recipe issues between EPA and APA

[fredthecat]

Hey, I was going to make an APA, that was basically 9lbs of 2row and 1/2lb of crystal 40 with chinook/cascade hops and S-05

but ive kept altering the recipe so its now 4.5lbs 2row, 4.5lbs vienna (as a maris otter substitute) and still 1/2lb crystal, with chinook for bittering and fuggles for flavour

i want to use S-04 and just go right ahead and make an english style pale ale, but i've heard so many bad or conflicting things about S-04, that basically it isnt the ultra safe S-05 (which i completely trust) and might have wierd flavours

is it true?

 

[Yooper]

I use S04 often. It's technically an "English ale yeast" but I use it for quite of few of my American style beers like APAs and IPAs. It's very clean, especially at cooler temperatures (I just pitched a cream ale a few minutes ago at 62) and it makes a very nice tightly compacted yeast cake. It clears well, leaving nice clear beer behind.

At higher temperatures, it will give you some fruitiness. That's to be expected for most English ale yeast strains.

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

I just bottled an Amber ale in which I used S-04. Won't know 100% for a couple of weeks, but it was good so far.

 

[fredthecat]

ok! i trust safale quite well, i will give s-04 a shot about a month from now, i just kept finding threads like these while looking it up before https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/safale-s-04-wtf-134759/

it just seems to get decent/mixed reviews versus s-05's solid reputation

 

[svraines]

I just made a string of beers with S-04 all fermented at around 63-65 air temp and they taste very clean to me. I was expecting a little more yeast profile actually. I cold-crashed to help drop dry-hops and when I pour a beer the yeast sediment in the bottles doesn't really pour out like other yeasts I use.

 

[johnpreuss]

I just made a string of beers with S-04 all fermented at around 63-65 air temp and they taste very clean to me. I was expecting a little more yeast profile actually. I cold-crashed to help drop dry-hops and when I pour a beer the yeast sediment in the bottles doesn't really pour out like other yeasts I use.

That yeast flocs out with the best of them and I love the fact that it's like a rock in the bottom of the bottle. I've brewed a crystal clear ESB and Brown with it. It's a great yeast.:rockin: