Old Suffolk strong yeast issue

[MightyStig]

Hi guys,

Just put on a kit brew of festivals old Suffolk strong. Only I broke my thermometer whilst rehydratin my yeast. (Smashed into the yeasty gunk) so I had to bin it.

I chucked in a safale s-04 I had lying around instead. Just wondering what temp would be best for this yeast/beer. I have a fermentation chamber currently set to 18C.

This has literally just gone in so the sooner any advice comes,the better

Cheers

Jim

 

[Dutto]

Safale S-04, English Ale Yeast
A well-known, commercial English ale yeast, selected for its fast fermentation character and its ability to form a very compact sediment at the end of the fermentation, helping to improve beer clarity. This yeast is recommended for the production of a large range of ale beers and is specially well adapted to cask-conditioned ales and fermentation in cylindro-conical tanks. High sedimentation. Recommended temperature range: 18ºC-24ºC. Recommended pitching rate: 50 g/hl to 80 g/hl. 11.5g pack ready for 5 gallons

 

[MightyStig]

Hey dutto, Thx for the reply.

I did a Google search and also read the packet which has a massive range of 12-25C (ideal 15-20C) was hoping some people might have used it with a similar beer and had an opinion on where in that range would be best or not.

Cheers

 

[Dutto]

Sorry but I only use one of these now ...

• Wilco Ale Yeast (aka Nottingham Yeast or Gervin-12 Yeast)
• Youngs Lager Yeast
• Stuff harvested from bottles and turned into a Yeast Starter

... so I lifted the info off t'Internet.

 

[MightyStig]

Well I went with 17C in the end.

Has been in fv for 9 days. Took a grave reading and it was 1.022! This seems too high. Og was 1.056 making 4.7% sussposed to be 6% but this was with the original yeast.

There is no yeast in suspension so I'm going to increase temp to 19C and give the yeast a quick stir/rouse.

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Jim

 

[cushyno]

I've done two of the festival kits. You're not missing out by losing the kit yeast, it takes ages to ferment (3 weeks each time) and while it drops clear it doesn't compact well in the bottle meaning you have to be careful pouring. S-04 on the other hand ferments fairly rapidly (10-14 days and it's done in my experience), creates a nice solid layer of sediment both in the FV and in the bottle which makes bottling and pouring easier.

Get the S-04 up to 20°C, raising gradually, 0.5°C every 12 hours if you can. I've had good results with S-04 at 20°C and raising to 21°C after 7-10 days.

 

[RichK]

I too have had to leave Festival kits (Suffolk & Razorback) in the FV for 3 weeks to finish.

 

[StFlipper]

Well I went with 17C in the end.

Has been in fv for 9 days. Took a grave reading and it was 1.022! This seems too high. Og was 1.056 making 4.7% sussposed to be 6% but this was with the original yeast.

There is no yeast in suspension so I'm going to increase temp to 19C and give the yeast a quick stir/rouse.

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Jim

When I made the Suffolk Ale with the kit yeast it stopped at 1.014 (down from OG 1.055), around 5.3% ABV rather than the 6% that the box says. I contacted Ritchies about it (they're very helpful and responsive) and they said they planned to raise the amount of dextrose in the kit to 1.2kg to get the final ABV back to 6%, but I guess if your OG was 1.056 it doesn't sound like they've done that yet.

I thought it came out a bit too sweet with the kit yeast, so when I made it a second time I used a Saison yeast instead (Mangrove Jack Belgian), which brought the final SG right down to 1.004 (6.5% ABV) ! Only thing is that it then tasted more like a strong Belgian farmhouse beer than Adnams Broadside (which is what I've assumed it's meant to be like).

I've found the Festival kits very reliable, and with the kit yeast the timing has been pretty much exactly as per instructions, ie. 5 day initial fermentation, 5 day dry hopping, at which point they've hit the target SG (apart from the Suffolk). Just drinking their Golden Stag at the moment which I gave 7 days dry hopping as the SG after 5 days was still slightly on the high side. Still only 12 days from start to bottling though, and a lovely light hoppy 4.3% pint (second time for this kit).

Let us know how it turns out with the S-04 yeast. If it can get the SG down to somewhere near 1.012-1.014 and keep the malty character it could be a winner.

Cheers

 

[MightyStig]

Thx for the replies.

I have also done the razorback ipa which took 3 weeks. It's now a couple of months in the bottle and just slides down albeit a touch bitter. I also have the golden stag standing by.

My only worry is that I'm certain fermentation is complete as there is no airlock activity and the yeast is no longer in suspension.

Will check if yesterdays rouse helped at all. If I can't get it to do anymore. I'm either going to pitch some more yeast at high Krausen or dry hop and put in pressure barrel.

Cheers

Jin

 

[MightyStig]

Well I have increased temp to 20°C and roused once per day and the reading is now 1.020 so it's heading in the right direction.

I will continue to rouse and take another reading in 2 days. Hopefully I can get it low enough to bottle as I wanted to put the golden stag in the barrel

Cheers

Jim

 

[mjjordan]

What's a thermometer ? honestly, I just chuck the stuff in, some hot, some cold, seems to work! lol !

 

[MightyStig]

I would say pitching temp is pretty important. A thermometer cost £3.50 and takes a few seconds to use.

But in this instance I wasn't using my thermometer as it was intended. I was stupidly using it as a spoon.

 

[MightyStig]

So I thought I would give an update as I hate when people ask for advice but never finish the story...

After increasing the temp to 22 and some daily rousing I dry hopped 5 days ago and left alone. Yesterday and today the SG was 1.014. bang on the money. So I put in pressure barrel with 85g of the supplied priming sugar.

Interestingly all 3 of my hydrometers all read tap water as 1.002 but I live in am extremely hard water area so I wonder if that has an effect?

Anyways thanks for all the advice guys. Now have a Young's aipa on the go, so fingers crossed.

Cheers

Jim

 

[Dutto]

Hard water shouldn't make that much difference, but at this time of the year the lower temperature might.