Not loving S-04...

[seanybubbles]

I always thought it was just me with the tart appleness of s-04. Nice to know I'm not alone. I much prefer wlp 002 for english brews.

 

[gunmetal]

I have only used 04 on my apricot blonde, two times, I have kept fermentation temps around 68 degrees. I have never had any off flavors, the apricot beer was a low alcohol blonde (summer beer), so I would think that off flavors would be more noticeable. However, US-05 is my house strain. I have used it on everything from a pale, an ipa, iipa, to a barleywine. It is a beast! Everytime that I have used Safeale dry yeast, I have rehydrated it instead of just sprinkling it on top of the wort. Are you rehydrating the yeast? I have had very little lag time when it is rehydrated. I usually have fermentation activity in about 14 hours or less.

 

[SkyHighBrew88]

I'm just going to say it... There are no dry yeast equivalents that are going to be even close, in overall quality, to the liquid strains for British style beer. Really, if you want to brew English beer, you need to be using a liquid yeast. Dry can make decent "attempts" but for the real thing, pony up the 7 bucks.

For hop forward beers: wy1028, 1335, 1098/99 (if you like whitbread), 1275, 1768, 1187, wlp006.

Malt forward: 1318, 1968, 1469, 1028, 1882, wlp037.

Favorites: 1318, 1469, 1882, 1768, wlp006.

I meant to say "liquid" alternatives, it was implied but not expressed. I agree, not nearly as many dry strains available.

 

[solbes]

Got a little of that sour aftertaste in my brown. I was a little dissappointed. It has only been 4 weeks though since yeast pitch, and flavor would improve within the next 4 weeks regardless of what yeast I used. But probably not improve the yeast flavor. Nothing to do but sit tight I guess. And go back to other english strains.

 

[andycr]

Yeah, I keep trying one every week. Flavor hasn't budged an inch so far, I'll probably give up and just drink them all around the 1 month mark.

Got really excited last time when I got a chocolate aroma that wasn't there before, but the taste was the same, so maybe there's hope.

 

[Halfafudgecake]

Never had issues with S04 and use it for about 60% of my beers, although I've been using Gervin lately as it is slightly cheaper. I use it for pretty much everything apart from lagers, wheat beers and IPAs. I've fermented as high as the mid to high 70s, but generally around the 66F mark and I've never had any "Funky" or "off" flavours; Just the sort of flavours a British beer should impart. I think a lot of Americans on here just aren't used to British beers and how they are supposed to taste.

 

[Geiger420]

This taste is not the way a British beer should taste....if this is a correct taste for a beer I will give it up right now....

 

[andycr]

I've had many British beers, and Hobgoblin is among my favorites. I realize many of the British beers we import are heavily oxidized by the time they get to us and the 'British' taste we think of is very different when fresh, but I can't imagine it's -that- different.

 

[ludomonster]

My main issue with s-04 is that it doesn't pack well. I have several bottles of a pale ale I brewed at the beginning of the summer. After being in the fridge for a few weeks, I'll pour a glass and it will inevitably have some lees settle in the glass. This doesn't happen with my US-05 beers.

 

[Halfafudgecake]

S04 will pretty much ferment out a 1050 wort in about 2 days normally, but I keep my beers in the primary for at least 3 weeks, and normally 4 or more. I seriously have never experienced off flavours with S04. Certainly there is occasionally a fruitiness, but never anything "Funky". Due to its aggressive nature, I can't help thinking that S04 doesn't play well with others and isn't keen on regular inspections. I leave my beers for a month undisturbed....I don't even open the fermenter. It may be this that has kept oxygen and possibly other yeasts away from my beer which has led to the good results I've had with S04.

It forms a VERY compact yeast cake (unlike US05) and flocculates beautifully. As I said earlier, I've been using Gervin and getting great results, but I have to say that this is VERY similar to S04. I've yet to have results I am happy with using S33 (The EDME strain).

 

[Hopper5000]

WLP2 English Ale yeast or WY ESB are probably good alternatives...

 

[blacksquid]

I decided to 'go against the grain' and use 2 packets of S-04 anyway for my smoked porter w/ sweet potatoes. Rehydrated in about 200ml of sterile water for an hour beforehand, pitched in 1.070 wort @ 60F.

It's been two days now and there was quite a bit of blow off but not quite as violent as with other yeasts I used in similar beers. Unfortunately I also had to siphon a gallon off in another carboy because of some unexpected weldless bulkhead problems (miscalculated volumes!)... so I actually have two batches. Poured most of the yeast in the 5 gal batch and tried to eyeball for the rest (it took a bit longer to become active... hopefully that wasnt underpitched!)

I'll report back in a month or so.

 

[Hopper5000]

you should be way fine with 2 packs in 1.070. Go to mrmalty.com to check out pitching rates... also yeastcalc.com is cool too

 

[blacksquid]

you should be way fine with 2 packs in 1.070. Go to mrmalty.com to check out pitching rates... also yeastcalc.com is cool too

Yep but as I said, I eyeballed the volumes and ended up with 0.5 gallon too much because my weldless bulkhead failed on brew day (urrghh! Worked twice before) so I had to bust out the old turkey fryer pot. I was actually supposed to end up with 5.5 gals of 1.086SG wort... Oh well! Gotta leak proof that keggle now. I'm sure it's gonna be fine either way.

 

[andycr]

S04 will pretty much ferment out a 1050 wort in about 2 days normally, but I keep my beers in the primary for at least 3 weeks, and normally 4 or more. I seriously have never experienced off flavours with S04. Certainly there is occasionally a fruitiness, but never anything "Funky". Due to its aggressive nature, I can't help thinking that S04 doesn't play well with others and isn't keen on regular inspections. I leave my beers for a month undisturbed....I don't even open the fermenter. It may be this that has kept oxygen and possibly other yeasts away from my beer which has led to the good results I've had with S04.

It forms a VERY compact yeast cake (unlike US05) and flocculates beautifully. As I said earlier, I've been using Gervin and getting great results, but I have to say that this is VERY similar to S04. I've yet to have results I am happy with using S33 (The EDME strain).

Pretty much exactly what I do - brew, leave it alone for 3 weeks minus 3 days, take a gravity reading, wait 3 days, gravity reading then bottle.

 

[Padalac]

don't you lose a lot of hop aroma if you leave it in primary that long?

 

[bleme]

don't you lose a lot of hop aroma if you leave it in primary that long?

If you are making an IPA, you should be dry-hopping anyway. Most other beers focus on yeast and malt aromas.

 

[blacksquid]

Well, two weeks later at 60-62F the gravity is at 1.014 (OG 1.070)! That's quite a bit lower than I expected (mashed at 153F and figured I'd be at around 1.018). Way too early to tell about taste but it was quite smoky - not sure if I'll throw some vanilla in there still.

Very surprised to see s-04 attenuating that much - hopefully not a sign of an infection.

 

[22415 Brewery]

I'm gonna go against the grain here a bit.

I've had nothing but great beers from S-04. Most recently it fermented a great Ordinary Bitter which took a 1st place in a LHBC. I've also used it to brew a mock-vienna lager which also placed in 3 different homebrew competitions. It has also been the backbone of an Imperial Stout which consistently placed as well.

For me it always ferments quickly and leaves a sparkling clear beer. The esthers are prevalent when fermented on the hot side (70 and up) which in some cases is actually desirable. I find that the attentuation can be improved by rousing up the lees every now and then. Since it so willingly forms such a compact sediment it is quite necessary to stir it up every once in a while (especially when fermenting in the cooler range).

 

[solbes]

My Scotch ale tasted pretty good when I racked to secondary (1.075), no off flavors that I detected. I pitched yeast from a partial cake from the NewCastle clone, which still tastes a little off. Difference was a 62F ferment for the scotch and a 68F ferment for the brown. I will say the brown is getting better as it sits in a cool basement room, but I will have to start drinking them by Christmas, as I will need the bottles.

 

[nutty_gnome]

I also will not use S-04. That brewhouse pest excels at putting a distinctive twang taste on anything it touches.

 

[stevedasleeve]

People who don't like S04 - hey it's your preference. But there truly is nothing wrong with this yeast. I love it myself and have used it for maybe 1/3 of my almost 100 brews to date. It is different to S05 and different to Nottingham. I hate to be pedantic but duh, yeasts taste different man. So give it a rest why don't you?!

 

[nutty_gnome]

People who don't like S04 - hey it's your preference. But there truly is nothing wrong with this yeast. I love it myself and have used it for maybe 1/3 of my almost 100 brews to date. It is different to S05 and different to Nottingham. I hate to be pedantic but duh, yeasts taste different man. So give it a rest why don't you?!

Sorry... Are you new to the interwebs?

 

[dbrewski]

Sorry... Are you new to the interwebs?

There's room for all opinions, not my favorite as noted, but you have to respect that many like it.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I just bottled my first beer with S-04 -- a porter. I didn't notice any yeast flavor to it but I also fermented it at 62F so I would be surprised to see a lot of ester at those temps. I'll have to see if any yeast flavor develops after carbonation although I'm not opposed to a small amount of ester in my english beers.

 

[oakbarn]

I perfer the Windsor or Notthingham for Dry Yeast British Ales. American Ale I use -05

 

[andycr]

I will say that over time it's getting less and less noticable and unpleasant. I'd even say I enjoy the beer a little now. However, we're sitting at about a month and a half since bottling...

 

[daksin]

I don't mind the flavors it produces, when I have the time to babysit it and keep it at exactly the right temp (64F in my apartment) to prevent it from making nasty flavors (>65F) or dropping out entirely (<63F), it's quite a nice yeast. But I really don't like the warm esters it produces, and really do like how clear the beers I make with it are. It has its pros and cons, but there are other British yeasts I like much more.

 

[brettwasbtd]

I fermented a brown ale with S-04 back in october 62-64* for the first 3-4 days and then I kicked it up to 66-67 range (primary for 3 weeks). After two months in the keg, it is now palatable. The twang still over powers any other flavors in the beer - not my desired flavor profile. I don't get this when I used WLP002, but I was out... I am jumping on the "S-04 No More" train.

 

[whitehause]

Sorry... Are you new to the interwebs?

He's apparently from a giant sun, and uses pedantic and duh in the same sentence.....I'll give him a break.