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I pitched my yeast at 3 PM. When I checked on it at 9 PM it was bubbling away in my overflow bucket. S 04 rocks!

Gymrat wrote:I pitched my yeast at 3 PM. When I checked on it at 9 PM it was bubbling away in my overflow bucket. S 04 rocks!

I'm an S-04 fan.

Yep, S-04 is a monster. For me, it's usually 3 days of crazy activity, and then it's done and dropped clear. One caveat - I find it doesn't play as well with extract - it may drop out before it's done fermenting, and re-start in bottles causing gushers. Never had that happen with AG, but a couple times with extract.

This is my to-go yeast for IPAs - I like the extra maltiness it leaves to balance out the hops.

Agreed. Every brew I have used S-04 in has had some great fermentation action and length to it.

Gymrat wrote:I pitched my yeast at 3 PM. When I checked on it at 9 PM it was bubbling away in my overflow bucket. S 04 rocks!

Do you rehydrate? And if so, what are your procedures? What temp do you keep the fermentation at?

Clearly I need to have you come and pitch my 04 Roger. I've never gotten good attenuation with it. I use it in my Levitation and it rarely finishes below 1.015 from a 1.042 or so start. I've taken care over the last two years to learn as much as I can about yeast and I have great success with other strains but I have bad luck with 04. I'll keep using it on this beer because it comes out great but I haven't/likely won't use the strain for other beers.

Go figure.

Chuck I never rehydrate. I pitch at 65 or less and I carry my wort down stairs in 2 buckets then dump them in the conical which areates the heck out of my wort. But in this case I am using the yeast I dropped out from under my brown ale. I didnt wash it I just refridgeratored it then decantered the beer off of it and dumped it in.

04 works great for me also. This recent batch that I have in the fermentor gushed out some in 24 hours.