Fermenting S-04 Cleanly

[emjay]

Also, I've always wondered whether the temperature range listed by Fermentis are temperatures in the environment (room) or within the fermenter during full activity.

Since it appears nobody's answered you, I will. Their temperature range actually (technically) refers to neither one of what you said, but it's much closer to the latter. The temperatures they, and every other yeast company refers to, is the temperature of the wort/beer in the fermentor at ANY GIVEN TIME. A small but important difference. It's certainly what the fermentor should be at peak activity, but it's also what it should be at when it's just getting started and/or winding down, when their isn't quite so much activity.

So how do you know what the room temperature should be to make sure the fermentor temperature is ideal? You can't. In fact, there is no such temperature in the first place.

That should highlight the major disadvantage of trying to indirectly achieve a certain ferm temp by merely controlling the room temp. An ideal fermentation system uses temperature feedback from the fermentor itself to control the ferm temp DIRECTLY.

Whether this is done automatically with a temperature controller, or manually with a swamp cooler and bottles of ice, directly controlling ferm temps is a significant step forward for ANY brewer and will doubtlessly result in better and more consistent beer.

 

[JordanThomas]

And I can talk all the s--- I want, but I drank every last one of mine

Hahaha, perfect. I personally loved one of the more estery IPA's that Founders had on tap about 2 months ago. If it has any of those qualities, I'd be proud, even if it turns others off.

Since it appears nobody's answered you, I will. Their temperature range actually (technically) refers to neither one of what you said, but it's much closer to the latter. The temperatures they, and every other yeast company refers to, is the temperature of the wort/beer in the fermentor at ANY GIVEN TIME. A small but important difference. It's certainly what the fermentor should be at peak activity, but it's also what it should be at when it's just getting started and/or winding down, when their isn't quite so much activity.

So how do you know what the room temperature should be to make sure the fermentor temperature is ideal? You can't. In fact, there is no such temperature in the first place.

That should highlight the major disadvantage of trying to indirectly achieve a certain ferm temp by merely controlling the room temp. An ideal fermentation system uses temperature feedback from the fermentor itself to control the ferm temp DIRECTLY.

Whether this is done automatically with a temperature controller, or manually with a swamp cooler and bottles of ice, directly controlling ferm temps is a significant step forward for ANY brewer and will doubtlessly result in better and more consistent beer.

I appreciate the answer. This makes sense, so I guess next beer I'm just going to use a swamp cooler the whole time. I've got it going now and my temps are lower than they were, so now I just play the waiting game. Tick-tock.

 

[Lalo]

This thread seems to be dead but I came across it while doing some research on English yeasts, specifically S-04 so I wanted to contribute my recent experience. I made a dark English mild and a red English bitter fermented at 60-62F and it came out great. Fermentation was done is 3 days and the beer is clear. It is slightly fruity from the yeast but within style guidelines--overall I am very pleased with this. A few weeks earlier I made a higher gravity old ale and I thought it would be nice to have some fruity esters. I fermented at 70F and I got plenty of esters, but these overwhelmed the malt and hops and were inappropriate for the style. It also made the astringency from a tiny bit of black and chocolate malt stand out (not sure why). I bottled it and it might improve with age, but I wont ferment English styles high again. However I can see how fermenting S-04 high might be ok for hoppy American pale ales and IPAs.That is my report in case anyone is still reading.

 

[HTH1975]

21C (70F) is not high for English beers. That is a fairly standard fermentation temperature across most traditional styles. The first brewery I worked at used Saf-04 as it’s house strain fermented at 21.5C.

Fermenting low at 18C is not a British thing I’ve come across, except at the start of fermentation, but then it’s left to free-rise to 22C.

 

[Lalo]

I fermented at the lower end of the temperature range of S-04 at the recommendation of a chemist from Fermentis. I also know that many English beers are often fermented at 68-70 but these recent batches I made fermented clean and have some great English esters. I didn't expect the beer to come out that good, to be honest.