S-04 fermentation

[51504u]

So i started a blonde Saturday. Everything went well. I pitched my yeast and boom 6 hrs later i got vigorous fermentation. 24 hrs later I noticed that the temp on the carboy went from 68 -70 (pitching) to 78 -80 deg.(vigorous fermentation). I figured this was to hot so i put carboy in a water bath with t-shirt over it. I came back after work 9 hrs later and vigorous fermentation ended and temp on carboy was back in the high 60's - low 70's. Did I overreact on the temperature and stall my fermentation or did the fermentation party just end that soon?

Thanks in advance for the comments

1.054 gravity
Pitched with wort at 68 deg.
Yeast was 70 deg when pitched.
airlock is still going but very slow (1 push every 2 mins)
Krausen fell while i was at work after water bath. Never seen krausen fall that quick.
Water bath was cold tap (60 deg.) 9 hrs later both water and wort was 70 deg.
No gravity yet.
Trub on bottom looks bubbely. Like it's not been eaten up?

It was just weird. I left for work and strong activity in carboy and 9 hrs later no activity happening.

 

[moreb33rplz]

Your fermentation did the opposite of stalling. If it was fermenting at 80 degrees, your yeasties will produce a lot of extra flavors you probably didn't intend to have.

Summary: This beer might taste a little funky.

 

[BigJack]

Insufficient data to give you a conclusion. Could be that the warm temps got it rocking and it is done working. Could be done with the most active phase but still chugging along. Could be dormant.

How cold was your water bath?

Is your airlock bubbling at all?

Have you checked the gravity?

Give us more info and someone will have your answer.

Edit to add that the post above mine is quite right. Whatever has happened, expect some esters. Hopefully, they will be tasty ones.

 

[BigMack]

With S-04 it isn't out of the question that the majority of your fermentation is just finished within about 48 hours. Especially at higher temps. I had a similar situation on one of my very first brews. Fermented like mad for about two days and then absolutely nothing. I would give it a few more days and take a gravity reading around the 1 week mark.

 

[51504u]

1.054 gravity
Pitched with wort at 68 deg.
Yeast was 70 deg when pitched.
airlock is still going but very slow (1 push every 2 mins)
Krausen fell while i was at work after water bath. Never seen krausen fall that quick.
Water bath was cold tap (60 deg.) 9 hrs later both water and wort was 70 deg.
No gravity yet.
Trub on bottom looks bubbely. Like it's not been eaten up?

It was just weird. I left for work and strong activity in carboy and 9 hrs later no activity happening.

 

[51504u]

What to do in the future? Pitch yeast and start carboy in water bath?

 

[MVKTR2]

What to do in the future? Pitch yeast and start carboy in water bath?

Yes = short answer.

I used to do water bath/swamp cooler fermentations but switched over to frozen 1-gal jugs and no water bath. I work from home mostly so being here to keep close tabs on ferm temps is easy and I can easily swap frozen bottles every 6-10 hours depending on situation. I left the water simply because of the slimy factor after 2-3 weeks even when adding bleach and the weight of carrying it to be dumped isn't so great either. HOWEVER, on the plus side(I'm using 18 gallon storage containers $5) when using water the thermal mass of the water coming up to the 3 gal mark on your fermenter means the beer changes temp more slowly than in an air environment.

Big temp swings during any phase of fermentation and excessively high or cold temps during active fermentation produce off-flavor in a major way. You need very few things to make very good beer consistently:

Sanitation
Patience
Pitching enough/proper amounts of yeast
Fermentation temp control

If you're not doing those 4 things well you're not going to consistently make good beer. If you do those 4 things well and work within the strengths of your ingredients such as dry yeast, extract, hop availability, etc you can make award winning beer consistently. It doesn't take $5000 worth of brewing equipment to make good beer, just practice, knowledge, and good brewery practices. Good luck!

Sorry to be so long and I'm certainly not trying to be preachy. A final note worth mentioning. Get to know your yeast. It is great to jump around with ingredients, it is part of the thrill of homebrewing. However knowing how yeast ferment at different pitching rates and different temps under the conditions your brew-house presents is invaluable to making you a MUCH better brewer. I know Nottingham Dry Yeast so well I know how to get it to produce super clean beer (high pitch rate with washed yeast fermented at 62-63 F) or slight fruity character (standard pitch rate at 68 F), what it leaves for mouthfeel in different grain bills, etc. S-04 is a great little yeast also, really the only 2 dry yeast I truly like. S-04 can ferment down to 53.8 F according to the producer's literature. However it more than Nottingham is fruitier even at lower temps. However manipulating ingredients can produce amazingly versatile results. There are brew pubs and breweries that use wlp 028 (?) Edinburgh Scottish Ale yeast as their house strain and produce award winning american style beers even though it's renown for it's odd phenolic smoke and malt accentuating characteristics. How? By over pitching and experimenting with it.

 

[andy6026]

Aside from your immediate question which I think others have answered well, I'll offer you advice on a slight tangent from your topic. But I've only used US-04 once, so take my advice with a grain of salt:

The only time I used it I fermented for almost 3 weeks - certainly long enough for gravity to hit it's bottom, but I got the 'green apple' taste which, once in a cold keg, took a long time to dissipate (and by then half the keg was gone). As you may already know - the taste of green apples means that I kegged it too early for the yeast to clean up after itself. Best be sure to give this yeast extra time even if your FG is stable.

In my limited experience it seems there's a myriad of yeasts that this isn't a problem with, while others it might be a given.

 

[snow16]

Next time try to pitch lower than you plant to ferment, if possible. In my experience (and very generally speaking...), it's better to have the wort warm up to fermentation temps (even though it may take a little longer for fermentation to start) than it is to pitch warm and have an explosive fermentation that's difficult to cool down. At that point, a lot of the damage has already been done. For most of my ales, I try to pitch in the low 60s - and sometimes even in the high 50s.

Sort of a random comment, maybe, but I saw your pitching temp and thought I'd add my two cents because I use S-04 regularly.

I hope your beer turns out great - but if it doesn't, it's all a learning experience!

 

[Likefully]

With my limited experience with this yeast (2 batches) I would recommend leaving it in the fermenter for 3 weeks and give it a damn good cold crash.

 

[MVKTR2]

I echo Snow16's comments. Fermentation temps are most important early in the process. Most off flavor precursors and many off flavors are produced during the lag or yeast multiplication phase of fermentation. Green apple/acetaldehyde is the product of a stressed fermentation.

 

[unionrdr]

I like S-04 in my ESB for the esters that add to that style. I rehydrate it & pitch at about 65F. Keeping the temps in range after pitching the yeast within 10 degrees of wort temp, it can finish fermenting & start settling out clear in 10 days. That yeast is a real beast when properly utilized. But in this instance, it'll need some clean up time, 3-7 days on average in my experience.

 

[51504u]

Appreciate all the advice.