S-05 vs. S-04 for Stout

[BrewBrain]

I'm going to brew up a simple stout tomorrow using Roasted Barley, Choco, Carapils and Flaked Barley to go along with the 2-row. It'll be approx 1.048ish I think. It's similar to O'Flannagans standard stout recipe in the database.

I was planning on using S-04, but I'll be making an S-05 cake available just before brewing. I've never done a stout with S-05, but I can't honestly say I know what S-04 brings to the party as far as taste is concerned with a dark roasty beer. Will I be disappointed with S-05 if I use the cake?

I'm not too worried about body as I have a pound each of carapils and flaked barley.

 

[Pabst Blue Robot]

05 is much better suited to a dry stout. It attenuates further and contributes fewer detectable esters.

 

[david_42]

Neither yeast brings much to a stout and since you don't have any caramel in the recipe, I'll assume the drier the better.

 

[Bob]

What David said. I've used everything from Ringwood to 1056 to ferment stout. I find I prefer a highly-attenuating neutral yeast like Nottingham.

It sort of moves through a spectrum - the stronger the ester profile, the greater the impact. 1056 (or S-05) was very neutral and tasty, though I thought it left the beer slightly underattenuated. I could definitely perceive the impact of Ringwood in a fruity finish and slick mouthfeel and a hint of butterscotch. And using Wyeast 3522 (Belgian Ardennes) was just plain wrong. Great flavor, but it wasn't Dry Stout!

Oddly, the one yeast I assiduously avoid is Irish Ale - they never attenuate enough for Dry Irish Stout.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[Saccharomyces]

US 05 FTW. I think anything BUT a clean, highly attenuative yeast is all wrong for a dry stout. Most of the English strains, including S-04, are too fruity (estery).

 

[BrewBrain]

I went with an S-05 cake. I've always used S-04 in the past, but I haven't ever beer terribly happy with any stout I've ever brewed. Then, last time I brewed an American Amber recipe I really like, I decided to throw S-04 in instead of my usual S-05. Horrible. I hate what it did to the beer. It got me thinking maybe the S-04 is the reason I can't seem to brew a stout I really like. We'll see now.

 

[snailsongs]

Then, last time I brewed an American Amber recipe I really like, I decided to throw S-04 in instead of my usual S-05. Horrible. I hate what it did to the beer. It got me thinking maybe the S-04 is the reason I can't seem to brew a stout I really like. We'll see now.

What temp do you ferment your S-04 at? I think you need to run it low for best results. I brewed a robust porter and split between S-04 and S-05, and the differences, while noticable, were not huge when fermented at 59-60F. The S-05 was a little cleaner, I'll admit, but the S-04 was ultimately more flavorful (ie, delicious). So, if you're looking to accentuate the roast then go for S-05, for sure, but used in the right application S-04 can be an excellent choice.

just to illustrate the flip-side of my point.......I also brewed an APA (Black Lab's Orange Cascade) with S-04 at about 67 and it did turn out with a little more yeast character than I would have liked, though ulitmately it was a very good beer. I think a 67-68 temp was too high for S-04.

 

[BrewBrain]

What temp do you ferment your S-04 at? I think you need to run it low for best results. I brewed a robust porter and split between S-04 and S-05, and the differences, while noticable, were not huge when fermented at 59-60F. The S-05 was a little cleaner, I'll admit, but the S-04 was ultimately more flavorful (ie, delicious). So, if you're looking to accentuate the roast then go for S-05, for sure, but used in the right application S-04 can be an excellent choice.

just to illustrate the flip-side of my point.......I also brewed an APA (Black Lab's Orange Cascade) with S-04 at about 67 and it did turn out with a little more yeast character than I would have liked, though ulitmately it was a very good beer. I think a 67-68 temp was too high for S-04.

I set my fermenter temp at 62, and the thermometer strip showed I think about 67 - 68. It definitely has noticeable fruity esters that I don't care for in this particular beer. Not much different than some English Ales I've tasted though. It would be a very good flavor in some beers.

 

[theonecynic]

I've used S-04 in my stouts so far, but I haven't yet made one I'm happy with! (Although part of that probably goes down to recipes!) I haven't seen S-05 in my LHBS (I'm in the UK, there doesn't seem to be much of a supply of it here, and the websites that do have it seem to charge quite a lot for it) so would you guys go for Nottingham?

 

[snailsongs]

I've used S-04 in my stouts so far, but I haven't yet made one I'm happy with! (Although part of that probably goes down to recipes!) I haven't seen S-05 in my LHBS (I'm in the UK, there doesn't seem to be much of a supply of it here, and the websites that do have it seem to charge quite a lot for it) so would you guys go for Nottingham?

Nottingham an dS-05 are very similar, and you can use them almost interchangeably. I've used notti for Amercan Ale's that called for S-05 that turned out great.

 

[theonecynic]

Brilliant, thanks, I'll try doing an S-04/Nottingham comparison batch at some point then!