Is this normal 3.5 hours after pitching?

[AdrianBrews]

Hey guys, first time brew here. Is this normal only 3.5 hours after pitching? Looks like a lot of foam. I used star san for the carboy and there was some foam at the bottom when I pitched.
I used s-04 and re-hydrated it and proofed it with a teaspoon of malt approx 1 hour before pitching.

*note* the carboy is huge because I am re-using a wine carboy to save money (I heard this amount of headroom can affect the beer)

 

[houchax]

RDWHAHB, Star San will not hurt the wort or the yeast.
3.5 hours is still well within the lag time for 04.

 

[AdrianBrews]

RDWHAHB, Star San will not hurt the wort or the yeast.
3.5 hours is still well within the lag time for 04.

Thanks for the reply. Just a follow-up question, does this foam mean the yeast is progressing well? (Since it activated quite fast within 3.5 hours) I'm seeing bubbles every 6 seconds or so in the airlock.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Thanks for the reply. Just a follow-up question, does this foam mean the yeast is progressing well? (Since it activated quite fast within 3.5 hours) I'm seeing bubbles every 6 seconds or so in the airlock.

Yep. Looks normal to me. The head room for primary should be fine. If you're going to age this beer though you might want to transfer to a smaller secondary once primary fermentation is complete. Otherwise I think you'll be fine.

 

[badlee]

S-04 tends to both start and finish rather quickly. It also clears like a champion

 

[joshesmusica]

s-04 is great. just brewed a blonde with it, worked fast at around 17C, nearly clogged my airlock! now have a pale ale going with it, trying a different method with temp control, but left for the weekend (day 2-4 post pitch), and the temp got down to about 15C. A bit lower than I wanted, but it did help keep the yeast from exploding. So could just mean more time, but I'll also be warming it up to about 20-21 in the next couple of days.

also you just gave me an idea for an experiment, proofing dry yeast vs. just rehydrating. from what i understand, there's no need for proofing dry yeast, but it will be worth it to know if it helps or not. in your case, it seems it helped s-04 take off quickly.