off flavors" of a slightly warm S-04 in dark milds, a creamy Porter'ish beer I may and an particular English Bitter recipe I make.

Alternatively, when kept at about 62F for the fermentation temperature it can be slightly sluggish and produce a much "cleaner" yeast profile.

 

[mrgrimm101]

True enough. I used S04 in a pumpkin porter and it fermented at about 63F (17.2C) and it was quite clean.. not too estery/fruity. Still finished up in about 3-4 days.

 

[RM-MN]

Well, it good and bad. The good is that is is fermenting like it should and that the temperature at which you are fermenting it slowing the ferment so it doesn't produce fusel alcohol or other off flavors. The bad is that you are relying on a refractometer for the reading after fermentation has started because alcohol skews the gravity reading. Your beer is probably already lower than 1.o15 unless you used the conversion tables to come to that 1.015 and even then it is suspect as the conversion is never quite accurate. Once fermentation starts you should use a hydrometer to determine the gravity of your beer.

 

[The_Bishop]

Also, while S-04 ferments quickly, it tends to floc out and not clean up after itself well. I'd swirl it up into a cloudy mess again and give it time to clean up, or you could end up with a diacetyl bomb. Had that happen with an ESB, had to swirl it up and raise the temperature slightly to get the yeast into suspension to clean things up.

 

[Pietrach]

Good point by RM-MN, because of the alcohol present in the beer refractometer will not give you true results. But all good info as I am going to use S-04 for the very first time next week.

 

[fartinmartin]

The test sample SG of 1.015 is calculated from 8.5 Brix.

There isn't a problem using a refractometer, simply forget that it has an SG scale once fermentation has started, only read the Brix and convert it. I have checked this out several times, hydrometer FG and converted Brix are equal when it comes to homebrew tolerances.

 

[unionrdr]

S-04 can be a beast rehydrated & pitched within 10 degrees of wort temp. It finished fermenting & was clearing already in 10 days for me. @ 14 days primed & bottled the ESB I fermented with it. Liked it so much I brewed another with it. But at lower temps initially, being cold as a well-diggers bumm around here lately. Fermentation started the next morning on this batch with it @ 16C (60.8F). Got no higher than 20C (68F) so far. 10 days in primary as of today, airlock centerpiece still pegged. So lower tem0p slowed it down a bit. But it should come out clean & crisp with this S-04 gnawin' on it!

 

[blizz81]

It really depends on your beer style if it is good or bad. S-04 gets more and more "fruity" the warmer the fermentation temp. Due to the vigorous fermentation at anything about 65F for a starting temp, it can raise the fermentation temp as much 8F if pitched sufficiently (or over-pitched). So your air temp is often not a good indicator when using this yeast.

Heck, my initial experience to S-04 was pitching at 66 and setting my ferm chamber (chest freezer) to around* the same, and the next day, coming home to a freezer full of krausen over-run and a temp of 79*F inside the vessel...and that reading was after I'd cleaned up and it wasn't really spewing gunk out anymore. I have to imagine it was in the low 80s earlier in the day.


*I say around as I had always let my probe dangle and measure the ambient air in the freezer, and had figured my delta between that and ferm temps (6-8 degrees), which held pretty consistent in numerous batches before. S-04 is what led me to insulating my probe and bungee-ing it against the side of the vessel though.

 

[Gavin C]

The test sample SG of 1.015 is calculated from 8.5 Brix.

There isn't a problem using a refractometer, simply forget that it has an SG scale once fermentation has started, only read the Brix and convert it. I have checked this out several times, hydrometer FG and converted Brix are equal when it comes to homebrew tolerances.

This is exactly what I find also.

 

[RandallFlag]

always let my probe dangle

hahaha. He said "probe."

 

[mrgrimm101]

I had always let my probe dangle.

Hahaha..he said "dangle".

 

[edroberts]

*I say around as I had always let my probe dangle and measure the ambient air in the freezer, and had figured my delta between that and ferm temps (6-8 degrees), which held pretty consistent in numerous batches before. S-04 is what led me to insulating my probe and bungee-ing it against the side of the vessel though.

I knew there was medication you could take if your probe dangled, but using a bungie cord is a new one.

... Wait, what are we talking about?


I've used S-04 quite a bit, and either hadn't noticed that big of a fermentation upswing or hadn't paid that close attention. I'm working on my ferm chamber now, but may want to find a way to taper that upswing if I don't have it done by the time I next brew.

 

[unionrdr]

The recipe sheet for the Morebeer ESB kit said the S-04 needed a 30% head space for the krausen it produces. It is a beast. but...I still have my Cooper's Micro Brew FV which is about 27L or so. So a 5 gallon batch being about 19L, it had the required 1/3 head space. Plus starting fermentation with rehydrated S-04 at 60-65F also helps keep it from getting too crazy too quickly in my experiences with it thus far.