safale s-04 slow fermentation?

[ntempleton]

I use S-04 in my house stout all the time. Ferments in just under a week, every time (1.049-1.015ish). Patients man.

 

[defenestrate]

i think you should wash the yeast from this batch and have a nice s-04/us-05 hybrid yeast 05 attenuation with 04 speed & flocculation would be shweet.

 

[permo]

it's been 1.5 weeks and I am at 1.023. I think at this point it will be drinkable. the excess sweetness will be balanced by my 70+ IBU. I wouldn't be suprised if it finishes in the 1.017-1.018 range. I hope so anyways. I think I am going to start using nottingham more consistintly in my ales. If you can control the temperature it is a very clean and consistently attenuating yeast that drops like a rock. 100's of brittish brewers can't be wrong.

 

[midfielder5]

you slightly underpitched w/ just one packet and like others said, the s-04 yeast needed a while to replicate to tackle it.
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

i use s-04 all the time and it works great, but haven't done a 1.070 beer.

 

[elmwood]

i made ~10 gal double ipa batch with s-04 with a OG=1.088 and FG=1.022. it took about five days to finish out and about 12-24 hrs to really get going. i just sprinkled the yeast into the fermenters. i used 02 and one packet/5gal.

 

[permo]

adjusted for temp I am now at 1.0219. That still isn't a huge drop for a week and a half using a starter, ferementing at 68 degrees and mashing at 150-151. My temperature gague is dead on too. I am going to leave this beer on the cake for another 2.5 weeks so I am hoping to get it into the high teens but I am not too hopefull.

 

[johns]

I wish to chime in here and give my experience on SO4.

I have never used this particular yeast in the past because I am a novice brewer (only 5 batches under my belt). So I am making a Belgian trippel (high gravity stuff) OG at about 1.084-86 and the HBS told me to take a half gallon of water after boiling it for 10 minutes (well since I was using local grocery purified water, I just heated it for maybe five minute under a rolling boil), then add one cup of DME, then shake it and let it sit for 12 to 24 hours. I did this and after about 20 hours I did not see any krausen, or bubbles.

I then pinched on to my wort and hoping for the best. This morning I see a little airlock activity, but nothing special. I am hoping that after the yeast gets use to the high gravity everything will be alright. Also the wort last night was at about 65f and this morning the temperature was at about 70f. I did not hydrate as I normaly would with wine yeast (71-b)

So, my question is; what is the best way to make a starter. The LHBS is reliable, but in the past when making mead, what I would do is re-hydrate the yeast at about 107f, add 2 ounces of must, after about 20 minutes double the volume and do this several times until and pitch after a few hours. In the future should I use this method (exchange must for wort), or should mixing the yeast with the DME be sufficient be enough?

 

[ggoodman]

I have never made a starter with this yeast, just pitch right in(50 or so batches with s-04) and have never had any issue with fermentation. Some are vigerous and go everywhere some are slower just depends on the wort's specs. Last beer I pitched this into was 1.106 barly wine it took it down to 1.020 in 4 days.. made an awlful mess till i put the blow off tube on.

 

[johns]

so I think because of the high gravity of this batch, I just needed to be patient on this. Never had a starter do nothing after 22 hours or so and that was cause from some consternation. Early this morning I noticed some bubbles and early this evening I spied more bubbles. Just checked it and its going like mad. So to avoid more trepidation and further concern, I put in a blow-off tube. I have had mead's explode on me before and it can get messy. Better to be safe than sorry. so far so good. Wonder what it will look like in the morning. Special thanks for this thread.:rockin:

 

[ThePonchoKid]

US-04 is incredibly reliable for me, and it drops like a stone after the ferment is over. Makes a fine ordinary bitter, two weeks grain to glass.

Got a good two week biab recipe to share? I need a reliable ready fresh recipe