Long story short s-04 took off like crazy pitched at 68 degrees and put it in the basement yesterday morning which was sitting at 68 degrees ambient. As activity started it warmed up to 70 degrees and eventually to about 73 degrees this afternoon before I put a towel over it that I soaked with cold water. That brought the temp down gradually back to 70 degrees where it is currently sitting at. It was still within the temp range per Fermentis but what type of off flavors are associated with a higher fermentation temp and s-04?
I believe that high fermentation temperatures can generate fusel alcohol and give it an “alcoholic” off flavor. It doesn’t sound like you left it that warm for that long. A few batches ago I let an ale get up to 74ish unintentionally for a few days and it turned out ok (used US-05). :cheers:
Edit: I found this neat page from out host that goes over some off flavors and prevention. Common Off Flavors
Keeping a consistent ferment temp (for any yeast, not just s-04), especially during the first few days, is more important than the temp itself in most cases. The majority of the esters, phenols, and other compounds are created during the growth phase, which takes place inside of 48 hours of pitching typically.
Next time, at a minimum, place the entire fermenter in a bin/tub with 4-5 inches of water in it. That will create a larger thermal mass and the activity of the yeast will have less effect on the temp of the beer. That way the beer/ferment temp will stay more consistent with the ambient temp of the room. As a side note, assuming you have good sanitation practices and pitch enough yeast, investing in temp control will unequivocally have the most positive impact on the quality of the beer you are making - more so than full-volume boils, going all-grain, or even rapid chilling. Temp control in most cases makes the difference between “beer” and “homebrew”. Indispensable in my experience.
As far as your beer, time is the only way to tell what effects it will have. I’m guessing it didn’t get warm enough (or, especially if you rehydrated, stressed from underpitching enough) to produce much in the way of fusels (the hot alcohol taste), but you probably will have some increased esters/phenols, which may or may not work for the type of beer you are making.
BJCP guidelines say fruity esters can be moderate to none for an American Amber.
I’m not really sure what this means. You will get ‘moderate to none’ by fermenting in the low-mid 60’s. You will get ‘moderate to high’ by fermenting in the low 70’s, but I thought your OP was more a question of what effects a higher ferment temp will have (?)
I meant flavors from s-04 not yeast in general. Like some people say fermenting US-05 in the low end of the range can throw some peach notes. I understand temp control is key and maintaining temps and limiting temp swings during fermentation will reduce the amount of byproducts produced.
ah gotcha.
Again, I’m not sure what style of beer you brewed, but S-04 is generally a pretty versatile yeast. I’m also not sure what specific esters/phenols are produced by it. At the higher temps, I would guess it would throw off some dried fruit esters, which may or may not work for your beer. The one thing to careful about with it is that it will leave the finished beer with a noticeably low pH, or at least have a noticable ‘tangy’ flavor. I wasn’t a huge fan of this in a few American hop-forward beers I made with it. However for porters/stouts, english ales, and likely many ‘summer’ beers, it should be a winner.
One thing I would make sure of though if the ferment temp got that high: make sure to finish the ferment up in that temp range as well. When fermenting at the higher end of temp ranges, a lot of yeasts (likely including s-04) will produce excessive acetaldehyde (or at least more than if they were fermented lower) during the growth phase. This will be reabsorbed and converted to etoh at the tail end of fermentation, but you want to make sure the yeast has a chance to do so. I would raise the ferment temp (maybe just bring the fermenter to a 70-72* room) and let it be for 10-14 more days (I’m assuming you pitched a few days ago).
That peach ester isn’t always a bad thing…vive US-05! :mrgreen:
Pitched on Sunday. Temp is at 70 right now. Airlock activity has slowed but is still burping. Planning on giving it plenty of time to finish and clean up.
I brewed an American Amber Ale. Extract kit from my LHBS. 2lbs specialty grains, 3.3lbs briess golden light LME, 3lbs briess golden light DME. 1oz Horizon at 45 mins (45 minute boil), .5oz Cascade at 15 mins along with a whirfloc tablet, .5oz Chinook at 2 mins.
I’m no expert on recipes but 2lbs of specialty grains seemed like a lot.
[quote=“mhall2013”]Pitched on Sunday. Temp is at 70 right now. Airlock activity has slowed but is still burping. Planning on giving it plenty of time to finish and clean up.
I brewed an American Amber Ale. Extract kit from my LHBS. 2lbs specialty grains, 3.3lbs briess golden light LME, 3lbs briess golden light DME. 1oz Horizon at 45 mins (45 minute boil), .5oz Cascade at 15 mins along with a whirfloc tablet, .5oz Chinook at 2 mins.
I’m no expert on recipes but 2lbs of specialty grains seemed like a lot.[/quote]
Depends what the specialty grains were. Ambers have a lot going on.
I don’t know the exact amount of each but Carared, Munich, Crystal 80, Chocolate. Recipe says touch of Chocolate Malt.
I never understand why kits come with munich or vienna as a “steeping grain”. Those have to be mashed, the only thing you get from steeping them is some washed off dextrins and starches.
I didn’t know that some malts weren’t meant for steeping. Now I know.
From http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Homebr … yMalts.htm :
“What malts can be steeped? It is not recommended to steep Base Malts, Pale Ale Malt, Munich Malts or other malts with a mealy endosperm because starch could be extracted which would interfere later in the brewing process. These malts need to be partial mashed or mashed, which activates the malt enzymes and converts the grain starches into fermentable sugars.”
I will say based on your OP that 68 degrees ambient could have been as high as mid 70 degrees internal beer temp, which is pretty warm. Still within range, yes, but you could see some hot alcohol flavors from that temp.
I ended up bottling after 10 days. I checked the gravity after 1 week and tasted the sample I pulled. I was very happy with the results. I let it sit for a few days around 70-72 degrees then rechecked gravity and bottled. Tasted great at bottling time. Beer was a little cloudy but S-04 flocs pretty well. Might have a little more sediment in the bottle than I normally do. Bottles are carbing at 70-72 degrees. The last amber I brewed I used us-05 and found it to be dry in the sense of residual sugars which I felt took away from the malt character. I like how the S-04 having a lower apparent attenuation left a little sweetness. I think it also helped that it was a 45 min boil which toned down the hop bitterness.
